ANNOUNCEMENT

Donating our profits to charity.

The Great British Voice Company has pledged to donate a percentage of their profits to ‘Guide dogs for the blind’.

We already provide a valuable service to people with visual disabilities, our audio books, talking magazines, talking information leaflets etc. make life easier for the visually impaired. However, we wanted to take it one step further and help to give those people a better quality of life and more independence, by supporting ‘Guide dogs for the blind’.

You may be thinking that it’s a bold step to take, especially in the current economic climate, where all businesses, large and small, are struggling to keep their heads above water. Well charities have been hit even harder, the general public have less spare funds to donate, so charities are suffering too.

More information on the Guide dogs for the blind charity, can be found at this link:
www.guidedogs.org.uk

If you would like to help, without using our voice over services, please email us at info@greatbritishvoice.co.uk and we’ll send you details of how you can donate through us.

www.greatbritishvoice.co.uk

Starting in Voice Overs

Part 2. The Voice Over Industry

Years ago, a nice well modulated voice was a requirement – not so, today! Listen to TV commercials and radio commercials. Many producers are going for that “quirky”, “different”, or “real person” sound. So, today, I’d say, the more distinctive your voice is maybe the better. I say maybe because if you’ve got a distinctive voice and live in a major market like London or Manchester, you might find enough work for your “quirky” style to make a living. If you’re in a smaller market, there may not be enough call for an unusual sound to keep you going. If you have a pleasing, non-accented sound, you may be more viable for a broader range of productions. The more versatile you are, typically, the more work you will get. But whatever your voice “type”, there are basics that you need know and practice to become a professional voice talent.

Many voice over performers come to freelance work from radio or television programming or news. DJ’s often have a specific style that is required for radio programming. That style can work against them in the commercial or corporate marketplace. They have to work at getting back to a more “normal” way of speaking, a bit more relaxed with more natural inflections and pauses, more “conversational” if you like.
Often, people will want to become a professional voice talent because they have been told they have a nice voice or a good phone voice. That’s all well and good, and in addition to years of experience, that’s one of the things that guided me to looking into becoming a professional voice talent. I thought, that just might be something worth finding out about. Not having been a DJ or in television news, I had not experienced the broadcast arena. Little did I realise at the time, that becoming a professional voice talent would become my bread and butter! But, the most important thing to remember here is, having a nice voice is not all there is to becoming a successful professional voice talent, the number one thing is how you interpret the copy or in other words, your acting ability.

www.greatbritishvoice.co.uk

Starting in Voice overs

Part 1 - What is a voice over?

A voice-over is the voice of an unseen narrator, in a movie or television broadcast, a commercial or tutorial. It is a recording performed by a voice talent that gives life to characters, tells a story, guides you on a tour, or directs your telephone calls.

Usually, professional voice talents are enthusiastic, funny, charming, are flexible, and interact well with other people. They have the ability to take direction or criticism from others and can interpret copy to sell a product, concept, or a message.

Who is a Voice Talent?

A voice talent is a voice-over professional who interprets a script to meet a specific commercial, leisure, or educational goal. Voice talents provide the voices that you hear during a commercial on television, imaging on the radio, pod casts, narrators for film, voices for movie trailers, telephone systems, educational resources, and a wide assortment of web and kiosk applications.

Another name for a voice talent is a voice actor. A voice actor (or voice artist) is a person who provides voices for computer and video games, puppet shows, amusement rides, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, and animation works (including cartoons, animated feature films, animated shorts), and radio and television commercials.

Voice acting is an art, and very truly, it is acting. Although most voice work is recorded in the privacy of your own studio away from the glare of the cameras, a voice over will serve as a performance for the hundreds if not thousands of people who will receive the message you are giving voice to.

Uses of voice overs

Television Commercials

Television Imaging and Station Identification

Radio Announcers

Radio Commercials

Radio Imaging and Station Identification

Business Demonstrations

Business Presentations and Corporate Videos

Voicemail, On-Hold Messaging, IVR (Interactive Voice Response)

Entertainment and Celebrity Impersonations

Character Voices and Cartoon Voice Actors

Video Game Voices, Computer Game Voices

Audio books, Books on Tape

Educational Videos, CD-rom, e-Learning

Podcasting

Government Public Service Announcements

Medical Narration

Foreign Language Voice Overs

Translation Services

Jingles

Music Composition, Music Production

Coming in part 2 - An introduction to the voice over industry

www.greatbritishvoice.co.uk

Beginners Voice Over Workshops

The Beginner Workshop provides an introduction to the voice over industry and an understanding as to what is required to become a successful voice over artist.It is a common misconception that just because you can speak or have been told that you have a nice voice, you can do voice overs and this is certainly not the case. It is a skill that requires dedication, practice and commitment.



The workshop will give you an insight into the voice over industry, what is expected of an artist and how to get started. During the course of the day you will also get the chance to record a few short voice overs which will be posted to you on CD.


We aim to provide the foundations upon which you can grow as an aspiring artist. The workshops are run regularly and places are limited to ensure each attendee receives adequate support and attention.


The full day workshops cost £115.00 including VAT. A non-refundable deposit of £30.00 is required with your booking.If you are travelling from out of the area, comfortable hotel accomodation can be arranged from £35.00 .

The following areas will be covered:

•What is a voice over?
•The voice over industry
•Speaking like a professional
•The basics of recording and editing
•The skills required
•Choosing the right scripts
•Your voice over showreel
•Where to find your first voice over jobs
•Marketing yourself

We value honesty, and will not try to sell you further training or ask you to register with us. Your voice over future is in your hands.
Please contact us at sharon@greatbritishvoice.co.uk for further information and dates of our future workshops.

www.greatbritishvoice.co.uk