Austin Improv

Hello all,

I have a friend in town that is looking into breaking into the voice-over world. He's got a great voice and a theater background. Is there much demand in Austin for that sort of work? Anyone know of a good resource to scope? I told him to post around on forums and I figured I would check out for him as well since there are some talented folks around here.

does he have a demo?
if so, he should be looking into talent agencies... I love my agent Heather Collier, and she does have voiceover talent, but I don't know enough to know whether she's *the* place for voiceover actors in the city or not.

arthursimone wrote:does he have a demo?

This is, of course, key.

If so there are online agencies he can post it on. Voices 123 and procomm spring to mind. If it's a good reel it will get noticed. Of course, you'll have to either hire a studio or put together a rig of your own so you can deliver the product.

Here in Austin send a reel out to Joel Block Voice Services.

Since I tend to get a moderate amount of work in this department I wouldn't mind having one either. I can also forward it on to a few other industry types. PM me for my address.

as I understand it, db Talent books the lion's share of voice over work in Austin; and you have to have an agent to even hear about the big jobs.

Rad. Thanks folks. I'm helping him record his demo as we type. I appreciate that input!

I took a voice-over class from Lainie Frasier at VoiceWorks, and here are some of the things I remember about demos ...

Be sure to listen to demos on the db Talent page (link above) and take note of the production values - sound quality, music, sound effects - which make them sound like excerpts from real jobs. A demo is not just talking on tape.

Composing the script is an important aspect of making a voice-over demo. You want to demonstrate the variety and range of your voice in 1 minute. But also note ...

There are distinctly different categories of voice-over work & corresponding demos. Don't mix a commercial clip with an anime clip, for example. You're supposed to submit an appropriate demo for the job you're applying for. If there's a mismatch on the first track, they may stop listening right there.

Kathy Rose is a Center of knowledge. He has some experience with voice over work but has never made a "demo" since it was all just working through friends. This information is invaluable. thanks!

I've wanted to do voice work for some time and know about the agencies. My problem is the demo tape and where to go to make one. I've found one place in town so far, and it's about $160 an hour at minimum.

Yep. Cost was my main reason for not pursuing it.

Lainie's classes at Voiceworks are great because they are all conducted in her sound studio and you learn a lot about the craft, including how to mark and position your copy, breathing, microphone skills (such as ducking your head for plosive "p"s) and delivering dialog with another person in an adjacent studio; but at $400 a pop, they are awfully expensive.

Lainie also produces demos, working with you all the way through the process, from script design, rehearsal, recording and post-production; but it can easily cost $1k or more. Not for the faint of heart. Or pocketbook.

Justin Davis wrote:I've wanted to do voice work for some time and know about the agencies. My problem is the demo tape and where to go to make one. I've found one place in town so far, and it's about $160 an hour at minimum.

UT has some informal classes from someone who claims to be big in the biz. It's a one-two punch. You have to take this level 1 class that meets once and is super cheap. Then you have to take the level 2 which meets 3-4 times in a studio (to make demo tapes) and get hammered with the full cost of $300 or so.

bradisntclever wrote: UT has some informal classes from someone who claims to be big in the biz. It's a one-two punch. You have to take this level 1 class that meets once and is super cheap. Then you have to take the level 2 which meets 3-4 times in a studio (to make demo tapes) and get hammered with the full cost of $300 or so.

Yeah, I believe that's Lanie Frasier. I went through both of those classes, which were useful, but balked when it came time to work up and produce a demo, due to the price, which, as pointed out above, can easily be in excess of a thousand bucks or so. I'd love to put together a nice, professional demo for less, but, time and money.

Maybe we should all circle up on this, and see if we could get together and figure something out as a group. I've always wanted to do voice work, but it's never been high enough on the big list of things to do to get as far as a demo. Momentum and peer pressure might help with that.

C'mon folks. VoiceOver work is location agnostic anymore. I started as an engineer, so I get the local studio thing. However, I've been in Austin for less than a year; I am having my best year (potentially ever); and I don't have local representation yet, because it's just not important. What I do have is 25 years of professional experience, 6,000+ voice gigs to my credit, killer demos in six different categories of voiceover and a national network from which I get work. I audition daily for commercials all over the country. My 11 year old son has done two commercials this year for clients in Dubai! If all you focus on is local, you're not going to have much of a career. You can either embrace technology or get run over by it.

by the way, no one takes you serious without a demo, and a demo only cost the value of 1-2 spots...likely the value of one session. if you want to make money, and you treat it like a business, you need to make an investment to get a return.

Good luck and God Bless. There's plenty of work for all of us.

btalbot wrote:C'mon folks. VoiceOver work is location agnostic anymore. I started as an engineer, so I get the local studio thing. However, I've been in Austin for less than a year; I am having my best year (potentially ever); and I don't have local representation yet, because it's just not important.

Thanks for the info! However, no one likes feeling talked down to. I am a stand-up but if I was explaining something you didn't know about stand-up I wouldn't act like you SHOULD know. Because unless you've come across the information before, it's unlikely you would deduce it on your own.

But again thanks for enlightenment!

btalbot wrote:by the way, no one takes you serious without a demo, and a demo only cost the value of 1-2 spots...likely the value of one session. if you want to make money, and you treat it like a business, you need to make an investment to get a return.

Good luck and God Bless. There's plenty of work for all of us.

This guy actually has "bot" in his user name. That's transparency for you.