This was a fun project, working with the extremely talented director, animator and designer, Matthew Keen.

The client, CommuterClub, has a revolutionary new way of commuting in London, allowing customers to get the benefits of an Annual Travelcard while keeping all the flexibility of a monthly.

They also allow you to lock-in current fares for 12 months, delaying TfL’s annual fare rise – cool!

The voiceover brief was for something “…enthusiastic but also trustworthy…” and the client was pleased with the outcome.

As always, with this style of project, the animation had already been created so the challenge was to match the VO to the action on screen. Never an easy task, but removing all the breaths and closing the resulting gaps, in much the same way as I produce radio commercials, sped things up a little and allowed more leeway to add pauses where necessary. It’s always a juggling act.

I was told I sound a bit like the Radio2 DJ Simon Mayo on this recording – can’t see it myself! 

See what you think…

For some time I have been working as a voice over for a company called Doodle Ads who produce wonderful hand-drawn animations for companies wanting to promote their wares. These cartoons are absolutely brilliant as they actually tell a story about your business – and people love a good story.

All the best marketing campaigns incorporate video these days as they have the ability to really accentuate emotion and, of course, people buy with their emotions.

Anyway, as luck would have it, one of my best clients, an IT reseller called EACS, wanted a Doodle Ad produced and I was lucky enough to be able to provide the vocals.

See what you think!

Well, who’s a lucky voiceover then!

Last month I managed to remember to leave a Tweet for Theo Paphitis about a voiceover project I had recently completed for my friends at eUKhost, the UK’s leading web hosting company.

Theo very kindly re-Tweeted my post to his, over 415,000, followers as part of his weekly “Small Business Sunday” initiative which immediately resulted in my getting over 100 new followers and a full diary of orders for new voiceover projects, for months to come!

I was even given a profile on Theo’s Small Business Sunday website which has resulted in a big boost in search engine traffic along with a Press Release that was picked-up by The Cambridge News.

Anyone looking for a re‐tweet from Theo should tweet him about their business on Sunday between 5.00pm and 7.30pm and include the hashtag #SBS. Six lucky businesses are re‐tweeted every Monday at 8.00pm and then invited to enter their profile on the new website. This is completely free of charge and the website is sponsored by Ryman Stationery, where Theo is Chairman.

Here’s the animation project for eUKhost – see what you think!

This was a great project for Swansea Accident Management via their excellent creative team, at Shooters Media.

Working with Open Door Media, using the existing branding and graphics, Shooters developed this short web video to promote SAM, who specialise in compensation claims for specialist vehicles.

A screen grab of character design in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop & After Effects

Shooters Media themselves produce high quality corporate videos to suit any and every business. No matter what the budget, they guarantee that every production undertaken will be given the same care, enthusiasm and high production values.

The voiceover brief required a vocal style and tone with a “…friendly and professional approach…”

I think it turned out rather well – see what you think!

Recently I was lucky enough to be chosen to voice the UK cinema ads for Chevrolet who, coincidentally, were sponsoring the new DreamWorks movie, Turbo.

Me & The Boyz

It was surprisingly hard to get the right vocal timbre and although the client had already chosen my voice, did not want a typical radio-style deep voiceover, more the kind of “man in the street” sound… which is actually quite hard to do.

Samuel L. Jackson, Snoop Dogg & Ryan Reynolds

After several takes the client agreed to direct the session via a simple telephone call and all was well. As a gesture of thanks, the kids and I were invited to a private VIP screening, red carpet treatment and all the trimmings. There are some perks to this job after all (and I can claim to have worked with Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Snoop Dogg)!

See what you think.

This was a fun project – I like doing character voices and this one wasn’t a massive stretch. The brief called for a cheeky, chappy, everyday sort of bloke called Dave, and the superb animation was created by those extremely clever guys at EasyFilms.

The product itself is aimed at a younger, cooler audience and is powered by HPI Limited. It lets you check if the car you are about to buy has been stolen, written-off or is still on a finance agreement, so you don’t get ripped off.

See what you think!

About The Authors

Stephanie Ciccarelli and David Ciccarelli are the founders of Voices.com, the largest global web hub for voice actors. Over the past 9 years Stephanie, David, and their team have grown Voices.com from the ground up to become the leader in the industry. This article was originally published in Voice Acting For Dummies and has been republished with permission from John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

In this section, you will discover the different options out there for recording and editing software. Some, like Audacity, are free to use, and others, like Pro Tools, require more of an investment.

Audacity
Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/ Linux, and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to record live audio, convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files, cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together, change the speed or pitch of a recording, and more.

GarageBand
GarageBand lets you easily perform, record, and create your own music. Whether you’re an experienced or aspiring musician or just want to feel – and sound – like a rock star, the new version of GarageBand can get you there and even record multiple tracks at the same time. GarageBand is for Mac only and comes free with most Mac computers.

Adobe Audition
Designed for demanding audio and video professionals, Adobe Audition offers advanced audio mixing, editing, and effects-processing capabilities. Its flexible workflow, combined with exceptional ease of use and precise tools, gives you the power to create rich, nuanced audio of the highest possible quality.

Pro Tools
Pro Tools is the professional recording, editing, mixing and mastering software for Mac and PC users and is considered the industry standard. The manufacturer, Avid, offers Pro Tools HD for professional grade studios and also provides the Pro Tools Express version bundled with the Mbox audio interface for the more budget conscious. You’ll have everything you need to create and produce music with professional results regardless of whether you choose Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools Express. Whether you’re looking for an all-in-one audio/MIDI solution with an integrated control surface or simply a highly portable Pro Tools system, there’s a powerful solution designed to satisfy your creative needs.

You may be afraid of Pro Tools, perhaps in part to its complexity and price, but it’s good to know that it provides both a hardware and software solution. Many of you won’t have a need for the multitracking capabilities that Pro Tools provides; however, if you do get into any kind of production work, this is the industry standard.

Grabbing the Last-Minute Accessories
Most voice actors use additional tools to help them make cleaner recordings. Others employ the use of headphones to help them gain a better appreciation for how they sound. In this section, you discover a number of extras that help complement your studio and enhance your performances from a technical standpoint.

Downloading iTunes for the Mac and PC
If your audio recording program only exports a WAV file, you need an audio conversion program. The easiest way to convert files into MP3s is using iTunes. Many people use iTunes as a file converter and may even store session files in there.

Filtering pops with a pop filter
If you’re looking for more noise reduction or need something that gives you the portability of a voice booth, you may want to get a pop filter. This piece of equipment sits on the mic stand and acts as a portable booth, weighing all of 11 pounds. The microphone mounts right into the centre of it, and you can use it in any room to turn it into a studio environment. We recommend the sE Electronics Reflexion Filter as a pop filter. It acts as if you’re standing in a whisper room or recording studio.

If you have a lot of external noise (such as road traffic), the sE Electronics Reflexion Filter won’t block it out, but it’s very good otherwise for recording in a quiet room.

For simpler editing software solutions, try Amadeus for the Mac and Adobe Audition for PC. Both are easier to use and don’t cost as much as the audio recording industry-standard Pro Tools. Audacity (can be used on both Mac and PC) is free to use and perfect for voice actors who want to get started without spending any money on an audio program.

Listening with headphones
Not everyone uses headphones when recording, but in some instances you may need to wear headphones.

These include:

• If the director requires it
• If you need to hear the production as you voice, like in promo
• If you’re voicing to a music track

Some voice actors see headphones, or cans as they’re sometimes called, as a distraction that takes away from their ability to perform. When you have a set of headphones on, you may experience the tendency to focus more on how your voice sounds processed than on your artistic performance. Not only can headphones be a vocal distraction that keeps you from excelling in your performance, but they also can inhibit your ability to move and use your whole body as a voice actor. Remember that the headphones are plugged into something and therefore make it harder for you to let loose in the booth. Another benefit to not wearing headphones is that you won’t have more than necessary being piped into your ears.

Backing up your work with an external hard drive
If you’re weeks into a recording project, the last thing you want is to redo all that hard work because you didn’t back up your work. Right? Right. So invest in an external hard drive to back up your computer!

You have some good options for backing up your work. You can buy another hard drive for as little as £40 that connects to your computer with a USB cable. External hard drives come with back-up software that makes the process pretty easy. Then, save your important files to the external hard drive. Look for a hard drive that has at least 1 terabyte (TB); One TB is equal to 1000GB of storage (enough space to store at least a dozen large projects).

The software you use is important. Are you ready to learn more about voice acting? To discover more about this exciting field and about the book, visit VoiceActingForDummies.com.

One of the great things about being a professional voiceover is working with extremely talented individuals like Mark Davies of Mark Davies Creations…

…and this project was no exception.

Just a short comedy animation, but great fun to record and the end result kind of puts life into perspective!  As it’s entitled, U.F.OH!

See what you think…

Well, as a session musician of sorts, after years of using the same old keyboard equipment I finally decided to upgrade earlier this year.

After loads of research I bought the amazing Kurzweil PC361 and even managed to find a reasonably priced model on eBay (although it did mean driving to Shepherd’s Bush, London, with a pocket full of cash and going to the 11th floor of what, to me, seemed like a very dodgy tower block that smelled of wee(d)!).

The Awesome Kurzweil PC361

Anyway, I was absolutely delighted with the Kurzweil – the piano samples were amazing and as for the Hammond organ sounds …wow! But that’s probably for another Blog post.

I was even more delighted to be asked to play a solo session on some studio demos for a young up-and-coming singer/songwriter called Corrina. So a little while ago we headed off to Kite Recording Studios in Cambridge and, under the watchful eye of excellent engineer Roger Chatterton, recorded a couple of Corrina’s tracks as live demos.

These are a little “rough around the edges” (my piano playing not Corrina’s voice!) – but bear in mind we only had limited studio / rehearsal time.

See what you think…

Well it’s not every day you get asked to voice the introductory video for a global network marketing business, but my Agent from Denmark told me that Amway had heard my voice and wanted me!

Amway was started in the 1950’s by Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos selling NUTRILITE Dietary Supplements door-to-door and in the 1960’s their famous business model was born.

Today, Amway is a thriving international multi-billion dollar business with over 3 million independent Amway Business Owners worldwide!

The video was created by the excellent and talented Rikke Bjerre from Rixi Animation.

See what you think…