Record the demo that suits your voice and shows your best skills. Obvious, but you can't do it without knowing what the options are. Voice over demos come in two broad families, commercial and narration, and then a set of more specific categories under and beside them.
The demo family
- CommercialAds for radio, TV and the internet. The widest spread of deliveries in a minute.First
- NarrationCorporate, explainer, e-learning, phone, documentary. Most of the paid work.First
- AudiobookStorytelling, distinct characters, stamina for page 300.
- Character and gamesVoices you can hold for a four hour session, not a funny noise.
- Corporate and explainerCredible and friendly in the same minute.
- E-learning and medicalLong, accurate, pleasant for an hour.
- Radio and TV imagingSweepers, IDs, promos. Be the station's attitude.
- Phone and IVRSmall jobs, very regular. Clear, warm, unhurried.
The two big ones
Commercial
Ads. Television, radio and everything made for the internet, from six second pre-rolls to two minute brand films. Commercial work is a smaller slice of the total than beginners expect, but the commercial demo is still the one most actors make first, because it shows off the widest spread of deliveries in the shortest time: conversational, announcer, hard sell, soft sell, wry, warm, all in a minute.
Narration
If you only ever make one demo, there's a good argument it should be this one. Corporate videos, e-learning, explainer videos, phone systems, documentaries, product demos and training content make up the great majority of the paid work on any marketplace. A narration demo shows you can tell a story or explain something clearly, hold a tone across a long read, and sound like a person rather than a presenter.
The specific categories
Audiobook
A spoken word recording of a book, read by one narrator or a full cast. Audiobooks are the fastest growing corner of publishing and a steady source of long form work. An audiobook demo needs to show storytelling: pacing, a range of distinct character voices, and the stamina to sound as good on page 300 as on page 1. A couple of minutes of fiction and a minute of non-fiction is a typical shape.
Character, animation and video games
Animated films and series, games, toys, apps, dubbing. This is the category that draws a lot of people into voice over in the first place, and it's crowded. A character demo should show voices you can sustain for a four hour session, not just a funny noise you can make once. Bigger, bolder acting than anything else on this list, and clear transitions so a casting director can hear five different people in sixty seconds.
Corporate and explainer
Companies make a lot of video now: brand films, internal comms, product explainers, investor updates. The reads have got warmer and more casual than the boardroom voice of old, so a good corporate demo shows both: the professional, credible read and the friendly, animated one. On the marketplaces, this is a lot of the daily work.
E-learning and medical
Training modules, courses, compliance content, medical and pharmaceutical narration. The buyer needs someone who can hold attention across a long, sometimes dry script and who'll research the pronunciation of every term before the session. If you're accurate, patient and pleasant to listen to for an hour, this category will keep you busy for years.
Radio and television imaging
The station's signature sound: sweepers, IDs, intros and outros, bumpers, stingers, promos. Your voice becomes the brand of the station, so the demo needs a strong, identifiable attitude, matched to a format. Rock, urban, classic hits, news talk and easy listening each want a different person. Show which one you are.
Phone systems and IVR
Greetings, menus, on-hold messages, voicemail. Small jobs, very regular, and a good fit for a clear, warm, unhurried read. Often folded into a narration demo, sometimes worth a short one of its own.
The newer ones
Some kinds of work are growing fast and don't yet have a standard demo of their own. You'll usually book them off the demos above.
- Podcasts. Intros, outros, host reads and the ads in between.
- Audio description. Describing what's on screen for blind and low vision audiences. Neutral, clear, precisely timed.
- In-store and live announcing. Retail audio, events, in-venue.
- Apps, devices and assistants. Prompts, confirmations, the voice in the car.
How long each one runs
Length is part of the type. A commercial demo that runs three minutes tells a casting director you don't know the format, however good the reads are.
- 60 to 75 secCommercialFive to eight spots. Getting shorter every year.
- 90 sec to 2 minNarrationThree or four longer pieces. Show you can hold a tone.
- 3 to 5 minAudiobookFiction with dialogue, plus a minute of non-fiction.
- 60 to 90 secCharacterFive or six distinct voices, fast transitions.
- 60 secImagingOne format's worth of attitude, produced with the station's kind of music.
- 45 to 60 secE-learningTwo contrasting passages: a friendly one and a technical one, both accurate.
Which two to record first
Voice actors aren't interchangeable. Each has a distinctive voice, and two actors chasing the same niche will still make it their own. So nobody needs a demo in every category, and very few actors ever work in all of them. The successful ones focus on what they do best and let the rest go.
A commercial demo and a narration demo. Everything else can wait until the work tells you where you're wanted.
Those two show your range and cover the bulk of what gets cast. They'll also teach you something: which one gets you booked. Follow that, and let it point you to a third. When you're ready to make them, start with planning your first demo.
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