I’m writing this month’s Blog from sunny California – San Diego to be exact, where I’ve just run around six miles along Pacific Beach.

Why run, I hear you ask, when a car is much quicker?

Hmmm …good point and one I would have certainly raised myself a few years ago. But ever so slowly, I have actually become quite a keen runner and over the last few years have completed three triathlons, two half marathons and, just few weeks ago, the Men’s Health Survival of the Fittest challenge, in and around Battersea Power Station, London.

Anthony Richardson ...Born Survivor!

So why am I telling you all this? Well, strangely, as a by-product of all this fanatical fitness stuff my ability to read a passage of text without taking a breath has improved exponentially.

What does that mean then?

It means that a good proportion of a voice over’s life is usually spent editing-out breaths from their recordings. This is generally referred to as producing a “radio edit” as advertisers tend to try and cram as many words into a 30 second slot as possible – and there is just no time for breathing. Time is money!

So…  I used to spend ages deleting breaths from my recordings and shortening the gaps slightly, where the breaths used to be, to keep the flow sounding natural, but allowing many more words into an allotted timeslot. But now, being much fitter than I was a few years ago, I take far fewer breaths and so the recording and editing process is MUCH quicker and the flow of the text I am reading sounds much more natural.

Cool huh?

Happy client, happy voice over!

So, why not invest in yourself?  Put out that ciggy, get your trainers on and get a little out of breath.  It actually pays …ca$h!

(Oh, and you’ll probably feel better for it too – one thing I forgot to mention is that getting fit generally allows you to eat what you want, when you want.  Mmmm… doughnuts!).

Let me know what you think.

Well, what can I say about that?  What a fantastic product and I can’t wait to get my hands on one (hopefully I’ll be able to keep the kids from stealing it!).

When you get a script for such a fun project, it’s hard not to have fun with the voice over, so me and my friends from Lambda Films decided to go with the crazy “MadBid Man” voice stylee (did I say “stylee?” Apologies, I thought I was back in the 90’s for a minute).

Why not try a Popitball yourself?  They’re on sale at Harrods but you can also get one direct from the official Popitball website at: www.popitball.co.uk.

You might even have a go at beating Jeremy Lynch’s Popitball Guinness World Record …you never know!

See what you think…

Aaaaaw – one of my all time favourite jobs is voicing animations and now everyone can make their own with: www.Learn2Animate.com.

I recorded a few different versions of this script ranging from a straight read to a crazy ‘game show’ style. In the end the enthusiastic version won-out and it was definitely the right choice.

Why not have a go yourself – you could win your own version of Stop Motion Pro.

Anyway, see what you think and maybe I can add a voice to your finished results?  Hmmm? …maybe? …yes? …huh?

It’s not every day that you get asked to voice an animation (which is probably my absolute favourite bit of the voiceover business), and even less often when that voiceover is for an iPhone App!

But I was delighted when I was approached to be the voice of the all new app, ByPost. And quite a cool new app it is too.

ByPost allows you to take a picture, type in the receiver’s address and send a ‘real-life’ customised postcard anywhere in the world.

“Just snap, tap and send” as they say.

See what you think (it does what it says on the tin!)

Last week my agent in Los Angeles called….blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I know, sounds too good to be true – but it is!

Those lovely people at Zynga, who produce the popular online game Farmville, had selected me to be the voice of the commercial for their new game, Farmville English Countryside.

So I hooked up with the company who were producing the commercial, the FAILSAFE Creative Group, and next thing I knew I had a telephone appointment to discuss the details.

The only problem was that when it’s 4.00pm in LA, it’s midnight here in the UK. So recording after a hard day, er, recording takes some steely vocal cords.

Anyway, after experimenting with several different vocal styles, speeds and characters, we came up with the commercial below and everyone was happy (I think!).

Hope you like it – this is the full length version that you wont have seen on Facebook!

As always, working with the MadBid Team and Media Music Now is great fun and this time we thought we’d go for something a bit different.

Rather than go for the low-pitched “MadBid Man” voiceover we’ve used for the last few years, I was asked to use my own voice – scary!

Anyway, I gave it my best shot and you can see and hear the result below.

See what you think – should we bring the MadBid Man back?

Answer: They make a very interesting (but lumpy) cocktail?

No!

They’re all commercials voiced by me.

The Domestos commercial was great fun and the animator, Tristan Prior, was a real talent. The brief was to make the dialogue a spoof of all the famous movie battle speeches such as William Wallace from Braveheart and Aragon from Lord of the Rings.

See what you think.

The British Beef Jerky company produced quite an expensive night shoot (which you can see HERE), involving various cowboys, all trying to produce their own beef jerky around the camp fire. However, at the end, the smart cowboy just tears the top off his pack of ‘ready made’ and makes the others look daft. We tried several different accents for this one ranging from a posh Prince Charles to an American cowboy. In the end, the company settled for my best Geordie accent – as the product is made in Morpeth, Northumberland.

The Pepsi commercial was for ‘in store’ use and produced with the Black Eyed Peas. The most important thing with this one was just to speak as quickly as possible while still keeping the dialogue nice and clear. I also produced this VO with a ‘radio edit’ ie. I removed all the breaths and reduced the spaces slightly so it still sounded natural. This allowed the advertiser to get the maximum number of words into a tight time slot.

A starring role with the Black Eyed Peas?…Hmmmm…you judge!

Finally – have you ever heard of Gerbil Roulette? No, neither had I. This was a project for Mirada TV (the things I do for money!).

I have voiced some strange and fascinating projects over the years, from the voice of the talking signs for Police forces and hospitals throughout the UK to that of an animatronic wax work fisherman in the Swedish Naval Museum.

This latest project definitely falls into the latter category of ‘fascinating.’

I was initially approached by Kris Clarkin, a very talented young animator, to voice a short poem based on Terry Pratchett’s recent Dimbleby Lecture on the topic of assisted suicide/death.

The brief was for the narrator to sound like a (reasonably) elderly British gentlemen, who is eloquent but not too posh – I was asked to think Patrick Stewart reading Dr. Seuss in the style of a vaudevillian compere!  The style was to be for a fun animation but with a serious message.

I think we hit the spot – see what you think.

When I was asked to voice the audiobook version of The Violin’s Magical Melody back in March, I didn’t realise it would become such a worldwide phenomenon – well, for 4-8 year-old readers anyway.

I don’t always accept every audiobook that comes my way but when I first read the script for this one, I knew it was special. The author, Terica Lynn Swangin, is undoubtedly a real talent who instinctively ‘knows’ what kids like and how excite and delight them. The story surrounds a group of friends who, with the help of a talking blanket called Jorey, enter a magical world of imagination.

Scribbles & Friends CD Insert

Anyway, if you would like a copy of the book (hardback or paperback) it’s available from Amazon (including a Kindle version) and Barnes & Noble – and if you would like a FREE copy of the audiobook, it’s available from the TLS Kids Books website HERE and on Apple iTunes HERE – there have currently been over 21,000 downloads!

Scribbles & Friends is available worldwide:

ISBN-13# 978-1450577878 (Paperback)
ISBN-13# 9780982729441 (Hardcover)
ISBN-13# 9780982729427 (Kindle E-Book ASIN: B003ZHVE46)

And Scribbles & Friends Book 2: ‘The Dragon’s Fire’ is due in 2011.

Enjoy! 

It’s not every day you get the call to voice the international opening monologue to an award winning Hollywood movie, but when that call comes, you’d better be ready!

Ahem… OK… actually, it wasn’t a call, but an email from the producer, John Rushton, who wanted a British voice over for the introduction of the new sci-fi movie, Eyeborgs starring Adrian Paul (from Highlander) and produced by Crimson Wolf Productions.

Here it is – whether you like sci-fi or not, see what you think…

The brief called for  “… a BBC narrator, reporter-type of voice. Official, breaking news, inform-the-world kind of voice…” and after a reasonably quick audition and a couple of takes I think we managed to get the right tone and pace required.

A story synopsis, courtesy of The Internet Movie Database:

Following another major terrorist attack the US instigates an intense government surveillance program in which every camera in the country is linked into a single, all-seeing network called the ODIN system (for Optical Defense Intelligence Network). The system includes millions of mobile, robotic surveillance cameras known as “Eyeborgs,” which watch everyone for suspicious behaviour, all in the name of security, law enforcement and keeping America safe. An agent for the Department of Homeland Security grows suspicious of the system after a series of odd murders in which the physical evidence doesn’t match up to what the video records show. Now he must work outside the system to find out who is really controlling the Eyeborgs. With the help of a broadcast journalist and a purple haired Punk Rocker who turns out to be the President’s nephew, he must stop a plot to assassinate the President during the final debate of the election.

The Official Eyeborgs Movie Poster

We were fortunate enough to get some great reviews and win some awards – so I hope you enjoy the movie!