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How do you make a
demo?
Find a place to record that's crisp and clear in it's
quality. A voice recording studio is best, by far, but I know
not all of you have access to that. You can also record in
your church if your sound system is current, or a music
studio. Rates for the studio typically run $25 to 100 an hour,
depending on the experience and equipment of the
producer/owner.
What do you record?
This largely depends on where your strengths lie and what
you're looking for in the way of voicework. You can read small
portions of non-fiction or fiction if you're aiming for audio
book reading. You can tear an ad out of a magazine and voice
the written content...which typically turns out to be :30 to
:60 seconds of audio -- the length of a typical radio or TV
spot. You can write your own mock script of a phone system
touchtone service, in-
store intercom announcements, or anything else where voice
talent is used. The point is to show the diversity of your
voice. Can you be authoritative? Can you be friendly? Can you
be agressive and energetic for car commercials? Can you be
compassionate and caring for the Feed the Children Fund?
What comes next?
Once you record your demo, send it to voiceover agencies like
Voices Unlimited, On Time Talent, or OpuzzVoice.com. Send in
your demo via Cassette, CD, e-mail (.wav or mp3 formats) or by
pointing an agent to your demos posted online. Note that
if the quality
(either in reading or just the recording quality) isn't clear
enough, some companies can't include it on a master demo,
since the master must have consistent professional quality. I
once heard the Music Director at one of the radio stations I
worked for offer a strong and sound piece of advice to a local
music artist trying to get some airtime on our station. He
advised the singer to record a song off the radio on to tape,
dub his song after it, then record another song from the radio
after his song. If the quality of his song didn't match the
quality of the surrounding songs, it wouldn't get on the air.
I think that drove the point home well.
Don't let these details scare you off. You don't have to spend
a lot of money on your demo for it to be crisp, clear, and attention
grabbing. You just have to choose your studio set up wisely.
By
Natalie
Nicole Gilbert
www.opuzzvoice.com/Natalie_Gilbert.asp
Natalie
Nicole Gilbert has served in radio for the last decade, acting
as
talent for everything from national :30 spots to starring
roles in feature
films. She also manages the On Time Talent Voiceover
Agency, and offers
free advice to clients and start up voiceover talent.
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