VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Quicksilver]

Thank you and greetings to all of the generous and very knowledgeable posters here!

I have benefited frequently from the very valuable information posted here over the last 18 months or so of my venture into voice over. I haven't had much to offer so I have refrained from posting until now but wanted to briefly introduce myself and say thanks!

Colorado radio is still my main source of income but I'm slowly starting to see some returns in VO, much in part to some of the great information here. I just wish I would of found the VO-BB earlier. I spent the better part of my first your perusing VO by trying to teach myself audio engineering, twisting compressor and eq dials in my closet thinking that's all there was too it, before realizing that VO is all about the performance. I've since wised up and in addition to mentoring with a very talented LA based voice actor and completing the curriculum of a well know coach, I finally sprung for a professionally produced commercial demo.

I realize by asking this in my first post I will put my VOBB karma in the red but I hope the kind community here can overlook my gaffe in promise of more valuable contributions to come

So here it goes...
Now that I have a demo to market I am struggling with website branding. I've got the money ready to for the web build but I'm really having trouble picking a theme that will fit my voice.

Here's my demo..

http://soundcloud.com/drew-carpenter/commerical [url]

any critiques on the demo would be very welcome as well. My ideas for a website so far are...

1) My last name is Carpenter so I considered a carpentry theme but have been told it's kinda cheezy.
2) Ocean Wave background and wave graphics/theme - not sure why, just looks cool and haven't seen anyone else with that...but maybe too laidback?
3) Simple, clean and professional, similar to Doug Turkel's http://www.unnouncer.com/ which always stuck out as looking great to me (nice work Doug)
4) Something else entirely...garage, baseball diamond, clouds, planes, peppers..

Do any of those seem like a good fit/decent branding?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Drew

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[DougVox]

Drew,

Welcome to the craziness...and thanks for the kind words about my site!

I'm not the right guy to give you performance advice, but I will say this about your demo: It sounds like all of the spots were recorded in the same studio, on the same mic, through the same processing, were directed by the same person, and were produced by the same person.

A demo that's created by piecing together bits of spots that were recorded in different rooms, through different microphones, preamps, and EQ's and processed by different people, will have a much more organic feel to it...it'll sound more like a demo should sound: as though it's a compilation of your best work recorded over a period of time, for different directors in different rooms.

Also, the vast majority of the spots you chose have a very similar energy/read/vibe to them. In some cases, the only clue I had that we'd moved on to another spot was the music. (Oh, and "poblano" has only 3 syllables, not 4.)

Re: your branding, I think you might be better off if, instead of thinking about what images you could use in your branding, you thought more about what you bring to the party. Choosing an ocean theme because no one else has done it ain't the right reason. Same with choosing clouds, planes or peppers because you like them, or because you think they'll make the site pretty.

Think about what you have to offer your clients that's different from the next guy, and that makes you stand out. Think about what your clients depend on you for, and design a site that appeals to them.
_________________
Doug Turkel (tur-KELL)
Voiceover UNnouncer®
UNnouncer.com

[Bruce]

On the demo, kill the second clip. It boldly states "I'm a radio guy!". As Doug noted, pacing. There's nothing thoughtful, nothing sweet, nothing excited. Variety can be your friend.

On the website design I re-offer our advice in this thread:

http://www.vo-bb.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=194526&highlight=#194526

Your website should appeal to buyers first, you second, family last.

B
_________________
VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[Quicksilver]

Thank you, guys!

Really appreciate you both taking the time to check it out and share your thoughts.

Bruce, I wasn't a huge fan of the 2nd spot in the demo as well and was debating on pulling it but I'm sometimes overly critical and it's impossible to be objective on your own voice, that and the demo was produced by one of the best who knows much better than me. I think I'm going to try and replace it with a more straight forward real person read that I've been told my demo might be missing though. Thanks for helping me make the decision.

Doug, yeah I've heard of the technique of making each spot sound different with some subtle tweaks in EQ and equipment and I know the producer is as well. I am curious why it wasn't used on my demo. 2 of the segments were recorded at my home studio but obviously run through the same processing as everything else at the production house.

As far as needing some variety goes we were aiming to develop a signature sound that would hopefully fill a hole in some rosters out there so that's why the focus is pretty narrow. Luckily I think I can address this by replacing just a couple segments.

This website business rough for someone as indecisive as myself but I'm getting close, thanks a bunch for the help

Best,

Drew