Where should I host my Voice Over Demo? Can I upload it to Facebook?

I've gotten this question a couple times from friends and colleagues, and I've never had a great answer for folks.

From my pal Curtis:

Hey Juan, Do you know how I can upload my vo demo to my fb profile? Or is it best to link from another page to fb?

So here's the deal Curtis, we've never had great solutions for hosting audio online. You'd think in a world of streaming HD video, there's be SOME place we could semi-permanently host high quality streaming audio files like Youtube.

Recently, services like SoundCloud have become popular, and their bandwidth caps aren't horrible if you're focusing on something like your demos. The nice thing about SoundCloud is that it not only offers a handy place to upload the demo, and tools to embed the audio file on other sites, but it also makes it pretty easy to share your demo with a variety or services and social networks.

The tricky thing about directing traffic to web pages and social networking is you'll find people have very little patience. There's about zero attention span online. If someone finds you through Facebook they might not follow you to another link posted on your profile. Vice-versa if someone finds your web site, and you try to ship them off to Facebook or another service.

I'd recommend trying to make sure the basics of what you do are well represented individually on all services you use. If I find you on Facebook, I should be able to easily find your contact info, and listen to your demo, on Facebook. Ditto your own personal site.

But Facebook doesn't allow audio uploads do they? Well this is where all these streaming video sites might actually come in handy. Come up with a static image, a brand logo, something with your name on it, contact info, and convert that demo to a video file where it can live on Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook Video, etc.

Between SoundCloud and streaming video, you should have plenty of options for making sure that your marketing materials are easily accessible regardless of how someone might find you online.

For the rest of my VO audience, what services have you utilized for sharing your demo? Have I missed anything which might help people share high quality audio? Drop me a comment below!

SomeAudioGuy VO Mailbag - What Should I Put on My Voice Over Demo?

I've gotten this question quite a few times here on the blog and in person. It's a very easy question to ask which is actually quite difficult to answer. Here's my general take on demos.


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SomeAudioGuy Mailbag - How Do I Get an Agent?

I've actually gotten this question a number of times. About time I answered it here on the blog!

Hey Audio Guy
I follow you on twitter @andrewtorresny...and I saw you mention in a post that you worked for Abrams. I gotta ask...if you're a working voice actor like me, with a competitive demo and resume and a union card, how on earth do you get signed by an agency? I feel I'm entrenched in low-paying spots until I do. Can you shed some light on this? And please follow me!
Best,Andrew

Hey Andrew,

The agent game is a tricky one, and I'm afraid my advice probably wont be radically different than what others have written on the subject.

Ask a dozen different voice actors with representation HOW they got their first agent, and you'll probably end up with a dozen different stories. There is no "trick" to getting an agent. There is no "system" to getting an agent. 

First and foremost, agents are people. People with an interest in fulfilling client relationships, and profiting off of packaging a product. As an actor, you need to be able to relate to them as such. Many agents do care about craft, performance, artistry, but mainly as it relates to how they can book talent on jobs.

They are in the business of building business relationships.

Part of the psychology of "the numbers game" in auditioning is making your voice more common and recognizable. By that I mean, the more you audition, the more familiar your voice will be to casting directors and producers. Psychologically they will start to "feel" like they've heard you in commercials or worked with you in the past. That "feeling" of work will start to beget actual work, as producers for the most part like to work with established talent. It's all a part of building a reputation. 

The agent search can be similar. They DON'T want to have to create all of your relationships from scratch. It puts a strain on THEIR relationships if they have to do this for EVERY new talent they sign. They want to have the perception that signing you will please their relationships and ADD to their rolodex. It's about sharing the wealth in a way. 

How do we create that perception? 

You've got to build some relationships to bring them. Classes, workshops, mixers, you need to go meet casting directors, and befriend other voice actors especially those at the agencies you want to be repped by. Referrals are HUGE. Having someone who the agent already respects vouch for you can make the difference between your demo getting a listen or not.

Keep agents, managers, and casting up to date on what you're working on. Emails are good, but often a personalized postcard will get a fraction of a second longer consideration before it's thrown away, than an email which might not even be opened before it's deleted. Again, people in the business relationship business want to be working with people who are ALREADY working. You want to keep people up to date, but you don't want to spam them.  

You have to know EXACTLY what product it is that you want the agent to sell. Your materials need to be top notch. They can't just be competitive for the web in general, they have to be competitive against the top bookers in your niche. You have to know who those people are. Personally, I'm something of a purist. If I listen to a commercial demo and hear character voices or newscaster recordings, I'm not apt to continue listening. If I want to hear animation, radio imaging,  or audiobook narration, I'll look up THOSE specific demos. 

Lastly, on the topic of agents being people (they are actually human, I swear) personality is tremendously important. Just like any other business partnership, you just might not vibe with a particular agent. You could have the potential to make an agent millions, and they still might not sign you if they don't think they'll want to work with you. It's not personal. Nobody wants to be stuck spending a lot of time working with someone if they dont get along.  

Now here's the catch. Those in this business of business relationships, we're REALLY good at spotting a phoney. We're all sorta Holden Caulfield-y that way.  If the only reason you're trying to be my pal, or bumping into me at mixers is for YOUR benefit, I'll not be likely to help you out. In fact I'll probably try to get away from you PDQ. However, those actors that present themselves as solutions to my problems, that they're working to help me out and aren't trying to scam me, I'm more likely to chat up that actor a bit more. If we share similar interests, and can build a genuine relationship, so much the better.

It's a lot of leg work, and a pretty serious time investment, but can reap some great rewards.  

Good luck,  and happy hunting. 

A Voice Over Historical Landmark - The Voicecaster Demo Wall

In downtown beautiful Burbank...

The Voicecaster is the oldest (and one of the most respected) voice over casting facilities in California, and it's still being run from the same modest (rustic) building Bob Lloyd started the business in 35 years ago.

The most talked about feature of the building however is the Voicecaster Demo Wall. A collection of interesting looking demos from successful voice talent literally taped and glued to the wall. Also, heading back to the VC office, you can still see the library of reel-to-reel cases the casting directors used to use to select talent for auditions.




It's a charming display of our roots, and in this day and age of digital distribution, a little sad that we don't put the same flair into showcasing our demos anymore...

SomeAudioGuy on Demo Production at Voices.com

Just wanted to drop a quick link here.
David Sobolov and I were asked a series of questions on demo production over at Vox Daily.

I was in kind of a snarky mood when I replied....


Check it out:
Producers Respond To Open Letter on Voice Over Demos

Musings on Being a Freelance Recording Engineer - Turning Down Work Can Be a Real Bummer...

Living the Dream!
Right now I'm pretty lucky to be earning my living solely in voice over, especially considering that I rarely step up to the mic, LOL. I don't have a day job. I don't borrow money from my folks. I'm a freelance director and engineer, and I'm getting the rent paid doing it.
That said, being freelance in LA (and still fairly new to LA) means I'm pretty much covering EVERYTHING I can in relation to voice over. I direct auditions at a casting studio. I set up home recording equipment. I coach. I guest direct for work out groups and classes. I write, and I produce commercials and demos. The ULTIMATE dream is to eventually produce animation and video games full time, but right now, being this young in my career, it's all an exercise in generating momentum and refining my craft.

Referrals ROCK!
A lot of my current success comes directly from word of mouth. I've got some GREAT regular clients (knock on wood, I've yet to have any of those freelance horror story situations you can read about online), and they're fantastic about sending business my way. It's pretty exciting to look at how long I've been out here, look at how many incredible friends I've made, and what a crazy network of contacts I've started.

Producing Demos?
Recently I've been getting more requests to produce demos for people. These are almost always from the friends of clients. I take these jobs VERY seriously for several reasons.

• Cutting a demo from scratch will probably pay my rent for the month. 
• If I don't do a good job, I risk losing not one but TWO clients. 
• Most importantly, this is someone's career I've got in my hands. It NEEDS to be right.

Never Let 'em See You Fail
I try to live my life by that mantra. Mistakes are fine, if not necessary sometimes, and it's how we recover from those mistakes that defines who we are. That said, failure is not an option, so I'm very careful to screen clients before working on their demos.
I need to understand them. I need to understand what they do, and I need to understand what their goals are, what they hope to accomplish. If I can't get a good idea of that, then I don't work on their demo. If I don't think I'll get along with them personally, I don't work on their demo. If I don't think their ready to record a demo, then I don't work on their demo.
That last one can be a little tricky. Eager actors always seem ready to charge in where angels fear to tread. Having worked at one of LA's largest VO talent agencies, and now for one of LA's oldest voice casting agencies, cutting your demo to early can be a disasterous career move. The current casting agent I work with has a nearly photographic memory of not only demos he's liked, but also demos he hasn't. You might only get that first listen, and it'll be a LONG time before he forgets.
This week alone I've had to turn down two demos from really green actors. Each screening resulted in multi-hour phone calls, as I explained my position on the matter, and offered advice on classes, workshops, signatures, and how to work out on their own. I figure I'm protecting their career and mine by not putting out a less than satisfactory demo.
I also hope it's an investment...

Will the Investment Pay Off? 
Man I hope so.
I know that there's a VERY good chance that the people I send away are just going to move on to some other source for their demo. I'm just not comfortable taking someone's money if I don't think it'll be a good move for them.
It's the business decision I need to make, but it can really burn turning down work.

Audio Guy is the Voice of Parental Control Software!

I make no bones about the fact that I am a voice over director first, and recording engineer second. What's neat about working in voice over, is I get to be a talent from time to time.

I know the guys who are starting up CompleteParentalControl.com, and I was asked to check out their script (I used to write a little radio). They wanted to cut their web demo from 6 minutes to about 4. I tried cutting down their script, and then on a whim I recorded myself on it just to see how the changes sounded.

Well they liked my recording. I'm now the voice of their website!

Check it out here!

I don't normally do narration, but I think it came out purty good.

If I do say so myself.

Which I do.

Ripping DVD Audio to MP3! The fun and easy way!

Hey all!
I've gotten this question a couple times now, and thought I'd record a quick tutorial on it.

There are some ad agencies that are really good at giving voice over clients a copy of the commercials they record. In this digital age, the copy usually comes in the form of a DVD. However, when the actor wants to put together a demo, it can be difficult to pull the audio off of a DVD to mix into a demo (usually an mp3 in this day).

Before I would either run a line in and record in real time, or there were always really tricky methods of converting DVD's to AVI's, and midway through the process you could grab a rendered WAV file. More recently, I've been importing DVDs into Vegas, and then saving the file from there. Vegas, however, can cost almost $600.

I just caught a tip on Lifehacker with a much easier (and FREE) piece of software to get this job done!



Here's Lifehacker's link.

Here's a link to another program that will pull audio off of other video files (avi, wmv, divx, mov, etc).

So please pardon the fact that I was a little congested when I recorded this, and as a fun bonus, see if you can find the moments where my wireless mouse was wigging out on me!

The Beginnings of my Horrible Awful Demo

Ok, it's not that bad. These are some of the first recordings I've made for my next demo. I don't spend a lot of time on myself, and little bit by little bit I'm going to make this a production worthy demo.
I've done it for others (because I get paid to), so now it's time to take care of myself (and maybe I'll even pay myself to do it, who knows).

Let me know how much it sucks!

Some Audio Guy's Initial Recordings for His Next Demo! WOOT!




Bigg's thinks it's tasty!

*** EDIT ***

Here's a streaming version, so you don't even need to navigate away from this page to have a chuckle over my VO skills! Enjoy!

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voice over, some audio guy, voice acting, commercial, demo, acting, LA, work, business, tv, radio, aftra, sag