A voiceover demo is an essential marketing tool for a voice actor, it demonstrates your acting skills and abilities for approaching a script. It can show off your bag of tricks, how dynamic your range is, your capabilities and what you can offer potential clients. It’s also a vehicle for putting your dreams out there, showing what you can do in the hopes of being hired to do that sort of thing – a legitimate way to “manifest” what you want by demonstrating your relevant skills.

It’s advised that voice talent do NOT produce their own demo, and should instead seek out a professional demo producer. There are some good reasons for this.

There is a standard for what constitutes a professional commercial demo, and demo producer pros know the do’s and don’ts:

• DO use custom-written scripts that demonstrate multiple performance styles and show your range,
• DO represent different industries – appropriate to what you might aspire to be cast for – in the copy,
• DO have a clear reason for each selection to be included in your demo,
• DO fully produce the commercial samples, with proper EQ, compression and licensed music or SFX, and
• DO keep the demo well-under 2 minutes.

There are many more, and some personal guidelines individual producers may abide by, as well. There are other content, style and production choices that a reputable established pro is going to navigate in order to make you sound as good as your reads can deliver. Professional demo producers also know the things to avoid in making a commercial demo:

• DON’T reuse audition copy,
• DON’T include full-length spots,
• DON’T rip copy from well-known commercials,
• DON’T ignore the current campaign, advertising habits or well-known voice of a brand you want to include (ie. Flo from Progressive is established as the brand voice, so it’s currently not a strong choice of insurance company for your demo), and
• DON’T try to make a your commercial demo multi-purpose (ie. don’t put animation characters or documentary reads on your commercial demo.

A legit producer will likely have a threshold for what level of training and coaching you’ve had coming into the demo production process. Brand new voice talent need training before they invest over $1500 on a demo so that the producer can create an honest and competitive demo for you. If you’re not currently coaching with anyone, they may recommend that you work with a coach to make the most out of the scripts for your demo.

While some coaches also produce demos, other coaches work closely with demo producers they’ve come to trust and recommend. Referrals and talking with past clients may help you find the right coach to support your skills in the demo process. There are several elite demo producers and coaches within each genre of voiceover, and then, there are “demo producers” and “coaches” – don’t rush to hand over your money until you’ve properly vetted them!

To that end, when you’re deciding who will produce your demo, you should be able to hear a collection of demos they’ve produced for other voice actors in the same genre. Listen to their work and take the opportunity to speak with their past clients about their experiences. It’s worth your time to look around and make sure you’re investing in this demo process, and your career, with someone you feel good about!

The producer should also have a clear process they can explain to you upfront, perhaps with a start to finish timeline to anticipate. Generally for this sort of work, you will make a deposit, investing in the process and committing calendar time to talk, possibly collaborate on the writing/editing and to record together. The producer can explain how the recording session is conducted and the time allocated for it, how requested edits may be handled before the demo is considered ‘final’ and the process for file release and paying the balance.

Your commercial demo should capture the best of you at the time you recorded it, show off your potential and demonstrate your skills. A professional demo producer not only has a solid background in audio production, but they’re also a student of the ever-evolving industry, and perhaps even a trendsetter for demo styles and sounds. Why wouldn’t you want your demo to benefit from all of their knowledge, skills and insights? Invest in a professional demo producer who will pour their creative energy into making you a kick-ass commercial demo.