How to make a voice acting demo reel
By Buford Taylor, who runs Casting Call Club. Updated October 2026.
A voice acting demo reel is a short recording of your best work that shows directors what you sound like and what you can do. It's what people hear when they open your profile, and for paid work it's often the first thing a director checks. Here's how to make one that works.
How long should it be?
A character or animation demo should run about 60 seconds. Commercial and narration demos can run 60 to 90 seconds. Plenty of directors decide within a few seconds, so put your strongest clip first.
What goes in it
- Use your best four to eight clips, and keep each one a few seconds long and cut tight.
- Real roles first. Lines from finished projects beat lines you recorded alone. That's one more reason to start with fan dubs and hobby projects.
- Range, but only range you can deliver. Three great voices beat eight shaky ones.
- Clean audio. Every clip should sound like it came from the same good setup.
One demo or several?
If you go after different kinds of work, make separate demos: one for characters (animation and games), one for commercial reads, one for narration. A director casting an audiobook doesn't want to sit through goblin noises to hear your narrator voice.
How to make it
- Collect your clips. Use clips from finished projects, plus a few strong lines you record fresh if you need to fill a gap.
- Edit in a free editor. Audacity is the most common one on Casting Call Club profiles.
- Add light music or sound only if it helps, and keep it under your voice.
- Get a second opinion. Ask someone you trust which clip they'd cut.
- Upload it to your profile and put the link on your voice acting resume.
Does a demo help you get cast?
For indie roles, less than you'd think. On Casting Call Club, voice auditions from people with a demo on their profile were cast about as often as auditions from people without one, around 5% either way. Directors on hobby projects mostly judge the audition itself. A demo matters more for paid work and for people browsing voice actors for hire, where your demo is the audition.