Jalen K. Cassell 2011 Summer Demo Reel

[Jalen K. Cassell]

My first ever demo reel!!

[STREAM/DOWNLOAD] (http://www.box.net/files#/files/0/f/0/1/f_778364724)


Mixer: CrowSama

OST used:

Valkyrie Profile
Devil May Cry 3
Fullmetal Alchemist
Rosario + Vampire
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger.

SFX: freesounds.org

Please feel free to critique/comment!!

[CrowSama]

Either the link is broken or my PC is being a stupid bitch and not letting me preview your Demo Reel.

[Jalen K. Cassell]

I'll see if I can upload it to somewhere else

[Jalen K. Cassell]

It should work now. If not you'll probably have to register with Box.net :) (It's free)

[Zammuel]

Eh, no luck, after signing up it says that the file is unavailable :(

Might I suggest making it into a simple video and dropping it on youtube? (even if it's just a blank screen?) Less clicking is always a good thing haha.

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Haha. I'm in the process of uploading it to newgrounds as we speak. It should be up in just a bit.

[Jalen K. Cassell]

It has been fixed!!!

[Zammuel]

Very very nice range of characters, what program do you use for recording and editing? Also, did you use any noise removal on your lines? They all sound naturally clear except for the second to last, which sounds a little pixelated to me. If you use audacity, I'd suggest not using the built in noise remover, but instead to go for another program specific for that.

Otherwise, very cool demo man, good work :).

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Thanks alot!! And yes I use Audacity. Do you know of some good noise removal programs?

[Zammuel]

There are probably people here who know of a better program, but, until they share it - I use a program called "groove mechanic". It's actually meant for removing the hiss from old tracks, but it surprisingly does a good job of clearing out most background noise without screwing the actual audio up.

http://www.coyotes.bc.ca/

The downside is, unless you buy it you can only do 2-minute files at a time (also, only WAVs) so it can be annoying if you have big chunks of dialogue to clean up. I'm going to be searching for other noise removal programs and if I find better one I'll let ya' know :).

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Thanks so much for the help!

[CrowSama]

Very very nice range of characters, what program do you use for recording and editing? Also, did you use any noise removal on your lines? They all sound naturally clear except for the second to last, which sounds a little pixelated to me. If you use audacity, I'd suggest not using the built in noise remover, but instead to go for another program specific for that.

Otherwise, very cool demo man, good work :).

The 2nd to the last line is in no way "pixelated" at all. It's just the rain sfx that I added along with it. I should probably make that a bit louder if it sounds like it's a hissing sound.

Edit: noise-reduction can be done in Audacity as well but I personally prefer to use Adobe Audition.

[Monotori]

I appreciate that there was a wide variety of voices and it sounded like you had fun with each one! Just a few nitpicks:
There were quite a bit of pops/peaks interspersed throughout. Pop filters do wonders (and you can even use a homemade one!), but also make sure you aren't breathing right on top of the mic either. I liked the amount of growl you have, but if you lowered your pitch for the second line it doesn't belong in a demo... in fact I'd replace it with a different line, anyone can add special effects to their voice. The third line was almost there, but make sure when you do one of those blood-curdling yells you just let it out; it sounded like you were holding back and that nearly always gets picked up. I was fine with the 'villain', but the 'nerd' didn't quite hit the spot, somewhat because your enunciation fell at that point.
Overall, though, the demo gives the impression that you're comfortable with whatever you're given which is a great trait. However- as was exposed by the third line- having fun isn't completely relaxing you. Eventually you'll get more comfortable with the mic, though, just give it some practice! You're doing a wonderful job so far!

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Thanks alot for the critique! I do have a pop filter, but I was closer to the mic (some lines got let on the editing floor) for deeper lines. And the growling voice was all me, no voice modulation whatsoever. And I'll be sure to work on the nerd voice :) Thanks again for your time and the critique!

[Monotori]

Re: no voice modulation
Color me impressed.

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Bumping up the demo! Tell me what ya think everyone!

[Kasper]

Nice demo; indeed you have a good range. Are you using a pop filter? Because I heard some bassy thumps from time to time from the inflections.

[Jalen K. Cassell]

I do have one...I recorded the whole thing back to back and some lower voices (which got cut out) required me to get a little closer to the mic. But for the other characters it resulted in me producing those thumps.

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Bumping for more critiques!! :)

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Daily bump for critiques! :)

[Sincerely Alex]

Blown. Away.
Bloowwnn Away.
You see I'm not very good at critique so this is gonna be really positive.
I absolutely loved where you placed the second and third voices, the lining up of that had me thinking "That was perfect control"
I don't know what else to say but, wow lol (: Great job.

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Thank you so much!! It's taken a lot of practice to develop those voices :) I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[CrowSama]

Here's my critique:

First off this applies to the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th voice in the reel. You gotta work on your enunciation because I had to play it over and over again just to understand what you were saying (especially the 2nd voice but that's understandable). It's a very solid Demo Reel overall as I was picking which voices I would put in when I was mixing it.

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Daily Bump!

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Bump for critiques!

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Bumping! :)

[Menchi]

yeah that was a nice reel, some interesting voices in there,

I'll be doing a ruck of scouting soon, so I may be in touch :)

[Fandubsx24x7]

That was amazing XD your voice is just so great :)

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Thank you!! And here's a bump for critiques!

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Here's a long overdue bump for critiques!! :)

[E-Mac09]

You have a really good range. Watch for the mic peaking when you scream.

Here's a tip on Audacity noise removal: move the slider to just a couple of notches from the "Less" half. In my experience, that removes quite a bit of background noise while keeping your recording from sounding like you recorded underwater.

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Bumping up the demo reel for critiques :)

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Bump for critiques!! :)

[Jalen K. Cassell]

Bump for critique!