At some point in every voice actor’s career, they need to start thinking about making a demo, a reel, or some samples. Oftentimes, people can get confused about the differences between these things and what they’ll need for different genres and niches. So let’s break down what the difference is between a demo, a reel, and a sample.
Let’s start with the granddaddy of all of them all: the demo. A voice-over demo is a collection of short spots that showcase your acting ability and range within a certain genre. A demo should also be focused on one category. For example, you don’t want to have video game/interactive spots on the same demo that you have commercial spots. Each demo should be specialized for the specific genre you want to showcase.
The average voice-over demo is about a minute to a minute and a half long (sometimes longer in certain cases). A demo usually consists of short scripts within a given genre to demonstrate your range and abilities within that genre. Scripts are usually written for the specific demo, and do not have to be real gigs you have actually worked.
The demo is meant to showcase the culmination of your experience and abilities in a condensed format that you can then use to pitch yourself to agents, studios, and casting directors. It needs to be short enough not to take up a lot of their time, but also attention-grabbing so that they stay interested. Also, it’s a good opportunity to show off a bit! A demo is going to be one of your biggest marketing tools, so it needs to be professional, captivating, and a selling point for you as a voice-over artist.
Next, let’s talk about the reel. Sometimes people will use this term interchangeably with “demo.” It is also a showcase of your abilities; however, a lot of people will refer to a reel as a short collection of credits or things you have done. Unlike the demo, where the spots are all made up, the reel is usually comprised of snippets of things you have booked and worked on in the past. A good example of this is the visual reels we see people post on social media: someone might take short snippets of different characters they have done for various video games or anime, and create a showcase of them together.
Finally, let’s talk about samples. These are a little more abstract and can vary a bit from genre to genre. They are usually singularly focused on one specific thing and not a wide variety of range and characters like the demo and the reel are. Let’s visit audiobooks for a moment as an example.
Samples work well in the audiobook world because of the long-form format; an audiobook sample would be one specific thing, such as an excerpt from a sci-fi novel. If I were to record 2-6 minutes of a sci-fi novel, this would be a sci-fi audiobook sample. When we look at characters, someone might ask for a sample of a “loving dad type character.” This would be me recording only a small spot of that specific character archetype to submit, not dissimilar to an audition. A sample is a focused, singular thing, meant to fill a specific need.
Overall, the demo is your genre-specific showcase meant to show off your abilities in a given genre and market yourself. The reel, sometimes used interchangeably with the demo, is also a showcase of your range and abilities in a given genre, but usually made up of past credits you have. The sample is a focused, singular spot or example.
Just like selecting the right tool from the toolbox, this will help you know specifically what you need for different applications. If a casting director wants to hear your video game demo, you don’t want to send over a reel of past commercials you’ve done. If a publisher wants to hear an audiobook sample for specifically romance novels, sending over your character demo might not be the move. Hopefully, this helps clear up some of the confusion surrounding these three tools, and you can go forth and use them effectively!
P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry, sign up here!
P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!
–
Marcus is a biracial (Black/Jewish), non-binary voice-over artist.
They got their start in audiobooks and have since branched out to other areas such as commercials, animation, video games, ADR, and more. Marcus can be heard in a wide variety of projects, such as multiple video games, including Star-Lord in Marvel Snap, multiple voices in various anime, including Gintama, DanDaDan, Windbreaker, and That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Slime, commercials, multiple audiobooks for Penguin Random House and other publishers, and multiple live-action dubs!
Marcus has always had a passion for storytelling and entertaining those around them. They have used this passion to fuel their drive in voiceover, and also launch and helm “Queer Quest,” organizing and running tabletop role-playing games for the Queer Vox Community. Marcus also serves on the board of directors for Queer Vox where they serve as a PR director, and also help with organizing community events and classes.
Outside of the booth, Marcus enjoys D&D, anime, painting, kayaking, hiking, making their own dice, and hanging out with their 3 dogs.
Check them out at https://queervox.org/ and their personal website https://marcusrvoice.com/.
