Doing voice-over work is possibly one of the most enjoyable jobs, and most challenging that I do.
When you get that phone call to come for a 'session', you never know what you're going to get until you walk through the door and are given the script. I've been very fortunate to have voiced varied and interesting work over the last 20 years or so. The straight, informative reads are probably the easiest, as well as the IVR's where I've got my automated voice perfected, much to the annoyance of Emirates Airlines crew who will know me as EVITA, or the horrible person who gave them a terrible flight - hey I'm just the messenger.
Jobs like that for big clients are great, because once they've picked you to be 'their voice' there's always work as their systems always require updating. I'm also fortunate to have Mashreq bank's customer service IVR as one of my regular jobs and have just started a project with Jumeirah Group to consolidate all their restaurant information.
What I really love however, is when you get the chance to do more voice acting and that is something that you constantly have to practice for, just like a stage, tv or movie actor, except you have to convey everything the client is looking for, just using your voice. No mean feat I can tell you.
Sometimes you end up in hilarious sessions, where the production guys, the clients and myself have ended up laughing our heads off at some of the things that have happened. I remember one session where I was called for an audio dub, basically a tv commercial where the original language was Arabic, but it needed to be dubbed over into English. So there I am, standing alongside another lady and we're voicing the two roles in the commercial. We have a tv monitor set up, so we can 'act out' the roles while the commercial is playing. The scenario was that we were having a conversation whilst out running and at some points had to be breathless. Well what better way that to literally act it out, so there we were running around the studio, jogging on the spot, reading these lines and trying to make it all fit with the visuals. Challenging and fun :-)
Other times, you go into a session and end up with a final product, completely opposite to the original brief. I had one animated tv commercial that originally had an American voice on it, but for some reason the client wasn't happy, so they called me with my very British accent to re-voice it. I'm handed the script which has four characters, plus the announcer, so obviously I ask about the part they wish me to voice, "All of them" comes the answer. Ohhh, well alright I'm always up for a challenge to to stretch my abilities.
So I do several takes, reading each part in sync with these little animated characters and really getting into it, but something just sounds off. We decide that I should 'soften' a little, with less articulation and see how that goes. Better, better, but even I'm not happy with it. I think sometimes, some accents work better than others for certain projects. I suggest that I do it in an American accent and see how that goes - now I'm not great at accents, they all seem to come out a bit Irish. So basically I go into parrot mode, listen, repeat - but with my own inflections and how I think the characters should act. By the time I'd finished, I'd voice all these little characters, plus the announcer in an American accent and I'm wondering what was wrong with the original voice on the commercial, but they seemed to like my takes better so that's a nice one to add to the demo reel.
When it comes to voice over work, versatility is key. The more you can do, the more likely you are to be picked for different jobs. We can't all do those deep rumbling 'In a world......' movie trailers of course, but the more you practice, the more you expand your capabilities, the better set you are for the work that you need to do. I used to love voice coaching sessions and my coach was invaluable. Just like a singer, your voice is your tool and you have to look after it, exercise it and know its capabilities.
It still makes me chuckle when I hear people who say "oh I've been told I have a really nice voice and should do voice over work" - well that's all very nice and well and good, but it takes MUCH more than just having a nice voice.
I'm very fortunate to have been able to call myself a voice over artist for many years now and am very thankful to work with some great production houses and people. Voice work can be extremely challenging and that's something I'll cover in a follow up post.
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