If you’re thinking about creating a demo reel of your podcasting work, you’re probably wondering how to go about it and what factors you need to take into account to make your reel as effective as possible.
Today, your reliable digital audio advertising experts will share with you the full rundown of things to think about before making your reel, what you should keep in mind when crafting it, and how to create the reel itself:
Some Decisions You Need to Make
The first thing you need to decide on is what exactly will be included in your reel. As a podcaster, you need to decide whether you want to include excerpts of the episodes themselves or if you’re going to just create a standalone piece that showcases your podcasting abilities without having to rely on your actual on-air content.
If you choose the former option, you need to decide whether you’re going to feature an excerpt from one particular episode (i.e., “highlight reel”) or if you’re going to mix up excerpts from several episodes.
If you choose the latter option, you should think about whether you’re going to create a separate audio file that showcases your different voices and audio styles or whether you’re going to include some sample audio bits in the actual presentation itself.
Another thing you should decide on is whether you’re going to include any photos, graphics, or visuals in your reel. This is not a necessity, but it might come in handy if you’re going to use your reel for an actual in-person presentation.
Demo Reel Rules to Follow
Rule #1: Keep the Reel as Short as You Can
The first and foremost rule you need to follow when making your reel is to keep it short. In fact, you should never allow it to run longer than 2 minutes. That’s just the industry standard, and a 2-minute reel will be quite enough to show your talent and skills to the person you’re trying to impress.
Rule #2: Use Several Short Clips for Your Reel
In addition to keeping the actual length of your reel to 2 minutes at most, it’s advisable to use multiple shorter clips rather than a single long one. This has two benefits: it keeps your reel from being boring and promotes too much sameness, and it allows you to show off more skills as your reel actually has less time to be boring.
Rule #3: Always Choose High-Quality Clips
Make sure to pick only the very best moments from your podcasting work so that you can ensure that your reel is of the highest quality possible.
How to Make an Actual Podcast Demo Reel
Step #1: Record Your Voice Over
If you’re going with an audio demo reel that only relies on your voice, you just need to record your voiceover and then export it.
Step #2: Create Your Voiceover
If you’re going with the full audio demo reel, you’ll need to create your voiceover, which means recording the voiceover and then editing it.
Step #3: Add an Intro and Outro
As with any other piece of audio you create, you’ll need to add an intro and outro. Here, you’ll need to create an audio snippet that plays before your actual reel starts and another one that plays after your reel is over.
Step #4: Pick the Best Formats
Finally, you need to decide on which format your demo reel will be delivered in. The most commonly used options include audio file formats such as MP3 and WAV, as well as video formats such as MP4 and MOV, but there are many more options that you’ll need to take advantage of if you want to add additional features to your reels, such as animations and background videos.
Conclusion
The podcasting landscape is an ever-changing space, and, despite being around for a long time, the art and practice of podcasting are still fairly young. With that in mind, it can be quite daunting to navigate the various different kinds of shows, formats, and networks that exist out there. That’s not to mention the complexities that come with digital audio advertising that you should learn, too.
Digital audio advertising experts from Promoly want to make sure to guide you in the right direction. Our platform will ensure that your audio content gets noticed by the right people. Start your one-week trial today!
