Janet Ault. The Voice of Choice.®
Providing voice over services is a great business if you have established yourself as a marketable voice actor. For starters, achieving success in the voice over industry is a long, slow crawl. As an emerging actor/actress, it is nearly impossible to find good work since experience and depth of expertise count a lot in this kind of business.
But how can a newbie make a breakthrough? Make a rocking voice over demo!
Anyone can make a voice demo, but how can you make one that really displays all of your strengths and ranges?
An ideal voice over should be 45 to 90 seconds long. As it showcases your best work, you should tailor your demo so that it sounds like the voice over services that you wish to perform for an eventual client. The samples you need in your demo should also sound like actual radio commercials or announcements.
Producing a demo in a professional studio is a must. Great resources would be referrals from fellow actors, voice coaches, or local, reputable recording studios. Many people fly to large market cities such as L.A. to have their demos professionally recorded by such greats as SantiSound, Buzzy's Recording, or Marc Graue Studios. Another great resource is Demos2GoGo.com. Studio time, however, costs around $50-$100 per hour. A beginner can take as much as 6 hours to complete a demo track, including mixing, recording, editing, and music selection.
Careful selection should be considered when picking a studio from where you could launch your career. If they already worked with other voiceover talents, ask if you can listen to their tracks and take special note of the quality. Making a demo in a studio is an expensive investment, so it's best that you work with a reputable studio.
As mentioned earlier, a voice over demo showcases your best work. Janet Ault "The Voice of Choice™" suggests that if you excel in doing character voices, do a character demo. If you are good at promos, do a promo demo. Authenticity, according to Janet, is the key.
If you don't sound authentic, get a voice over coach to help you. For effective marketing, get a PR firm to promote you and your voice over services.