Alternate Title: What makes a good voice actor/character demo?

Bleh, since I'm holding off on accepting new voice acting opportunities (IT'S SO HARD MY GAWD), I've been busy working on my character demo and improving my voice acting.

This blog post might get boring/SRS pretty quick since this is a subjective, mind-barfy matter, so I'll just trim the fat and just hit some points as quick as I can. If you want the LONG version, I made a guide about demos already.

Some Key Objectives in Making a Character Demo!

Demonstrate: Vocal & Acting Range

-- Emphasis in Vocal:
if you can do vocal gymnastics in your sleep and can mostly get by with your acting
-- Emphasis in Acting:
if your vocal range is limited, but you can play almost any character under the sun convincingly enough that it doesn't matter what voice you use (channeling characters into a single body, basically)

In a way, if you can't do an AWESOME balance of both (you're a GODLY FORCE OF NATURE if you can do this and there are people who can), it boils down to:
"A LOT of bit characters (vocal range) versus a FEW quality characters (acting range), like leads, in a single project."

[ME] -- : I have range, but I honestly perform easiest with roles within my natural range. Like, voices I can place around my mouth and throat? Easy as pie. Voices placed high in my head or deep in my chest? Challenging stuff. I can do it, but it'll be challenging to do it WELL and not sound like a n00b.

This is why I'm working on improving my acting beyond technical skills and into actually emoting (more on that later).

Characters

-- Make them General
archetypes (NOT STEREOTYPES, FARK NO UUUGGGHGH) so interested listeners can fit you into certain types of roles; the lineart

-- Make them Specific
distinct characteristics that make a character unique, interesting, and memorable; the coloring

[ME] --: You know what n00bs do? n00bs only focus on general STEREOTYPES in their demos by employing crappy impersonations (EW EW EW EW IT HURTS MY EYES JUST TYPING THIS), as in, they don't know how to really bring an imitated personality to life beyond their catchphrases. As for awesome people? Awesome people know how to make these both work together, especially the distinct traits.

I used to hate my voice since it's "too weird to fit anywhere"; People still bash on my voice and I sure do still lose roles to people who can do generic voices because they were born with that ability. But over time, the more I worked with my voice and with others who share the same "problem" (Druox has a frikkin' unique voice and Tomamoto too), it turns out that having a weird voice alone can at times be that little special something that'll make a character a bit more special. It's a bit of an advantage over those whose voice can be used for everything under the sun, but ONLY if you know how to act/use that voice to its fullest.

Thus, I'm gonna be experimenting a lot with acting styles in general and some technical aspects, like changing up vocal cadences, speech patterns, and such. Practicing harder in the improv department to make different characters natural ones at that.

Non-Actors Will Be Listening To My Demo Too; The BEST Ears EVER

Well, who else am I performing for? I bet the majority of the world doesn't know how to act too well and practically everything I do is made for that very audience, so it'd be self-centered to say that I won't listen to the critiques of those who "don't know acting".

You wanna know something cool? There are people out there who don't actively "study"/practice acting but are EXTREMELY good at it. The general hypothesis at the moment is that they simply know how to emote very easily and very well. While I'm taking the "book smart" approach because of my personal circumstances (not enough time/resources), there're folks who are VERY "street smart" with emoting--Their instincts are crazy sharp and they can improv circles around anyone. They're the Pirate Day, Renaissance Fair people who can make you speechless out of confusion because they know what's going on and you don't.

I kinda suck at emoting compared to these AWESOME people who instinctively know what's natural and what isn't. It's like I color by number while they actually study colors in the world and whatnot. There're also REALLY talented producers who don't even act, but can get insanely good casts together and bring out their best performances. Right now, if I want to improve, I'm gonna have to work with producers/performers who have these kinds of ears.

These are harder to find than you think...

Buuuuuttt~ I will say so now, these people share a common trait: Their minds aren't polluted by anime or such-like. They think very much for themselves and aren't the sort to "recycle crap every other fan already did".

That makes it a bit easier to know who I want to work with the more I keep at my voice acting endeavors~

I'm looking forward to quite a few projects to be released soon~ I worked on those roles with folks with insanely good ears before my hiatus (a good chunk of which done through live direction), so I wanna see what other non-actors think of my performance!