Voice-Over
Voice-over is one of the most specialized, competitive, and lucrative fields an actor can break into. It requires skill with character voices (both "straight" and "cartoon"); dialects like British (Irish, Scottish, Cockney), American regional (New York, Southern) and foreign-language accents (French, German, Russian, Spanish etc.); and skill in "acting with an accent." A voice-over artist's gigs include:
- Radio and TV commercials.
- Industrial films and Internet advertising.
- Animated films and cartoons.
- over-dubbing foreign-language films.
- "Looping", also known as ADR in post-production for feature films.
- Audio Books.
The successful voice-over artist has a host of character voices and dialects in his or her repertoire. This is where Paul can help, not only with the dialects and accents, but with all aspects of performance. As a long-time voice talent and proud member of AFTRA/SAG, he has engaged in all these activities:
- He was a member of the BBC Drama Repertory Company in London in the 1970s, acting in over 100 radio dramas alongside figures such as Derek Jacobi, Richard Burton, and Paul Scofield. Much of this work has since been re-published on CD all over the world.
- He has voiced national radio and TV commercials for such clients as Coca-Cola, Ford, Blockbuster, and Bayer; and was the voice of the Walmart icon "Smiley" for 2003.
- He has been engaged to re-voice many foreign films dubbed into English.
- He has recorded nearly fifty audio books starting with Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in 1975, and, more recently, Ayn Rand's famous novel, Anthem, released as a 2-CD set by HighBridge Audio, and A Christmas Carol and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, available online at EnglishCafe. A major part of his audio book record are the over thirty titles in the Knowledge Products' Audio Classics series, in which he worked with Ben Kingsley, Walter Cronkite, George C. Scott, Lynn Redgrave, Charlton Heston, and others.
Listen to Paul's Voice-over Demo, a three-minute tour of over a dozen character voices and dialects he has used in his many radio and TV commercials. We also invite you to hear a brief extract from his audiobook recording of Of Mice and Men, his reading of A Christmas Carol, or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Whether you are an established voice-over talent with an audition or gig in an accent you're not quite sure of, or whether you're seeking to break into that lucrative field and need to develop your repertoire of voices and dialects, Paul can help.
He's coached scores of actors in the art of voice-over, often producing their all-important demo reels. Want to hear some examples? Listen to the following from his Fall 2006 class in voice-over at the University of Kansas (Don Martin, engineer): Alicia Gian, Lawrence Henderson, Troy Hirsch, Erin Jevons-Lee, Justin Knudsen, Jonathan Matteson, Megan Persinger, Jeremy Riggs, Meg Saricks, Courtney Schweitzer, Chel Shipley, Elliott Sowards. Listen to his students from his 2008 class: Amy Virginia Buchanan, Kelsie Clark, Matt Crooks, Debbie Diesel, Cali Gilman, Alex Haynes, Spencer Holdren, Hilary Kelman, Ryan Klamen, Chris McGillivray, Tom Medved, Logan Walker. Also: Laurie Hamilton, Patrick Loebs, Gabriel Mondesire, or Paula Richer. If you like what you hear, Paul will be glad to produce your voice-over demo. Thanks to modern technology you don't even have to been in the same city anymore!
In addition, listen to some of his students' audiobook demos.
For the details of our procedures, costs, and a sample script, download the demo production document. Then e-mail Paul to talk things over.
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