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Decoding Accents – It’s an important skill for voiceovaer artists

July 1, 2015 by Lorraine Ansell

Accentuating the positive (or if you prefer – You thief of love! Arthur the rat. Totally awesome!)

In June, a brave group of pioneering folk set forth into unknown territory armed with only a mirror and their vocal cords. The arena was a three day accent workshop with the AHHH-MAZING (zone 4 – but more of that later) Yvonne Morley – vocal coach to the stars of theatre, stage and film as well as former Head of Voice at LAMDA. As we turned up that Thursday morning jabbering away with each other (well we are voice over artists), we were excited at the prospect of decoding accents. Many of us do it so naturally and if like me you can speak a few languages then the prospect of figuring out how that happens was intriguing. We were soon putting our mouths, mirrors and brains to good use. This wasn’t just voice theory, this was a vocal onslaught of mind expanding proportions.

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The first day focused on the theory of voice, accents, how and the where’s of it all. We started by reading a short story that would become ingrained onto our psyches – Arthur the rat. While his story was rather sad, it offered every single vowel/consonant grouping to analyse any accent. Yvonne took us up and out of ourselves with this active workshop which saw us punch, press and wring among other Laban actions. A real eye opener for anyone interested in deciphering the magical code of accents – a physicality as well as a vocal skill! My favourite was pressing, kneading out dough, to impress the importance, focus, direction and power of the voice. All very important for day 3 as it turns out! We focused on cross sectional diagrams of the head and learning that how we say things is literally in a “nutshell”. Now I know my velum and epiglottis from my uvula and alveolar ridge!

An accent is a whole structure, comprised of so many elements that Yvonne really took us on a journey. Yes the accent and how to develop it is important but so too are the settings (where your cheeks, jaw, tongue are placed), location (is the geography cold/hot/noisy), history, journey the accent took. What fascinated me most is how accents move, get on ship, sail into the unknown, land and then again transform. Or stay and maybe because of a royal speech impediment changes a whole nation’s accent because it was fashionable to follow the Kings Speech! “Submit to the geography” is a phrase that Yvonne used a lot and with that in mind we really did take off into different vocal worlds.

The-Voiceover-Network-Accent-Workshop
The-VoiceOver-Network-Accent-Workshop4

With a list of vowels, consonants and the all-important ZONES we were coming close to working out how an accent is structured. If like many of us VOs in the UK you work in RP you will find your tongue, not firmly in cheek but rather in Zone 2 – or the alveolar range. Combine all this together and we found that, just as you bake a cake with different ingredients and measures you can even get quite a few versions of our beloved RP. I loved being a Wartime Wendy in day 2, clipping away at the RP with an abrupt infinite manner. With elegance and flourish we waltzed through RP texts, dabbing at words hither and tither. The work comes from the tongue and as Yvonne says “no perspiration in restoration” because the words are power, every one laden with meaning. Throwing out insults at each other from A Midsummers Night’s Dream just showed us exactly how much energy we can use without raising even an eyebrow let alone the volume of our voice.

Boarding the merry ship with my fellow ship mates on day 3 we sailed across the pond we landed on the shores of the Standard American accent. WHAT A REVELATION! A rhotic language where the expressiveness focuses on the vowels. Whereas we were oh so polite and dutiful on day 2, we summoned up the energy to live and breathe this TOTALLY AWESOME accent – firmly in Zone 4. Pressing, forceful, directional, absolutely no intention of repeating ourselves we totally immersed ourselves into the American Dream – WE CAN SO TOTALLY DO IT. To realise where that energy comes from immediately turned us from quiet church mice into loud, excitable puppies. “YES WE CAN!” became our motto and even at lunch we were the loudest bunch by far, smashing the silence around us. The best moment was when Yvonne described us as being like a group of American tourists getting off the tube! Praise indeed!

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Yvonne succeeded in opening my eyes and vocal cords, muscles and tongue with a set of exercises to unlock the mysteries of accents. With her help, it’s like finding the settings to un-code the enigma machine. An amazing approach to accent development, one which, with a little bit of patience, plenty of practice and full mental submersion of the culture, history and attitude will get you to where you want to be!

Voice artist Mary Cha found it just as useful – ‘Yvonne really taught us “how to fish”. She showed us the methods and tools to RP and American accent. We just need practise to perfect it. The workshop was really fun, informative and lots of interactions.’

RP voice over artist Emma Wheeler loved it – ‘Brilliant accent workshop with top vocal coach Yvonne Morley. Three days of perfecting and fine tuning our standard RP accents. Yvonne is a true vocal Pro who discussed the many articulators and their uses, whilst we also learned about vocal health. A vital workshop for any Voice Over Artist.’

Narration voiceover Ana Clements found her Eureka moment – ‘I thought accents were about the voice but they are about the attitude and body language that you bring to the character. I am watching people and listening so differently – and seeing so much more.’

Get on the accent ship and set sail for new vocal territories, you might be surprised what you find when you get there!

Blog By Lorraine Ansell – lorrainevoiceart.com

Lorraine Ansell is a bilingual voice over artist showcasing British RP and Spanish (Latin American) voices in warm, natural and commercial tones.
With over 15 years’ experience especially in corporate narration Lorraine has worked with clients spanning many industries from fashion/beauty to human rights. She focuses on bringing scripts to life to engage the target audience, delivering a professional sound.

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Laura

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.

Emma

Emma has experience working in the UK and US, with a background in the media industry, having worked for broadcasters such as BBC and ITV.
She is an aspiring voiceover artist and PhD student, currently writing her first novel

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In her spare time she is mum to one son and plays for a ladies football team!

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Hannah is an experienced, highly organised Business Manager and the owner of Hi!Virtual, specialising in supporting business owners with establishing strong foundations on which to build their business. She’s also a part-time musician in the British Army!

Alan Shires

Business Development Manager, Voiceover Artist

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.

Heather Scott

Finance Officer

With over 25 years in accounting Heather has worked as a self-employed contractor in a number of industries including music, publishing, golf, education and baby clothing. She brings her wealth of experience to our team co-ordinating the accounts and admin.

Sara Cristy

Technical Support / Web Development. Actress and Software Engineer

Sara is an Actress for Film, TV, Voiceover and Mocap, and also a Software Engineer with years of experience in both backend and frontend development.

With a background in Software Engineering, at the age of 24, she fully decided to fight her way through the arts as it has been her greatest passion ever since she was a teenager. She moved to London soon after her graduation, studied Strasberg’s Method and began her professional Acting career at the end of 2016, whilst keeping her Software Engineering career too.

Rachael Naylor

Founder and Owner

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.

In her spare time, Rachael loves sport, is a keen snowboarder and scuba diver and likes to run to keep fit.

Leisa Reid Fisicaro

Business Operations Manager, Voiceover Artist

A seasoned broadcast writer, producer and director, Leisa has spent more than seventeen years involved in creating and producing high quality Television and Media programmes for top American broadcasters; PBS, NBC and Discovery Channel. Award-Winning Producer with a FREDDIE, an International Health and Medical Media Award plus several nominations throughout her career.

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.

As a stage performer, Leisa studied Dance for over twenty years and has travelled throughout America competing and performing professionally.

Lorraine Hodgson

Social Media Manager, Voiceover Artist

Lorraine is a UK based Actor and Voiceover Artist. Her passion for Acting started at an early age when she loved to watch classic black and white movies. She studied at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

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.

Bernard John Dollison

Graphics and Layout Designer

Bernard is a creative designer who is self-motivated with a strong background in both print to digital media and with over 10 years of experience in the graphic design industry.

Bernard has worked extensively in design agency, print and graphics producing high end business to business and consumer facing designs. Detail oriented and has a comprehensive understanding of Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Adobe Muse, Sketchup and Cinema4d.

Rubie Grace Malata

Virtual Admin Assistant

Rubie has a background in store management with over 5 years managing multiple teams. She is proficient in office administrator duties and provides key support to the team.

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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