First Time Demo

Christina Bauman · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 15

Hi All,
I am starting out in this business. This demo was made in my local radio station with the help of someone who is currently using this site for his voice over work...for which I am deeply appreciative!!! Please give me hinters and ideas, any constructive critisizm is deeply appreciated!!!

Scott Pollak · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007, 20:41 (GMT) Post subject:

Hey Chrissy,

Guess I'll be the first to take a stab at this.
I think you have potential, but this demo sure doesn't show you as being there yet.
For starters the technical quality of the demo you posted here is really low. There is warbling and audio dropout as if you saved it at an extremely low bit rate.
Beyond that, let's get into your delivery... You need some training and practice.
I never once heard a smile in your voice. As I listened to your spots I had a vision of the stern school marm telling me what I should not be doing.

The opening Credit union spot is choppy (probably due to very low bit rate) and also choppy in your delivery. The read is flat and lifeless with no feeling to it.
The brasserie spot has potential, but even with your attempt at being sultry, it's still a pretty flat read. You put inflection into your voice, but no real heart into it. Kind of hard to explain, but that's the way I'm hearing it.
The old NW land company spot is terrible, primarily because again I'm not only NOT hearing any kind of smile in your voice, but you almost sound like you're scolding me for having called you.
The outreach spot started out emotionless, then you segued into one of your better deliveries towards the end of that particular clip.
The last piece, the goo-gooey spot, was far and away your best, although I found it a bit irritating because it seemed to go on a bit too long. But you really hit a good stride in terms of delivery.

Those are the primary negatives, and I admit they may sound harsh, but what good will it do you if we just say "Hey, Chrissy, you rock!"?
On the plus side, the demo is a very good length... just long enough with the right amount of variation. You DID show variety on it, despite my negative comments. And it sounds like you have a good strong voice actress inside you waiting to be nurtured, taught, molded, worked over, and then ready to roll.

If your original demo is high quality, try re-saving it at a higher bit rate, say something like 128k, 44khz, so we can hear you better. If this is as good as the quality gets, you need to scrap this one. Even so, you really do need to work on breathing life into your delivery because it's not there yet except on the sultry reads, but that's a pretty narrow niche' to pigeonhole yourself into.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

George Karnes · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 905

"Hey, Chrissy, you rock!"

I couldn't help it Scott....

However, Scott is right about the production quality. I actually think that the quality is what might be taking the life out of your delivery. I would be very curious to here it in a higher quality setting to see if you do come to life.

Hey and sultry is always a good thing Wink

George L. Karnes II
g2 Sound Productions
gkarnes@tds.net

Christina Bauman · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 15

Scott,

I really am quite sure that I have a lifelessness to my demo. Because I am a theatre actress I back way off when I'm in front of a mic in a small studio. You've given me license to at least TRY to do a little LIVING inside my 'on air characters'.

George,

Thank you for the kudos, encouragement is always pleasing to the soul! I hope you're right about the quality of the demo improving the quality of my reads!!!

Again, thank you both.

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

Chrissy:
Welcome to the playground.
I have no critique to add to my esteemed colleagues', but can tell you that there are many theatre people stepping up to the mic here.
You must make that background work for you, and criticize yourself as harshly as your most difficult director ever did.
And - lonely as it is in that recording room - you must see an audience, and deliver your lines as you would on stage.
In many ways, it's easier on stage or on the set, since you can feed off others' lines and the collective energy.
The energy, of course, you have to rev up yourself; then maybe try creating and even speaking 'platforms' (ie. imaginary texts that you can respond to, and later edit out) to get used to solitary acting.
Others will have more suggestions on the transition. Make it work for you.
Voice On!
Robert Jadah

Peter O'Connell · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007, 01:54 (GMT) Post subject:

Holy cow.

OK…

I'm not sure the level of honesty we all offer here but I feel I need to tell you the truth so you can make some career decisions.

That demo was awful, plain lousy. If you paid someone to put that together, go grab a baseball bat out of your closet and before you come swinging it at me, hit your demo producer a few times just to shake loose the cobwebs.

OK...again my point here isn't to be cruel. It’s to be honest.

Audio quality seems to have been covered here but let me just reiterate that the opening quality wouldn't get you past about 8 seconds with a talented producer or CD.

Now let’s get to the part that really stood out. Lousy diction.

In the bank spot, I think you were trying to say priority. I think. But what ever it was you said wasn't priority. It pretty much went downhill from there. There was some voice acting but it was bad.

So now what? Well, hard decisions time, that's what.

If one has a vocal or speech condition that will cause one to sound the same in the future as you did on that demo, one’s VO career will be woefully lacking.

Let me be very clear here....there is absolutely nothing at ALL wrong with anyone who has any sort of speech condition in everyday life. Such a reality is absolutely NOTHING to be ashamed of.

But if one has such a condition and thinks they are going to make money in VO, the truth is they are not likely to make even enough money from VO work to buy a coffee every morning.

Ouch. Sorry. But these aren’t my rules, they are they accepted, unwritten rules that one needs to understand before entertaining false visions of voice grandeur...even if it’s what one always wanted to do.

Now, if it’s not so much a condition as poor vocal ability, well, one can and should get professional training from speech and VO coaches. They should be able to honestly assess ones situation and figure out how they can help.

But with the demo you provided, I don't think you are long for a career in VO with out some significant performance and production improvements.

And from the bottom of my heart, I want to emphasize to you that I hope what I have said and meant here is received by you, maybe after some time to reflect on it, as helpful.

Christina Bauman · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 15

Okay, that was brutal but I have to expect it and appreciate it! To answer your question, no, I did not pay for the demo. The local radio station did it as a favour to me because I send them business. Further worse is the fact that we only did two or three recordings per script unrehearsed. I should have rehearsed more on my own for sure, just thought I would have had more time. I am saving my money for some training and a professional demo and was really hoping that someone would hear that demo and see through the bad parts...yeah, yeah, I know...forever the unbelievable optimist. Who knows...the guy who recorded it for me loved my work, though, and is setting me up to do some VO's for his wife's business...
I have lot's of training to get...fact is, I'm affraid to act in front of a mic...my theatre life may be hindering but I won't let it get me forever!!!
Thanks again, all of you!

Christina Bauman · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 15

...the word was priortizing...needed to do more tongue twisters that morning, huh? Badly unprepared...not bad for such lack of training and unprepared-ness...but, no, no speech impediments.

Phyllis K. Day · **Voice Talent** Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 251

Christina Bauman · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 15

I would love to have you for a voice coach!!! You sound like you'd be great to work with and fun...clearing up that clay would not be too hard with you workin' the mold!!! Thank you!!!