Yes please do! I’ve been combing this post religiously for the past few weeks as I’m putting together my first demo reel for sound design. I’m coming from the recording world and have no work to show for my past couple of years at a Bay Area recording studio, so your post (and everyone’s comments) has been invaluable in even figuring out where to start. Like pretty much everyone else who’s responded to this, thanks for doing it, and well! Truly great stuff here, thanks so much.

My site is http://www.willcory.com I have a few pieces I have done so far on there.

I’m glad you’re getting alot of use out of this article. Great to hear. In response to your questions:

There are alot different ways public domain and copyrighted re-dubs could be taken, and I think its really up to the individual who is listening. While doing my first internship at a post-audio house in Minneapolis, a young sound designer with no professional work credits (exactly like myself) submitted a demo reel to the studio to get an internship. I of course couldn’t resist and watched it right away. The demo reel was literally the entire bank lobby shootout scene from The Matrix (approx 3 minutes in length). This unfortunately broadcasts right away that you either have no professional work to show or your redub of a scene from The Matrix is better than any professional work you’ve done. But remember, your potential future employer/client really (i think) cares about the quality of your sound design. If your redub of a scene from the Matrix sounds fucking awesome, they’re gonna hear that and your TALENT will be acknowledged. You also need to ask yourself, do want to have a demo reel with redubs or do you want to have no demo reel at all? The answer to this should always be: have a demo reel. There will be some fringe cases where you’ll land a sound design opportunity without the use of a reel. Things like: recommendations from friends, obscure networking scenarios, indie/student film directors, and theater productions all qualify. But most of the time, even when its an indie student film, with no pay, and the movie sucks, and you hate the way the director talks…you’ll still be asked for a sample of work before being hired.

I should also mention I got that internship in Minneapolis with a demo reel that consisted of 3 short films, 1 clip from a student film i worked on in college (which was horrible btw), and 2 short films that I made with my friends. I knew this was not ideal, but i was confident enough in my sound design work to put them on a reel I was sending to professional studios with large clients. I also had a cover letter and resume that went along with it that made my intentions very clear.

In terms of crediting or mentioning sound effects, I never did anything like that and I’ve never seen or heard of that being a faux-pas. If a large portion of your sound design was created from your own personal field recordings, you definitely want to mention that as it demonstrates your field recording skills and is just simply impressive in itself with all of the sound libraries that are out there.

I hope that answers your questions! Good luck Dave!

A few things I’ve always wondered is how do redubs of public domain and stock footage come across, if used in a demo reel?

And, if using base sound effects with an Attribution license, is it kosher to have a master list on my website, and add that link at the end of the video?

Some of us have to start small…