- Robbo shares how his process creates world-class demos that land talent major gigs.
- Learn why listening is the secret sauce to crafting the perfect voiceover demo.
- Behind-the-scenes stories of VO pros, acting challenges, and gear tips galore.
- Tribooth: $200 off with code TRIPAP200.
- Austrian Audio: Making passion heard with their industry-leading gear.
#ProAudioSuite #BlackFridayDeals #VoiceoverDemo #AudioGearDiscounts #VOProTips A big shout out to our sponsors, Austrian Audio and Tri Booth. Both these companies are providers of QUALITY Audio Gear (we wouldn't partner with them unless they were), so please, if you're in the market for some new kit, do us a solid and check out their products, and be sure to tell em "Robbo, George, Robert, and AP sent you"... As a part of their generous support of our show, Tri Booth is offering $200 off a brand-new booth when you use the code TRIPAP200. So get onto their website now and secure your new booth... https://tribooth.com/ And if you're in the market for a new Mic or killer pair of headphones, check out Austrian Audio. They've got a great range of top-shelf gear.. https://austrian.audio/ We have launched a Patreon page in the hopes of being able to pay someone to help us get the show to more people and in turn help them with the same info we're sharing with you. If you aren't familiar with Patreon, it’s an easy way for those interested in our show to get exclusive content and updates before anyone else, along with a whole bunch of other "perks" just by contributing as little as $1 per month. Find out more here.. https://www.patreon.com/proaudiosuite George has created a page strictly for Pro Audio Suite listeners, so check it out for the latest discounts and offers for TPAS listeners. https://georgethe.tech/tpas If you haven't filled out our survey on what you'd like to hear on the show, you can do it here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZWT5BTD Join our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/proaudiopodcast And the FB Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/357898255543203 For everything else (including joining our mailing list for exclusive previews and other goodies), check out our website https://www.theproaudiosuite.com/ “When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.” Hunter S Thompson
00:00:00
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?
00:00:01
Get started.
00:00:01
Welcome.
00:00:02
Hi.
00:00:02
Hi.
00:00:03
Hi.
00:00:03
Hello everyone.
00:00:05
To the Pro Audio Suite.
00:00:06
These guys are professional, they're motivated.
00:00:08
Thanks to Tribush, the best vocal booth for
00:00:11
home or on the road voice recording.
00:00:13
And Austrian Audio, making passion heard.
00:00:16
Introducing Robert Marshall from Source Elements and Someone
00:00:20
Audio Post, Chicago.
00:00:21
Darren Robert Robertson from Voodoo Radio Imaging, Sydney.
00:00:25
Tech to the VO Stars.
00:00:26
George the Tech Whittam from LA.
00:00:28
And me, Andrew Peters, voiceover talent and home
00:00:31
studio guy.
00:00:32
Line up, man.
00:00:33
Here we go.
00:00:35
And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite.
00:00:38
Thanks to Tribush.
00:00:39
Don't forget the code.
00:00:40
T-R-I-P-A-P 200 to
00:00:43
get 200 US dollars off your Tribush.
00:00:46
And Austrian Audio, making passion heard.
00:00:49
Now of course, it is officially Black Friday.
00:00:53
And there's a few little deals going around
00:00:55
the table in our little community.
00:00:58
Who wants to kick off?
00:00:59
George or Robert or Robbo?
00:01:02
I'm kicking it.
00:01:03
Keep going, George.
00:01:04
George.
00:01:05
It's George.
00:01:05
So we, you know, every year we like
00:01:07
to offer some big discount, as we tend
00:01:09
to do at this time of year.
00:01:10
And so my idea this go around is
00:01:14
we're going to offer our memberships, which you
00:01:17
guys may not know we have.
00:01:18
But we do have subscription memberships.
00:01:21
And what we're going to do is if
00:01:23
you sign up before the end of the
00:01:25
day on Monday, that's the end of Cyber
00:01:26
Monday, and you use the coupon code GTT50OFFCM24
00:01:35
at checkout, you can probably figure out what
00:01:38
that means, right?
00:01:40
50OFFCYBERMONDAY24.
00:01:42
At checkout, you're going to get 50%
00:01:44
off your entire year's membership.
00:01:47
So whether you pay by the month or
00:01:50
by the year, you're going to get 50
00:01:52
% off the membership.
00:01:54
And what does that entail exactly, right?
00:01:56
Because what the heck is a membership?
00:01:58
Well, we've decided to offer these memberships so
00:02:01
we can include a whole slate of services
00:02:04
that are included with each membership.
00:02:06
And there's a few tiers available, starting with
00:02:08
blue steel, bronze, silver, and gold.
00:02:12
And so if you come in on the
00:02:14
blue steel level, it's normally $50 a month
00:02:18
and $500 a year.
00:02:20
You basically get two months free if you
00:02:22
opt for an annual payment up front and
00:02:25
save a little bit of money if you
00:02:27
have the extra cash to spend.
00:02:29
But you'll also still get 50% off
00:02:32
of that.
00:02:34
So you can get an entire year's worth
00:02:36
of a blue steel membership for $250.
00:02:39
And that includes my virtual George front of
00:02:43
the line priority service.
00:02:44
So if you do purchase a service, you're
00:02:46
going to get ahead of the line of
00:02:48
others who are waiting for my response.
00:02:51
Webinar library access, you can get up to
00:02:53
12 videos per year from our video library.
00:02:58
You'll be able to come to our members
00:03:00
Zoom with me twice a month.
00:03:03
Answers access, where you can just ask questions
00:03:05
anytime online, two per month.
00:03:08
And sound checks, two per year.
00:03:11
That's all included on the blue steel.
00:03:14
Just the webinar library alone is worth a
00:03:18
lot.
00:03:19
I have one question on that, though.
00:03:21
If I watch a video, have I got
00:03:23
to rewind it before I return it?
00:03:24
Yes, you have to.
00:03:25
Please be kind, rewind.
00:03:29
That's where all the old people are.
00:03:30
We'll pull it for you with what all
00:03:31
the other memberships include, but you can check
00:03:32
it out at georgev.tech slash member sign
00:03:36
up.
00:03:37
And that's where the pages and you'll see
00:03:39
the promotion and a list of all the
00:03:42
things you can get part of that.
00:03:44
Now, also, the memberships are limited to a
00:03:46
number of certain number of people because we
00:03:48
want to make sure that the membership club
00:03:51
has enough attention from me specifically.
00:03:54
Yeah.
00:03:55
So there's only 50 of the blue steel,
00:03:57
20 bronze, 10 silver and five gold total
00:04:01
that we're going to offer.
00:04:02
And most of the bronze memberships have been
00:04:05
bought already.
00:04:06
There's only four of me.
00:04:07
There's only so much George to go around.
00:04:09
There's so much to go around.
00:04:11
It goes blue, bronze, silver, gold.
00:04:14
Yeah.
00:04:15
So what are the differences?
00:04:17
Like if you just give like a sentence
00:04:18
or two about each level.
00:04:19
So like the blue you said is like
00:04:21
you get two things.
00:04:22
You get 12 videos, right?
00:04:24
Right.
00:04:25
So blue.
00:04:25
When you go to bronze, which is the
00:04:26
most popular plan right now, you get all
00:04:29
the virtual George front of the line, unlimited
00:04:32
webinar access.
00:04:33
So anything we release throughout the year, you
00:04:36
can review anything in the library at all.
00:04:40
You can review.
00:04:41
And there's actually have to count.
00:04:43
I think I have over 50 videos now
00:04:45
in the webinar library of tech training.
00:04:48
Shit loads is the Aussie term for that.
00:04:49
Yeah.
00:04:50
Yeah.
00:04:51
And then the memberships.
00:04:53
Then what differentiates it really is you get
00:04:55
more questions per month that you can ask
00:04:57
more sound checks for per year.
00:04:59
And then you also get to processing presets,
00:05:02
which are usually $90 each.
00:05:04
Everybody loves processing presets, especially engineers.
00:05:07
Just kidding.
00:05:09
And then scheduling, you can get scheduled zoom
00:05:12
calls, consulting with me privately twice a year.
00:05:15
And you get one emergency instance of support
00:05:19
per year on the bronze plan.
00:05:21
So you get a lot more in the
00:05:24
bronze plan.
00:05:25
Yeah.
00:05:26
So the silver just really ups the ante
00:05:28
in terms of more of everything.
00:05:31
So if you find that you want to
00:05:32
have better access to more emergency support calls
00:05:35
and just more access to me generally, that's
00:05:39
where silver and then gold come in.
00:05:41
Just depends on how busy you are, how
00:05:43
much demand and really maybe how complicated your
00:05:46
studio is at the end of the day.
00:05:49
So that's it.
00:05:50
Thanks.
00:05:51
And I hope you guys find that to
00:05:52
be a good deal.
00:05:52
Again, it's GTT50OFFCM24.
00:05:57
Use that coupon code when you check out
00:05:59
on the website.
00:06:01
And that's at georged.tech slash member sign
00:06:04
up.
00:06:04
Very cool.
00:06:05
Beautiful.
00:06:06
Choice.
00:06:08
Choice.
00:06:09
So what's happening with source elements, Robert?
00:06:12
So we have a Black Friday thing.
00:06:19
What is it?
00:06:19
It can be.
00:06:20
So everything on the store has some sort
00:06:23
of discount or something applied to it.
00:06:26
Let's see.
00:06:28
There's an upgrade for really old Nexus license
00:06:32
holders.
00:06:34
There's a Nexus first month free, which is
00:06:38
the one that ends up being basically like
00:06:41
92% off the first month of Nexus.
00:06:43
And then I think there's at least a
00:06:46
15% off the yearly, I believe.
00:06:49
Then going over to Source Connect, there are
00:06:52
$75 off.
00:06:55
So no initial fee on any of the
00:06:57
subscriptions.
00:07:00
There's a, I think for the really old
00:07:04
upgrades, if you have a super old license,
00:07:05
it's 50% off the upgrade to 3
00:07:07
.9. Then for 3.8, I think it's
00:07:10
maybe 25%.
00:07:11
And then we have a 15% off
00:07:14
of early upgrade from 3.9 to 4.
00:07:17
So 25% from 3.8 to 3
00:07:19
.9. And then the jumping off point to
00:07:23
4 is from 3.9. So everyone has
00:07:25
to get up to 3.9 to jump
00:07:27
to 4.
00:07:27
And then there's an early 15% off
00:07:30
that for 4 for the year.
00:07:35
I think that's everything.
00:07:37
It's pretty cool, though.
00:07:39
So a typical sale.
00:07:42
So what's the code?
00:07:44
Do you need the code?
00:07:46
It all depends.
00:07:47
There's going to be basically an email that
00:07:49
goes out.
00:07:50
And then there'll be a menu where you
00:07:52
can click on it.
00:07:53
And it'll just say, click here for this
00:07:55
item or click here for that item.
00:07:58
And we try to do it so that
00:07:59
we also aren't emailing people that don't have
00:08:03
a license.
00:08:05
I think this year's going to be a
00:08:07
little less programmatic like that.
00:08:08
So you just kind of go through the
00:08:09
menu and look.
00:08:10
I know in the past we tried to
00:08:11
just go like, well, you don't have Nexus,
00:08:14
so here's your upgrade for SourceConnect because the
00:08:16
other thing doesn't apply to you.
00:08:18
So it's kind of hard to segment everything
00:08:21
like that.
00:08:21
Yeah.
00:08:23
Well, particularly if someone's got Buzz.
00:08:26
Well, yeah, exactly.
00:08:27
Just the mailing side alone, setting up the
00:08:30
system to send out those custom emails that
00:08:32
only go to the right people is quite
00:08:34
a process.
00:08:35
It's something I'm actually working on myself.
00:08:37
Yeah, it is.
00:08:38
I'm doing some email joint moment.
00:08:40
Segmentation, at least that's what we call it.
00:08:43
Yep.
00:08:43
I just send text messages to the wrong
00:08:45
people.
00:08:46
That's because you're old, though.
00:08:48
That's why.
00:08:49
Yeah, exactly.
00:08:49
Do you send text messages that say, hi,
00:08:52
how have you been?
00:08:54
Yeah.
00:08:55
Didn't we meet last week at dinner?
00:08:57
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:08:58
That's right.
00:08:59
No, I just actually sent a text to
00:09:01
our cleaner saying, you should come and check
00:09:03
it out.
00:09:04
And then she came back with four question
00:09:05
marks.
00:09:07
I went, sorry, that was meant for Somerset
00:09:09
when we were talking about Source Connect 4.
00:09:11
I thought you were going to say it
00:09:11
was meant for Meg, and I was going
00:09:12
to say, what's the picture?
00:09:13
You should come and check it out.
00:09:14
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:09:16
I'll see you tomorrow morning, then.
00:09:18
That's when you reply back with a dick
00:09:19
pic.
00:09:20
Oh, no.
00:09:23
Ask Arnold Schwarzenegger how that turned out.
00:09:26
I know.
00:09:26
Yeah, exactly.
00:09:27
Exactly.
00:09:27
Yeah.
00:09:29
All right, Rob, you've got a bit of
00:09:31
a black Friday deal.
00:09:32
I'm going to dip my toe in the
00:09:33
black Friday pool, too.
00:09:34
I'm going to offer 15% off your
00:09:36
next demo, and that's for anybody here in
00:09:40
Oz or in the US.
00:09:43
Or anywhere.
00:09:43
Or anywhere, for that matter.
00:09:44
So, yeah, it's not a difficult code to
00:09:47
remember, just black 15.
00:09:49
But you don't have to book the demo
00:09:51
today or black Friday.
00:09:53
But what you have to do is book
00:09:54
the – I do a free chat session
00:09:56
before you book your demo.
00:09:57
So, if you book your free chat in
00:10:00
the next 24 hours and you go on
00:10:02
to book your demo, you'll get 15%
00:10:04
off.
00:10:05
So, yeah.
00:10:06
Lovely.
00:10:08
Nice.
00:10:08
And what's the code again?
00:10:09
Black 15, only because I couldn't think of
00:10:11
anything else on the spare of the moment.
00:10:14
That sounds a bit Vegas.
00:10:15
Maybe I should put my money on black
00:10:16
15.
00:10:17
There you go.
00:10:17
How do you do the demos?
00:10:18
Do you do it, like, by session and
00:10:21
then, like, a mix?
00:10:23
It's just a flat-out V, and it's
00:10:25
a bit of a process.
00:10:26
So, I do a chat where we –
00:10:29
and this is the same for what Andrew
00:10:31
and I were doing.
00:10:32
We do a chat first and sort of
00:10:35
get an idea of what you want from
00:10:36
your demo and what sort of demo you
00:10:37
want to do.
00:10:39
And then I write some scripts, and the
00:10:44
client gets those back to have a look
00:10:45
at.
00:10:46
And then we do a session number one,
00:10:48
which is where we go through each script
00:10:50
one by one, obviously, and put it all
00:10:52
down.
00:10:52
And then I go away and I do
00:10:53
a rough mix on those and a rough
00:10:55
edit.
00:10:55
The client gets those back to have a
00:10:57
listen to.
00:10:58
And then we do session two, and we
00:11:00
go through the process of listening to each
00:11:02
one.
00:11:03
I share my Pro Tools screen through Nexus,
00:11:07
and they get to see the Pro Tools
00:11:10
screen.
00:11:11
And sort of we work through script by
00:11:12
script and do pickups and rewrites and all
00:11:16
the rest of it there.
00:11:17
And then final mixes and a bunch of
00:11:20
WAV files and MP3 files later, your demo's
00:11:23
done.
00:11:25
So two records and with it two sort
00:11:29
of mixes.
00:11:30
Two records, two mixes, and all your scripts
00:11:32
as well.
00:11:32
And all the scripts too.
00:11:35
That's right.
00:11:36
So it's a bit of a process, but
00:11:38
it's a good one.
00:11:39
And it's got some really good rewards.
00:11:40
In fact, I can tell you, and I
00:11:42
can say here first, that a client of
00:11:45
mine, Katerina Sertiz, who's over in Perth, was
00:11:48
just picked up by – Now I'm going
00:11:52
to get the name of this wrong.
00:11:56
Let's see if I can find it quickly.
00:11:58
Let me just jump onto my – There's
00:12:01
a women in promos movement.
00:12:03
They're trying to get more women on promo
00:12:05
voiceovers.
00:12:06
And what they had to do was they
00:12:09
had to – artists had to submit their
00:12:12
demos to be considered.
00:12:14
And there's been only one person selected in
00:12:17
each country or each continent.
00:12:19
So there was Australia, the United States, United
00:12:23
Kingdom, and a couple of others.
00:12:25
There's about five – South Africa was another
00:12:27
one.
00:12:27
There's about five or six places all around
00:12:29
the world.
00:12:29
Anyway, her demo that I produced for her
00:12:32
got her chosen as the Australian representative for
00:12:35
women in promos.
00:12:38
Well, I'll touch you then.
00:12:40
That's very good.
00:12:40
So she's done really well for herself.
00:12:43
Matt Cowrick is another Voodoo Sound voiceover demo
00:12:48
recipient.
00:12:49
So yeah, well, he got work with Scout
00:12:50
with that.
00:12:51
He's actually just got on with Andrew's agent
00:12:55
here.
00:12:55
I mean, I can't claim that Matt Cowrick's
00:12:59
magic was completely concocted by my demo, but
00:13:02
I'd sort of like to hope it helped.
00:13:05
Who's the biggest global demo mill, do you
00:13:08
think?
00:13:09
It'd have to be – what's his name
00:13:11
in – Is it J.
00:13:12
Michael?
00:13:13
I'd say Chuck.
00:13:14
Yeah, it'd have to be Chuck, surely.
00:13:16
Is it Chuck?
00:13:17
I would have thought so.
00:13:18
Yeah, probably.
00:13:19
George, what do you think?
00:13:21
I mean – Like worldwide, the biggest demo
00:13:23
mill worldwide.
00:13:25
Well, okay, the word mill definitely has a
00:13:28
negative connotation to it.
00:13:30
I apologize.
00:13:31
Okay, so let's start over.
00:13:32
So we build on that and I will
00:13:34
comment.
00:13:36
Sorry.
00:13:41
Who's the most prolific demo producer around the
00:13:44
world?
00:13:45
Yeah, who's like the biggest demo producers in
00:13:48
the world as far as like – I
00:13:51
don't know how we could know that.
00:13:52
I mean, we certainly know who are the
00:13:53
most well-known, that's for sure.
00:13:55
I mean, that have been around the longest
00:13:57
marketing themselves is doing those things, the longest
00:14:00
demos that rock.
00:14:02
Chuck Duran's a big one, of course.
00:14:03
Chuck Duran.
00:14:04
Nancy Wilson.
00:14:05
J.
00:14:05
Michael, right?
00:14:06
Nancy Wilson.
00:14:06
Nancy Wilson's been doing it a really long
00:14:07
time.
00:14:09
J.
00:14:09
Michael Collins.
00:14:12
I mean, Nancy's the centerfold of every single
00:14:16
voiceover resource guide that they put in all
00:14:19
the studios in the US.
00:14:20
Yeah, the Vorg.
00:14:21
She buys the centerfold of that every single
00:14:25
time because she just wants to be remembered.
00:14:30
It's tough out there when you are one
00:14:32
of the OGs, you've been doing it a
00:14:34
really long time.
00:14:35
And there's so many other production companies coming
00:14:39
up.
00:14:39
You have to stay on top of mind.
00:14:44
And how much do those – I know
00:14:48
that some of those demos are like $3
00:14:51
or more.
00:14:52
Yeah, I've heard of more than $3.
00:14:54
That's a lot of money for a demo.
00:14:56
For a demo, yeah.
00:14:57
It seems that the numbers I hear bantered
00:15:00
about tend to be between $2 and
00:15:02
$3.
00:15:03
But to be fair, I mean, having been
00:15:05
doing this now for about 18 months, there's
00:15:07
a shitload of work that goes into a
00:15:08
good demo.
00:15:10
I mean, if you want to pay $200,
00:15:12
$300 for a demo, you're not getting scripts
00:15:14
written for you.
00:15:15
And you're certainly not getting an hour dedicated
00:15:18
before you even start the whole process.
00:15:20
So the person who's doing your demo can
00:15:22
understand more about you and what you're good
00:15:25
at and what your strengths are and what
00:15:26
your weaknesses are and make a few suggestions.
00:15:28
Robbo, check this out.
00:15:31
So I was going to tell everyone this
00:15:33
when you were digging through your email and
00:15:35
stuff.
00:15:35
So I just did that demo for Sage,
00:15:37
right?
00:15:38
Yep.
00:15:38
And how did I come up with the
00:15:39
scripts?
00:15:40
I just listened to other voiceover demos and
00:15:41
I wrote them.
00:15:43
Be careful.
00:15:46
Well, so then today I'm like, oh, I'm
00:15:49
going to go over to this site and
00:15:50
email them and be like, here, here's Sage's
00:15:52
demo.
00:15:53
Just try to get an intro.
00:15:55
And I play the first – and I
00:15:56
mean the goddamn first item on the list.
00:15:59
And it's like some new thing.
00:16:02
And it is the last – is word
00:16:05
for word the last thing on Sage's demo.
00:16:08
Whoops.
00:16:09
Yeah.
00:16:10
So it's funny.
00:16:12
And it's like that whole thing about custom
00:16:14
scripts.
00:16:14
You've got to be careful.
00:16:16
You do.
00:16:17
And then there's searching out music and all
00:16:21
of it.
00:16:22
There is a ton to it, absolutely.
00:16:24
But even that, at these rates.
00:16:26
I mean, you can cut this out entirely,
00:16:31
but I would imagine you're not doing like
00:16:34
$3 plus per demo or at the
00:16:38
same rate that those – No, I'm not
00:16:39
doing that.
00:16:40
– that they are.
00:16:40
I'd imagine that you got like – No,
00:16:42
that's right.
00:16:43
And look, I mean, who knows?
00:16:45
With time, I might be able to.
00:16:46
But for now, I'm paying myself a comfortable
00:16:50
amount that sort of justifies my time and
00:16:53
sort of still encourages people to sort of
00:16:55
give me a go.
00:16:55
I'll tell you another reason why.
00:16:57
I'm pretty sure with all of those guys,
00:16:59
they are hiring engineers and they are hiring
00:17:02
other people to do the demos.
00:17:04
Yeah.
00:17:04
Chuck does his own.
00:17:05
At some level.
00:17:06
No, Chuck's an engineer.
00:17:08
Chuck does it?
00:17:09
Yeah, Chuck engineers his own.
00:17:10
Yeah.
00:17:12
But not everybody.
00:17:13
There's a lot of coaches who do that.
00:17:14
Yeah, I thought – I mean, I certainly
00:17:16
worked at a place where there was like,
00:17:18
you know, people producing it.
00:17:20
And it was more of like a staffed
00:17:22
up thing where they had someone who was
00:17:23
producing the sessions.
00:17:24
Yeah.
00:17:25
And an engineer for all of them.
00:17:27
My friend Rick Wasserman, he produces demos through
00:17:30
Bookable.
00:17:30
And then he has Greg Chunn produce the
00:17:32
– you know, do the production.
00:17:34
He'll do the music, the mix.
00:17:36
Right.
00:17:36
So it's oftentimes a team.
00:17:40
In that case, you can see why the
00:17:42
price goes up.
00:17:43
Chuck is the engineer, producer.
00:17:46
I'm not sure what hats he's wearing, but
00:17:48
certainly an engineer.
00:17:49
And then Stacey writes the scripts.
00:17:51
That's how they work together.
00:17:52
Yeah.
00:17:53
Right.
00:17:54
So here Robbo's like, I am four people.
00:17:58
Yeah.
00:17:59
And then I'm trying to do – That's
00:18:00
what you got to do to get started.
00:18:01
You can't hire everything out when you're just
00:18:04
getting started off, you know, launching a business.
00:18:06
Correct.
00:18:07
If you pay out for everybody, it takes
00:18:09
a really long time.
00:18:10
You know what I've found, though, is the
00:18:11
biggest thing to making a demo for somebody
00:18:14
else, the most important thing, is actually just
00:18:15
listening.
00:18:16
Yeah.
00:18:16
Yeah.
00:18:17
All the other skills aside, it's actually –
00:18:20
that first hour that I spend just in
00:18:23
a Google meeting with a client is the
00:18:26
most important hour of the whole process, because
00:18:28
unless you understand what they're trying to get
00:18:30
out of it and you have an understanding
00:18:32
of what their strengths are as a voiceover
00:18:34
artist and what their weaknesses are and maybe
00:18:36
understanding of sort of where they want to
00:18:39
go and what they want to do, then
00:18:41
it's just – you're making a demo that's
00:18:43
really not going to do anything for them
00:18:44
except make some noise.
00:18:47
That's the most important thing, I reckon.
00:18:50
And that's obviously what these guys like Chuck
00:18:53
and Jay and all that get right as
00:18:54
well.
00:18:56
Yeah, but it's interesting.
00:18:58
If you don't understand the person right from
00:19:01
the get-go, you're going to end up
00:19:02
with a demo that is not going to
00:19:05
be indicative of what your talent can do.
00:19:08
Exactly.
00:19:10
And you're probably selling them to the wrong
00:19:12
audience.
00:19:12
Absolutely.
00:19:13
You find the strengths that they've got and
00:19:15
that's what you work on.
00:19:16
Yeah, and the thing where I'm lucky is
00:19:19
working with some big agencies here in Australia
00:19:22
and global agencies is I get to see
00:19:24
where the trends are in terms of where
00:19:26
voiceover is going and so I can incorporate
00:19:28
that into demos if that's going to assist
00:19:30
someone in terms of styles and different ways
00:19:34
of reads and all that sort of stuff
00:19:36
too, so that's helpful.
00:19:37
But here's the thing.
00:19:39
Who needs a demo?
00:19:40
Because I've seen, for example, someone at Andrew's
00:19:44
level who's like, I'm too close to it
00:19:48
and I don't have the time and I'm
00:19:50
not as good as this.
00:19:51
So here's a whole bunch of spots I
00:19:53
worked on and make me a demo.
00:19:56
It needs to be a minute and a
00:19:57
half long or whatever.
00:19:58
And they're paying for that, but really they're
00:20:00
not paying to create the material because they
00:20:02
just have a book of work that already
00:20:04
– it's just for real.
00:20:05
So that's one level of making a demo.
00:20:08
And then the next one is you're trying
00:20:11
to get into a new line of business,
00:20:13
like whatever you want to do, like promos
00:20:16
instead of just commercials.
00:20:20
And you don't have the material and you
00:20:23
don't necessarily have the skills or, again, the
00:20:25
perspective to make your own demo, but you're
00:20:27
already like a seasoned voice talent.
00:20:30
You're just making a new genre.
00:20:32
And then I guess the last one is
00:20:34
someone's just coming in fresh, which really –
00:20:37
I mean, what?
00:20:38
They're just going to do a general demo,
00:20:40
like a couple spots with a PSA in
00:20:42
the middle of it or something.
00:20:44
Can I play you something talking about people
00:20:46
coming in new?
00:20:47
And this is a bit of shameless self
00:20:48
-promotion, I suppose.
00:20:49
But I did a voiceover demo for a
00:20:52
gentleman lately who's been an actor on stage
00:20:54
all his life.
00:20:55
I love seeing you do this, too, because
00:20:57
you're going to chuck it in the timeline.
00:20:59
He's in his 60s.
00:21:00
Right ahead of the playhead.
00:21:01
I am, but I've got to go find
00:21:02
it, so give me a second.
00:21:04
Right.
00:21:04
But he came to me and he said,
00:21:07
look, I've got a new acting agent and
00:21:10
my acting agent suggested that I get into
00:21:12
voiceover.
00:21:12
And my first thing was like, oh shit,
00:21:15
one of these.
00:21:18
Everybody's a voiceover artist, right?
00:21:20
But can I just say this guy and
00:21:22
his ability to take direction was absolutely incredible.
00:21:28
He's not a polished voiceover artist and certainly
00:21:32
doesn't have all the skills that a voice
00:21:34
artist needs.
00:21:36
Is he an actor?
00:21:37
He's an actor.
00:21:38
Absolutely.
00:21:39
He is an actor.
00:21:39
Well, there you go.
00:21:40
He's a lovely guy and he listened to
00:21:43
everything I had to say.
00:21:44
And he didn't take offense when I sort
00:21:46
of went, look, there's a big difference between
00:21:48
acting and voiceover.
00:21:49
And he sort of listened to what I
00:21:51
had to say.
00:21:51
And he came out with this most amazing
00:21:57
set of scripts, of reads on the scripts
00:22:02
that I'd written for him.
00:22:03
I'm just trying to find it at the
00:22:04
same time.
00:22:06
And yeah, he was incredible.
00:22:08
He was just amazing.
00:22:09
And just, here we go, if I can
00:22:11
find him.
00:22:11
I think with most people when they're getting
00:22:13
into it is trying to get them to
00:22:15
be really dynamic in a session.
00:22:17
Yeah.
00:22:19
Usually they get in a rut and they
00:22:20
read it exactly the same a whole bunch
00:22:22
of times.
00:22:22
And you're like, you know, change it up
00:22:24
and do stuff.
00:22:25
And whatever it's like, it never goes beyond
00:22:27
this room.
00:22:28
If it's like weird, funny sounding, it just
00:22:31
doesn't matter.
00:22:32
And go out on a limb.
00:22:33
And then once you get someone out there
00:22:34
and they're loosened up, then all of a
00:22:36
sudden, it's funny.
00:22:38
Looking back, you're like, oh, yeah, that one
00:22:39
crazy take was the perfect thing for the
00:22:41
end of it.
00:22:42
I've had people come here during COVID.
00:22:45
I've had voice actors come over to use
00:22:47
the studio because they can't get into town
00:22:49
because of the COVID pandemic.
00:22:52
And I'm not going to mention any names,
00:22:54
of course, but I remember one session.
00:22:56
I was sitting here actually monitoring because it
00:22:58
was down the line on Source Connect.
00:23:02
And it's one of those things where the
00:23:03
last line, can you just give us three
00:23:04
takes of that last, you know, the tag
00:23:07
or whatever.
00:23:08
It's like, okay.
00:23:09
And the three takes of that tag were
00:23:12
all exactly the same.
00:23:15
Oh, really?
00:23:15
And I'm thinking, useless.
00:23:18
What?
00:23:18
Anyway.
00:23:20
Yeah, useless.
00:23:22
Yeah.
00:23:22
I'm just trying to think.
00:23:23
Is another thing that I've heard from casting
00:23:25
directors, like when you're producing a demo, is
00:23:28
to try to avoid the really major brands?
00:23:31
Yeah.
00:23:32
That's what I've heard as well.
00:23:33
Well, I kind of tend to disagree.
00:23:36
This is debatable.
00:23:38
Yeah, there's a bunch of reasons I disagree
00:23:40
with that.
00:23:41
I don't think anybody is saying that that's
00:23:45
something that you did.
00:23:46
And I certainly, when I was trying to
00:23:48
start out, did all kinds of cuts and
00:23:49
overcuts of stuff that other people did.
00:23:52
It's got to be believable.
00:23:54
If you're going to do a spot for
00:23:57
Qantas or McDonald's, it's got to be believable.
00:24:01
It's got to make someone who's listening going,
00:24:03
shit, did they do that or didn't they?
00:24:06
You know what I mean?
00:24:07
If someone's at a level where they could
00:24:09
easily pull off a McDonald's script, why not?
00:24:12
You know what I mean?
00:24:12
Yeah.
00:24:13
I think this was in the context of
00:24:14
some big market agencies.
00:24:18
Yeah.
00:24:19
And then they're going to listen to your
00:24:21
spot and go, yeah, I know that campaign.
00:24:23
He's not on that campaign.
00:24:24
I think the biggest problem was with that.
00:24:26
The reason, because I know I was told
00:24:28
not to do that for this one reason.
00:24:31
And the reason is if someone hears your
00:24:33
demo and it's a product that's competing product.
00:24:43
Yeah, competing product.
00:24:43
And you're reading a Chevy ad and someone
00:24:47
from Ford wants to book you and they
00:24:49
hear this thing.
00:24:49
It's like, what?
00:24:50
He's doing Chevy?
00:24:51
No, you're out.
00:24:52
That's an issue.
00:24:55
Yeah.
00:24:57
That's an interesting reason.
00:24:59
That's a very big difference between a demo
00:25:01
and a reel.
00:25:01
Yeah, exactly.
00:25:02
Where a reel would be an accelerator.
00:25:03
That is the difference between a demo and
00:25:05
a reel.
00:25:05
Well, on another tip, another thing, I got
00:25:08
interviewed by Mark Scott.
00:25:10
He has a podcast called Everyday Veopreneur.
00:25:14
Yep.
00:25:14
And it's a pretty popular podcast.
00:25:17
And his big thing is marketing.
00:25:18
But he brought me on for his annual
00:25:20
holiday season episode.
00:25:24
Oh, yeah.
00:25:24
And so I was the guest of the
00:25:27
year.
00:25:27
And so it was all about what things
00:25:29
I recommend to buy for your studio.
00:25:32
And he had me on for a solid
00:25:34
hour at least.
00:25:36
And so we covered everything.
00:25:37
Of course, we talked about Passport.
00:25:40
Of course, we talked about Tribooth.
00:25:42
We talked about some of our favorite things
00:25:44
that we've worked on.
00:25:45
But I covered everything from like a $99
00:25:48
mic all the way up to, you know,
00:25:50
everything in between up to a voiceover booth,
00:25:53
you know.
00:25:54
So if anybody's interested in hearing my thoughts
00:25:56
on a huge array of different categories of
00:25:59
audio and gear and everything, check that out.
00:26:02
That was released on the 21st.
00:26:04
I might even listen to that.
00:26:05
There you go.
00:26:05
I had another funny interview.
00:26:07
So I was on my way from a
00:26:08
client's home back to home.
00:26:11
And I get a text from Ann Ganguza,
00:26:14
who was interviewing me.
00:26:16
And she's like, hey, just checking in.
00:26:18
And I'm driving.
00:26:19
And I'm like, oh, okay, nice.
00:26:22
And she's like, what about our interview right
00:26:26
now?
00:26:26
What are you doing?
00:26:27
Are we doing the interview?
00:26:28
And I was like, oh, no.
00:26:31
So I was so hungry.
00:26:34
I was starving.
00:26:35
And I had to do this interview.
00:26:36
And I didn't want to blow her off
00:26:37
and reschedule.
00:26:38
She had scheduled it weeks out, you know.
00:26:39
So I pulled into a Chili's restaurant, which
00:26:42
is just like a Denny's or nothing special.
00:26:46
And I found the quietest spot in the
00:26:48
restaurant.
00:26:49
We recorded the whole interview while I literally
00:26:51
ate lunch.
00:26:52
So when she was talking, I was eating
00:26:56
my burger that she was talking.
00:27:00
And then I happened to have my headset
00:27:02
mic with the mic with a little boom
00:27:04
on it.
00:27:04
So we got decent audio.
00:27:07
But she used the Riverside FM, you know,
00:27:10
audio cleanup thing that just gets rid of
00:27:13
all the background noise.
00:27:15
You listen to it, you would not know
00:27:17
I'm sitting in a restaurant.
00:27:19
How did you manage to get the burger
00:27:21
past the microphone?
00:27:22
That's my question.
00:27:23
And what about when you slurp the bottom
00:27:24
of your milkshake?
00:27:25
You get the bottom of your milkshake.
00:27:28
How did you hide that one?
00:27:29
Well, that's the thing.
00:27:29
So she posted a one-minute clip, a
00:27:32
reel on Instagram.
00:27:34
And it's one of those top and bottom
00:27:36
videos.
00:27:37
And she's on the top and she's talking
00:27:39
away for like a solid minute.
00:27:42
What am I doing in the bottom frame?
00:27:44
Eating.
00:27:45
The entire time.
00:27:46
Nice.
00:27:48
Because I'm like trying to get in like
00:27:49
a decent amount of food here before it's
00:27:51
my turn to start talking, you know.
00:27:53
And so all it is is her talking
00:27:56
and me eating at the bottom.
00:27:59
At first I was like, really?
00:28:00
That's the clip she picked out to put
00:28:02
on the Instagram.
00:28:04
There you go.
00:28:04
So you can record anywhere, right?
00:28:06
Her podcast should be called Ghouly Ghouly Gotcha.
00:28:10
Or Gotcha by the Ghoulies.
00:28:12
Gotcha by the Ghoulies.
00:28:14
Okay.
00:28:17
So I found the file here.
00:28:18
Have a listen to this.
00:28:19
All right.
00:28:21
Let's talk cravings.
00:28:22
You know the feeling.
00:28:23
It's 11 p.m. and your stomach's louder
00:28:26
than your TV.
00:28:26
You think, oh, just have a snack.
00:28:29
Nah, mate.
00:28:30
You're heading to KFC, aren't ya?
00:28:33
I mean, who can resist that crispy finger
00:28:35
-lickin' chicken?
00:28:36
It's like they put something in it, right?
00:28:38
No, seriously.
00:28:40
That stuff's addictive.
00:28:41
Don't get me started on the chips.
00:28:43
You ever tried to eat just one?
00:28:45
Impossible.
00:28:47
They should come with a warning label.
00:28:50
KFC.
00:28:50
When the craving hits, you know where to
00:28:53
go.
00:28:54
And don't worry, we've all been there.
00:28:57
Twice this week.
00:29:03
So, yeah, his name's Drew James.
00:29:05
And he just, you know, we just, and
00:29:08
that was sort of, you know, coming back
00:29:09
to playing on, you know, their strengths and
00:29:11
weaknesses.
00:29:12
His strength was obviously acting, so we wrote
00:29:14
a bunch of scripts.
00:29:15
That was obviously a really acting one, but
00:29:17
we did some where he could still use
00:29:19
those acting skills, but it was more of
00:29:21
a voiceover.
00:29:22
Yeah.
00:29:23
And it just worked really well.
00:29:24
So, yeah.
00:29:26
It did, man.
00:29:26
It really captured that, like being in a
00:29:28
nightclub and doing a comedy act.
00:29:30
Well, see, it was all in the way
00:29:32
we did it because he came here to
00:29:33
record, so I just grabbed an SM58 for
00:29:37
that spot, grabbed an SM58 and just let
00:29:40
him go for it.
00:29:42
So he could just act.
00:29:43
That's all he had to think about.
00:29:44
That's smart.
00:29:45
Yeah, absolutely.
00:29:45
So he was just, he could just get
00:29:47
into that acting thing, and that's what it
00:29:49
was.
00:29:49
And obviously being on a 58, you don't
00:29:52
have to try and make that nightclub sound.
00:29:53
You've already sort of halfway there.
00:29:55
So it was nice.
00:29:58
Yeah.