Are any be her three Welcome Hi to the Pro Audio Suite. Thanks you guys, a professional and motivator. Thanks to try Booth, the best vocal booth for home or on the road voice recording and Austrian Audio Making Passion Herd introducing Robert Marshall from Source Elements and Someone Audio Post Chicago, Aaron Robert Robertson from Voodoo Radio Imaging six to the Video Stars, George the Tech Whittam from La and Me, Andrew Peters Voice Sober Talent and Home Studio Guy. Welcome to another pro audio suite thanks to try Booth, don't forget the code PAP two hundred to save two hundred dollars in your purchase and Austrian Audio Making Passion Heard this week, we have a couple of questions that have come in to Robbo questions, Robo, what have we got? People must love me for questions. The first one comes from I'm going to try. I'm going to try and pronounce this. Apologies if I get it wrong, because obviously it's not a name that I don't think you would want if it wasn't yours, Tim Tim Feurer, I don't know. Is if eu e arir Feurer. I'm presuming as opposed to Tempura Tempire exactly Japanese cousin exactly. Where you said it. It sounds more like he's like the leader of Germany. Yeah, well that's what I mean. That's what I mean. So if that, if that's not how you produce it, and he takes offense. I apologize. Pronounce it? Am I stuck in work? Mate? If that's not how you pronounce it, I apologize anyway. He's obviously just discovered the show because he says, I'm currently making a way through all the podcasts. Thank you very much, so forgive me if this has already been addressed as someone trying to get into vo I know I need a demo. I'm not sure I have the money to pay for a high quality demo, but I doubt my own ability to create one of my own. How important is the quality of your demo? Shouldn't I be getting hired for my voice delivery and technique? Am I going to be evaluated on my ability to be an engineer as well? Thank you for your time. Ap that's different in the US. Than Australia probably, huh. Well, it's interesting because we've discussed the demo thing before, and I think Robert came up with the you know, the perfect line for it, saying the demo is designed to get an agent, not necessarily work, which certainly is true when you're auditioning. Well for some for some clarity team. Actually, to answer George question, Tim is actually in the States, George, so this is a US based question. Yeah, okay, Well the tricky thing for him, I reckon, is that it's like, you know, getting a headshot if you're an actor, what do you do get a professional photographer to take a photo or get your answer to take a photo on your iPhone or something. You know what's going to get you work, what's going to make you look the best, And say, with the demo, what's going to make you sound the best. The other thing, of course, is make sure you can actually do the work and don't spend a day doing a demo of a thirty second ad but you can't repeat when you can actually get into the studio. I had plenty of those. I think I think with the demo, I think with the demo it's it's like it's not about like, oh, I need my demo to be professionally recorded, but it needs to be well enough recorded, meaning clean and kind of shows the full quality of your voice. You know you're not going to record it through like a harmonica microphone or something. I'd say what's more important with the demo is picking some quick scripts and having a good range that shows what you can do. The technical part is even hit in the middle to maybe the upper two thirds. Quality. All the other stuff is more important. The delivery and what you choose to highlight your capabilities. In terms of content, I think are going to be more important in the demo than if you used this that mic or whatever. Needs to be good enough. Yeah. Look, having done a few demos for a bunch of different voice over artists over the years and thinking about team talking about how he's new to the industry, I think the for me, the trick with a demo is understanding that you might make a three minute demo, but if someone listens to the first thirty seconds of it, you're lucky. So I really think you've got to have a bit of knowledge about what people might want to hear to make sure that that first thirty seconds is just powerpacked. Is just bang bang bang bang bang. This is what I can do. This is another style. This is what I can do bang, and it's all got to sound good, so I know. But the other thing is also you've got to put your best foot forward, so you've got to realize what your strength is not what you think people want to hear it. I agree, I agree, and I'm not disagreeing with that. But I'm also saying, what you want to make sure is that that first thirty seconds is powerpacked. So you know what I mean, like, make sure that that first thirty seconds shows your diversity, but is also you know, it's still got to have a reasonable sort of amount of impact to it, you know what I mean, like be a sort of oh yeah, that's great that you know, it's got to be the best delivery of that line you can make. I guess, yeah, it's so true. It's got to be like quick to the point and shows your best stuff and gets someone who just wants to call you back. That's all the demo is for, is to get that your phone to ring. I don't know do people sit there and listen to all your different demos. There's so many demos. My E learning demo, this that demo, and I think this is Alleague ways that coaches are just selling more demos and demo producers are selling more demos. You need to you need a combined demo, and you need an e learning one, and you need a medical one, and you need a commercial one, and you announce your one, and you need a character one. And I think for me when I'm doing casting, and I did this recently, is if I'm casting someone who I haven't worked with before, or I'm thinking about casting someone who I haven't worked with before, I think you're right, Robert, I won't just listen to their retail demo. I'll go and listen to their E learning and their other ones because I want to know that, given the fact that you know there are some people out there who spend three days making a thirty second commercial to put on their demo and then can't reproduce it, I want to know that this person understands how to use their voice. So I want to hear different reads for different styles and go, Okay, this person understands their voice, they know how to use it, So more than likely what's on the demo that I like, I'm going to be able to get them to reproduce in the studio. It hasn't just been massaged and massage and massaged for days. And it doesn't stop that completely obviously, but there's more chance of that result. Yeah, I think. Also another thing to bear in mind is don't spend four thousand dollars on a Eave ten seventy three because if you record using a ten seventy three, your demo will get binned. You've been reading too much social media. Explain that to me. I think you chimed in, Robert at some point. I think you did. There was a response to a YouTube response to one of our episodes and ap was talking about the ten seventy three and this guy basically got on and shit canned the ten seventy three and basically said, well, if you're using a ten seventy three, why by the demoing because you know, insinuating, because the ten seventy three is a piece of crap sort of thing. Just throw it in the bin. So yep, the guy is jealous. I would think, so trolling. I think that. I mean, that's insane, but okay, I mean I would say that you you don't need a ten seventy three for a demo, And like I said, the demo is to show your range and show what you can do. And probably the most important demo is that quick one. This shows a lot of what you do, just because I see a lot more people getting hired from the audition essentially, and I think a lot of what the demo does is it gets you an agent. But I don't know that. I mean, are demos getting you jobs? I don't think they're getting your jobs. No, But I also think I guess to answer Tim's question, my thought is you probably don't need an audio engineer to record it necessarily, because you know, I think quality, while it is important, he's neither here nor there in terms of your demo. But what I think you want to employ someone for, you want to pay someone for, is for that other ear that thirty to cast a year across it and go, Okay, you might like this this here, but I think this, this, this, this, and this, and if you're starting out you don't understand what people might want to hear or how to get you know, that difference, then you might want someone to pay someone to go chop it up and sort of give you a better suggestion of what you might want to be. It sounds like you're saying the answered he asked the wrong question, is what it sounds like to me? Yeah? Yeah, I think so, as he was asking about quality, Yeah, and the quality is like good enough. I think. I think the answer is just like the booths and everything, it's like, what microphone do I need? Yes, you need a microphone that gives you a good booth. That's more important, and what microphone do you need for your audio demo? One that's good enough, because what's more important is the content and the direction that goes into that. And so if you're not aware of what a commercial sounds like, what you need to give them in terms of showing your range, then you're going to want to hire somebody to give you their two cents worth to give you direction. And if your mic sounds even two thirds as good as the best mic out there or half as good, probably you're still going to be fine with the demo, Like it's still going to be a demo that shows your range, shows the basic quality of your voice. And then keep in mind what the goal is for this demo, and if you're expecting the demo to use it to get an agent, to me, I think that's the best use of a demo, and if you're trying to use a demo to get work, I don't think that that happens as much, but I might be wrong. I think that's a really long just to get people to go to your website and listen to your demo, let alone hire you. That's already hard. Probably. Yeah, I'm still I'm actually starting to question the value of having a website quite frankly. Like honestly, Like I don't know why. I think it's I think it's all about the agent and it's all about getting the auditions. That's that's what I see happening. It's like no one gets anything without an audition. Yeah. I think your website's a bit like the old business card though, really, isn't it. Let's be honest, people, I think it's actually going into the same category as a business card. Yeah, people, probably, honest. I think I think the website makes you look amateur. Really. Hell yeah, if you're a good voiceover, talk to my agent and get out of my life because I'm busy. Actually, yes, good points, like. Does Michael McConaughey or any of these guys have a website if you're if you're on it, you don't need any of it. Yeah, that's true. The thing is that you have to get to Michael. You got to you got to get to Michael. That's that's the extreme case of it, right. Yeah, exactly. That's the elite top one percent of the voiceover the rest of the people are workaday, blue collar, lunch pale voice actors doing corporate e learning, narration and stuff like that. And yeah, they do need to have a website because that is literally how they're selling themselves and booking their clients. So what's interesting because are they are they working their. Clients through the website. That's exactly what I'm asking for, is it. I mean, I've done it. I've done plenty of radio spots that are not spectacular, and they're like, you know, in terms of low balling the talent, honestly, they're they're just you know, like, there's so much we'll pay non union buy out, blah blah blah. And even that stuff is auditioned, and half the auditions come back sometimes and the agents are like like, why would we even bother to audition for this one? And then they're like, okay, don't audition. Unfortunately, that's all the client wants to pay. Even in that scenario, I don't see people shopping from hopping from website to website looking for a voice talent. Maybe in a place Yeah, well maybe the only way a website would work is just to get all the content out and basically have it as a cooling card which has contact details and that's pretty well eat and maybe. It's a highe interactive multimedia calling carding he's done, Put demo is up and put any of that content up. Just have you know who you are, what you do, and your agent's contact etiles and maybe you run contact. I guess, I guess you need to talk to coaches that don't have their finger in the demo producing pie to get the correct information on this. Yeah, because everybody is got a finger in the demo production BI in the coaching world, I don't know a single coach is like, oh I don't done it, we don't do demos, or we don't recommend demos, not a single one. So every coach is going to talk about the importance of a demo. Yeah, they're all ones, I know. Anyway, I think I think. The best way to do it is get a general demo that gets you a call with an agent and gets you listed with an agent. Then do work and as best you can, get copies of your work after it's done, which sometimes is hard and annoying, and build your reel out of what you actually did. Do you know Do you know how one of my clients gets his real He's got a video recording dongole on his Mac. He plugs it into his DVR with RCA cables. He captures it straight off television and he hurts it on YouTube and he's killing it. Yeah, is he allowed to do that lead without permission? It's funny, Well, once you see it air, because usually when like the talent asks for it and the agency producers like, ah, like they don't want someone like here's my email because now you know, like you're just gonna get bombarded by this talent with like every new demo they do or something, so they don't want to give their email necessarily because they're going to get solicited non stop. At the same time, the talent wants the spot, but the spot can't be given back to the talent until it airs. Basically, call me in three weeks it should be ready, or give me your email and I'll email you, and I'll forget to do it. And I know that it's basically ends up being hard for talent to get copies of things they've done. And you're right it myself just talking to my daughter about stuff I did, and I was like, oh, yeah, I went to YouTube to find old spots, old Nintendo spots I did because I have no idea where I have a copy of that stuff. Yeah, yeah, at all. I mean, and you know how many people know, many voice actors clients of mine who have come to me and said, George, I want to be able to record my spot off television and you know, put it on YouTube from my you know, from my promotion. One one, so either everybody else knows how to do it, which they don't, or two they've all left money on the table by not even knowing that they should do it and aren't doing it. Because I'll tell you Chris is doing it. And Chris's commercial voiceover career is on friggin Fire Chrisprise. Yeah, And do you do you get the feeling that Chris is pulling work, hitting the auditions and getting a good stride or is he getting like work that's just offered to him and not being ad like he's locked in on some things. I mean, he auditions like everybody else, but he's not doing the cattle calls. So how is it that collecting the work that he does and having those reels contributes to more work? It shows that you're the freaking real deal. Yeah, it's not a real demo. It's not a demo. It's the real deal. It's real of the real deal. So and work begets work, And the more work you do, the more work you get, and the more attention you generate, the more. I totally agree with the real deal thing. I still am just wondering who is shopping for talent based on demos? Oh, I don't know if anybody's shopping for talent demos, But it's all part of your brand and your cachet, and you're And when someone's on YouTube thinking of hiring Chris Fry, I whatt If Chris has done any spots, I don't know, how would we find him? I don't know, Just I don't know this type. Chris fries into YouTube, maybe we can find stuff, and all of a sudden you see one hundred spots that he's done. Yeah, go oh oh, yeah, that dude is the real deal. Yeah, you know, it's like I would say that if you're looking and if you're in if the casting people these days are millennials or the directors are millennials, which they are, where are they going to be looking. It's going to be on YouTube. They're going to be on YouTube, I agree, And they're they're not hopping from site to site, which is where that comment about you don't even need a website came from. Yeah, exactly, I know what he says. You know why I'm successful because you're lazy. It's true. Yeah, he works his ass off and he's talented. He's talented. Look, even myself, marketing is not at the top of my list of you know, things I'm good at or things that I do regularly. I'll be honest, I'm useless at it. Mine news that it goes out once every six months. I'm hard to toot your own horn, so hard to toot your own horn and not feel like a complete dig like cleansing product of some sort like. Agreed, you just it's it's a funny thing because that was a you know, to the US for the first time, and people were like, basically, bring the whole brass band. They had so many trumpets blowing. You're up your car and a vinyl ad advertising here yeah, and like we're all self deprecating down here going you know, are you any good? Ah? Yeah, candib all right, I guess you know, I hold my own. It's shucks. Yeah, it's like a completely different mindset. It really is. Yeah, absolutely, it really is. So conclusion is, do a good demo. You need a high quality quality, good enough yep. Content and direction more important on your demo than what Mike and what booth you have. I mean, just make it good. Enough and focus on your strengths. Yeah. And if I and my final thought on that would be, if you have the money, pay someone not to engineer it for you, but to produce it for you, to sort of have a listen and go, okay, let's tighten this up your first thirty seconds. Let's get everything that's great in there as much as we can blah blah blah. Give you that sort of direction, especially if you're new. And also just as a footnote, and just to prove the point, Robbo sent me his wife today's demo to have listened to, and I came back and said, I really like her sort of young female read, which was somewhere in the middle. I think to stick that up the front, which Robert did, and she scored the job with the Cartoon Network in Hong Kong. Yeah, doing exactly that voice, doing exactly that voice in their first sessions in about fifty five minutes. Oh my gosh. There's another freaking moral of the story there is if your demo is not getting any action, scramble it up. Put different spots at the head, because that's likely the only thing everybody's ever going to hear. The first five servants. You know, thirty seconds is be a miracle. They must really like you if they listen to thirty seconds, you know. You're I mean, yeah, what this reminds me of is that website plugin that's like the player, the demo player. It's better than any other. It's called voice Zam voice Zam. Yeah. I think that's it. Like you can make any demo you want really quick, like here's all, here's all your modules, and send this to a client or send that like send a personalized player to a client. I think is one of the features it has. Yeah, it's a good idea. It just for whatever reason, it's not really. It's not a must have from what I'm hearing and from what I see at my client site. So I think I have to get a really great idea. I still think that they must have. Correct me if I'm wrong. But the must have is an agent who's gonna get you still auditioned. Still pretty much is. Yeah, it really is. I mean unless you're bought Bill Murray and you got your own one eight hundred number and you just interview people and say, yeah, I'll take that job. You know he does that, by the. Way, Bill Murray, doesn't he Yeah, because I read I read this awesome interview. It was a guy who wanted him to direct. He wanted to direct him, you know, he wanted he wanted to cast them. He's like, I need Bill Murray in this movie. And then he wrote an article about the process of what it takes to book Bill Murray for your film, and it was it was hilariously Bill Murray. It was just so quirky and weird. It was like, literally, call it one number and leave a voicemail. That's cool, no agent, no manager, Bill, that's. Very very very pearl jam or something of him. Yeah, Yeah, it's great. Man. Well, yeah, I mean, don't overspend, don't worry about the equality being stellar, but definitely worry about being great performance and that. And that reminded me when you said don't worry about the mike quality and don't paid somebody to engineered for you. I think that's a really damn good point. If you go to some super high quality studio and that's where the demos produced and then the jobs are going to be recorded in your home studio, that's freaking disingenuous right there. Yeah, I agree. Then you really can't back it up, you know, so. Make your expectations too high for the client. Yeah, you really should be recording demo in your studio with your own care. You should be getting direction, you should be getting a well written script, and you should be produced for sure. But now that it's a home studio world, you should be recording in your home studio. I think that's that is a really good point. It's no longer just can you like recreate your the direction that you know, like even if it took you three hours to come up with that in your demo, can you pull that back in like ten minutes when you have to. And the other thing is can you recreate the setup and the sound right, which I never do for Rabbo ever. No, there is no sit and forget for the Robert channel in the Pro Audio Suite template. It's got to be changed every week. Yeah, and I'll leave you with the quote that was from Robert that we mentioned earlier about the ten seventy three. His answer was, yeah, you would pass on a good video talent because you don't know how to use a bit of EQ. Give me a break, dude. Is that what I say? Yes, that's what you do. The Pro Audio Suite and Austrian Audio recorded using Source Connect, edited by Andrew Peaters and mixed by Voodoo Radio Imaging. Take support from George the Techo. Don't forget to subscribe to the show and joining the conversation on our Facebook group to leave a comment, suggest a topic, or just say today drop us a note at our website dot com
