We firmly maintain that no one does what you do. No one brings to the industry what you bring to it.
Every talent, no matter the skill level, has specific needs and unique abilities.
At SOUND ADVICE, we determine what works best for you as an individual talent. We target your demo (and training, if applicable) to suit the segment of the business where you have the most interest, then give you a realistic game plan on how to succeed. Once you're established, we do our best to help you maintain your profession with further career counseling and training to keep you up to date on the advances in the industry.
Our objective is to serve each talent individually. This way, we are sure to deliver the highest standard of training, creating a demo as effective and diverse as you are.
- Our one-on-one Orientation (a prerequisite for any of the following services)
- Flat-Rate Demo Production Package
- One-on-One Coaching
- In-Studio Workshops
- The 'Out-of-Towner' (Orientation included)
Our one-on-one SOUND ADVICE Orientation
We require that every (potential) SOUND ADVICE client, regardless of skill level or experience, take our one-on-one Orientation to insure we are on the same page when it comes to your expectations of us, ours of you, of your demo and of the industry as a whole.
As far as we're concerned, the Orientation is our first pre-production meeting.
We address what you're aiming to accomplish career-wise and educate you on the advances required of you that you may not know about when it comes to: promotion, performance and overall expansion as a working talent (not strictly voiceover).
Voiceover, by and large, is a means to an end for many talent. It just so happens to be a form that lends itself extremely well to focusing the actor's overall skills, while expanding his or her opportunities to incur a proper income and join the Union.
This is a 2-hour session, including the materials.
Whether you're brand new to this business, or you once worked a great deal, but now your business has dropped off considerably--or you're simply not working as much as you would like...The objective here is to ultimately save you time, frustration and money.
Typically, the Orientation is followed with one-on-one coaching before beginning to put together a demo package for you.
Our SOUND ADVICE Orientation covers:
- How to successfully create your own small business as a working talent.
- What's expected of you as a talent, both in and out of the booth.
- How technology and access to the work have changed dramatically--even in the last year or two!
- How to effectively get a talent agent and promote your demo to those most likely to hire you.
- Why you honestly can't move a muscle in this business without a seriously competitive voiceover demo.
- And, of course, what makes a demo truly professional, competitive & effective. (In other words, there's more to it than recording and delivering it to you all in one day. If you did--you just threw your money away. This is a profession.)
We also address your specific needs and help you develop into a professional talent as quickly as possible.
If your career needs a jump-start, we determine what's stopping you from advancing and provide a detailed game plan to get you back on track as a successful working talent.
Additionally, the SOUND ADVICE Orientation includes the most recent edition of The SOUND ADVICE Encyclopedia of Voiceover and the Business of Being a Working Talent for future reference, written by seasoned actress and voiceover, Casting Director and SOUND ADVICE founder, Kate McClanaghan.
One in-depth two-hour session: $175
Flat-Rate Demo Production Package
Our SOUND ADVICE Flat-Rate Voiceover Demo Package is tailored specifically to your individual needs.
Our flat-rate demo package includes:
- Copy selected or written specifically for you that suits the sort of work you're most likely to land
- Expert recording, mixing and editing
- Unequalled, highly skilled in-studio direction
- State-of-the-art production
- Professional engineer costs
- Professional producer costs
- One year of web hosting of your voiceover demo (only) web page
- all…at an extremely competitive rate
So, how does the SOUND ADVICE flat-rate demo package
measure up against other demo production services?
Other demo production services offer: |
What SOUND ADVICE delivers: |
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Their rates If someone should give you their rate for producing a voiceover demo (be it $800, $2500 or even $6000) over the phone, or after simply meeting with you for half an hour - prior to putting you in front of a mic to determine your specific, individual needs - then, unfortunately, that demo "producer" is less concerned with YOU and what you bring to the table, and more concerned with taking your money. This sort of production without PRE-production in advance of recording your tracks can (and often does) bring about costly mistakes. Consistently, the result is a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all product with no attention to detail. These producers are interested in spitting out a demo in a week or two, rather than creating a product that will serve you for years to come. Their demos generally don't sound like the best work you are capable of doing or work you're most likely to land - which is the purpose of the demo in the first place. Without working with you in advance and sitting down to determine your career goals, there's no way any responsible individual could possibly quote you a rate for a truly effective, competitive voiceover demo over the phone. There's just too much missing information. The fact is, each talent requires individual attention and preparation to focus your demo to its targeted audience. What's good for some is not necessarily good for everyone. Their material / scripts Other places are likely to give you tired, overused, inappropriate scripts that may have been torn out of magazines (and sound like it) or have been pulled from bad RADIO spots. Studios often re-hash the same old tired scripts for every demo client they see, or they give you copy that's simply incorrect for your specific type and talent. Their recording sessions Other places record everything with little or no skill when it comes to direction and are often completely off the mark when it comes to the commercial style, nuance or concept due to their lack of Ad Agency experience. There's often little or no reason for their direction--leaving you even further in the dark as to what is actually needed and wanted from you on an actual recording session. And the final product (the demo) ultimately suffers for it and sounds like it. Their mixing & editing Most production and recording studios view voiceover demo clients as their lowest priority, which is why they will only produce demos after hours, on weekends and often utilize their interns as engineers, who cost the studio nothing and who have no idea what you're trying to accomplish with your demo investment. Their Promotion & further professional support Even after if they promised to "totally hook you up" that first day you met (which is often 2-3 days before your sizable demo payment and single recording session) most other places' professional support is virtually non-existent, and this may be where you need the most help. |
Our rates At SOUND ADVICE, we customize each demo package to suit your individual needs in order to glen the greatest return on your initial investment. Therefore, flat-rate demo packages vary from individual to individual. We first meet with you to determine who you are in relation to the industry, where you are now and where you intend to be - while bringing you fully up-to-date with current trends, advances and recent changes in the field. We refer to this meeting as the Orientation. While our rates are extremely reasonable, we can't determine how much your package will run until we've established who you are, what your strengths are, and how we can best demonstrate those strengths with a truly individual, competitive demo. Our material / scripts SOUND ADVICE gives you a variety of scripts selected or written specifically for you based on your type and the work you're best suited to land (book). These spots will read primarily as strong national TV spots, which is an earmark of a competitive, professional demo. Our recording sessions We record each spot we choose for you as if it were an actual booking, with an experienced professional producer, copywriter and/or casting director guiding the way. Our mixing & editing The spots we produce for your demo(s) sound primarily like strong national TV spots, full of vivid imagery, honest expression and variety.
Longevity! Our intention is to give you a demo that goes the distance. We don't want you to have to overhaul your demo every year, but rather allow it to establish who you are and what you bring to the table as a professional. That takes a good deal of forethought on our part--not cookie-cutter service. Our Promotion & further professional support At SOUND ADVICE, we have created an extremely effective direct-mailing and promotional plan to a) help you secure representation from a variety of agents all over the country, and b) help you make yourself known and available to voiceover work from all over the country, usually while remaining right where you are. |
Plus, we also offer a complete tried-and-true marketing plan and mailing list for an additional charge - because there's no point to having a demo if no one knows you have one! (See Marketing for details.)
We also offer promotional guidance and support to accelerate your career as much as possible.
We refer you to professional graphic artists who best understand the specific needs of a voiceover promotion. (See Graphics for examples.)
Additionally, all of our vendor referrals offer our clients the most affordable, highest-quality CD replication house to mass-produce your demo whose rates are reduced specifically for SOUND ADVICE clients.
The demo replication and graphic design are additional to our flat rate production package. However, since we've already done the much-needed leg-work, we will have saved you far more money and anguish than you will ever know!
In order to succeed in any field you must surround yourself with the most knowledgeable, supportive, creative, and experienced people possible.
That's SOUND ADVICE.
Our goal is to make you as happy with your final product as we are.
We customize each Flat-Rate Voiceover Demo Package to suit your individual needs,
in order to glean the greatest return on your initial investment.
One-on-One Coaching
To succeed as a talent you need to know your job, both in and out of the booth, which is where our unique coaching comes in.
At SOUND ADVICE, all of our coaching is done in the recording studio and recorded on CD for your future reference.
Our training allows stage talent to successfully transfer their skills from one medium to another (which is a uniquely different approach in and of itself) while novice talent become acclimated to the most effective performance techniques using our own trademarked methods. Seasoned professionals discover their true potential by approaching the job from a producer's point of view.
Our coaching allows every level of talent to deliver a performance that more than exceeds the expectations of those likely to hire you, helping you secure continued employment in the field.
Each one-hour session: $110
Coaching package (6 hours): $600
In-Studio Workshops
This is a real opportunity to get in the studio and play. The SOUND ADVICE Workshop is a hands-on in-studio experience that develops your commercial skills in a truly supportive environment.
The object is to develop your auditioning and performance skills on mic and on the fly while being directed by a professional casting director.
Our limited seating allows for approximately 8-10 participants per class, affording you a minimum of 4 to 5 opportunities on mic each week.
We do our best to make this experience as realistic as possible, which is why talent of all skill levels are welcome. It's unrealistic to expect to work only with individuals that are of the same skill or experience level as you, which is why we don't classify you as 'Beginner', 'Intermediate' or 'Advanced'.
Our workshops are podcast for your convenience to help you chart your progress and to encourage you in the future.
To hear examples of some of our recent workshops, listen to the following MP3s.
Four 2-hour sessions: $350
The Out-of-Towner
For those outside the Chicago or Los Angeles area willing to fly in, we offer an extended service we call "The Out-of-Towner". (Appropriate for all skill levels, as it's tailored specifically to you.)
Includes:
- An invaluable two-hour Orientation delivered one-on-one addressing your specific voiceover needs. We cover 'where you are & where you want to be', how to market yourself regardless of where you live, advances in the industry that will allow you to become available to jobs outside your area and a great deal more! There's nothing remotely like it!
- An extended two-hour in-studio coaching session, recorded on CD for future reference with one of our professional casting directors. Coaching includes our professional vocal warm-up, the very best tips on dissecting scripts and the best kept secrets in the business such as how to deliver a fresh, original read every time.
- A one-hour demo talk / intro to home studio setup.
- A SOUND ADVICE Vocal Warmup Coaching CD and Instruction Packet for future reference.
A FULL DAY of jam-packed personal career guidance, training and assistance you won't find ANYWHERE else:
Price: $595
