You want to know how to make a great voice over demo? Don’t make one at all. Okay, well, don’t make one until you read this. Choosing where to make your demo has become a bit more involved. Here’s why: there are many many places that will offer something like this, “Sign up now for your 4-week voiceover training session which will conclude with your demo production.” Red flag there.
What is essentially being said by places that offer to make your demo upfront, regardless of whether it comes with some training or not is this: we want your money whether you have achieved the skills needed or not. As a voice over demo producer, I have seen firsthand the eagerness with which the voice over student approaches the demo-making process. They are excited – this is to be their business card to the industry, their show-off moment, their voice over work of art! This is to the advantage of the demo-production company, but not to the student. Love, or rather excitement, is blind, or rather . . . deaf.
For the first ten years of voice over demo production I chose not to even advertise. I knew I would only offer this service to a student I was already coaching when I knew without a doubt that he or she was ready to make an AMAZING demo. I had no desire to take money from someone if I knew it could potentially make him or her, and me, look bad. What is now being done at Voiceover Gurus is offering this service as a “by-audition-only” service – guaranteeing that a student will only be making a demo when they should be.
I recommend to all my students having that “make me a demo” feeling that they first get a professional assessment of their skill level. Hire a coach or take a class and ask the instructor afterward. The only place you will not get this proper and honest assessment is those places I mentioned above. Protect your money and your reputation by choosing carefully. This is, after all, your golden opportunity – even if it only represents one minute and thirty seconds of potential fame. So, make it sound good. You only get one chance to make a first impression.