Moose's Guide To Making A Demo
To join the Newgrounds Voice Acting Club, and practically every other Voice Acting Club/Forum, then you must have some sort of demo which demonstrates your voice talent. All professional voice actors have a demo which they send out to numerous producers, but they record it in a studio, so no one is expecting that quality. What is being expected, is voice range. That is what a demo is, to show your voice acting skills to producers. Now how do you make this demo? Well, that is what this tutorial is supposed to answer.
First thing, you have to download some sort
of recording program other than Windows Sound Recorder. I suggest Audacity.
Download Audacity at
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/. It's free to download and easy to
use.
OK, so you have your Audacity, and you have your microphone.
I suggest fooling around with audacity first, just to get the hang of it. Get to
know all of the effects it offers. Mostly, Noise Reduction and Normalize. Those
help immensely. Normalize makes everything one, very good volume, and Noise
Reduction, obviously, reduces noise. Just remember when using Noise Reduction,
move the bar to less before removing the noise. That makes it sound less
robotic.
Now onto the demo: The demo should be 30 seconds at the
least, 2 minutes at the most. It should display a wide range of your voices, as
well as some of your impressions. My demo is currently pretty bad as far as
range goes. I just decided to show-off my new microphones quality. I will have a
better demo soon. The demo should also include background music. I suggest the
ambience section of music in the audio portal of newgrounds, or look for
background music of your favorite anime, just make sure it changes throughout,
making the demo seem more dynamic.
One thing you must remember, this is not a monologue. Don't
try to be funny or overly long, just show your voice. Producers don't want to
sit through 2 minutes of one voice talking. You have to remember, this demo is
for the producers to get an understanding of your voice, so they can decide if
you're good for a part without having to go through the trouble of auditioning.
Also make sure to record you lines separately. It may take 3 or 4 tries (or even
more) to get one line right. Don't get frustrated. Also make sure your lines go
by fairly fast. A 3 second wait for voice change is boring. Sound effects should
be kept to a minimum also. A quick sound effect will do the job. The most
important rule is don't make the whole thing in one sitting. Don't sit down and
change your voice for 1 and 1/2 minutes. It's easy to tell and is very
unprofessional. Also avoid introductions like "Hey, this is my first demo so
hope you like it" or "Yea, this demo sucks but I hope you still like it". Just
start off with voices and end with voices. Anything else is a waste of time.
Now for the voices themselves, I suggest doing a mix of original and non-original voices. Many new voice actors do not know what their voice sounds like yet. If you are one of those people, try doing voices from your favorite cartoons, movies, shows, or video games. Just doing a few can help define your voice more. Always try to expand your range and accents and whatnot. I got started recognizing my range by playing with Metal Gear Solid's Snake. I did a bunch of characters from Family Guy, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Inuyasha, and many other things. I discovered my skill in cocky male voices when I voiced Yunsung from Soul Caliber. That's what you should do to, try to discover your voice by trying others first, then making your own voices.
Once you have your amazing demo, I suggest
e-mailing it to another, more experienced voice actor for constructive
criticism. If you follow their advice and criticism, then the demo will
evidently get better. Just make sure not to mistake constructive criticism for
insults. After you finish your demo, if you have a website, post it there. If
you do not have a website, then just put the demo on
Putfile.com. Then get the link and post it in
your signature and on the NG VAC when you officially join.
If you need any help mixing the demo or looking for/putting in music, just ask
me at
[email protected]. Good luck and hope you enjoy.