Here goes...

Cameron Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 479

Hi there everyone,

Like the others here, I'm pretty new and looking for some pointers. I'm putting up my main demo here for some critique. I have a few ideas on how to improve but seeing if some of your comments are the same too.

THE LONGER ONE--CTVariousDEMOSfinal (I believe it's the second one listed below)
--I think it sounds too scripted...I need to just "talk" and then splice in some short demos.
--Should I produce them a little more and/or make the music a little louder?
--I'm also wondering about the sound quality. This one (the longer, intro one) I did at work with real studios.

But the other one--DEMOCT--was done at home where I'm experimenting with different mics, levels, etc. (I'll be using this method from now on) It's a dry read of a recent listing but I really want to see if the sound is ok (too much bass?)...sometimes I wonder if I can really catch any discrepancies on my system here at home. If you have any comments on how I sound, please, let it rip!

I've heard a lot of your demos too and they all sound fantastic--hopefully I can make mine sound a little better with your help.

Thanks in advance!
Cameron

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

Cameron Thomas:
Welcome aboard the bus. Little crowded; but you'll find some room.
The good: You have that light, power-airy, friendly tone that is much in vogue. And your on-air experience shows in the confidence level you exude. On your home demo, you did a really nice job of animating some dreadfully dead copy.
The bad: Most of your sentences are afflicted with a sort of emphasis drift. You'll start each with a surge and then taper off to an comparatively hushed ending. Of course, voicers must lend emphasis to key words, but yours seem more hapahazard.
Sound-wise, your home demo is - understandably - not quite up to the studio one. Pretty fair, but it sounds a mite muted, and I'm wondering if maybe your mic is at fault. Or you may not be recording at maximal gain; it should be just short of clipping.
And I do not think you should be including weather reports on your demo. By all means, have some clips on hand for specific postings, but it makes your general demo sound desperate for text. Similarly, I wouldn't recommend that chatty, introductory part, citing your CV. There are other places for that; it's not demo stuff. I mean, some talents would take ten minutes of a demo to cite what they've done.
So, Cam, get to it.
There's great weather ahead.
Voice On!
Robert Jadah

Cameron Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 479

Much appreciated and I agree with everything you said. Guess I needed to hear it from someone else--I'll start fixing things up. I'm a drummer also, and I actually used the bass drum mic with a pop filter on the home studio recording to see how it sounded--I know it's not recommended but out of a sample group, it sounded the best at home but I can see how it was muted. I was getting frustrated with an MXL condenser mic but the phantom power and/or external audio card seemed to grab too much noise.

Well, I'm off to more experimentation....

thanks for your time Robert!

Kind Regards,
Cameron

Cameron Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 479

Could I bother you all for one more demo? It's a test recording of three different mics--a bass drum mic, a snare drum mic and a voice MXL mic...just click on it below. Could you lend your ear to help me determine which one sounds better? It'll only take a minute or two.

I know I may have to adjust soundproofing and levels but I need to settle on a mic.

Thanks so much for any help you can provide.

Cameron Thomas

Cameron Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 479

Here's another attempt at a demo--your thoughts?

Thanks,
Cameron