VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio Episode 702 “What Kind Of Demo Should You Do?”
John: [00:00:00] Hello my friends. I am John.
Tina: And I am Tina
John: or JMG.
Tina: Yep.
John: Whatever you wanna call guys. And this is Voice Coaches Radio, and it is episode 7 0 2. 7 0 2.
Tina: Ooh. All right.
John: Yeah. There we go.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Hey, today's topic is going to be what kind of demo should you do?
Tina: Good.
John: And this is assuming, by the way, whenever I talk about this.
Mm-hmm. This is assuming you've done everything in the right order and the right order is education demo.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Work. Yes. So I'm assuming that you've had some voiceover coaching. You've worked with the voice coach extensively or as extensively as you, you've had to. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And now you're at the point where you're going to have a demo produced.
What kind of demo should you do?
Tina: Yes.
John: So, um, first off, I, uh, my opinion is. You should do either one or two general demos. Right. Okay. A general demo being a [00:01:00] commercial demo.
Tina: All
John: right. Or a narrative demo. They should not be combined.
Tina: Yeah. No,
John: no, they won't. That's not a thing anymore. Mm-hmm. That was at one point.
Mm-hmm. A very small window, by the way, that did not last long, that people were doing like combo demos. It was such a short, I mean, I'm talking like a year at the most that it was a thing. Mm-hmm. It's not a thing. That is not something that we, because like you send, uh, someone who's doing documentaries, a commercial slash narrative demo, they're confused.
Yeah. They're like, why am I getting something that's advertising? Right? Mm-hmm. So, um. Uh, it is either narrative or commercial. Those are general demos. Mm-hmm. And what that means is you can pretty much send a narrative demo to anyone who does narrative. Yeah. As long as you have something on there, that's what they're looking for.
Commercial demo. You can pretty much send a commercial demo to anyone who's doing commercial. Yeah. As long as you have something similar what they need on there. And I just mean expression when it comes to commercial, like something sarcastic, something whatever.
Tina: Yes. Yeah.
John: Uh, so, so that's why I recommend doing.
A general demo when you start out. Okay. Mm-hmm. There are what we call specialty tracks.
Tina: Okay.
John: And those are very narrow. Like I have a specialty track, I have a [00:02:00] video game demo. It's all video game. Mm-hmm. It's all character voices. Yeah. And it's geared towards video games. Here's the thing about that, it's a super fun demo to listen to.
Mm-hmm. And it's great for what it is, but it's very narrow. So I can't send my. Video game demo to someone who's doing commercial for the most part. Unless they're looking for a character voice. Yeah. Specifically because they're like, why am I getting this? I don't know. Yeah. And I certainly can't send it to someone who's doing like corporate training or, or a documentary.
They're like, why am I getting this demo with all these crazy character voices? Mm-hmm. Of video game characters.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Uh, so it's very narrow. So you're pretty much gonna send that demo to mm-hmm. Someone who does video games.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Animation, maybe some educational, if they're looking for character voices.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Um, anime maybe, and maybe audio books if they want someone who's all over the place. Mm-hmm. In voices. Right. But besides that, you're not really, that's not a demo you're gonna send out to people. No. It's very narrow. And that's the same for everything. So talk about that. Like talk about, 'cause you, you, you know, um.
There [00:03:00] are some people who are very narrow in their interest, right? Yes. Or they say they are.
Tina: They are. Yeah.
John: But I don't think they understand completely.
Tina: No, I don't think so either. And I do have to get into like what you just did explaining what we've got those separate, you know, we've got a commercial demo, we've got the narration demo, you know, well I, 'cause I do have people who will come in and that's, I'm just as interested in audio books.
Okay. That's, that is just one. But remember if we just do audiobook, you know, a demo, well audio books. That's it, right? You are not gonna be able to audition for, like you said, commercials or narration and then whatever you feel comfortable with. And that's with the narration demos, you know, like, um, we have a bunch of categories in there.
You know, when we, when we do a narration demo, we will do, um, industrial and training, we'll do the biographical. Um, there's also the medical reads as well. Um, I'm trying to think. There's the educational material, e-learning type of things, but I do have some people who are like, I have no interest in that.
None whatsoever. I just wanna do one topic and one topic [00:04:00] only. Well, what's the chances of, you know, everyday work of one topic and one topic only?
John: Right? You narrow your, you, you narrow the, your. Whatever, part-time, full-time, whatever your career is gonna be in voiceovers. Yeah. You narrow it quite a bit. And so you're, you're kind of, uh, excluding a lot of work.
And, and by the way, that's fine. Listen, if you are someone who literally says, this is all I wanna do. Mm-hmm. This is, that's fine.
Yeah,
Tina: that's fine. It
John: is. Understand that you've taken all other voiceover working, set it aside. Mm-hmm. And now you're only marketing yourself towards that. Like you can't, and, and you can't go Well, yeah.
I have just a biographical. Like I have a, like say you just do a biographical narrative demo. Mm-hmm. You can't at any point go. I see this, there's commercial work available. I'm gonna market myself to that. You can't?
Tina: No, no.
John: Yeah. They don't get it. They don't get it at that point. So, um, and I'm, and that's fine.
There are people who are like, I only wanna do animation. Yeah, that's cool. That's literally, that's the only interest. Like, you [00:05:00] don't wanna do voiceover. Yeah. Unless you can do, okay, that's cool. But I just wanna make sure everyone understands that. Mm-hmm. Like they have to understand that. And once you do a demo, that's only one thing.
Yeah. That's the thing you're gonna be marketing yourself towards.
Tina: That's the biggest thing. And that's even like when you do, you know, when we say, okay, let's do a commercial demo, like you were saying before, it is showing the, there are different categories, but it's showing your ability to express those emotions.
It. In a short period of time too, because commercials are really quick.
John: Yes.
Tina: I mean, you've got 15 second commercial, 32nd commercial. You've gotta be able to bring that emotion out or what they're looking for right away.
John: And I think when people say, and I do get this quite a bit. Mm-hmm. Uh, when I meet people and I love meeting new people who are having a new interest in this, and you know, when I do webinars, that's when I get to meet those people.
And I have many, many, many people come out and say, I have no interest in doing commercials.
Tina: Yes, I get that all the time,
John: but I don't think they understand because I under so, so they're thinking old school. That's what they're thinking. They're thinking they don't want that crazy Eddie.
Tina: Oh, crazy Eddie. Yes, yes.
That I called the loud, booming announcer [00:06:00] voice.
John: Yeah, they don't wanna do that. That high pressure sales commercials, and I 100% understand that. But what they have, but what people have to realize as well is public service announcements causes you really care about are considered commercials.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Public service announcements are commercials.
The reason is we consider anything that's trying to get you to spend your time or money. Mm-hmm. A commercial and public service announcements are. Absolutely. Trying to get you to do something right? Yes. Yeah. They're trying to get you to either volunteer, trying to get you to, to donate. Mm-hmm. So they're considered commercials.
And so that's, I don't think people think of that. Like when they're talking commercials, they're talking high pressure sales. Mm-hmm. Yes. And I understand that. Mm-hmm. And, and, but also, remember, you may wanna do some, I've done a lot of public service announcements, um, um, but like my cause mm-hmm. Are animals.
I love animals. Mm-hmm. Like I have five dogs. I love dogs. Yeah. So, and, and, uh, I shouldn't say this over the. Over the air, but it's like the one thing I'll volunteer my time to do voiceovers for. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Don't you have money? I know you do, so don't ask me.
Tina: Yeah.
John: But I have [00:07:00] volunteered to do, yes.
Tina: Yeah. To do.
Mm-hmm.
John: Uh, voiceover work for
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: Shelters and things like that. Yeah. Because I'm, that's my thing. Right. Uh. That's a commercial.
Tina: Yeah, they are.
John: Yep. It's commercial. It's, it's a commercial. I know you don't wanna call it that. Mm-hmm. I know people don't wanna see it that way, but it is. Mm-hmm. It's in the commercial category.
And so just remember that. You, you, what you can say is, I don't wanna do high pressure sales. Get it. Yeah. Totally Get it. And we won't. Uh, but be open. Be open because you know, you wanna be able to do, you know, because you may have a public service announcements that, that is super expressive. Mm-hmm. Right?
And so. Now you're like, oh, I would love to have done that, but you have nothing. You have, you have a biographical demo.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. You can't get that.
Tina: And that, and I also think it is, like you were saying before, it used to be that, you know, loud, booming, announcer voice, that credit, uh, crazy Eddie, the sell, sell, sell.
It's not that anymore. I mean, not saying that's completely gone because it still is there. You still will find that, but majority of the time they're just telling you, Hey, this product's a great product. You think, I [00:08:00] think you should try it. It's very conversational. It's very, absolutely. But also bringing out the emotion too, you know?
Mm-hmm. But having some fun with it, you know, being creative, but it, it's not all the sell, sell, sell, but it's still there. But it is, you know, just the whole thing of just saying, I only wanna do one thing. You are really limited yourself. You are, you're just saying, uh, sorry. This is the only lane I'm gonna be in and I'm not getting, I'm not switching lanes at all.
John: Yeah. And I, I more understand it when people talk about animation or anime
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: Or video games. Like I almost get that because there's a younger generation of voice actors. Yes. Usually that's the younger generation who that's really all they're into.
Tina: That's all. Yes.
John: And so I understand when they say that, and so I'm more apt to accept that mm-hmm.
Than someone saying. Like right outta the box. I only wanna do biographical narrative because it's like, okay, but how much? And, and by the way, I'm also okay with that. Yeah. As long as you fully understand, understand yes, exactly what you're doing. Because what I don't want is anyone to come back and go, well, I, I, I'm not able to get any work.
It's like, okay, well, [00:09:00] biographical narrative isn't a huge section of the industry. There's a lot of it, but not compared to mm-hmm. Everything else.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. So. That's, that's all I, you know, be as long as they're aware. Mm-hmm. Then that's all you're gonna be doing. So, you know, really think about. What are you interested in?
Mm-hmm. That's important. And also, what are you good at? You know, what are you best at and what are you good at? Mm-hmm. And then that's what you wanna put on your demo. And that could be a lot of things.
Tina: It could be, yeah.
John: And it could lead to a lot of work.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: So don't, you know, again, if, if you really only have one interest, that's fine,
Tina: but Yeah, that's, that's fine.
You just, but no. But yeah.
John: Yeah. So it's important to explore that with your, with your voice coach. Yeah. Explore. Hey. What, so what kind of things do I like? I, I've had that, I've, I've had people come in and read things to me. I know they're not interested in immediately. Mm-hmm. I had someone read to some biograph biography once where, um, it didn't sound good, right.
This is the first someone's demo and it just wasn't sounding good. And, and finally I said. I, are you into George Washington? Like you are you Yeah. No, not [00:10:00] really.
Tina: Yeah.
John: I said, why are we doing this? I don't know. I just wanted a bi, a biography and so I just was to figure I'll just do anybody. Yeah. And I said, no, no, no, no.
Let's do something you like who I, I said, who do you like? And then we looked through the library.
Tina: Yeah.
John: And I ended up writing something for him. 'cause it was so somebody very specific. He had this hero that he had. And so I ended up writing it for him. Mm-hmm. And you know, I learned, get to learn about that person myself.
But. Be interested in what you're doing.
Tina: Yes.
John: And I think most people, we have so many layers of people.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Right. Most people can find something they're interested in almost anything. Right? Yeah. So, okay. You wanna do a biography? Cool. Who do you like? Okay. Now do you, do you wanna do corporate training?
I'm not really into corporate training. So you don't, you're not. Well, I do. I do have a hobby. Mm-hmm. Alright, there we go. We could do something related to your hobby. That's, that some people do for work. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So, um, there's, there's, I think most people have a lot of interest.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: You
Tina: know?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
John: And so don't, don't sell yourself short.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: You know, think of all the things, and again, this is part of what a good. [00:11:00] Voice coach will do it with you, right? Yes. You, you'll sit down, you'll talk about, uh, you know, what your interests are, but also talk about what you're good at. You know, the voice coach mm-hmm.
Can really help you with that. Yes. Because, we'll, believe me, I've had people do it to me mm-hmm. Where I do something and they go, Y let's not do that. You know? I'm like, okay, that sounds good. Yeah. Listen, I believe you. I, in my mind, I think it sounds good, but if you're telling me it doesn't, I believe you.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Uh, so. Yeah. And then that's part of a voice of a coach or producer's job. Yes. Depending if you're doing a professional job or if you're doing, you know mm-hmm. Working with a voice coach to become a professional voice actor. Yeah. So, um, you know, trust your voice coach and. Uh, be open. Yes, be open and, and be honest about the things you really like and the things you don't like too.
Don't, don't do things you don't like.
Tina: Yeah,
John: that's true. That's also true.
Tina: You know, you get, you get into this and, and you know, we sit down and we talk and I, um, you know, I'll, I'll listen to their voice and say, okay, where, where can I, there's sometimes where I will get a, um, a student and I'm not, I'm [00:12:00] like, okay, I think I can hear you do so commercials and I can think, I can hear you do narration, and I will have them.
Read a couple from both and just say, okay, where do I hear your voice? And then get into, okay, now let's find stuff that you're really interested. Let's, we figured out narration was the way to go. Let's now see, alright, what's what? Are you interested? That's what I say to students. When you're looking at that script library, how many, how many scripts are in there?
500 scripts. I mean, there's, oh, more than that. Yeah, there's a lot of scripts in there. So I always say, look at the title. Of the scripts, then read it and see if you're interested in it. Right. And said, this is the time that we should pull out stuff that you're interested in. Yeah. So we can hear that in your demo.
Let's, let's bring that out, you know?
John: Yeah. And, and be, and again, be right up front with your voice over coach 'cause, and especially here, by the way. Mm-hmm. We put it in your notes.
Tina: Yeah.
John: So tell us what you're interested in, because even if we don't have a piece of copy at the time, we'll create one. We can create one for you.
Tina: Oh yeah, I'm doing that all the time. Writing. Yeah, I do it all. The type of people, some great writing, some new ones for for students, because you can hear something in their voice that says, oh, you [00:13:00] know what? You would be really good doing this, and then you try to find it. You don't find it. I'm gonna write it for you.
Absolutely. I gotta change it. Yeah, absolutely.
John: And you could do it too, if you're someone who's a writer.
Tina: Yes.
John: Don't be afraid to write your own script. Like if you're an Iggy Pop, I can tell you right now. Yeah. The top of my head. We don't have an Iggy Pop biography. Wet. Have that a good one. Actually have,
Tina: yeah.
John: Uh,
Tina: we should have a music
John: one. Oh, we should? Yeah. Well, we, we do have some music, I'd say,
Tina: but not, I know we try to carry Underwood in that biography. Oh, do we? Yeah. Yeah. And that's, and like, we should have Jimmy Hendricks in there. Should we, should we should, we should have the Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger. I mean, come on.
The dude's an 80. We should have something about him.
John: But, but if people are interested, they should let us know and We'll, and we can, it helps us create more copy as well, so. Awesome. All right. Well, I think, I think we're good on that, right? I think
Tina: so. It's just, you know, have an open mind coming
John: into this Yes.
Mind. And again, it, it's the demo that you should be doing, uh, is based on you. Mm-hmm. It's gonna be different for everybody.
Tina: Yep.
John: And the, and, but, um, but really dig, dive, or dive deep into yourself. Don't just go. [00:14:00] I like this.
Tina: Everything. Yeah. Alright.
John: Really think about, hey. Mm-hmm. What kind of work do I want to get in the future?
And that should be a part of your thought process. And also what, and the, a voice coach will be very honest to say, here's what you're really good at, here's what you're good at. Mm-hmm. And, and let's not put anything on there that shows any weakness. Yeah. But be open and, uh, that really should dictate the type of, of demo you should do.
Tina: Absolutely.
John: So. Awesome. Well, I wanna thank everybody very much for attending again, US 2026. I still can't believe
Tina: it. I know. Wow. It's flying.
John: It is.
Tina: Yeah,
John: it is. And, uh, awesome. I am John
Tina: G.
John: Yeah, I'm John. GJMG, John g whatever you wanna call me. But hey, my, my email is john [email protected].
Tina: I'm [email protected]
John: and again, if you have any questions, comments, uh, only positive comments.
Yes. If you have, if you, uh, want to appear on the show, that's fine, but when you email me
Tina: Yes. Make sure it's John
John: G. Yeah. My, my name. My name. Alright, we [00:15:00] out.
Tina: And I am Tina
John: or JMG.
Tina: Yep.
John: Whatever you wanna call guys. And this is Voice Coaches Radio, and it is episode 7 0 2. 7 0 2.
Tina: Ooh. All right.
John: Yeah. There we go.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Hey, today's topic is going to be what kind of demo should you do?
Tina: Good.
John: And this is assuming, by the way, whenever I talk about this.
Mm-hmm. This is assuming you've done everything in the right order and the right order is education demo.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Work. Yes. So I'm assuming that you've had some voiceover coaching. You've worked with the voice coach extensively or as extensively as you, you've had to. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And now you're at the point where you're going to have a demo produced.
What kind of demo should you do?
Tina: Yes.
John: So, um, first off, I, uh, my opinion is. You should do either one or two general demos. Right. Okay. A general demo being a [00:01:00] commercial demo.
Tina: All
John: right. Or a narrative demo. They should not be combined.
Tina: Yeah. No,
John: no, they won't. That's not a thing anymore. Mm-hmm. That was at one point.
Mm-hmm. A very small window, by the way, that did not last long, that people were doing like combo demos. It was such a short, I mean, I'm talking like a year at the most that it was a thing. Mm-hmm. It's not a thing. That is not something that we, because like you send, uh, someone who's doing documentaries, a commercial slash narrative demo, they're confused.
Yeah. They're like, why am I getting something that's advertising? Right? Mm-hmm. So, um. Uh, it is either narrative or commercial. Those are general demos. Mm-hmm. And what that means is you can pretty much send a narrative demo to anyone who does narrative. Yeah. As long as you have something on there, that's what they're looking for.
Commercial demo. You can pretty much send a commercial demo to anyone who's doing commercial. Yeah. As long as you have something similar what they need on there. And I just mean expression when it comes to commercial, like something sarcastic, something whatever.
Tina: Yes. Yeah.
John: Uh, so, so that's why I recommend doing.
A general demo when you start out. Okay. Mm-hmm. There are what we call specialty tracks.
Tina: Okay.
John: And those are very narrow. Like I have a specialty track, I have a [00:02:00] video game demo. It's all video game. Mm-hmm. It's all character voices. Yeah. And it's geared towards video games. Here's the thing about that, it's a super fun demo to listen to.
Mm-hmm. And it's great for what it is, but it's very narrow. So I can't send my. Video game demo to someone who's doing commercial for the most part. Unless they're looking for a character voice. Yeah. Specifically because they're like, why am I getting this? I don't know. Yeah. And I certainly can't send it to someone who's doing like corporate training or, or a documentary.
They're like, why am I getting this demo with all these crazy character voices? Mm-hmm. Of video game characters.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Uh, so it's very narrow. So you're pretty much gonna send that demo to mm-hmm. Someone who does video games.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Animation, maybe some educational, if they're looking for character voices.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Um, anime maybe, and maybe audio books if they want someone who's all over the place. Mm-hmm. In voices. Right. But besides that, you're not really, that's not a demo you're gonna send out to people. No. It's very narrow. And that's the same for everything. So talk about that. Like talk about, 'cause you, you, you know, um.
There [00:03:00] are some people who are very narrow in their interest, right? Yes. Or they say they are.
Tina: They are. Yeah.
John: But I don't think they understand completely.
Tina: No, I don't think so either. And I do have to get into like what you just did explaining what we've got those separate, you know, we've got a commercial demo, we've got the narration demo, you know, well I, 'cause I do have people who will come in and that's, I'm just as interested in audio books.
Okay. That's, that is just one. But remember if we just do audiobook, you know, a demo, well audio books. That's it, right? You are not gonna be able to audition for, like you said, commercials or narration and then whatever you feel comfortable with. And that's with the narration demos, you know, like, um, we have a bunch of categories in there.
You know, when we, when we do a narration demo, we will do, um, industrial and training, we'll do the biographical. Um, there's also the medical reads as well. Um, I'm trying to think. There's the educational material, e-learning type of things, but I do have some people who are like, I have no interest in that.
None whatsoever. I just wanna do one topic and one topic [00:04:00] only. Well, what's the chances of, you know, everyday work of one topic and one topic only?
John: Right? You narrow your, you, you narrow the, your. Whatever, part-time, full-time, whatever your career is gonna be in voiceovers. Yeah. You narrow it quite a bit. And so you're, you're kind of, uh, excluding a lot of work.
And, and by the way, that's fine. Listen, if you are someone who literally says, this is all I wanna do. Mm-hmm. This is, that's fine.
Yeah,
Tina: that's fine. It
John: is. Understand that you've taken all other voiceover working, set it aside. Mm-hmm. And now you're only marketing yourself towards that. Like you can't, and, and you can't go Well, yeah.
I have just a biographical. Like I have a, like say you just do a biographical narrative demo. Mm-hmm. You can't at any point go. I see this, there's commercial work available. I'm gonna market myself to that. You can't?
Tina: No, no.
John: Yeah. They don't get it. They don't get it at that point. So, um, and I'm, and that's fine.
There are people who are like, I only wanna do animation. Yeah, that's cool. That's literally, that's the only interest. Like, you [00:05:00] don't wanna do voiceover. Yeah. Unless you can do, okay, that's cool. But I just wanna make sure everyone understands that. Mm-hmm. Like they have to understand that. And once you do a demo, that's only one thing.
Yeah. That's the thing you're gonna be marketing yourself towards.
Tina: That's the biggest thing. And that's even like when you do, you know, when we say, okay, let's do a commercial demo, like you were saying before, it is showing the, there are different categories, but it's showing your ability to express those emotions.
It. In a short period of time too, because commercials are really quick.
John: Yes.
Tina: I mean, you've got 15 second commercial, 32nd commercial. You've gotta be able to bring that emotion out or what they're looking for right away.
John: And I think when people say, and I do get this quite a bit. Mm-hmm. Uh, when I meet people and I love meeting new people who are having a new interest in this, and you know, when I do webinars, that's when I get to meet those people.
And I have many, many, many people come out and say, I have no interest in doing commercials.
Tina: Yes, I get that all the time,
John: but I don't think they understand because I under so, so they're thinking old school. That's what they're thinking. They're thinking they don't want that crazy Eddie.
Tina: Oh, crazy Eddie. Yes, yes.
That I called the loud, booming announcer [00:06:00] voice.
John: Yeah, they don't wanna do that. That high pressure sales commercials, and I 100% understand that. But what they have, but what people have to realize as well is public service announcements causes you really care about are considered commercials.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Public service announcements are commercials.
The reason is we consider anything that's trying to get you to spend your time or money. Mm-hmm. A commercial and public service announcements are. Absolutely. Trying to get you to do something right? Yes. Yeah. They're trying to get you to either volunteer, trying to get you to, to donate. Mm-hmm. So they're considered commercials.
And so that's, I don't think people think of that. Like when they're talking commercials, they're talking high pressure sales. Mm-hmm. Yes. And I understand that. Mm-hmm. And, and, but also, remember, you may wanna do some, I've done a lot of public service announcements, um, um, but like my cause mm-hmm. Are animals.
I love animals. Mm-hmm. Like I have five dogs. I love dogs. Yeah. So, and, and, uh, I shouldn't say this over the. Over the air, but it's like the one thing I'll volunteer my time to do voiceovers for. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Don't you have money? I know you do, so don't ask me.
Tina: Yeah.
John: But I have [00:07:00] volunteered to do, yes.
Tina: Yeah. To do.
Mm-hmm.
John: Uh, voiceover work for
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: Shelters and things like that. Yeah. Because I'm, that's my thing. Right. Uh. That's a commercial.
Tina: Yeah, they are.
John: Yep. It's commercial. It's, it's a commercial. I know you don't wanna call it that. Mm-hmm. I know people don't wanna see it that way, but it is. Mm-hmm. It's in the commercial category.
And so just remember that. You, you, what you can say is, I don't wanna do high pressure sales. Get it. Yeah. Totally Get it. And we won't. Uh, but be open. Be open because you know, you wanna be able to do, you know, because you may have a public service announcements that, that is super expressive. Mm-hmm. Right?
And so. Now you're like, oh, I would love to have done that, but you have nothing. You have, you have a biographical demo.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. You can't get that.
Tina: And that, and I also think it is, like you were saying before, it used to be that, you know, loud, booming, announcer voice, that credit, uh, crazy Eddie, the sell, sell, sell.
It's not that anymore. I mean, not saying that's completely gone because it still is there. You still will find that, but majority of the time they're just telling you, Hey, this product's a great product. You think, I [00:08:00] think you should try it. It's very conversational. It's very, absolutely. But also bringing out the emotion too, you know?
Mm-hmm. But having some fun with it, you know, being creative, but it, it's not all the sell, sell, sell, but it's still there. But it is, you know, just the whole thing of just saying, I only wanna do one thing. You are really limited yourself. You are, you're just saying, uh, sorry. This is the only lane I'm gonna be in and I'm not getting, I'm not switching lanes at all.
John: Yeah. And I, I more understand it when people talk about animation or anime
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: Or video games. Like I almost get that because there's a younger generation of voice actors. Yes. Usually that's the younger generation who that's really all they're into.
Tina: That's all. Yes.
John: And so I understand when they say that, and so I'm more apt to accept that mm-hmm.
Than someone saying. Like right outta the box. I only wanna do biographical narrative because it's like, okay, but how much? And, and by the way, I'm also okay with that. Yeah. As long as you fully understand, understand yes, exactly what you're doing. Because what I don't want is anyone to come back and go, well, I, I, I'm not able to get any work.
It's like, okay, well, [00:09:00] biographical narrative isn't a huge section of the industry. There's a lot of it, but not compared to mm-hmm. Everything else.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. So. That's, that's all I, you know, be as long as they're aware. Mm-hmm. Then that's all you're gonna be doing. So, you know, really think about. What are you interested in?
Mm-hmm. That's important. And also, what are you good at? You know, what are you best at and what are you good at? Mm-hmm. And then that's what you wanna put on your demo. And that could be a lot of things.
Tina: It could be, yeah.
John: And it could lead to a lot of work.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: So don't, you know, again, if, if you really only have one interest, that's fine,
Tina: but Yeah, that's, that's fine.
You just, but no. But yeah.
John: Yeah. So it's important to explore that with your, with your voice coach. Yeah. Explore. Hey. What, so what kind of things do I like? I, I've had that, I've, I've had people come in and read things to me. I know they're not interested in immediately. Mm-hmm. I had someone read to some biograph biography once where, um, it didn't sound good, right.
This is the first someone's demo and it just wasn't sounding good. And, and finally I said. I, are you into George Washington? Like you are you Yeah. No, not [00:10:00] really.
Tina: Yeah.
John: I said, why are we doing this? I don't know. I just wanted a bi, a biography and so I just was to figure I'll just do anybody. Yeah. And I said, no, no, no, no.
Let's do something you like who I, I said, who do you like? And then we looked through the library.
Tina: Yeah.
John: And I ended up writing something for him. 'cause it was so somebody very specific. He had this hero that he had. And so I ended up writing it for him. Mm-hmm. And you know, I learned, get to learn about that person myself.
But. Be interested in what you're doing.
Tina: Yes.
John: And I think most people, we have so many layers of people.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Right. Most people can find something they're interested in almost anything. Right? Yeah. So, okay. You wanna do a biography? Cool. Who do you like? Okay. Now do you, do you wanna do corporate training?
I'm not really into corporate training. So you don't, you're not. Well, I do. I do have a hobby. Mm-hmm. Alright, there we go. We could do something related to your hobby. That's, that some people do for work. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So, um, there's, there's, I think most people have a lot of interest.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: You
Tina: know?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
John: And so don't, don't sell yourself short.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: You know, think of all the things, and again, this is part of what a good. [00:11:00] Voice coach will do it with you, right? Yes. You, you'll sit down, you'll talk about, uh, you know, what your interests are, but also talk about what you're good at. You know, the voice coach mm-hmm.
Can really help you with that. Yes. Because, we'll, believe me, I've had people do it to me mm-hmm. Where I do something and they go, Y let's not do that. You know? I'm like, okay, that sounds good. Yeah. Listen, I believe you. I, in my mind, I think it sounds good, but if you're telling me it doesn't, I believe you.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Uh, so. Yeah. And then that's part of a voice of a coach or producer's job. Yes. Depending if you're doing a professional job or if you're doing, you know mm-hmm. Working with a voice coach to become a professional voice actor. Yeah. So, um, you know, trust your voice coach and. Uh, be open. Yes, be open and, and be honest about the things you really like and the things you don't like too.
Don't, don't do things you don't like.
Tina: Yeah,
John: that's true. That's also true.
Tina: You know, you get, you get into this and, and you know, we sit down and we talk and I, um, you know, I'll, I'll listen to their voice and say, okay, where, where can I, there's sometimes where I will get a, um, a student and I'm not, I'm [00:12:00] like, okay, I think I can hear you do so commercials and I can think, I can hear you do narration, and I will have them.
Read a couple from both and just say, okay, where do I hear your voice? And then get into, okay, now let's find stuff that you're really interested. Let's, we figured out narration was the way to go. Let's now see, alright, what's what? Are you interested? That's what I say to students. When you're looking at that script library, how many, how many scripts are in there?
500 scripts. I mean, there's, oh, more than that. Yeah, there's a lot of scripts in there. So I always say, look at the title. Of the scripts, then read it and see if you're interested in it. Right. And said, this is the time that we should pull out stuff that you're interested in. Yeah. So we can hear that in your demo.
Let's, let's bring that out, you know?
John: Yeah. And, and be, and again, be right up front with your voice over coach 'cause, and especially here, by the way. Mm-hmm. We put it in your notes.
Tina: Yeah.
John: So tell us what you're interested in, because even if we don't have a piece of copy at the time, we'll create one. We can create one for you.
Tina: Oh yeah, I'm doing that all the time. Writing. Yeah, I do it all. The type of people, some great writing, some new ones for for students, because you can hear something in their voice that says, oh, you [00:13:00] know what? You would be really good doing this, and then you try to find it. You don't find it. I'm gonna write it for you.
Absolutely. I gotta change it. Yeah, absolutely.
John: And you could do it too, if you're someone who's a writer.
Tina: Yes.
John: Don't be afraid to write your own script. Like if you're an Iggy Pop, I can tell you right now. Yeah. The top of my head. We don't have an Iggy Pop biography. Wet. Have that a good one. Actually have,
Tina: yeah.
John: Uh,
Tina: we should have a music
John: one. Oh, we should? Yeah. Well, we, we do have some music, I'd say,
Tina: but not, I know we try to carry Underwood in that biography. Oh, do we? Yeah. Yeah. And that's, and like, we should have Jimmy Hendricks in there. Should we, should we should, we should have the Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger. I mean, come on.
The dude's an 80. We should have something about him.
John: But, but if people are interested, they should let us know and We'll, and we can, it helps us create more copy as well, so. Awesome. All right. Well, I think, I think we're good on that, right? I think
Tina: so. It's just, you know, have an open mind coming
John: into this Yes.
Mind. And again, it, it's the demo that you should be doing, uh, is based on you. Mm-hmm. It's gonna be different for everybody.
Tina: Yep.
John: And the, and, but, um, but really dig, dive, or dive deep into yourself. Don't just go. [00:14:00] I like this.
Tina: Everything. Yeah. Alright.
John: Really think about, hey. Mm-hmm. What kind of work do I want to get in the future?
And that should be a part of your thought process. And also what, and the, a voice coach will be very honest to say, here's what you're really good at, here's what you're good at. Mm-hmm. And, and let's not put anything on there that shows any weakness. Yeah. But be open and, uh, that really should dictate the type of, of demo you should do.
Tina: Absolutely.
John: So. Awesome. Well, I wanna thank everybody very much for attending again, US 2026. I still can't believe
Tina: it. I know. Wow. It's flying.
John: It is.
Tina: Yeah,
John: it is. And, uh, awesome. I am John
Tina: G.
John: Yeah, I'm John. GJMG, John g whatever you wanna call me. But hey, my, my email is john [email protected].
Tina: I'm [email protected]
John: and again, if you have any questions, comments, uh, only positive comments.
Yes. If you have, if you, uh, want to appear on the show, that's fine, but when you email me
Tina: Yes. Make sure it's John
John: G. Yeah. My, my name. My name. Alright, we [00:15:00] out.
John and Tina talk about the types of demos people should consider.
