My voice is British/Scottish with a distinctive Edinburgh accent. It is naturally warm, clear, professional, and trustworthy. To expand on that I asked my contacts to describe my voice more fully, and the replies I received - and please forgive the word dump but I’m quoting - described it as beguiling, bewitching, devilish, eerie, enchanting, fiendish, flirtatious, frolicsome, haunting, hypnotic, impish, luscious, melodious, mischievous, otherworldly, raspy, refined, rich, sentimental, sly, velvety, wicked, wistful, and wry!
So in the more factual areas of commercial and narrative work, where clarity, warmth, and trustworthiness are principally needed, I can deliver that very effectively. In more imaginative areas, such as castle and stately home tours, or nature or space exploration documentaries, where a more emotional response is wanted from the listener, and a sense of wonder or mystery, I would be an ideal choice also.
Training
In 2021-22 I attended a VO course at The Showreel, London. I also attended Showreel workshops on narrative and character voice work, a special workshop dealing with the technical aspects of setting up a home studio, and one on running a VO business. When they thought I was ready Showreel recorded a demo of me in London.
But I consider my VO training goes back much further than that. For 35 years I worked as a court lawyer, and was also (and am) a very busy amateur actor. This required me to learn about voice production, and the techniques of drawing people in and persuading them to believe in what I was saying.
Experience
In May 2022 I recorded a series of podcasts for Napier University, Edinburgh called “Platform to Platform”. In these I was the voice of the BBC radio news broadcasts during the war, reading from actual scripts, and also the voice of various newspapers reading out many different news items.
Specials
My legal training makes me an excellent choice for legal narratives, since I understand the concepts and terminology.