Post by Lady Stardust ★ on Apr 25, 2021 2:36:52 GMT -8
When it comes to voiceover demos, there is a lot of conflicting information on the Internet. Various aspects of demo reels tend to be hotly debated (for example: How long is too long? Can you use copy from existing projects, or do you need material specially written for you? How much “production” is desired/acceptable?)
One common source of contention regarding demos in the voiceover community is whether or not it’s acceptable to make a “starter demo”. Some actors will say “sure, make your own demo to start or have a friend make one for you, that’s what I did and it got me a lot of work!” Others are extremely adamant that you must invest a lot of money by going to a top professional to produce your demo, and that you should not have a demo at all until you’re ready. This conflicting advice often leaves newer actors confused and even frustrated.
So which piece of advice is correct? The answer is, it’s complicated…and it depends on your individual circumstances and what you plan to use the demo for. It’s important to note that the online and indie scene has also changed the voiceover landscape, including affecting what were once considered “hard and fast rules”. While the ultimate goal is still a top-quality professional demo—-seeing as your demo is considered the most important marketing material in your career—-it does not make sense to invest thousands of dollars YET if you are not ready to compete at the level where such a demo would be expected or required.
Situation 1: Hobbyist/Self-Made Demo
Average cost: Free or cheap
Acceptable to submit to: Entry-level online projects, typically unpaid. Examples include student projects, fan collaborations, and hobby work.
Meant for: Newer actors, particularly in the online amateur/hobby scene who simply need a functioning sample of their voice in order to submit to (typically unpaid) projects.
When are you ready? When you are reasonably comfortable with recording and editing your audio, have some experience auditioning for online unpaid projects and a general idea of your voice range and the types of characters you can play.
Situation 2: Starter/Indie Demo
Average cost: $100 to $1,000
Acceptable to submit to: Most open-call projects (such as Twitter castings), indie games, YouTube creators, freelance casting sites, direct marketing to smaller clients, and other online opportunities which require a demo.
When are you ready? When you are booking semi-consistently via open casting calls and want to up your game by submitting to those which require a demo.
As social media sites such as Twitter became used more frequently as an informal casting platform, it became fairly common to see posts from indie devs and other independent creators saying something like “Looking for voice actors, DM me your reels or link them in the comments!” While we don’t exactly advise this method for creators as it often leads to an overwhelming response (and they’d have a better chance of what they’re looking for with targeted auditions), open demo calls continue to be a regular occurrence.
Now, it can be possible to use a self-made demo for this purpose, so long as you have good material and your audio editing and mixing skills are up to par. If you don’t feel confident in this, it is still recommended to hire someone to mix your demo for you (many freelance audio engineers do “demo commissions”.)
In the online scene, there are various individuals who specialize in specific aspects of creating demos for this purpose. For example, actors will often hire one person to write their script, another to direct their demo live, and another to mix their demo afterwards, as opposed to the “full package deals” that you often see in the pro scene. Script writers, directors and mixers will each have their own individual rates that they charge for these services.
Is it acceptable to submit an indie demo to studios, agencies, or more professional talent rosters? That depends. Keep in mind that first impressions are extremely important, and if you make a poor first impression with a mediocre demo, it can be difficult to get heard by that casting director or agent a second time. This is where a lot of the “don’t make a demo until you’re ready” advice comes from. But if your demo sounds on par, acting and quality wise, with the other talent on their roster, it may still be okay to submit it. If you’re not sure, a career coach may be able to help you evaluate your current skill level and marketing materials.
Situation 3: Professional/Industry-Level Demo
Average cost: $1,500 to $2,500
Acceptable to submit to: Agencies, studios, talent rosters, direct marketing to bigger clients, you name it! This is the ultimate demo investment, so the sky’s the limit.
When are you ready? When you are competitive enough in the industry to make such an investment pay off for you in terms of work. For example, if you’re mostly submitting to low-budget online projects, it could take you quite a while to make your money back, and such an expensive demo isn’t typically required for that level of work. However, if you’re a trained and/or experienced actor, have done your research and are fully ready to dive into agency submissions, a professional demo will help showcase you at your best. Keep in mind that many agents, especially in major markets like Los Angeles, will expect professional demos. If you do wish to submit a demo that you made yourself or a friend made for you, it should be so good that it is basically indistinguishable from a professionally produced demo.
The exceptions
You’ve probably heard stories of actors who manage to work at a high level professionally with a demo they put together themselves, or had a friend put together for them, or maybe one that hasn’t been updated in 10 years. Each actor has their own individual circumstances, but here are some reason you might notice exceptions to the typical “industry norms” of demos:
How often is the demo actually used in casting?
This may surprise you, but the main purpose of the demo is just to get your foot in the door—-with an agent, a casting director, a client, etc. In a sense, your demo shows them a short overview of your acting abilities, what your general vocal range is, and what character types you might be cast as.
How often does your demo need to be updated?
If your demo has been around for a while, but it still gets you work and you’re happy with it and feel it properly represents you, don’t feel compelled to update it “just because!”
>>Is it possible to do a “partial update” if you’re happy with some spots on your demo but want to swap out others?
Yes. There are demo producers who will offer “demo refresh” services where you can keep what you like from your current demo but switch out the spots that aren’t working for you. Some actors may also wish to swap certain spots out with something they did for a recent production.
Can't I just take clips from various projects I was in and use that to make a demo?
Yes, this is one possibility. However, there are two caveats:
What about a visual reel? Is it necessary, and if so, should it be separate from your audio reel? Is some type of visual needed even for an audio-only reel?
Visual reels aren’t a necessity for VO (at least not yet), but they can be a supplemental marketing tool for your website or social media. As opposed to an audio demo where material is often created and recorded specifically for the purpose of the demo, visual reels contain footage from actual projects (such as animations or games) that the actor has performed in. Not all casting directors will care about visual reels or have the time to watch them, but it can provide some advantage in the sense that it shows projects you were actually cast for and how everything looked and sounded in the final product.
A visual component to an audio reel isn’t necessary for your website (where your demos will usually be in a simple media player) or for anything where demos need to be uploaded or attached for casting consideration. However, if you want to upload your demo to Twitter or YouTube—-both important marketing platforms for VO—-you will need some type of visual component. This can be as simple as a “title card” with your name, website and contact information. There are people who specialize in creating fancy “waveform animations” and what not, but these are more to add visual interest when people are scrolling through social media, and they are completely optional. Remember, your voice and acting are the most important components of a demo reel, not flashy graphics or editing!
Generally speaking, one should not attempt to make their own commercial demo or go with a “starter demo” unless they truly know what they are doing. Unlike with character work which can be as simple as a fun project between friends, there isn’t exactly an “amateur market” for commercials…because commercials are meant to sell a product, they should be paid gigs. Furthermore, a big reason actors need commercial demos is to submit to agencies, and most agents will not be impressed by a demo that sounds homemade. A commercial demo is truly a situation where you do want to save your money and get it done by a professional. The only real exception to this might be if someone were primarily submitting for local small-business radio spots or low-budget online casting sites (see below).
What kind of demo is good enough to include on a pay-to-play site profile?
As long as you have a functional demo that sounds good and showcases your abilities, it should be acceptable for p2p sites. Most of the casting opportunities from these sites will come from the auditions you submit, not your demos. Projects on these sites also tend to be lower-budget than say, what goes through a major studio or agency, so the bar for demos typically isn’t quite as high. (There are valid concerns out there regarding the rates and ethics of pay-to-play sites, but we won’t go into those here.)
Does your demo reel need to be representative of your home studio quality? How much editing is acceptable to remove unwanted noise from the audio, etc?
Many actors get their demo reels professionally recorded at a studio in order to have them sound as good as possible, so it is not a requirement to record your reel on your home setup.
If you DO record your reel at home (which you likely will unless you’re paying for a premium top demo), it’ll be very important to ensure your recordings are as clean as possible: no clipping/distortion, pops, etc. Basic room tone can be filtered out if it’s not too noticeable, but it’s best to try to get your source audio as clean as possible rather than attempting to just “fix everything in post”.
In the age of recording from home with the COVID pandemic, it is common now to have a “home studio sample” in addition to your reel. As opposed to your demo reel (which will be edited and mixed to sound like “finished” audio), the home studio sample should be completely RAW, with no processing, effects or music applied. This way, potential clients can see exactly what they’d be getting in terms of audio quality if they were to hire you to record remotely for a job.
Do I really need to pay so much money for a demo?
At the end of the day, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Some actors are fantastic at what they do and are so experienced and well-connected that they haven’t needed to pay for a fancy demo, or they have friends or mentors who are able to direct them or mix for them, etc. But it’s still important to keep in mind that your demo is your single most important marketing tool as a voice actor, so it makes sense to invest in it to a level that will pay off for you personally.
The guides and resources on this forum are provided free of charge. However, if you find them helpful, please consider buying me a coffee!
One common source of contention regarding demos in the voiceover community is whether or not it’s acceptable to make a “starter demo”. Some actors will say “sure, make your own demo to start or have a friend make one for you, that’s what I did and it got me a lot of work!” Others are extremely adamant that you must invest a lot of money by going to a top professional to produce your demo, and that you should not have a demo at all until you’re ready. This conflicting advice often leaves newer actors confused and even frustrated.
So which piece of advice is correct? The answer is, it’s complicated…and it depends on your individual circumstances and what you plan to use the demo for. It’s important to note that the online and indie scene has also changed the voiceover landscape, including affecting what were once considered “hard and fast rules”. While the ultimate goal is still a top-quality professional demo—-seeing as your demo is considered the most important marketing material in your career—-it does not make sense to invest thousands of dollars YET if you are not ready to compete at the level where such a demo would be expected or required.
It’s also important to note that this article is ultimately an opinion piece, and different industry professionals will have different opinions as to what is acceptable. However, it is meant to provide some guidance as to what type of demo you might need at your current level. Of course, if money is no issue and you can invest in a top demo producer right off the bat, more power to you! But that is not the situation that most people are in, especially when they first start voice acting.
Situation 1: Hobbyist/Self-Made Demo
Average cost: Free or cheap
Acceptable to submit to: Entry-level online projects, typically unpaid. Examples include student projects, fan collaborations, and hobby work.
Meant for: Newer actors, particularly in the online amateur/hobby scene who simply need a functioning sample of their voice in order to submit to (typically unpaid) projects.
When are you ready? When you are reasonably comfortable with recording and editing your audio, have some experience auditioning for online unpaid projects and a general idea of your voice range and the types of characters you can play.
As much as conventional wisdom may say “wait for a demo until you are ready”, the fact of the matter is that even in the online space, many times actors need some type of sample of their voice to even be considered for projects. Now, if you are brand new, there are many unpaid projects that will simply post open-call auditions and do not require any type of demo, so it’s best to start there and get a basic feel for what you can do before you attempt to put together any sort of demo.
But even for hobbyist projects and collaborations, it can benefit you to have some kind of sample to show. Otherwise, you'll be limited to open-call auditions, and you won't be able to directly pitch yourself in any way for work. Generally speaking, however, you shouldn't have to spend money on a demo yet if you're just submitting to volunteer projects. A fancy demo could be a waste of money at this particular point in your journey because you'd likely need to update it soon anyway as your skills improve.
There tends to be a lot more leeway here when it comes to things like audio quality, music, and writing. Even certain things which are considered no-no’s on professional demos, like impressions of existing characters, may be more acceptable specifically in a hobby space where one is submitting primarily to things like fan projects. Again, an amateur demo should not be submitted for professional opportunities, but it can serve you in the amateur online space until you are ready to progress.
Situation 2: Starter/Indie Demo
Average cost: $100 to $1,000
Acceptable to submit to: Most open-call projects (such as Twitter castings), indie games, YouTube creators, freelance casting sites, direct marketing to smaller clients, and other online opportunities which require a demo.
When are you ready? When you are booking semi-consistently via open casting calls and want to up your game by submitting to those which require a demo.
As social media sites such as Twitter became used more frequently as an informal casting platform, it became fairly common to see posts from indie devs and other independent creators saying something like “Looking for voice actors, DM me your reels or link them in the comments!” While we don’t exactly advise this method for creators as it often leads to an overwhelming response (and they’d have a better chance of what they’re looking for with targeted auditions), open demo calls continue to be a regular occurrence.
Now, it can be possible to use a self-made demo for this purpose, so long as you have good material and your audio editing and mixing skills are up to par. If you don’t feel confident in this, it is still recommended to hire someone to mix your demo for you (many freelance audio engineers do “demo commissions”.)
In the online scene, there are various individuals who specialize in specific aspects of creating demos for this purpose. For example, actors will often hire one person to write their script, another to direct their demo live, and another to mix their demo afterwards, as opposed to the “full package deals” that you often see in the pro scene. Script writers, directors and mixers will each have their own individual rates that they charge for these services.
Is it acceptable to submit an indie demo to studios, agencies, or more professional talent rosters? That depends. Keep in mind that first impressions are extremely important, and if you make a poor first impression with a mediocre demo, it can be difficult to get heard by that casting director or agent a second time. This is where a lot of the “don’t make a demo until you’re ready” advice comes from. But if your demo sounds on par, acting and quality wise, with the other talent on their roster, it may still be okay to submit it. If you’re not sure, a career coach may be able to help you evaluate your current skill level and marketing materials.
Situation 3: Professional/Industry-Level Demo
Average cost: $1,500 to $2,500
Acceptable to submit to: Agencies, studios, talent rosters, direct marketing to bigger clients, you name it! This is the ultimate demo investment, so the sky’s the limit.
When are you ready? When you are competitive enough in the industry to make such an investment pay off for you in terms of work. For example, if you’re mostly submitting to low-budget online projects, it could take you quite a while to make your money back, and such an expensive demo isn’t typically required for that level of work. However, if you’re a trained and/or experienced actor, have done your research and are fully ready to dive into agency submissions, a professional demo will help showcase you at your best. Keep in mind that many agents, especially in major markets like Los Angeles, will expect professional demos. If you do wish to submit a demo that you made yourself or a friend made for you, it should be so good that it is basically indistinguishable from a professionally produced demo.
The exceptions
You’ve probably heard stories of actors who manage to work at a high level professionally with a demo they put together themselves, or had a friend put together for them, or maybe one that hasn’t been updated in 10 years. Each actor has their own individual circumstances, but here are some reason you might notice exceptions to the typical “industry norms” of demos:
- The actor has been already established in the industry through various connections such as casting directors and agency reps, to where they are already auditioning and working without the need of a fancy and/or recent demo;
- The actor has a unique sound or skill set (for example, a specific accent, creature voices, etc) that is considered in-demand to where the quality of the demo itself may not be judged as harshly by contemporary standards;
- The actor is so good at what they do that their skill stands out regardless of the demo sounding dated or underwhelming in terms of mix.
Because as you’re about to find out, the purpose of the demo is more just to get in the door in the first place. Which brings us to…
How often is the demo actually used in casting?
This may surprise you, but the main purpose of the demo is just to get your foot in the door—-with an agent, a casting director, a client, etc. In a sense, your demo shows them a short overview of your acting abilities, what your general vocal range is, and what character types you might be cast as.
When it comes to actual industry castings, they typically happen one of two ways:
- Audition (the most common). In this situation, actors will receive audition sides through their agent, a studio, a casting pool, or other source. A demo is often needed to get on these audition rosters in the first place, but the actual casting will typically happen by way of auditions. These auditions may be used as a basis to cast for extras or other roles in the same production.
- Scouting/auto casting. In this situation, the casting director and/or client typically knows they want a certain actor for the role and that they are capable of performing it—-whether it’s because of similar work they did in the past, other auditions they did for that casting director, or their own personal knowledge of that actor’s vocal sound and abilities. Sometimes a demo may still be used in this case for the casting director to “pitch” the actor they’d like to auto-cast to the end client.
How often does your demo need to be updated?
There’s actually no industry norm that dictates you must update your demo every certain number of years. The simple answer is that you should update your demo when it no longer serves the purposes you need. For example, you may wish to consider updating your demo if:
- Your demo is no longer a good representation of your current acting skills. If you feel you’ve significantly improved as an actor since your last demo was recorded—-for instance, you’ve taken more classes, done private coaching, and/or have a lot more work experience—-you may want to update your demo to showcase more of your current abilities.
- Your demo sounds outdated compared to current industry trends. Over time, industry norms for demos have slowly shifted. For example, current trends in character work tend to favor fewer “wacky cartoon voices” and more “real people reads”. And while a two-minute-long character demo may have been borderline acceptable a decade ago, these days casting directors are often reviewing hundreds of demos and tend to not want them much longer than a minute.
- You are specifically looking for new agent representation and coaches, mentors or other industry peers have advised you to consider updating your demo in order to make the best impression.
If your demo has been around for a while, but it still gets you work and you’re happy with it and feel it properly represents you, don’t feel compelled to update it “just because!”
>>Is it possible to do a “partial update” if you’re happy with some spots on your demo but want to swap out others?
Yes. There are demo producers who will offer “demo refresh” services where you can keep what you like from your current demo but switch out the spots that aren’t working for you. Some actors may also wish to swap certain spots out with something they did for a recent production.
Can't I just take clips from various projects I was in and use that to make a demo?
Yes, this is one possibility. However, there are two caveats:
- Do not use material from projects that are still under NDA or not yet released to the public, unless you have the explicit permission of the director/client to use that material. Avoid using auditions you read for but didn’t book, or copy/recordings from a class or workshop (many instructors specifically forbid this).
- If you tend to get “typecast” a lot, you want to make sure the character types on your reel aren’t too similar to each other. Similar-sounding voices can be okay, but the characters themselves should be well-rounded and distinct from one another. While the character types you are strong at and get cast as absolutely should be included in your demo reel, you also want to include character types you *can* play or *want* to play that you haven’t really had a chance to yet, which is where having at least some copy specially tailored for the demo can help.
What about a visual reel? Is it necessary, and if so, should it be separate from your audio reel? Is some type of visual needed even for an audio-only reel?
Visual reels aren’t a necessity for VO (at least not yet), but they can be a supplemental marketing tool for your website or social media. As opposed to an audio demo where material is often created and recorded specifically for the purpose of the demo, visual reels contain footage from actual projects (such as animations or games) that the actor has performed in. Not all casting directors will care about visual reels or have the time to watch them, but it can provide some advantage in the sense that it shows projects you were actually cast for and how everything looked and sounded in the final product.
A visual component to an audio reel isn’t necessary for your website (where your demos will usually be in a simple media player) or for anything where demos need to be uploaded or attached for casting consideration. However, if you want to upload your demo to Twitter or YouTube—-both important marketing platforms for VO—-you will need some type of visual component. This can be as simple as a “title card” with your name, website and contact information. There are people who specialize in creating fancy “waveform animations” and what not, but these are more to add visual interest when people are scrolling through social media, and they are completely optional. Remember, your voice and acting are the most important components of a demo reel, not flashy graphics or editing!
What about commercial demos?
Generally speaking, one should not attempt to make their own commercial demo or go with a “starter demo” unless they truly know what they are doing. Unlike with character work which can be as simple as a fun project between friends, there isn’t exactly an “amateur market” for commercials…because commercials are meant to sell a product, they should be paid gigs. Furthermore, a big reason actors need commercial demos is to submit to agencies, and most agents will not be impressed by a demo that sounds homemade. A commercial demo is truly a situation where you do want to save your money and get it done by a professional. The only real exception to this might be if someone were primarily submitting for local small-business radio spots or low-budget online casting sites (see below).
What kind of demo is good enough to include on a pay-to-play site profile?
As long as you have a functional demo that sounds good and showcases your abilities, it should be acceptable for p2p sites. Most of the casting opportunities from these sites will come from the auditions you submit, not your demos. Projects on these sites also tend to be lower-budget than say, what goes through a major studio or agency, so the bar for demos typically isn’t quite as high. (There are valid concerns out there regarding the rates and ethics of pay-to-play sites, but we won’t go into those here.)
Does your demo reel need to be representative of your home studio quality? How much editing is acceptable to remove unwanted noise from the audio, etc?
Many actors get their demo reels professionally recorded at a studio in order to have them sound as good as possible, so it is not a requirement to record your reel on your home setup.
If you DO record your reel at home (which you likely will unless you’re paying for a premium top demo), it’ll be very important to ensure your recordings are as clean as possible: no clipping/distortion, pops, etc. Basic room tone can be filtered out if it’s not too noticeable, but it’s best to try to get your source audio as clean as possible rather than attempting to just “fix everything in post”.
In the age of recording from home with the COVID pandemic, it is common now to have a “home studio sample” in addition to your reel. As opposed to your demo reel (which will be edited and mixed to sound like “finished” audio), the home studio sample should be completely RAW, with no processing, effects or music applied. This way, potential clients can see exactly what they’d be getting in terms of audio quality if they were to hire you to record remotely for a job.
Do I really need to pay so much money for a demo?
At the end of the day, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Some actors are fantastic at what they do and are so experienced and well-connected that they haven’t needed to pay for a fancy demo, or they have friends or mentors who are able to direct them or mix for them, etc. But it’s still important to keep in mind that your demo is your single most important marketing tool as a voice actor, so it makes sense to invest in it to a level that will pay off for you personally.
Here are some advantages to having your demo professionally produced:
- Many demo producers make a point to stay on top of current industry trends and direct their talent accordingly. Your buddy who’s a music producer might be able to put together a mix for you that sounds nice, but do they know about the VO market and what casting directors will be looking for?
- Having someone write or pick out material for you is often better than attempting to do it yourself. If someone attempts to write their own demo copy without being any sort of writer themselves, there are many traps they can fall into: one-dimensional or stereotypical characters, cliche or cringe-worthy lines, or even just boring copy that doesn’t actually showcase their acting in any meaningful way. And anyway, the grand majority of the time when you’re acting, you’re performing someone else’s words rather than your own!
- A professional-quality audio mix will ideally make your demo spots sound like they could have been taken from real productions. While it’s fairly common knowledge that most demo material these days is created specifically for the purpose of the demo, it still gives the casting director an idea of how your voice would play in a final mix. And while your voice and acting are still more important than the production aspect, if the audio quality is off or the music is mixed poorly or unfitting sound effects are used, it can distract from the performance and make the demo sound amateur.
- An experienced audio mixer will know how to EQ your voice properly to make it ‘pop’. If you just slap on presets without really knowing what they do, the demo may sound overprocessed, or it could even bring out undesirable qualities in your vocals.
- Because the first impression is so important during submissions, it is better not to gamble with a poorly made demo if you have the option to get a proper one. The industry is extremely competitive and saturated with actors, so if you stand out, make sure it’s in a good way!
The guides and resources on this forum are provided free of charge. However, if you find them helpful, please consider buying me a coffee!