Voiceover News for December 2011

Here is what our voiceover team got up to in December 2011:

Jacky was a contestant on BBC1's Winter Wipeout - she spent six days filming in Argentina and that resulted in a meagre 30" on the air!

Chris M and Chris H both recorded adverts for Mood FM in Jordan, Michel recorded a voiceover in French for Bowers and Wilkins, Elliott voiced promotions for Motorvision for the OSN TV station, Alec has recorded a video for Erwinaze - a drug that treats leukemia, Andy voiced an internet viral advert for Adidas and Ricky recorded two commercials for the Best Western Royal Hotel being shown on Channel TV and a corporate video for Centrica's Killingholme Power Station

Sally was the voice of a video for Halstead Preparatory School in Woking and Yana has voiced E-Learning for the Cambian Group. The talents of Steffan, Steph and Mark W were used by Nat West

We did audio dubbing for several TV programmes: removing the German narration and replacing it with an English narration.

We have made a voicereel for actor Tony Hemmings and finally we welcomed Estonian Voiceover Artist Prit and Dutch Voiceover Artist Saskia.

Voiceover News November 2011

Here is what the BigFish Media team of voiceovers and
have been up to in November:

We broke one of our own records: within one week of us taking on Jules she was booked for a voiceover for the Mondi Diamond Awards.

The other female voices which we recorded included Sue for Sealed Air's I-Mold system, Rita for a mobile phone app for Urban Paddle, Jill for the College of Social Work, Natalie for three Eurocamp web videos and Andrea recorded a voiceover for Euro PM International Congress

We secured work for Joana to voice an animation for Sanofi, Chris M recorded a voiceover for Gamestop, Paul recorded an advert for Mood FM in Jordan and Gabriela also voiced for Urban Paddle, a mobile phone app

Steffan voiced another web video for SAB Miller, Mark W for a video for Syncapse, Malcolm for a video for the Tork 420 wipers and Paul S for a web video for Brown Dog Creative

Ricky Salmon was the voice of God at the live Butcher Shop of the Year Awards ceremony in London alongside comedian Alistair Barrie. He also voiced two commercials for M R Emmanuel for Channel TV, an internal video for NHS employees and a video for the IBM z Enterprise system

We also made a voicereel for actor Geoffrey Morgan and made audio production elements for podcasts by DJ Danny Howard featuring James K and Lynsey.

We welcomed young voice David W and London Voiceover Artist Andy.

Voiceover News October 2011

Here is what our team of voiceovers were up to in the very busy month of October:

Congratulations to Steph who has been confirmed as the new ITV1 continuity announcer

We produced an audio mailer for doctors about the drug Remicade to treat arthritis featuring the voice talent of Penny Charlotte and Graeme

A voiceover by Ricky was featured on the new Channel 4 comedy drama series "Fresh Meat".  Ricky also recorded voiceovers for a video for Ecare Solutions two videos for Shell

Michel, Max and Ruben S all recorded for Actemra in French, Italian and Spanish. Our studio was hired by a production company to record a voiceover for Time Out magazine.

Alexandra has recorded a video for telephone conferencing software Loop Up, Luis voiced for Surestream Petroleum, Christoph voiced in German for Actemra and Michelle recorded on-hold voice-overs for Pest UK

And finally we welcomed Northern Irish Voiceover Artist David G.

Voiceover News September 2011

Here is what our team of voiceovers have been up to in September, which has been our busiest month ever. Our extended production office can now accommodate up to five people and will soon include "voice to picture" facilites:

You will be able to hear Ricky as a Newsreader on the new Channel 4 teen comedy drama series "Fresh Meat" showing Wednesdays at 10pm (his episode is on Wednesday 19th October). Ricky was the live Voice of God at the Baking Industry Awards in London alongside Richard Madeley and at the Forecourt Trader of the Year Awards in London alongside Mark Durden-Smith. Ricky also recorded a voice-over for a conference video for Honeywell.

For the rest of the boys: James K recorded voiceovers for another eight videos on golfingbreaks.com, Michel voiced for Surestream Petroleum, Joseph recorded and produced on-hold voice-overs for Island Trader, Nathan voiced a video for Greenwich College, Steffan recorded a web video for SAB Miller and Luis lent his dulcet Spanish tones to Reflex Instore Radio

For the girls: Helen S recorded a voiceover for Red Funnel's Red Jet 5 safety video, Josey voiced for an animation for Sony DABC Ebridge Arc, Sarah G recorded a voice-over for Simponi and Alexandra voiced for IbidItrade.com. And finally Steph, Natalie and Steve auditioned for ITV Continuity work

And we welcome German Voiceover Artist Christoph, American Voiceover Artist Dave C, Romanian Voiceover Artist Marius and Polish Voiceover Artist Aneta.

Where will I have heard your Voiceovers?

One of the questions which I am asked most often - apart from "Why can't you read the Radio 2 news from your vocie booth?" (and how do you maintain your youthful good looks!) is where will I have heard your voiceovers?

Normally I just say that you probably won't have heard me. As I haven't recorded voiceovers for any national TV advertising campaigns, it is unlikely I will have been heard by most people. However I am the voice of on-hold for e2save and the various insurance groups owned by Hastings Direct.

There is also my regular on-hold voice work which you can hear if you phone up companies like Mercedez Benz, Kwikfit,Vodafone, Parceline or the Carphone Warehouse. While you are on-hold you will hear me reading news, weather sport etc while you wait for a real live person to speak to you.

Recently I recorded my first ADR session in a Soho studio - again as a Newsreader (not being typecast by anyone am I?) and you will be able to hear me on Channel 4's new teen comedy drama "Fresh Meat" which is showing at 10pm on Wednesdays. I am featured in Episode 5 which is due to be shown on Wednesday 19th October.

So at last - after ten years in the business - I will be able to say that yes you may have heard me doing a voiceover on TV.    

How not to get a Voiceover recorded

Here at BigFish Media Towers we received this - no doubt well-meant - enquiry about voiceovers this week:

Hi my name is **** I need a voice over for a similar to Rooney (Scouser)impression. If you can do a good impression then perhaps we can meet up or send me file over internet I am from Rossendale (Lancashire). I have a budget of around £60, 50% deposit up front and the rest on completion it shouldn't take longer than 20-30 Minutes in total very short 1 or 2 line sentences, less than 35 lines. I will need a receipt with your signature by you. Please contact me on ******** or email me to ring you on your number and leave your contact details. If you decide yes then I just want a one or two line tester over the phone thanks. Please contact me either way.

So my first thought: Scouser voiceover - sure. We have lots of talented voices who could do a good Liverpudlian accent. No problem.

perhaps we can meet up.  Sorry? Why? How far can you drive on £60 of petrol? It's not even a tank-full these days and certainly wouldn't get one of our voices to Lancashire.

Budget of £60. Ah. We really have a problem. I need a new PC but I only have a budget of £100. Will the computer shop say ok go on then?

Half now, half later. No. If we agreed to this it would be 100 per cent up front from an individual (as opposed to a Ltd Company) on an untraceable gmail/hotmail account.

it shouldn't take longer than 20-30 Minutes in total. How would he know? Is he the expert? That's just what I do when I phone a plumber isnt it? I know how long it will take them to fix my shower. And I tell them what I want to pay them.

I just want a one or two line tester over the phone thanks And he wants an audition too! Isn't that what voice reels on the website are for?

Sometimes I despair. Anyway we are moving on to more sensible voiceover clients now...

What issues can a Voiceover Artist face with ISDN?

On Monday this week our ISDN line - used a lot for recording voiceover artists - failed. As that day was just another of our 12 hour working days, I let it be. The day after I got cosy under one of the office desks and checked all the wires; we had just laid carpet and I thought a cable might have come loose. Anyway, all seemed fine, so I reported it to BT.

BT did all their checks on the line and confirmed that there was a fault on the line and they would investigate and have the line working by the end of Wednesday.

Well on Wednesday afternoon I had to go into London to to a Voice of God session for the Baking Industry Awards with Richard Madeley (how showbiz!) He told some good jokes (and some bad ones) with an especially funny one about his time working for the TV station Watch, where no one did.

Anyway I digress.

On my way to this gig I missed BT's call as I was on the tube. When I surfaced I got a message saying that BT would call me back at 4.30pm. Unfortunately this was due to be in the middle of rehearsals so I tried to call them back but couldn't find a number that would work from my mobile. Frustrating!

So half-way through the voiceover rehearsals, my phone went and I had to apologise to a room full of people that I really, really REALLY had to take this call. We booked an appointment for Thursday morning as woman-on-phone said the fault was very close to the ISDN socket and could be inside.(What a joy as I got home at 1am).

Bleary-eyed I opened the door in my pyjamas (old joke!) and cheery BT man greeted me with a "oh well if I had known I would have come later". Arrgh. But when you are dealing with these people on the phone, you only get the option of morning or afternoon. Maybe it was his idea of a joke.

After  BT man fiddled about a bit under the desk, he declared the fault was not inside and was - in fact - some distance away; probably at or near the exchange.

While I am very grateful to BT for fixing the fault very quickly, they are extremely frustrating to deal with. And it was the last thing I needed during a whole week of 12 or 14 hour working days trying to run my voiceover business.

Next week will be easier. But then I have said that before.
         

Voiceover News for August 2011

In August we managed to escape for ten days to Greece to try to relax and get nicely bronzed. Unfortunately the blackberry was working overtime as the voiceover enquiries kept coming!

Following the upgrading of the voice booth, the BigFish Media office extension was also completed. Now we just need to re-furbish it and train up our Assistant to run the office when I am away.

We recorded voiceover by child voice talents Ella and Max for an animation for the Cartoon Forum in Poland later this month.

Natalie recorded another voice-over for the IbidItrade website, James K recorded voiceovers for another five videos on golfingbreaks.com, Steffan voiced a video for Donnington Park and Malcolm recorded a voice-over for Tork.

Barbara recorded a Spanish voice-over for Reflex Instore Radio, Sue recorded a voice-overs for the Sealed Air Corporation, Drew voiced for Alton Towers and Ricky recorded voiceovers for Digital Hive, IBM's Smart Cloud video and an occupational health video for the Alder Hey NHS Foundation Trust.

We made a voicereel for BBC Radio Solent's Richard Latto.

And we welcome Japanese Voiceover Artist Masashi, Polish Voiceover Artist Aneta and young Voiceover Artist Katharine

When is a cheap voiceover too cheap?

A few days ago I received this enquiry about voiceover work:

"I am ****, working as an e-learning Project Leader in a company named ********** in India. We have got some content to be recorded for on-line purpose in neutral English accent. The recorded audio file must be a fully edited audio in MP3 format. This e-learning content would be a minimum of 100 to 125 pages of a word file with a font size of 12 point. This is a project for poor children education and so our overall estimation for voiceover talent is 25,000 to 27,000 thousand in Indian rupees. If you’re interested to take up this project, kindly revert me back. Reply me, as soon as possible."

I know that E-Learning doesn't often pay as well as advertising or even corporate voiceovers but 27 000 rupees sounded like a lot of money - but it's only about £350. Anyway I thought I would be interested in this job so I asked the client to send the script or word count so that I could work out if it would be worth while. I received this reply:

"Thanks for responding. Hereby, I have attached a sample content file for your reference. Please do a demo recording for the same and send it back to us ASAP. Kindly send your payment mode so that after hearing to your demo audio, our Executive Director will contact you through phone. Kindly provide me your file transfer mode."

Hmm. I had a look at the document containing the voiceover script that they had attached to their email. There were 585 words on one page. 125 pages. That makes a whopping 73,000 words.

I reckon I can record about 4,000 words in an hour. So that's 18 hours in the studio to just record the voiceover. So how long would that take to edit? Say 9 hours. Even longer if it's badly written.

How much paper would I use to print the script? How long would it take to upload the file (albeit only MP3) to the FTP server? Conservative estimate 30 hours in all. So that's about 4 days.

£350. 4 days. So that's £85 per day. We pay our least experienced voices more than that per hour!

Sadly I had to decline this particular job and move onto better paying voiceovers.

Voiceover News July 2011

Here is what our Voiceover Artists have been up to in July 2011. Apart from improving the look and sound of the voiceover studio from scratch and doubling the size of our office, that is! (see previous blog)

You can now see our latest completed video on our video production page. It was for the LBRO, a Government QUANGO. We now offer Life Coaching as well as Voiceover Training.

First of all the girls: Michelle recorded a voiceover for Digital Hive, Jill recorded a voice-over for a web video for Vodafone, Alexandra recorded voice-overs for two TagMan videos, Hannah recorded voice-overs for British Gas E-Learning modules and Natalie voiced for the IbidItrade website.

Now the boys: Graeme has recorded a sales promo for Xerox, Richard recorded a voiceover for B.A.T., Peter O voiced a video for Premier Bathrooms, James K recorded four web videos for GolfingBreaks.com and Andy was the voice-over for a trail for "Cowboy Builders" on Five.

Ricky recorded on-hold voice-overs for AVM Solutions, was the live aptly-named Voice of God at the Supermeat and Fish Awards at the Hilton Hotel in London alongside impressionist Alistair McGowan and recorded a voice-over for commercial for Regatta Radio.

We welcome Voiceover Artist Steffan, Radio legend and Voiceover Artist Nicky, American Voiceover Artist Bobbin and young Voiceover Artist Nathan.

And Duncan Woodhouse and Faye Carruthers has joined our Voice-over Directory.

Our New Voiceover Booth

As part of our building works to create a new larger office for our voiceover agency we have also refurbished the Voice Booth to give much-improved audio quality. And it also looks so much better!

Here are the before, during and after photographs. First of all, how the studio has looked for many years:

After removing all the technical kit, a window, pipework and the acoustic tiles, the room was stripped back to the ceramic tiles.

Then I had an enjoyable ten minutes stripping the ceramic tiles, which having been in place for decades, just fell off the wall. Then I got bored and left the rest to a professional.

An electrician chased in the light switch and sockets. Now the voiceover booth was ready for plastering.

Then the booth was in it's Friday night state: completely plastered.

After a quick slap of paint, the microphone and other technical kit was put back in but still there was a little something missing:

Ah yes - that's better.

Now, once the halogen lights in the voiceover booth have been replaced with LEDs which don't emit any heat, we'll be laughing!

Voiceover News for June 2011

Here is what we have been up to in June:

Mike recorded a voiceover for a video for Finning Power Systems, Viv recorded a voiceover for a video for NHS employees about how to cope with stress at work, Steph recorded a  trail on BBC Radio Scotland: "Ski-ing for Ghana", Sara voiced more on-hold prompts for LG, Graeme recorded a video for Ballantines, Sue recorded the voice-over for a video about the Dudley Canal, Peter O recorded the final batch of voice-overs for Prince 2 E-Learning videos, Helen S updated her voice-over recording for a video for the MoD and Michelle recorded on-hold prompts for Able Debt Recovery Services.

We finished editing a video production for the LBRO, a Government QUANGO.

We now represent young American Voiceover Artist Jessica, Italian Voiceover Artist Max, French Voiceover Artist Cecile, experienced UK Voiceover Artists Jacky and Sue.
Ricky recorded voiceovers for a commercial for Mood FM in Jordan, a video board for SMART, a podcast for Covance Bio Analytical and on-hold prompts for Major Housing Association.

And we made a voicereel for Australian Broadcaster Russell.

How do I move a Voiceover Studio cheaply?

Building work has begun on our new voiceover booth - well the chaos for the building work has begun - even if the actual work hasn't  yet. Planning, organising, moving things, thinking 3 steps ahead etc.

Anyway we had to dismantle the production office and and move it so that it could be made larger. Unfortunately I am not the most technical person in the world so I asked the guy who built the studio and supplied all the kit for the booth for an idea of how much it would cost to move the studio temporarily  while the building work goes on.  Answer: Around £1,000. A Thousand Pounds!

So I thought I would have to put aside a day or so and do it myself. Which I have. Everything has been carefully labelled so that part A connects with part B etc. That's all fine but I had to find two very long cables to keep the PC connected to the studio. A few quick calls later and I found a great place around the corner - 5 minutes away.

After the technical guys managed to de-code my layman speak, an hour later one of them was round at BigFish Media towers with two 15 metre cables. And they work! So apart from the short time when the voiceover booth is being refurbished, we are still very much in business.

Oh and the cost? £50!

A Voiceover Artist feeling ripped off

For months now I have bravely battled to use an ageing pair of headphones. I have been using them regularly since I started reading the news on BBC Radio 2 in 1998, and - apart from repairing one of the "ear cushions" - the Bayer DT100's have given sterling service.

I have a separate - and much newer pair - for use by me and other voiceover artists in the Voice Booth -  but I like to have a pair just for broadcasting mainly so that they are always ready to go in my Radio 2 bag rather than having to remember to take them out of the studio to London with me.

Anyway back to the old pair. Finally I got fed up with having crackling headphones and decided to get them repaired. I struggled but finally found somewhere close who said they could do it. So I took them in and a week later collected them. I didn't have any cash on me (or a cheque book - who does these days?) so I offered the business credit card.

However the company's credit card machine wasn't working - and neither was the cash machine outside (which charges £0.95 for cash withdrawal).

So what to do? Very kindly the shop's staff said I could take away the headphones and just pop in with some cash when I was next passing. How unusual! How trusting. But....

...when I next get into Radio 2 to use them I find that they haven't been repaired at all!

I don't think I will be passing that particular - so-called repair shop- any time soon.

Voiceover News May 2011

This is what we have been up to at our Voiceover Agency and Recording Studio  in May:


We had our first client for Voice Training. Our voice coach Sandy helped a client with her lack of self-confidence.


We filmed some additional interviewees at our TV Studio in Surrey for a video for the LBRO, a Government QUANGO. Peter O narrated an eight part series of "Crime Stories" for the Crime and Investigation Network and Steph recorded a voiceover for a TV Trail on BBC1: "Tonight's The Night with John Barrowman" 

Nicola recorded a voiceover for an instructional web video for Fujitsu's Kofax. David V recorded a voiceover for a radio commercial for La Pinta Beach Club. Helen S recorded a voiceover for a video for the MoD  and Michell evoiced on-hold prompts for Auto Direct


We welcome Radio 3 Presenter and Voiceover Artist Jill, Spanish Voiceover Artist Stella and Italian Voiceover Artist Lorella

We have made a voicereel for BBC Radio London Newsreader Katy Dartford and Sky TV Sports Presenter Vicky Gomersall. Rachel Brooker 


Rickyrecorded the voiceovers for two more videos for Chiltern International Fire, an occupational health video, more videos on the Pen Warehouse website and a  video for Spendtrax from PRGX 

Voiceover Man: Getting Old or Important?

A few weeks ago one of our Voiceover Artists asked me if I could countersign his passport application. Nathan was in a rush as he had lost his current passport and was about to take his girlfriend to France for a week.

I remember when I had to get my own passport application and get the photo signed on the back by someone important (Solicitor, Teacher, Doctor etc) who has known you for five years and isn't related to you. Apparenlty I was the only person he could think of who was available!

Anyway I told him that I wasn't important enough but apparently I am. I didn't know this - mainly because the Passport Authorities don't put it on the information they send you - but anybody who is the Company Director of a VAT-registered Limited Company is able to to this. Nathan got his passport and is looking forward to his holiday

Then today - for the second time - another of my voiceovers asked me for a personal reference, which I was more than happy to supply.

I must be important these days - either that or getting old. Probably both.

Voiceover News for April 2011

It's been a quiet-ish month for our our voiceovers due to Easter, our own holiday and too many bank holidays!

However we did spend a day filming in Greggs Bakery in Pontypridd for a video production for the LBRO, a Government QUANGO. This is the second video we are making for them.

Caroline voiced an instructional Fujitsu web video in French, Tony recorded the same video in Italian and Julia did the same but in German. Basabi recorded a voiceover for Barking NHS Trust in Bengali.

Mike recorded a voiceover for a trail for the Finnish TV series "Under The North Star", Richard recorded a programme trail on SuperSport, Peter O recorded more voiceovers for Prince 2 E-Learning modules and James K recorded a voiceover for a video for a new business called Showcatcher

Ricky was the live Voice of God at the Meat and Poultry Processing Awards in Birmingham as well as voicing more on-hold prompts for Hastings Direct. And Helen Shas recorded voiceovers for an E-Learning programme for British Gas.

We now offer voice training to aspiring talent or people who need to be able to communicate more effectively in their job; we made a voicereel for former BBC TV Continuity Announcer Sarah.

And finally we welcome Dutch Voiceover Artist Arno, Romanian Voiceover Artist Gabriela and German Voiceovers Audrey and Roy.

How do I get started as a Voiceover Artist?

So you want to be a voiceover artist.

By now you either have some experience of being an actor or a broadcaster. You have done your voice training and made your voicereel. So what next?

Get yourself a good professional photograph as agents and some "pay to play" directories allow you to upload one. There are a number of voiceover directories which allow you to list your audio for free. They include Voice123, Voices.com, VoiceoverDirectory.com and Bodalgo.

However many of the free sites may not generate much work for you (or they may restrict how their site functions until you pay a fee.) Some also require you to record an audtion for every job that you bid for, thereby encouraging voice talent to constantly lower their fees to get the work.

The BigFish Media Voiceover Directory is found on the free (or organic listings) on one page one of Google for the highly-competitive keywords of voiceover, voice-over, voice artist, voice talent etc. That's why we charge a small annual fee to be listed.

We have dealt with the technical aspects of setting up your own home studio in other blogs on this site, but should you invest in your own home studio? Do you even have the space and peace and quiet for one?

Alternatively try to find a local studio (or another voiceover artist who lives close to you) who may let you use their studio for a reasonable price. Then at least you can find out if you are employable. If you find that you are getting lots of work it's time to invest in your own voiceover booth!

So what next? Contact local radio stations and video production companies. It is a time-consuming marketing exercise, but by the time you have a dozen jobs under your belt you will know what your strenghts are. Maybe it is obvious to someone else in the industry if not you.

If you get booked for lots of local radio adverts but no e-learning then maybe this is what you are best at and should focus your energies on pursuing radio and TV commercial work.

Unless you are exceptionally talented - and very lucky - you will probably have to get 2 or 3 years experience of the voiceover industry under your belt before an agent

In the meantime keep at it and update your voice reel as you should improve with practise. You should also not bother to approach advertising agencies as they only deal with the best voiceover talent via voiceover agents

And remember, there are very few full-time voiceovers - most combine being a voiceover artist with production, writing, acting or radio or TV work. Or even a real job!

Voiceover News for March 2011

Here is what we have been up to in March:

We spent a day filming in Greggs Bakery in Pontypridd for a video production for a Government QUANGO.

Basabi recorded a voiceover for Barking NHS Trust in Bengali, Jacky recorded a voiceover for a Nordiflex DVD, Michelle recorded on-hold prompts for Lumley Direct, Peter O narrated a documentary about the Ancient Maya civilisation for the History Channel and Penny narrated a children's story - and voiced all the characters - for the Wireless Kids Theatre

Ricky was the live Voice of God at the Meat and Poultry Processing Awards in Birmingham, recorded a bunch of web videos for Keycamp holidays, a voiceover for Azko Nobel Powder Coatings and on-hold prompts for Metro Cup.

We now represent Dutch Voiceover Artists Christa and Hans and German Voiceover Artist Roy

We made voice reels for TalkSport Newsreader Faye Carruthers and London Voiceover Artist Mick

New on the website this month: a podcast which Lynsey recorded for the Suzy Lamplugh Trust and Sally's voiceover for the International Trade Union Confederation video. And improved search facilities means you can now search our voices by accent, age or language. Also we now offer Voice Training

Does Networking Work for Voiceover Artists?

Running a voiceover business we know how important social media is to its success. You know: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linked In etc.

I have met a couple of real life friends through Facebook. We have also made a good few business contacts (both as voiceover artists and clients) the same way.

But this week we met a potential business partner through Twitter. In real life. And there I was thinking no-one actually reads what is posted there. How wrong can you be?

Anyway Phil runs a video production company also in Woking so we met for a cup of coffee and a chat about the day-to-day running and the challenges facing media production and voiceover businesses in 2011. We exchanged ideas and discussed how we might be able to help each other - or indeed work together - in the future.

It seems to have become the norm for people who live and work very close to each other to meet through an international medium of the internet.

Funny old world isn't it?

How fast is a fast Voiceover booking and recording?

We pride ourselves on being able to deliver audio files of our voiceover recordings files extremely quickly and meeting the most exacting of timescales but this week we had a request from a client which was hugely challenging.

The production company called us and asked for a "big voice" for a TV-trailer but they only had 3 hours left in the edit for the video and needed to add a voiceover to the video before they lost their edit suite.

I gave them a choice of half a dozen voiceover artists, they chose one; Richard, who scrapped his plans for the afternoon and was in our voiceover booth within 90 minutes, did two takes of the script with 20 minutes that we had left on the clock.

Result: the client was delighted and we made the deadline!
    

Voiceover News February 2011

Here is what our voiceover team have been up to this month (as well as a much-needed week in sunny Spain):

Steph narrated a documentary for BBC4 and BBC2 Scotland: "When Bill Patterson met Bill Forsyth" will be shown on 1st March. Steph is also the voice of a TV advert for the Edinburgh Marathon. Andrew recorded adverts for The Sun and The News of the World for Oasis FM and Bay Radio in Spain.

Ricky Salmon recorded a web video for Scotts of Thrapston and on-hold prompts for Cyplon Holidays; Michelle is now the on-hold voice of John Lewis car insurance and Rob recorded on-hold prompts for the Giorgio Armani hotel in Dubai.

Penny did voice dubbing on the film "Mission London", Sally recorded a web video for the International Trade Union Confederation, Caroline recorded a web video for Fuijitsu and Alexandra recorded web videos for TagMan.

Peter O recorded many, many more voiceovers for a huge "Prince 2" practitioner E-Learning course, Graeme recorded a voiceover for Red Bull Racing in a 1930's-style RP and Colin Crecorded voiceovers for an animation for a Ring2 Teleconferencing video.

Our gravelly-voiced Voiceover Artist and Actress Jennifer asked us to make her four new voicereels which we were happy to do.

And we welcomed experienced Voiceover Artist Brian and new European Portuguese Voiceover Artist joana who has already recorded a voiceover for BP!

Voiceover News January 2011

January was an interesting, extremely busy and varied month for our voiceover business:


Ricky Salmon carried out Voice Training on the BA (Hons) Journalism Course at UCA in Farnham, Surrey as well as recording more voiceovers for Elsevier Ross Wilson Archie, on-hold prompts for Hastings Direct and more voiceovers for the Pen Warehouse website.

We welcomed Punjabi, Hindu and Urdu Voiceover Artist Rita Sharma, German Voiceover Artist Julia Effertz, the smoky, lived-in voice of Jennifer Munby and former Sky TV Presenter Viv Creegor. No sooner had we taken on Viv than we got her - along with talented actor Andrew Fallaize - to voice an animation for the BBC's intranet site "Gateway".

For TV and Radio: you can hear Drew White voicing new promos on Classic FM; Lynsey Hooper is the new voice of Sky 2 Continuity; Steph Bower voiced a TV trail for the BBC 2 programme "Posh and Posher" and Ricky Salmon voiced a trail for Mood FM in Jordan.

And in the corporate world, David Vickery, Mike Rogers and Sally Beaumont recorded voiceovers for our NovoSeven DVD. Michelle Horn recorded on-hold prompts for Toyota Insurance. Peter Offer recorded the first batch of voiceovers for a "Prince2" E-learning project. Brian Matthews recorded a voiceover for United Printing and Publishing and Charlotte Gittins and Luis Soto recorded characters for a Ring2 Teleconferencing web animation.

And we made a Voiceover Showreel for aspiring Voiceover Artist Vicky Shotton-Oza.

What a great start to the year - long may it continue!