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Saturday, April 24, 2010
Making Mistakes In The Voiceover BusinessMistakes. We all make them! Making mistakes is part of learning
and growing and while we all hate to make them, the value is in what we learn from them. The best part is we don't have
to make all of the mistakes ourselves, we can learn from the mistakes of others. I get emails daily from people who want to become voice talents. They've heard all their life what a unique
and wonderful voice they have, how special it is and how they are missing their calling of being a professional voice over
talent. With pure exuberance and an unquenchable curiosity they contact me hoping to get the one answer that will
make their dreams come true! Some are more curious than serious and some just want to make it happen so badly their
excitement and sense of urgency leads to some really bad mistakes. Here are some examples of bad mistakes aspiring voice talents tend to make: Not Investing In Training Prior to cutting
a demo, a voice talent should invest in high-quality voice over training to work on script analysis, delivery techniques,
recording, working with recording software, basically, the skills you will need to actually be a voice talent. It
takes some time to develop these skills and investing time in training and practicing your skills will increase your confidence
and help you to accentuate your strengths and improve upon your weaknesses which will prepare you for your demos. Homemade Demos And Recording Demos Prematurely Your demos speak for you and you need to make sure they speak well! They
need to be professionally produced. I do not produce my own demos. Rather I work with a professional voice over talent,
producer, and coach whom I can trust to bring out the best I have to deliver and I have been in the voice over business
for over 20 years as a professional voice talent, coach, and producer. You need to have an experienced professional
who can be objective and pull out your best voice. Demos must be succinct and should accurately reflect your abilities,
range, and versatility as a voice over talent. Recording your demos is not the first step! Training and skill development
first, demos second. Sending Agents Homemade Demos And
Audio Clips Checking out agencies and getting a feel
for what is available as far as representation is good. What is even more important is putting your best foot forward.
Agents want current professional demos not voice clips, and most will not even speak with you unless you have professionally
produced demos to offer them. They want to be able to give a definitive yes or no based upon your demos. Lack
of professionally produced demos demonstrates a lack of professionalism and as much as agents are representing you, make
no mistake about it, you are representing them when they give you the opportunity to audition for a gig, so the more professional
you come across, the better your chances for representation. That said, even some of the best voice talent get turned
down periodically by agents because they may have similar voices they are representing too. My best advice is to invest
in proper training and send agents professionally produced demos. Ambition
and excitement are wonderful qualities. Learning how to harness them and taking the appropriate steps to make good
decisions will help you avoid unnecessary mistakes like these.
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