I haven't had much practice because I'm rarely alone in the house (not to mention I have parrots). However, at Katsucon 2016, I got to participate in a voice acting workshop hosted by Bill Rogers and two of his colleagues whose names escape me. All three days of the convention, there were two hours devoted to the workshop; auditions on Friday, scene studies on Saturday and ADR on Sunday, which we unfortunately didn't get to do because of technical difficulties. There was a process of elimination throughout the weekend, and to my surprise/delight, I was among the few who made it to the end.
There is a small issue though; English is my second language and while I'm good enough to be mistaken for a native speaker on numerous occasions, I have been told a few times that I have a slight accent. There's a bunch of words I don't know how to pronounce due to them never coming up in conversations. Plus... I tend to fumble with my words reaaaally often, regardless of what language I'm using. Thus, I seem to only be able to do short recordings at a time. Practice makes perfect, obviously, but given how rarely I get to do that, it might take a while still.
Now, as for recording. I have a Yeti microphone and a pop filter... and that's essentially it. I never figured out how to properly use Audacity's editing features. I'm interested in Adobe Audition since I tried it at a friend's place, but I would have to 1) acquire it for myself and 2) learn how to use it.
So, getting to the point: what all should I keep in mind when recording a demo reel? Just in case, here's a few questions.
-How many samples should I ideally have in the reel? What emotions are the most important ones to convey?
-I know that a variety in voices is nice, but that the primary goal is always acting. That said, how much does vocal variety matter to you?
-What kind of voices are more popular/sought, if that's even a thing?
-Is it really important to be able to take on different accents for certain roles?
-What are some of the Dos and Don'ts of recording, besides 1) not consuming dairy beforehand and 2) not touching the microphone?
-I heard something about biting into a green apple before sessions. What does it do?
-How do I advertise my work?
-What are some tools that could come in handy?
-Is being able to sing important at all?
Any response would be appreciated. Thanks! o/