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Pixing Your Best Performance

August 26, 2022 by Rachael Naylor

How does the casting process work at Pixar Animation Studios?

Kevin ReherFirstly we create animatics (a preliminary version of a film, produced by shooting successive sections of a storyboard and adding a soundtrack). The animatics are updated every 16-24 weeks. Essentially, the movie is made up and then torn apart many times! During this phase of development we use scratch actors to voice the characters. We have many Pixar players that we use for our characters’ voices and we use the recordings to build the animatics.

Natalie LyonAll of our movie ideas are homegrown and we don’t accept external pitches. Some of our directors come with ideas about who they want to cast – and others don’t! We take ideas from anyone on the crew, in the studio, basically anyone from within Pixar Animation Studios. We also have a casting database. Whenever we audition an actor, we pull clips and add them to our database of 1000+ actors.

KRWe look for good actors who can evoke and create characters through their voices. Appearances are not important to us – it’s all about the voices. We like natural sounding voices and rarely ask actors to make up a voice. When we’re presenting an actor to a director, we’ll often do interviews because that gets you as close as possible to the natural voice. As director and voice actor, Andrew Stanton says, “Funny is money!” And, when characters don’t have a lot of backstory, humour is particularly important. Vocal getability is really important in animation and your voice needs to be instantly identifiable as a type. Animators love a textured voice – an undulating voice is much more fun to animate than one that is more steady. 

I like this quote from Chief Creative Officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Pete Docter, he says “As your character grows and changes, you’ll by necessity need to start them in a flawed place. The key then to great casting is to find an actor who can play that flaw with appeal, so you can camouflage the flaw as being fun to watch…you’ll want to make sure your actor can play the character in a way that makes us totally charmed by them – and then their strength and depth will be a rich surprise for us as an audience.”

NLWe take ideas from agents and directors – it’s not always the case that Pixar movies are easy to cast – you might think that everyone jumps at the chance, but there are often conflicting schedules and commitments, and also, in animation, actors might only ever voice one leading character – so they want to make sure it’s the right one.We send scenes to agents and their talent will self-record. A lot of the time it is simply on their phones – at this stage we don’t expect them to have perfect audio quality. Once we hone in on the auditions that are potentially right for the part, the director and producer will pitch the film to the actor and have a discussion to make sure everyone is on the same page. There will sometimes be a working audition where the director gets to work with the actor on the character, or an animation test to make sure that the voice and the animation of the character is a good fit.

KRWe also need to ensure that the cast fits together. It is amazing how many people actually sound like each other! We cut all of the voices and the animation into one clip, so that it’s really clear who all the different characters are. We have to avoid casting too early – or too late. Some animated films take four years to make, but they can easily take seven years and over that time the characters evolve. In the end, we just hope that we get it right!

 

How has animation casting changed over the years?

KRPixar’s commitment to diversity is the biggest change I’ve seen. The opportunity for diversity starts with the story; if the script is written by a story artist who draws diverse characters, then it can be cast that way too.

NLTechnology and self recording has really changed the people we can reach out to, and in turn, the voices we get to listen to – so it means there are more opportunities for more people.

 

Where do you find actors for your database?

NLThe database is pulled from clips of previous auditions. Just because someone hasn’t been right for something in the past doesn’t mean that they won’t be right for something in the future. When agents submit demos, we always put the demos on the database. So we keyword those: ‘French,’ ‘Funny,’ etc.

KR In general, if people do send a demo they often send an animation reel – which is exactly what you need if you’re into video games, but for animation we want to hear your natural voice and personality. To that effect,  narration demos are more useful to us – less animated but not too dry.

 

What is the best way to break into animation voice acting?

KR You can’t get in unless you’re hired and you can’t get hired unless you’re in! So, get an agent.

NLGet into theatre and improvisation, because you’ll be working on your voice and getting exposure to other actors and people within the industry where you can network. You can gain some really valuable insights on what casting directors are looking for by simply listening to other peoples’ experiences. Meet and learn from as many people as you can.

 

What do successful animation voiceover actors have in common?

KR They are great at doing repetitions (repeating one line of script in many different ways). They have voices that really pop and they give us confidence that if the director hires them, they are going to be able to perform.

NL They are great improvisers, can play with a script and have fun while still being able to hit the lines. Flexibility is super important and always being prepared!

 

Can you tell us more about Loop Groups?

NL A Loop Group is when a group of actors go into a recording booth to fill the landscape of sound for all the extras, crowd scenes and sometimes actors’ dialogue. Loop groups are made up of a group of voice actors who are capable of voicing multiple characters with just a few lines each. This highly collaborative team are local voice actors who work together to bring to life these few lines of script and are often credited as additional voices.

 

How can voice actors make the casting process easier for you?

NL Be prepared and be open in the audition. New ideas are great, but you must be able to deliver the lines as written.

KR Too weird doesn’t land with the directors, neither does anything that is too boring! Show your versatility, capability and humour! If you have been asked to audition, your audition must reflect your best performance, and that should also be reflected in the quality of your recording.

 

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

NL We’re privileged to work with so many people, with so many great ideas, all the time! Unlike other departments that might be working exclusively on one film for four years, we get to work on all of them!

KR For a lot of people, being in a Pixar movie is a dream come true – making that happen is really cool!

 

Show your versatility, capability and humour! If you have been asked to audition, your audition must reflect your best performance, and that should also be reflected in the quality of your recording. We look for good actors who can evoke and create characters through their voices. Appearances are not important to us – it’s all about the voices. We like natural sounding voices and rarely ask actors to make up a voice.

 

Kevin Reher
Pixar Animatio Studios
Casting Director

Natalie Lyon
Pixar Animatio Studios
Casting Director

Interviewer:
Rachael Naylor
Voice Actor, Editor of The Buzz Magazine
and Founder of The VoiceOver Network

Filed Under: Blog, Blog Tagged With: Pixar

Dubbing in the Cloud

August 24, 2022 by Raul Aldana

In 1987, inspired by the exploits of my hero Bruce Springsteen, who five years earlier had released his album “Nebraska” – produced on a 4-track cassette recorder: the famous Tascam 144 – I bought Tascam’s “Porta Two”, which was an improved version of “The Boss” mystical recorder. I started playing around with it and then producing multitrack recordings of some quality from my home. I made music and voiceover demos and, in fact, even made a radio show that way, but I was still far from having producers accept a home recording. They wouldn’t even accept castings recorded in this way.

A short time passed, and we started digitizing. Goodbye, tapes – long live Pro Tools! And we all know how the story went on. Digital technology, which was prohibitively expensive in the beginning, became more democratic, and we started to set up our home studios, and we all became true Alan Parsons. Remote connection with elitist ISDN codecs arrived, but this was superseded by Source Connect and more economical options such as ipDTL, ConnectionOpen and, if not, at least Skype. Long live connectivity! But… what about video synchronization for dubbing? One small problem: latency. During my last year at Disney, I supervised my projects using Blue Jeans, the video conference system, connecting the studio console to the computer to listen to my actors’ performances in real-time, and also supervising the dialogue editing. But the video component was still missing. Latency! That’s when someone told me about a crazy method for recording on the cloud. What? Recording using my browser with a USB microphone? Ha!

The dubbing industry, I’ve said it before, is an industry at odds with itself and reluctant to change.

The dubbing industry, I’ve said it before, is an industry at odds with itself and reluctant to change. After I departed from Disney, I found myself face with that dilemma and my own lack of appetite for change. Then that crazy idea from months before came back to me, now with a job proposal, and I fell in love with the possibility of starting the change by combining innovation and experience. Finally, a platform that allowed us to connect in real-time with the director to record lip-sync projects with quality, and without latency: ZOODubs. I started inviting the best and most avant-garde colleagues I knew, and they initiated the change. ZOODubs represents the democratization of dubbing also, because after meeting some technical requirements and passing some simple tests, the actors get in touch with the best dubbing directors in different languages without having to go through the long period of visiting studios to get a chance to record. Today I record with my best talents regardless of their physical location, opening the doors that previously were not available to actors living outside the big cities where the industry traditionally operates. Of course, there were (and still are) those who do not believe in things like that (such a thing).

Today the dubbing industry is living a historic moment thanks to the amount of content available. In the face of the current pandemic, the industry came to standstill, and content producers and distributors began to focus their attention on dubbing done at a distance. The actors and directors who believed in and developed this option have not stopped working, and today they are recording all day every day. Other content localization companies are trying to develop their own platforms, and that benefits all of us voice talents and invites us to change, giving us options for work in the future and in these times of involuntary isolation. If you want to approach ZOO Digital, follow this link: https://www.zoodigital.com/work-with-zoo/voice-talent

And yes! I still have my “Porta Two” in the glass cabinet where I keep all the gadgets that made me who I am.

 

By: Raul Aldana
Voiceover Artist, Director and Casting Director

Filed Under: Blog, Blog Tagged With: Raul Aldana

Let your work speak for you

August 24, 2022 by Raul Aldana

Back in the ’90s, we often had to run from one studio to another at opposite ends of the city to get to our next session -quite a feat when you had more than three recording sessions in one day. Happy times! Once, on a morning call, I met a fellow voiceover known for his arrogance and deliberate tardiness. The producer, a nice and very talented man who could, on occasion, be over-zealous in his attention to detail, took his time to decide what he wanted for his commercial. Nevertheless, in the end we were all satisfied. And I ran, like everyone else, to the next session. I just managed to arrive there on time.

The producer for the second session was a brilliant woman who projected great competence whenever she conducted a recording. She was already in the control room, ready to go…but we had to wait for another artist yet to arrive, so she apologized several times to the engineer and I for this delay.

Finally, more than an hour later, the second artist casually sauntered into the studio. Oh, surprise – it was the same artist with whom I had recorded the early morning session! He didn’t notice that I was already there, and on greeting the producer, he began to excuse his delay by bitching about the session we had done together a couple of hours earlier. He complained bitterly that the producer for that session had no idea what he was doing.

The expression on the second producer’s face changed as she listened to these allegations. A tense silence ensued. She settled down on her chair, leant her elbows on the desk, and directed her gaze towards the booth, where I was, to exchange a glance with me. Then, in a dry tone, she replied: “I can see why yesterday when my husband and I were preparing our recordings for today, he warned me not to call you for this project because you had to record for him too.” At that moment, the artist finally realised that I was already there, cringing in embarrassment on his behalf. The magnitude of his screw-up then dawned on him. The producer he had just bitched about was the husband of the producer he had just forced to wait so long! Crash… Bang… Boom…!

The people who hire you as a voice talent, be it directors, producers or creatives, place their trust in you, but they don’t always know what they want in advance. Nor do they have to. They hire you because you are a professional with sufficient talent to interpret what they seek for their project. Yes, it can be frustrating to be in a studio sometimes with ten people who have come to supervise the recording, but contradict each other’s direction and seem only concerned with their laptop and the WIFI password. But they are still your clients, and you are the expert who has to show that they’re not paying you for the 30 seconds that the commercial you are recording lasts for, but for your years of experience and your professional attitude instead.

When someone approaches me to offer their services while criticizing someone else, they are automatically disqualifying themselves. Do not speak ill of anyone. Don’t knock the work of others in front of anyone. Be on time. Let your work speak for you!

Your behaviour with a client can determine whether they’ll consider you for their next project or recommend you to other clients. When someone approaches me to offer their services while criticizing someone else, they are automatically disqualifying themselves. Do not speak ill of anyone. Don’t knock the work of others in front of anyone. Be on time. Let your work speak for you!

By the way, the two producers are still married, and I still record for both of them more than 20 years after that infamous incident. Every time we meet, they laugh when they remember that artist and his embarrassing act of professional suicide.

 

By: Raul Aldana
Voiceover Artist, Director and Casting Director

Filed Under: Blog, Blog Tagged With: Raul Aldana

The Worst Job of All

August 19, 2022 by Raul Aldana

Being able to make a living out of what you love is one of the highest privileges anyone can have. When you love your job, it ceases to be a job: it’s a pleasure. However, when people ask me what’s the worst job I’ve ever had (which is not the same thing as the worst job I’ve ever done!), I answer without hesitation that it was the 8-10 a.m. announcer shift at 99.3 FM in Mexico City. That was pure torture!!! Mexico’s tequila effect had spread around the world, and the wonderfully irreverent radio show I hosted for years with great success came off the air because the network decided to deal with the financial crisis by changing the station’s format and theme. So, the owners and executives thought it convenient to recruit me to help boost the infamous “Digital 99”, a station they had recently purchased. It was like leaving the best private school to get into the worst and most mediocre public school. My loyalty and gratitude to mentors and employers made me endure the lack of leadership and the immaturity of the bullies that controlled the station for five months. At that point, I announced – to general amazement- that I was leaving in thirty days. I never turned back – I was never late, I never missed a show, I even boosted my ratings, and I fulfilled all my obligations! 

Today I celebrate the times I’ve stumbled throughout my career because they have taught me that the worst job of all is one where we do not give ourselves the chance to perform to our highest potential or the job that we accept without really wanting to. Increasing specialization in the voice business means that sometimes we are typecast into a single type of projects or characters either by our customers, our agents or by our own fears

In Europe and Latin America, actors and broadcasters do not specialize in a single field; we do dubbing, commercials, storytelling, video games, radio and live events. Boldness allows us to discover new talents within ourselves! That doesn’t mean we’re experts in everything, but it’s one of the challenges our profession poses to us. The market is increasingly competitive worldwide, and we must face it with versatility and professionalism. Preparation is the best cover letter. Be available, be punctual, respect everyone’s work, watch and learn, engage and perform. Tackle every job you do with the same excitement and commitment you displayed the first time. That’s the best job you can ever have!

Filed Under: Blog, Blog Tagged With: Raul Aldana

Information vs Knowledge

August 19, 2022 by Raul Aldana

Our profession always takes us by the hand with technology and its evolution. My generation has seen bricks turn into smartphones; smiles into emojis, mass media into personal media, rock stars into YouTubers and YouTubers into rock stars, bullies into presidents and the internet and its prodigal children – the social networks – into true oracles. In that revolution, or rather that intoxicating “techno-market-sociological” binge, social networks have gradually brought us closer to those from whom we thought we were distant. We saturate our space with “friends” and “followers”, and we are at the mercy of their acceptance in a passive-aggressive relationship in an environment that makes us feel we are celebrities; “… they entangle us in an eternal swirl of the self and lead us to the self-promotion of our own notions”, as the great philosopher Byung-Chul Han says. 

 “Wounds are the flipside of selfies…,” says Byung-Chul Han, “… selfie addiction has nothing to do with a healthy love of self. It is nothing but the parading of a narcissistic self that has been left alone.” 

When I have the opportunity to be in personal contact with followers, classmates or my students. The competition in our trade has become ferocious, and that has made us reach to industry leaders. We go to conferences, we support each other, and we are creating a community. That is the positive side of the free interconnection of social networks. “Building a support network can be a tool to increase confidence to shine,” says the mega-talented Camila Peroni, who does not hesitate to offer help to her colleagues. Unfortunately, the networks caught many colleagues in an overflowing ego utopia, and we see them acting as teenagers on Spring Break. They obsessively publish selfies, sacrifice real friendships for the sake of a few “likes” and seem to float in the clouds like true redeemers.

One question they ask me is, Are you on Instagram? In various voice conferences, I have heard and learned the importance of being connected and up to date on social networks, and I know that we all use them as a strategy to boost our careers. But I worry that in these events there’s no advice to new talents to be prepared, to never stop studying and to remember that there is always something to learn to improve our performance in front of the microphone or on stage. As the craziest and best of my teachers said: “… it takes the same effort to get a job whether you’re well prepared or poorly prepared”. The difference, I think, is that the preparation will give us more resilience. There are no shortcuts, and there are many obstacles. This is what we must teach the new generations.

If you are starting your career, study and, if you already do, study some more. Instant web information is not necessarily knowledge. Learn different acting techniques, attend seminars and workshops, read, vocalize, listen to others and listen to yourself, ask your peers for help and pay it back by helping others. Never stop learning. Success, money, fame and survivability are the outcome of doing our job well.

Filed Under: Blog, Blog Tagged With: Raul Aldana

Josh Martin Interview

August 8, 2022 by Alan Shires

ALAN SHIRES: How many characters have you dubbed in your career to date?

JOSH MARTIN: Unfortunately, I cannot give you an exact number, but I would say well over 50, one way or another, either actual lines, or a quick death scene or a battle scene. I have done plenty of ‘yes sirs’.

ALAN SHIRES: Is this just anime or video games as well?

JOSH MARTIN: Yeah video games as well and commercials too.

ALAN SHIRES: What’s the biggest challenge with lip syncing and how do you beat it?

JOSH MARTIN: It is just about going for it; doing it the best you can and following what the lips are doing and trying to do your best to match that. It does not always work as the translations don’t always match up so often there is a creative freedom to fudge a syllable.

 

ALAN SHIRES: And the directors are cool with that type of freedom?

JOSH MARTIN: Sometimes you have 3 seconds to do 3 sentences, the Japanese lip flaps might have 30 flaps and you have to do it. So, matching every ‘T’, ‘Um’, ‘P’ and every syllable is not going to happen. But doing it so often and understanding the rhythm of things you can see it in the corner of your eye. You’ll see the flaps going whilst you’re reading. With practise and experience comes better execution of the whole thing over time.

ALAN SHIRES: What is your favourite genre of voiceover and why?

JOSH MARTIN: It has to be anime. It was my first type of voiceover, before that I worked with a comedy troop and I got to apply some of that into anime. Whereas commercials have to be done in a certain way but anime is my favourite.

 

ALAN SHIRES: Why is it your Favourite?

JOSH MARTIN: I like the process, I like the art, I like the subject, I like the fans, I like the people I work with. It is a dream job. I grew up with cartoons from the 70s, 80s and 90s. I get to do a lot things I have watched and I get to meet some people I listened to growing up so that’s fun as well.

ALAN SHIRES: Sounds like amazing fun! So, talking to voiceover artists what’s the biggest tip you can give them with lip syncing/dubbing whether it be Spanish to English, Japanese to English?

JOSH MARTIN: The biggest tip is to be able to see the script and the screen at the same time. It is very technical; you need to do the same work an actor does too. That’s all the script analysis and all the character work. So, beyond that it’s important to get the technical down as well as the lip sync as that’s a different process.

ALAN SHIRES: So foundationally you’re saying that they need to go into the booth as an actor, but they also need the additional skill of using their peripherals so they can see everything?

JOSH MARTIN: Exactly, thank you Alan I am going to bring you everywhere so you can translate what I mean.

ALAN SHIRES: Last but not least can you book work in lip-syncing/dubbing without an agent?

JOSH MARTIN: I can’t see why you couldn’t book work without an agent, but what I would say is with an agent it’s going to be higher quality and probably a little better paid in theory. There will be less of a grey area to worry about but at the same time if you’re just starting out and have not done any voice over work you can’t get an agent as you’ve never done any voiceover work. Luckily in this day and age of technology you can get on someone’s fan work or an original piece and they need someone reasonable and someone just starting out. That’s a place I know a lot of actors at Funimation and other places that have started out just like that. There is definitely a better opportunity to make that happen without an agent. However, I would strongly recommend making that a goal to get that agent because that’s going to get you what you want.

 


By: Alan Shires

Voice Artist and VON Business
Development Manager

 


Josh Martin

Voiceover Artist, Actor, Singer & Entertainer

Filed Under: Anime, Blog, Blog

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    With a strong background in marketing in the membership sector as well as broadcast and media, Laura heads up our Marketing Team here at VON. Her hands have appeared in Hinterland, a Welsh Noir TV series, uncovering bones as an SA and she’s raved for several hours straight in a feature film also shot in Wales. Laura has a deep appreciation for the talent and creativity of voice acting so working at VON is the perfect place to be.

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    Having started in TV and theatre, Alan discovered voiceover in 2016 and quickly fell in love with the industry. Now he is an award-winning voiceover artist as well as a successful performance capture actor and entrepreneur.

    Alan is a British voiceover based in Leeds, UK, with a friendly, story-telling voice that is complemented with a hint of a northern English accent. Having delivered motivational talks and having established clients from all around the world, Alan is a big advocate for seeing everyone succeed and unlocking their potential.

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    As well as running The VoiceOver Network, Rachael is a busy voiceover artist, actress, writer, award-winning entrepreneur and a mother of two girls.

    Rachael’s love for acting started at a young age when she was inspired by her actor Grandfather and loved seeing him perform in the West End. She trained as an actress at Richmond Drama School and soon after graduating, discovered voiceovers and absolutely loved working in this area of the industry. Rachael has been a voiceover artist for over 20 years and during that time has worked with a huge range of top brands including Virgin Media (yes, she’s their telephone voice), CNN, Nestlé, Olay, Sure, Channel 5, The Travel Channel and many more. In addition, Rachael has worked with Derek Jacobi and Hayley Atwell in The Martian Chronicles radio drama and voiced three One Direction films.

    Her voiceover agent is Excellent Talent. As an actress, Rachael has worked in TV, film and theatre as well as on commercials for brands such as Persil. Her acting agent is Comedy Actors, London. Rachael is co-author of the Amazon best-selling book, ‘Shine: …it’s like glitter for your soul! ’, and contributing author of a second Amazon best-selling book, ‘Believe: … it’s like glitter for your soul! ’.

    Rachael is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience with others in the industry and in 2014, officially established The VoiceOver Network, which aims to bring the industry together. She won the Entrepreneurs Circle’s, ‘Entrepreneur of the Year for London and the South 2014’ award, not only for her work on her voiceover business, but also with The VoiceOver Network. Rachael was also a finalist at the 2014 National Entrepreneur Awards for ‘Best Business Enabler’ for her work with The VoiceOver Network. She finds business and marketing fascinating and enjoys the challenges of running her businesses.

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    As a writer / producer she quickly learned the power of ‘voicing’ and in a twist of fate, she was asked to voice a scratch-track and that’s all it took for her to be enchanted by the magical world of voiceover. Leisa has trained with professional voice artists in voicing medical, children’s and lifestyle documentary narration.

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    After graduating Lorraine worked on the London Fringe, noted for her powerful performance in ‘Glass Hearts’ by the award-winning David Spencer. Television includes the role of Ann McIntyre in Coronation Street, and other wonderful roles in Eastenders, Holby City, Merseybeats, and The Bill. Lorraine is a versatile Actress with the qualities required to play hard-edged raw characters. She has the ability to bring a sense of vulnerability to her roles and a sense of realism to her performances. Many Directors have commented on her naturalistic style and her commitment to her work.

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    Natalie Beran

    Assistant Editor, The Buzz Magazine, Accounts Coordinator, Voiceover Artist

    Natalie is a voiceover artist, actor, assistant director (TV/Film), theatre producer and radio announcer/producer. She works in commercials, animation, gaming, narration (corporate / audiobooks) and radio drama. Her clients include iHeart Radio, New Zealand Lotto, Blind Foundation, Les Mills, Vista/Veezi, McDonalds and Southern Comfort. Natalie works in a range of accents including New Zealand / Australian, various UK & US and Eastern European and has a great range of animation, character and gaming voices.

    Natalie has a radio career spanning over 15 years and has worked as a radio announcer/producer in New Zealand, Sweden, Canada and the USA. She holds a Bachelor of Communication Studies (Radio) from AUT and is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA New York). She was a finalist in the inaugural SOVAS – Voice Arts Awards for animation and was a recipient of the Shakespeare’s Globe International Actors’ Fellowship.

    She has worked in TV and theatre production including producer of the Auckland Outdoor Summer Shakespeare, 2nd Assistant Director for South Pacific Pictures (Shortland Street, The Bad Seed), as well as program manager for The Actors Program. She is a founding member of the International Actors Ensemble, performing as Antipholus of Syracuse in their Mexican tour of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors and festival appearances in Auckland, Melbourne and the UK.

    Gabriel Porras

    Spanish Translator and Proof-Reader for The Buzz Magazine, Voiceover Artist

    Gabriel Porras is a world-record-holding presenter and voiceover professional with 25+ years of experience in advertising, news, live broadcasting, corporate, eLearning, gaming and animation roles (BBC, Microsoft, Netflix, Saatchi, Apple, BBM, Sauza, FedEx, McDonald’s, Sunset&Vine among others).

    International records for continuous daily radio presence (12+ years, BBC World Service) and weekly TV presence (24+ years, Gillette World Sport; 11+ years, Mobil 1 The Grid) as the main presenter of a series. Main IOC Presenter for the London 2012 Olympics. OVA international award nominations for Animation and Audiobook performances. Advanced studies in Art, Philosophy, Music, Classics, Theology, Islam and Atheism. Loves to cook (Mexican, Mediterranean, Asian Fusion) and travel (40 countries to date).

    Rich O’Donogue

    Resident Sound Engineer for The VoiceOver Network, producer, voiceover artist and DJ

    Rich’s knowledge of sound stems from a 20 year career as a DJ/Sound Engineer for clubs and bars around the UK and abroad as well as a 1st class honors degree in music production.

    From university Rich entered the world of radio production and secured a position as a commercial producer at UTV (now The Wireless Group) in which he won awards both locally and nationally for his production work.

    In 2016 Rich made the leap of faith and became freelance offering his services to production companies and voice overs whilst building the reputation of his company ‘io Audio’ from his own studio. Over the last 2 years io Audio has successfully produced showreels for many of the industries leading voices as well as offering studio recording facilities for TV and Radio most notably for Russell Howard’s Travelogue aired on Comedy Central and BBC Radio. As well as producing Rich also lectures at universities on radio production and the subject of how sound creates visualisations in our minds and how this can be used as a tool in radio production. Rich loves the art of directing voice overs, as well as mixing records on a saturday night and chilling with the family.

    Dian Perry

    Voiceover artist and voice coach

    Dian is a US voiceover artist, teacher and voiceover coach based in London. She’s worked as a professional voice actor since early 1998 and a character voice teacher and voiceover coach since 2006.

    She has worked on a huge amount of animations and cartoons including The Woodlies, Corneil and Bernie, Nelly Nut Live as well as many more. Video Games include Horizon: Zero Dawn, Pusuit Force and Sacred Underworld.

    Dian is one of the top voice coaches in the UK

    Randall Ryan

    Voiceover casting director and director

    Randall Ryan is a voiceover casting director and director.

    He is the Co-founder of Hamsterball Studios in Austin, Texas. His video game credits include: Small Town Terrors, Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Transformers: Optimus Prime, the Deer Hunter series, World Series of Poker, mobile gaming, children’s games, sports titles, shooters and so much more.

    Tom Keegan

    Performance capture director, audio director and casting director

    Tom Keegan is one of the most in demand performance capture directors, audio directors and casting directors in the world right now.

    He is a Director and Casting Director for Performance Capture, Video Games, Voice Over and Films. Games title credits include the Battlefield series, Wolfenstein 1, 2 and 3, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Dead Rising 3 & 4, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, Call of Duty: Modern Warfair Remastered, The Amazing Spiderman 2 and many more.

    Adele Cutting

    BAFTA award-winning audio professional

    Adele Cutting is a BAFTA award-winning audio professional with 20+ years experience in audio direction, designing sound, music editing, casting and directing actors and covering all things audio across games, TV, installations, mobile and VR.

    Adele is the founder of audio production company, Soundcuts Ltd., before Soundcuts, Adele spent 15 years at EA, working her way up the ranks from Junior Sound Designer to Senior Audio Director, working on blockbuster titles such the Harry Potter franchise (on which she wore both Audio and Voice director hats), plus well known cult classics Populous the Beginning and Theme Park World.

    Recent titles Adele has worked on include Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (UK and Athens Voice Direction), The Room Old Sins (Sound Design), Pinky Malinky (Music Editing and co-ordination), Astrologaster (Voice Direction) and Elements – a James Bond cinematic installation in the alps.(Sound Design and Music Editing), Planet Zoo (Casting, Direction, Post Pro).

    Lori Alan

    American actor, writer, producer and coach

    Lori Alan is an American actor, writer, producer and coach.

    She stars on the Emmy Award winning, SpongeBob: Squarepants as Pearl Krabs, Diane Simmons on Family Guy, Sue Richards, The Invisible Woman, on Marvel Comics’ The Fantastic Four, and The Boss in the Metal Gear Solid video game trilogy.

    She’s proud to be a part of the Academy Award Winning Pixar Family. Voicing characters in Wall-e, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Monster’s University, as Mother’s Sadness in Inside Out, and Bonnie’s Mom in Pixar’s extraordinary, global franchise, Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4. Other credits include Minnions, Friends, Dispicable Me 3, Greys Anatomy and Law and Order LA.

    Elley-Ray

    Voiceover artist, actor, voice director and writer

    Elley-Ray has traversed the stages, film sets, television and radio studios for over 40 years delighting audiences world-wide.

    Her compassion to share it is unparalleled.

    She’s is a Toronto-based voiceover artist, actor, voice director and writer. She has been working in the voiceover industry for over 37 years. She has worked extensively in animations, commercials, corporate, video games, promos, audiobooks and pretty much every area of our industry. Her credits include My Little Pony, Care Bears, Babar the movie, Z Baw (feature film), Cat in the Hat, My Big My Friend, Busy Town, Hotel Transylvania: The Series and many more.

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