the day to day of a professional actor in the San Francisco Bay Area

mostly the day to day of a professional actor in the San Francisco Bay Area, but also the home of the Counting Actors Project

Monday, March 21, 2011

Resource of the Week: VoiceBank

An actor friend emailed last week to ask some questions about voiceover equipment.  She wants to pursue voiceover work and wants to start by creating a studio for home recording.  Not only is that a huge financial investment, I think it's a lousy place to start. 

First of all, the actor in question has never done voiceover work before, or even taken a class.  So she doesn't know if she has an aptitude for it, or if it's work she'll enjoy.  Second, and more important, you don't get voiceover work by having a studio (although it can definitely increase your opportunities), you get voiceover work by having quality demos.    You wouldn't get hired to work on a film just because you owned a camera, would you?  You get hired because of your reel and your audition.  Voiceover demos are the reel for voiceover work.

And, there's a cool website - Voicebank - where agencies post their clients demos, and anyone can listen to them - it's a great way to get to understand the format, what the trends are, etc.  So start listening!

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