Voice
over
My favorite accent is the Irish. Although, while in the Manchester airport waiting for an Amish family to check their bags, I did chat briefly with a Northern Ireland man from Belfast, and that is now my particularly favorite accent. I could have easily listened to him talk to me all day long about the “travesty that is the Manchester airport.” Give me his voice (I didn’t get his name) against a background of instrumental acoustic guitar, a hammock, a Benromach neat, and I’m all set to watch the world go by in peace and serenity.
We all have a fantasy second career that we would have likely pursued had we not already excelled in our chosen one. We can’t do everything in one lifetime. I believe in more than one great love and more than one great vocation. I would have made a great voiceover agent, like Susie in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but for voiceover actors, not standup comedians.
Even if you aren’t an auditory learner, we all have an ear for a certain type of voice that especially soothes, excites, or stresses us out. Thankfully, there are few voices that stress me out, and I have managed to successfully keep Lenonard Cohen off of my music streaming platform algorithm.
It is rare, but from time to time, I hear a particular person’s voice, and not only do I want to listen to it against the aforementioned instrumental acoustic guitar while simultaneously swinging in a hammock, I also want to sell it. Are agents still getting ten percent? Sounds good to me.
I know of a certain male Irish voice belonging to an Irish man who is owned and cared for by a particular Irish cat who goes by the name of Sydney who are both located in the County Sligo area who would make an excellent voice-over actor for children’s books. (The man, not the cat.) Are there any authors of children’s books out there who need an audiobook narrator?
When I wrote How to Practice and Teach Restorative Yoga, I chose to offer it as an audiobook and eBook rather than paperback. My voice is pleasant enough, but when it came to narration for the book, I hired it out. I’m sounding a bit Midwestern-twangy coupled with the hard Canadian “oh,” which is not a good combo for an audiobook targeted for the UK and the US. Juanelle Louise Holl’s voice grabbed me with its complex European lilt. I find her voice soothing and calming to my brain; perfect for my relaxation book.
And really, whether you want to hear a recording of a meditation, a bedtime story, or a relaxing song, it’s not so much what they are saying as how they are saying it. It’s the cadence of it, the tone and the rhythm.
Think about the specific voices that bring calm and serenity to you. For example, Morgan Freeman is known as the best “voice of God” in film. What about a voice from your childhood? It is probably a mixed bag answer as to whether you find one of your parent’s voices soothing or stressful. But what about a friend from childhood? I had never really thought about it until recently when I called my oldest and dearest childhood friend who I am thankfully still in touch with and whom I tend to call when I am having some sort of auto or mechanical stress-related incident. Just hearing him answer the phone with “Hello, Melanie,” brings me from DEFCON three all the way down to five on the stress level vertical scale.
What a gift to have a voice that soothes and calms. If you identify a soothing voice in your circle of friends or family, be sure to let them know how it makes you feel and then thank them for it. Pass it on, if you can. And then call me. Because I might have a gig for them…
Blessings & Love,
