Wonder if you’re ready for your commercial voice acting demo? I would follow up by asking…Are you ready for the competitive world of auditions?
Believe it or not, these are very different things. And knowing the difference helps to make the right decisions at the right time in your career.
What I’ve learned through the years is that a professional, agency-level demo is an x-ray of where you are, at that moment.
Specifically: Where you are at that moment, when you’re being coached and directed.
Because whenever you get more coaching or you get more experience, say, by interacting with clients and creative directors and engineers, your proficiency with your craft evolves.
And when that happens, you need new demos!
In my own experience, evolution changes very rapidly when you’re learning. Every six months, you might not recognize yourself! And you always want to be selling the latest and greatest version of yourself.
Thankfully, the more proficient you get, the less you need the expensive demos. I believe you only need a professional demo once or twice in your career.
1. Being ready for a voice acting demo vs. ready to audition
Now let’s differentiate between a starter demo and an agency-level VO demo.
The starter VO demo
A starter demo is your first demo. It doesn’t need to be expensive at all! You can make this demo anytime, and you can do it on your own with VO Demo Maker which is an app I built that allows you to mix a great read, like an audition, and put background music in it.
This is important: with AI around, you don’t want solo audio files of your voice out there.
You can use the free VO Script Generator to help you create scripts in all kind of sectors of VO, like commercials, VOGs, Animation & Video Games, Audiobook, Medical Narrations, and the list goes on.
The agency VO demo
When voice actors talk about a demo, especially a commercial demo, they often refer to a professional agency-level demo.
These demos are recorded with talented producers and are meant to impress. Think of them as bling for your VO business, and if done right, they can open doors to talent agencies.
Typically, you would get coached in preparation for that demo recording (you’ll practice with the demo scripts).
But just because you got coached for that first professional agency-level demo doesn’t automatically mean you learned all the skills you need to be competitive in auditions.
What we do as coaches
Keep in mind that most of what we do as coaches when we get you ready for a voice acting demo is to get you to speak naturally. We want you to be yourself in your demos.
Because 99% of aspiring voice actors and announcers get bogged down by the words in commercial scripts. This will make you sound like you’re reading, which doesn’t compel listeners to want to take action after they hear your demo (an action like signing you!).
There is much more to being competitive than that. I’ll explain more in a moment.
And, if you are doing more than a demo preparation, and you’re actually coaching longer term, you might get impatient (totally normal).
For instance, you’ll tell your coach: “Look, I want that demo now!”
And if the coach feels like they can get a good performance out of you, they might relent and agree to move forward.
I’ve done that to two of my own coaches, and students have certainly done it to me.
When this happens, the results are always the same: the student gets the demo back, listens, and thinks: “I should have waited a bit longer.”
Six months later? They really regret not waiting longer.
Learning takes time
That’s because taking an aspiring voice actor (who isn’t already in a related field) through the process of making a voice acting demo isn’t plug-and-play.
Neither is learning to be competitive in auditions. That generally takes about a year of one-on-one coaching every single week.
And I’m the first one to say: that is loooong and expensive!
This is precisely why I created an online commercial voice acting class to address the need to be market-ready in a cost-efficient manner.
Now let’s go over auditions.
2. To be competitive in agency-level auditions, you need a whole lot more than market appeal and talent
For instance, you need total control over your instrument, which includes being 100% conversational.
Think of it this way: if the words in the script are in your way, the range of your performance will be more limited.
Here are some other skills you’ll need to acquire to become bookable:
* Understand and analyze commercial VO scripts so that you don’t leave anything on the table.
* Make strong choices based on the script and based on what you have to offer.
* Bring your personality to the read every single time.
* Interpret direction strategically so that you’re taking advantage of it instead of being distracted by it.
* Know what’s appealing about what you do and how to do it in any given script.
Until you acquire these skills, which require a substantial amount of learning, your range will be limited.
And truth be told? I didn’t learn all of this before I made my first demo (and I had a ton of experience!).
So while I had a great demo, it did sweet nothing for my agency bookings.
Why?
Because I simply did not know how to craft bookable auditions.
I actually got dropped from an agency!
3. What a professional, agency-level voice acting demo can do for you, even if you’re not competitive in auditions
A professional commercial VO demo can still be handy, even if you have less coaching.
For instance, if you’re marketing yourself directly to clients who aren’t in the industry (say, corporate clients), it will impress them.
It will also impress those clients who find your website in internet searches.
Those types of buyers can be less experienced than agency-level advertisers and may book you directly from the voice acting demo (so no auditions!).
Full disclosure: I get a LOT of work this way. It works!
I do want to caution you here: if you book voice-over work this way, and you can’t reproduce the reads that are in your voice acting demo with other (completely different) scripts, you will struggle.
I’ve been in sessions where I wasn’t able to execute directions from clients, and there is nothing more soul-crushing.
You both know you’ll never work together again, and it’s an awful feeling.
But if you take direction well, and you can execute it quickly, you can do mighty fine.
4. Hold off on the bling and get a “starter voice acting demo” that won’t cost much
So if you’re scratching your head, wondering where this all leaves you (we both know you still need a VO demo), then do what I do: use your best auditions as demos and use the VO Demo Maker to make them sound professional. This will protect your voice and make you sound like a pro!
That said, do not use any confidential auditions, and only use them after commercials have aired.
5. When to record the professional voice acting demo
Unless you’ll be spending a considerable amount of time self-marketing, record the demo when you’re demo-ready AND competitive in auditions (e.g., you’re creating great reads every time, in every class).
It might be 3, 6, or 9 months out, but you’ll be in a much stronger position to acquire and keep agents.
And when you do get clients on your own, you’ll knock their socks off because working with you will be like driving a Ferrari.
Training for a demo is a very important step in your career, but it’s often just the beginning.
And I know you might be thinking: “It took me SO long and cost me so much to even get to that point and to get it done!”
I get it.
I’ve been through everything you’ve been through, and then some.
It took me a long time and cost me a pretty penny to get my first demo done, but guess what?
It took me even longer and cost me even more to be competitive in agency-level auditions.
New to all this? Start with what a voice over demo actually is. And if you’re not ready to spend on an agency demo yet, learn how to make your own Home Brews in the meantime.
My name is Lili Wexu. I’m an actress, a voice talent, a coach, and an author giving voice actors more tools to succeed. Want to learn the skills you need to make a bang with your demo? Join me in Power Moves 101!
