I get it. You want to be a voice over artist. You’ve been told it’s an easy way to make a few bucks, and all you have to do is make silly voices. And you’re great at silly voices. Then you ask your acting buddies who’s the best voice over agent, they tell you RMK Voice, duhh, you send them an email with a few high iphone recordings and crickets…
So how do you get signed by RMK Voices?
#1 Voice Over is a Skill
You don’t just send off a tape and get signed. It’s not like acting where you might completely suck, but my god you look good with your shirt off and have 10,000 instagram followers. You’re voice has to be good, and it doesn’t matter who the hell you are.
By good I mean versatile, dynamic, energised, resonant, articulate and at times unique. This takes work. Regular voice warm ups, reading a variety of text, microphone practice, and practice in the field working as a VO artist.
So first step – buy a microphone, and start working on your voice. Do some training and start taking your voice over career seriously. It’s too competitive not to be incredible.
#2 Get a killer demo
When you do send off your email to RMK Voices, the main thing they will want to hear is your reel or demo. This is a a 1-2 min recording that includes a collection of your work. The demo should have a mixture of hard and soft sells and show your range.
A character demo is different to a commercial demo. If you are passionate about character demos then it might be worth getting one produced, but the bread and butter of voice work is using your natural voice and tweaking it slightly to suit the mood of the advert.
I could go on about how to make a great demo, but maybe it’s best to hear from Luke Downs, Managing Director of RMK Voices, who emailed me some advice for sending in a demo…
“One of the problems we experience with demos is that no sooner has an artist put up their new demo than another artist (usually new to the industry) is ripping it off. We receive a lot of demos through this agency and invariably there will be a few tracks ‘borrowed’ from our artists’ demos and it’s often those artists who have been a feature or reference point from a workshop or some such who are the most affected… sometimes we get a glut of the same tracks popping up on different VO demos – it’s quite a turn off (literally).
I would suggest that anyone interested in pursuing a career in voiceovers should do a lot of research first. Have a listen to the ads on TV and Radio (it’s amazing how many actors boast about not watching commercial television), get an idea of what styles are in demand at the moment on the premium ads (think big name / high end products). Match this to your demographic, for example if you’re in your 20’s and looking to make a start, you’d probably favour more youthful products, so watch / listen to the ads for Samsung, various universities, travel sites etc. Head to youtube and find the ads there – all big companies have their own youtube channel, watch the ads that have been done not just in Australia but other markets and see the differences in the deliveries. Go to voice agency websites and listen to the artists in your market that are listed and see what they’ve done to make their demo stand out and sound great…
Ideally you’ll have a head full of ideas and will have been practicing your own style of such ads well before you go into a studio to record your demo.
When it does come time to record your demo, make it your own. Don’t borrow tracks from other people’s demos and try to imitate their reads, if you do need to create your own material, look to other markets in other countries and ‘borrow’ from there or better yet, make up your own… it doesn’t even need to be for a real product.
It’s a very difficult industry to make a living from and it’s highly competitive – it also costs a lot of money to develop your demos and market them to potential clients, so probably only worthwhile for those who are extremely passionate about voiceovers and keen to invest the years required to get a foothold in the industry.”
I love this advice and it’s coming from the source so take note!!!
If you want to get a killer reel book one in today with Sydney Voice Reels. We produce high quality reels for a fraction of the price of most studios.
#3 Send a clear email
When you get in touch, make your email short and sweet. Keep it professional and attach your reel as a high quality mp3. They won’t respond straight away and it may be worth following up after the first email.
The best thing you can do while you wait to be signed by the best voice agency in Australia, is to work on your craft and try to get out there and find your own work. Showing that you are proactive and having a genuine CV will go along way.