New to V/O work

if you have stuff you need editing go to get reel 2000.

• 17 years ago
• 1

If you don't need the pysical studio, hour with professional...etc, I'd recommend air talent online. As long as you have the recordings, they will help edit it for you. They can also give you advice & scripts if you want to re-do any demos...etc. The website is http://www.airtalentonline.com

• 17 years ago
• 2

Hi

I ma new to the voice over industry as well. it has taken me about 18 months to find a voice agent. i had a fantastic reel done at the showreel by jc and his team. i had excellent feedbackl form most agents but as usual they were too busy to take on new people. I just cirulated my reel constantly until the timinig was right.

i secured representation with a brilliant voice agency in manchester and i have laready secured 2 jobs in 6 months, one documentary for ITV & A Radio Ad which is great.

get a reel done if you havent done one already. it is worth asking about special offers as alot of studios have quiet spells and need the work- i didnt pay full price for mine. anmd then just send send send until someone bites.

good luck

nathan

• 16 years ago
• 3

Yes, you MUST get a good reel done, then go for an agent.
I thoroughly recommend theshowreel.com. JP is amazingly helpful.
they're also theshowreel.co.uk

• 16 years ago
• 4

Hi there

I've been in the biz for 3 years now. I got my reel done and then sent it out to 33 agents. 32 said NO. Arguably the biggest, Hobsons, said yes. I was lucky. Right voice at the right time. If 33 had said no, I would have sent out another 33 in 3 months time. Keep at it. This year's been quite quiet but last year I was doing one voiceover a week. My friend does about 10. He's been in the biz for 15 years.

If you're still looking, I heard a voicereel from the company the guys above are mentioning. I thought it was produced very well but directed very poorly. In effect, a waste of money. Have a word with Dave at 'Angell Sound' and tell him Callum O'Neill recommended him. He's not cheap but Dave does the job day in day out for some of the biggest clients, with the best creatives and producers, doing the biggest adverts. I worked with him on the News Of The World Ads.

Hope this helps keep the motivation and points you in the successful direction.

Callum O'Neill
www.thescottishvoice.com

• 15 years ago
• 5

I've also sent out to several voice over agents and am still waiting to hear from most.

You say '33', can I ask how and where you compiled your list from? I've sent to voiceover gallery, voicebookers, voice gallery, hobsons etc plus several others but I don't think I'm aware of that many agencies.

I'm assuming they can all be googled but any additional advice would be greatly appreciated.

• 15 years ago
• 6

Hello - sorry, can I also jump into the discussion.

Of the many voiceover agents you contacted, was any of this via email or did you send a CD to everyone?

Thanks all,

Vick :)

• 15 years ago
• 7

Hello Vick and Samantha

I got the voiceover agents names via Google, so there's no short way of doing this, I'm afraid. I concentrated only on companies in the Greater London area.

In answer to the other question, I sent out a CD, a covering letter (my background, accent and what I can do - especially if you can do impressions) plus a stamped, self-addressed envelope so I could get my CD back. E-mails are not advisable: The agents set aside time to go through the CDs, whereas if you've e-mailed it to them, they're probably going to be too busy at that time. Then, when they come to listen to the CDs, they're unlikely to trawl through their e-mails trying to find yours - they'd rather get away from the phones (and their pc) and sit in a comfy room with the piles of cds and a hi-fi.

Hope that helps.

Callum
www.thescottishvoice.com

• 15 years ago
• 8

...just to add to this- use spotlight online it is a valuable tool in finding out who is with what agency and where and most actors will list their voice agent on there as well and you may come across some new ones that have just set up.

• 15 years ago
• 9

Thanks Callum, thanks Nathan,

Really appreciate you guys taking the time to reply. Looks like CD's it is. Can I cheekily ask another question - in the inlay to your CD what do you guys have, is it mainly just tying in with the logo/brand you have on the CD? contact details? track listings? is it a booklet or just a page?

thanks again.

Vick :)

• 15 years ago
• 10

Callum! Good to see you here. I'm at Hobson's too.

allon (The crucible)

• 14 years ago
• 11

This is a really useful thread, thanks everyone. My question is similar to Vick's recent one: Can your face be on the disc/inlay - can the 'image' confuse the agent (eg, I sound like an 18 year old but look late 20s)? So, like Vick, I'm wondering what information we provide alongside the mp3s.

Thanks so much,
Laura

• 12 years ago
• 12

Hi Laura, by all means put your headshot on the disc. Agents need to remember a person, not just a voice (although that is what you are selling). Moreover most if not all agents feature headshot on their websites with the voices. And also it will show them you are a Pro. And the final argument is they are not looking at a face anyway, remember: 'you have a great face for radio!'.
Good luck, Allon

• 12 years ago
• 13

I will admit that I am fairly new to the voice over industry having had some training with A1 Vox and also with a more professional Hospital Radio station (Professional because the Top Presenters are ex BBC and Commercial Radio Presenters with a wealth of experience). I was assessed and told that my Voice was Very suitable for radio, that was over two years ago now, and I have not presented on radio for 2 years now due to lack of confidence.

I have been deliberating whether to start my voice over career instead, as my other career (as a qualified engineer) has been somewhat 'bitty' to say the least and I have always felt like giving either radio or voice over work a go. So, I decided to save up for my own basic home studio set up, get some demo's made up myself as I have the software as well to do it and then work towards getting a Pro booth for my home studio as well. Only one snag though, the walls are thin,...and I can hear now that it shows in my demo's.

So, Please can anyone give me some feedback on my demo's, negative and positive. It would Really help me to decide whether to give this up and stay with engineering or whether I DO have a future career in voice over and/or radio. Please, The feedback IS important to me.
Thank you, in advance.

Neil

• 11 years ago
• 14