New voice actors often picture casting as a simple pass or fail moment. You send an audition, someone likes it, you book. Real casting is closer to building trust over time. Casting teams are listening for performance, yes, but they are also listening for signs you will be easy to direct, consistent across sessions, and reliable under deadline pressure.
Casting director Danielle Pretsfelder Demchick hits that point from multiple angles. She talks about preparation, pace, sustainability, and professionalism as the difference between “nice audition” and “we should keep this person close.” Here is a more useful way to translate that into action if you are building your voiceover career right now.
What casting teams actually respond to in early-career auditions
A lot of new talent tries to “sound like voiceover.” That usually means a pushed tone, an artificial smile, or a performance that feels copied from something popular. Casting is usually chasing the opposite. They want a clear acting choice that feels human, specific, and playable.
The fastest way to improve your reads is to stop thinking about the voice as the product and start thinking about the decision behind the line. Who are you talking to. What do you want. What changes mid-line. What does the character not say out loud. If you commit to those choices, your voice naturally follows.
Danielle also underlines a misconception that can waste months of effort: impressions are not the job. A great impression can be a party trick. Casting hires storytellers. If you are building a character, you need clarity, intention, and control, not a pile of funny sounds.
Another casting signal that does not get discussed enough is sustainability. A voice that sounds exciting but strains your throat, tightens your jaw, or forces your breath will be hard to record for hours and hard to reproduce weeks later when pickups come in. Casting can often hear strain. Even if you land the audition, an unsustainable voice can turn into a problem during real sessions.
If you want a simple standard, aim for a character placement you can keep consistently for a full session without fatigue. If you cannot, adjust the voice until you can. That does not make the character weaker. It makes you employable.
Your submission workflow is part of the audition
Newer talent often thinks the performance is all that matters. In voiceover, your workflow is part of what gets judged because the business moves fast and casting teams are sorting huge volumes of files.
Danielle is blunt about this: follow directions. Slates in voiceover are functional. They help casting sort, share, and track. If the audition asks for a slate a certain way, do it that way. Do not slate in character unless asked. Do not add jokes. Do not get cute. You are not losing personality. You are proving you can work inside a professional system.
Treat file naming the same way. If they give a naming format, match it. If they ask for one take and you send three, you might think you are offering choices. Casting may hear uncertainty, or see a file set that is harder to review quickly.
Pace matters too, especially in commercial-style reads. New actors often slow down because they are trying to “act” each word. Commercial copy is built for rhythm. It needs forward motion. If your read drags, the message loses energy. Practice with a timer. Record the copy at a natural speaking pace, then tighten slightly while keeping it conversational.
A useful habit is to listen back to your audition once, focusing only on two things: did the pacing stay alive, and did you stay consistent on mic. Danielle mentions that casting can hear when you are moving in a way that breaks the sound. That does not mean you should stand still like a statue. Voice acting is physical. It means you should move with purpose while keeping your distance and angle consistent, so the audio stays stable.
On gear, the key point is not “buy expensive equipment.” It is “know how to use what you have.” A basic mic and a simple setup can be enough for auditions if your space is controlled and you can deliver clean audio. The bigger issue is performers who own equipment but do not know how to record, export, and send properly under a deadline. Learn your workflow until it is boring. That is what makes you fast.
How to build momentum without wasting money or time
One of Danielle’s most practical points is about timing your investments. Many beginners think they need an expensive demo immediately. The smarter move is to earn your foundation first. You want training, repetition, and feedback before you spend heavily on a demo that may not reflect what you can deliver consistently.
A better early-career goal is to develop a small set of strong, repeatable reads across a few lanes. For animation, understand that “kids and family” is not one sound. Preschool, big-kids comedy, and family sitcom rhythm are all different. Some shows are curriculum-driven, where clarity and exact wording matter, and others are pure comedy. Casting teams hear quickly when a performer understands the lane.
If you are trying to reach representation, Danielle points to a path that is often misunderstood. It is not only about sending cold emails. It is about building proof that casting teams already bring you in. When casting knows what you can do, they can advocate for you. Agents pay attention to that because it shows you are already functioning in the system.
There is also a mindset piece that matters in every corner of voiceover: the long game. Projects take time. Animation can take years between recording and release. You need to build habits that keep you steady when the results are delayed. That includes keeping your voice healthy, keeping your skills sharp, and keeping your life balanced enough that auditions do not feel like a daily crisis.
A final point Danielle emphasizes is honesty. Be truthful about availability, location, and what you can deliver. This industry is small, and trust travels fast. When you fix a mistake quickly and communicate clearly, you become someone casting teams can rely on.
If you want to be “casting-friendly” as a new voice actor, it comes down to this: bring a real acting choice, submit cleanly, follow directions, keep your voice sustainable, and make every interaction easy for the people on the other side of the file. That combination gets remembered.
