Demos
All of us who do voice-overs have a niche where our voices and delivery styles are best suited to perform. Mine is in the areas of:
- documentaries and narrations
- “explainer” presentations
- business and industrial training presentations
- promos
- infomercials
- public service announcements
- political ads
- quiet commercials (think of the styles and deliveries of Sam Elliott, Mike Rowe, Donald Sutherland and the like)
If, for example, you want an extremely loud, fast talking, “crazy Eddie” approach for your project, then I’m probably not the voice you’re looking for.
On the other hand, if you want a voice that has been described as warm, sincere, articulate, believable, comforting, soothing, powerful, distinguished and authoritative but friendly, then I’m one of the voices you may want to consider for your project.
Documentaries/Narrations
McCar Video
The client requested a “deep voice with grit” for this video to be used on the internet. As with all the video demos on my website, I provided the voice-over and the client’s production company created the visuals and produced the video.
Quality
A narration about some of the aspects of quality.
Pakistan
A somewhat dark narrative style for a documentary about Pakistan.
Morgan’s Horse
USS Constitution
Excerpt from a museum kiosk presentation.
Animated Short Film
The internet never ceases to amaze me. I’m sitting here in a suburb of Dallas, Texas and somehow got hooked up with an artist in Great Britain who was looking for someone to narrate his animated film short. The film is about eleven minutes long and has a certain charm to it, if you have the time to watch it. My narrations occur in about five minutes of the film.
Styles
I am fortunate that my vocal range and the timbre of my voice closely match those of Sam Elliott, one of the true icons of our industry. The following three demos are my takes on three of his commercials and include the original music beds of each. My demos are not meant to be direct imitations of his voice. I’m only trying to match the style of his presentations. His commercials are still available on YouTube, so you are welcome to look at them and judge how close I’ve come.
IGA
A friendly, approachable delivery style that someone like Mike Rowe might use to talk about IGA stores.
Voice of God
No…not THAT God. This is the term used by clients when referring to the announcer you hear but don’t see at live events.
Medical CIPRO
Medical people just love to listen to and heckle voice-over artists as we try to narrate presentations with a lot of difficult medical terminology. It’s very much like doing five minutes of tongue twisters and it makes my audio editing software worth FAR more than I paid for it.
Commercials & PSAs
Sunex Video
The client requested a friendly, approachable, guy next door style for this video to be used on the internet. I provided the voice-over and the client’s production company created the visuals and produced the video.
A commercial with a standard radio delivery style done for a client in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
TJ Ribs Commercial
Another radio commercial. This one was done for a restaurant also located in Baton Rouge and, no, I don’t have any relatives in Baton Rouge….lol.
Reason for Hospice PSA
A Public Service Announcement that describes one of the main reasons that makes hospice care such an important and invaluable service.
Book Promotion
A commercial with an upbeat style to match its music background.
MADD PSA
A quiet delivery that ends with a soft request for donations.
Little Gem Saloon
Part of an audio guided tour presented in an informative narrative style with a slight southern accent.
Financial Explainer
A portion of an explainer video delivered with a slight Texan accent at the client’s request.
The delivery has just a hint of the abruptness you sometimes hear from Wilfred Brimley and a slight western feel to it. The video narration was done for the Legacy Whisky website.
Texas Cowboy
An older Texas cowboy recounting a dream he had (with words shamelessly stolen from a movie script).
Older Southern Man
A paragraph from a popular book about a group of people in a southern location. Presented with a regional accent.
High Flight Narration
I was a tactical fighter pilot in the US Air Force and every pilot I knew had a brass plaque hanging on his “vanity wall” which displayed the poem, High Flight. The poem, a celebration of flight, was written by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., a British-American pilot who died in 1914 at the age of nineteen as a result of a mid-air collision during a training flight in his Spitfire. I was curious to see if I could combine the phrasing of the poem with the drama of the music, Also Sprach Zarathrustra, the theme from the movie 2001. This is the result.
Audio Book Excerpt
I have placed this audition for a book narration under fun things because I won what I call the “Miss Congeniality” award with it…..meaning the author said he really liked what I had done…..but he didn’t hire me for the project. (All of us who do voiceovers have experienced the “thrill” of winning this award on MANY occasions as we audition for projects…..but that’s ok, because it keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously…..lol.)
Wyoming Women’s Basketball Arena Announcement
Here’s an odd demo for you. The client asked that I update their arena announcement that plays just before tipoff. So, if you have 85 seconds to listen, this MP3 has the original announcement followed by my updated announcement using the client’s new script. And, this isn’t a competition….it’s simply a comparison of styles and the revised script provided by the client.
Vocal Range
This audio file provides a quick listen to my vocal range plus an explanation for the reason that I have included it here. It’s all meant in good humor and fun.
This section is primarily the result of being cooped up in my home studio thanks to the Covid virus and my resulting boredom….
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In an effort to pay homage to some of the celebrity voices that have helped to shape our industry, I have included in this section my takes on a few specific voices. My intent is only to evoke the vocal style of each, not to mimic and certainly not to attempt an actual impression of their iconic voices.
Sam Elliott Style
One of the true icons of our industry. I have unapologetically stolen the script from the opening scene of the movie, The Big Lebowski. As I’m sure you are aware, Mr. Elliott’s Dodge RAM and Coors beer commercials have become some of the most popular and instantly recognizable in broadcasting.
Morgan Freeman Style Audio
After his work in the movie, The Shawshank Redemption, EVERYONE wanted him for their narration projects.
James Earl Jones Style
Here is my take on his uncredited bumper announcement for CNN for which he reportedly was paid ONE MILLION DOLLARS, plus a reminder of him in the movie version of The Lion King which featured his unique, difficult to match and superbly deep voice.
James Earl Jones Style Again
So you may be saying to yourself, he went to the effort to try a James Earl Jones style using several of his iconic lines, but he didn’t do Darth Vader? Well, I didn’t because I would have had to electronically alter my voice and I don’t like to do that. However, thanks to Google, I found a way to do it without any requirement for editing. So, courtesy of an empty Pringles can, here’s my take on Darth Vader, including the background sound of the spaceship he’s on.
Sean Connery Style
A quick bit from the movie, Red October, where he portrayed a Russian submarine captain with Sean’s usual Scottish accent and unique lisp that makes his voice instantly recognizable.
Mike Rowe Style
Approachable, believable, easy to listen to…….it’s no wonder advertisers love him.
Liam Neeson Style
His iconic monologue from the movie, Taken. He always portrays a soft-spoken man of action with a slight Irish accent in his movies.
Will Brimley Style
Known for his somewhat gruff, right to the point way of talking…RIP Mr. Brimley. You are missed.
Don Lafontaine Style
He was the most well known and respected voice in the industry and the inspiration for all of us who wanted to become part of it.
John Facenda Style
Ok, so who on earth is John Facenda? NFL football fanatics will remember his voice and unique delivery style from his narrations of the NFL Films documentaries that he voiced during the early days of NFL Films. You can still hear his work on Youtube.
Barry White Style
Ok….this one was really for the fun of it. My favorite scenes from the Ally McBeal television series were with Peter MacNichol as John Cage….standing in front of a mirror and doing his version of dancing to this Barry White song he imagined he was hearing and getting into the mood for his next challenge. This reading fades out after Barry’s opening spoken words because I don’t sing.