Character Voices

Deby Cedars · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 1482

What kind of characters should I use for my character demo? I lived in England for a while so I know I'll put that voice on. I can also do a childs voice, but what eles? Any script advice for MY character demo?

Deby Cedars

Scott Pollak · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007, 03:18 (GMT) Post subject:

Deby, not to sound mean (but it will, unfortunately), but if you have to ask what kinds of voices to put on your demo, perhaps you're not ready to put a demo together yet.

A truly professional demo, be it characters or otherwise, is culled from a wide range of existing material that the talent has accumulated over a period of time from experience gleaned as an intern, a student, a hired hand, a professional announcer/broadcaster, etc. To sit and create one from scratch will result in a demo that sounds like you sat and created one from scratch, and it will pale in comparison to professionally created demos.

Next: be forewarned that the market for character voices is infinitesimally tiny. I'd venture a guess that less than 1% of the leads that come thru here ask for character voices, and typically they're looking for a very specific voice, e.g.: "James Earl Jones", "Jack Nicholson", etc.

If you're just starting out, get an honest assessment of your voice's strengths and work on practicing and creating spots and samples that play to your strength.

I wish you all the best.

Todd Ellis · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007, 03:23 (GMT) Post subject:

... on the plus side - if you can do a believable child's voice you can potentially find a ton of work. nurture your inner child!

Scott Pollak · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007, 03:27 (GMT) Post subject:

And Deby, AFTER writing my post, I looked at your resume and heard a bit of your other demos over on the Idol Forum. You're definitely not a novice or amateur. What I heard of your first posted demo sounded very good. I'm not sure how much I'd even worry about a character voice demo right now. I'd go with your obvious strengths.

BTW, not only was Ally McBeal one of my favorite shows, my stepsister is a writer in Hollywood who wrote every episode of The Wonder Years, most episodes of Murphy Brown, and quite a few of Frasier and Rosanne!

Deby Cedars · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 1482

This is one of the character voices I had in mind. It was thought up and put together rather quickly after some one asked how young I could make my voice sound. I don't think this recording is good enough to send to anyone, but I will share it with you guys.

Deby

Simon Hill · **Voice Talent** Joined: 01 May 2006 Posts: 288

1. Go to www.studiobproductions.com

2. Click on the In Development section

3. Click on the upcoming show Look What My Sister Dragged In

4. Watch the promo trailer

The voice that Kathleen Barr does for the girl is one you should try and get under your belt. Here's her resume http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0056532/
You two have a similar range and you might be able to find some of her work on www.allfg.org where you can watch old cartoon shows. Mihgt help you create your own new voices.

Deby Cedars · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 1482

Thanks Simon. Great advice