Susan Sheridan- A case study

Famed for her roles in popular children’s show Noddy’s Toyland Adventures (1992) , as Trillian in radio 4’s original series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy (1978), and Eilonwy in Disney’s The Black Cauldron (1985) Susan Sheridan has been working as a voice actor for over half of her life, in amongst taking on roles in theatre and TV, and coaching voice development.

She studied at the Guildhall school of music and drama, although her passion for performing began at a much earlier age, when she attended the Brigidine Convent in Windsor, a school which encouraged drama and dance, and put on annual shows at La Scala. Her first credited voice over role seems to have been as Trillian in 1978, although there were other commercial voice over roles from 1965.

In 1984 she was nominated for an Emmy award for her contribution to an episode of TV series Fame in writing and composing the music, and although she is credited as the voice for many popular and cult figures in radio and animation, she has not yet received any other awards.

I find her admirable because she has a very distinctive voice naturally, and although she has a home coutnies crispness to her voice, manages with ease to sound inviting and friendly. Some may think she does not have such a range of character as some other voice actors (in this instance they would be incorrect; she voiced eleven regular characters in Noddy’s Toyland Adventures, plus several additional voices), but even so, she has a strong and memorable voice which she knows how to use. She has portrayed characters of all ages and both genders, and although she may not be critically lauded, she has made a long and successful career from her voice. If there is one person i can currently look to as inspiration, it's her.

"Me and Mine" extract reading

As promised, here's the extract reading/trailer for Sarah Goodwin's "Me and Mine", voiced and animated by yours truly, with music from Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com

"Me and Mine" is available as an ebook from amazon.com, and amazon.co.uk, and as a paperback from lulu.com.

blog 4!

Just a brief update, with more vocal exercises to follow. Huzzah!

New year, new blog!

After a bloomin' long time, I finally got around to making another blog.

One brief note, I think I gave the wrong address for What Have You. Just in case you want a link, it's right here! 

So, all I can say now is Happy New Year, and be sure to spread the word of an amateur voice actress looking for work.
Talk to you soon!

No one likes a sore throat

Well. There has been progress, and there has been hindrance. In the 'progress' column, I have phoned Piehole and taken their voice evaluation test, so I should be hearing back from them within a few days. I have also drafted up my official proposal for this project, and it shoudl be posted here once it's been approved on Thursday. However, in the 'hindrance' column, I have suddenly come down with a rather nasty cold, which has of course chosen to manifest in the form of a sore throat. I'm doing all I can to rid myself of it, though, because I'd like to start using video logs soon, and practicing my own vocal analysis.

I've also recieved a list of the required inclusions for my production logbook (read: this blog), and so I will include them here. Aims are:

• Include records of rehearsals and rehearsal activities.
• Set out the AIMS of your rehearsal process and HOW your methods of rehearsal will enable you to investigate your question.
• Convey evidence of your broader research in relation to how this directly informs and impacts upon your practical-based studio-work. Documentation of your wider reading and related research and bibliography. All wider material read needs to be referenced, and the type of material stated (i.e. play, article, book, essay, film, etc)
• The evidence of critically reflective thinking in relation to the creative processes you have undertaken in your practice-based research. 

I think I've established a lot of these in former posts, so it should be a question of continuing to update. I think that's all the news for this week, and I would like to encourage anyone and everyone reading this blog to pass it around. I'm looking for amateur projects to take on, and for credits to add to my resmue. If anyone has a friend looking for a voice actor who will work for nothng but the credit, please send them here!

Investing in Awesome

So, I've wanted to be a voice over artist for years. This project is really just the incentive, the push to actually commit to the idea, but I've wanted to do it since I was old enough to realise that it was a job. And now, here I am looking into the field, and it's more than a little scary. It's scary because I'm committing to the realisation of a dream, it's scary because I'm very close to putting myself in a position where I may be told I'm not good enough, and not least of all, it's scary sheerly because of the amount of time and money you have to invest.

It's understandable, primarily. If you want to make good recording, you need good equipment. That's one cost there. Then you can look at online directories like voices.com or piehole.co.uk which, while they seem really helpful and friendly, and are a perfect way into the industry for new voices like myself, don't really come cheap. Free or cheap memberships usually only provide you with the most basic of listings, with very little help or support. Again, it makes sense; a paying customer is more valued to any business, and these directories are, first and foremost, businesses.

The fact that all the expense is completely justifiable almost makes it worse, because it's as if you are saying to yourself "if you truly believe you're good enough at this, you can and will commit. If you believe this could be a profession, paying £64 for an indepth analysis of your voice is a small downpayment to help you along your path". Scary, huh?

Yes, piehole.co.uk is my site of the week for helpful yet scary revelations; they allow you to download or recieve a free copy of their book of tips and advice on technique and ettiquette. This has been amazingly useful, and I'm going to follow up with an adaptation of their plan to help my own developement. Howeer, they also offer, for the price of £64, an in-depth, over the phone analysis of your voice, including advice on where your strengths and weaknesses are, what you should improve and what your next steps should be. A service like this is amazingly tempting, and looking at the site's credentials, I have to say that I would have my utmost trust in them, but the question of price is something that I'm going to have to think about. I'll keep you posted on that one.

In other news, this week I was further inspired by Mr Rob Paulsen, and his amazing podcasts in which he discusses the nature of being a voice actor, along with anecdotes and information on how the job works. The only drawback is that he is of course referring to American voice over, which is mostly geared towards animation for companies such as Warner Brothers, Disney and so on. If I could find a British equivalent, it would be much more helpful, as I knowBbritish voice over to be geared more towards adverts, radio, and only the occasional narration or animation spot.

But, for now, my research continues, as do my dreams.

A look at resources and links

I've been looking around the net for my initial research into the resources available, the requirments and expectations of a voice actor, and the general protocol of the industry. So far, I've found several handy dandy websites. First, we have The Voice Actor's Notebook, a wonderfully straightforward site that has plenty of information, tips and tricks, not to mention lists of suggested reading and suggested equipment, and on top of that, suggested seminars and free scripts to practice and audition with.

Next is voices.com/, a directory of amateur voice actors and people looking for voice actors, which also has an online community in which users can ask and answer each other's questions.
 Along these lines are "voiceoverclub.com", "voiceactingmastery.com" and "acting.lifetips.com", which are all websites dedicated to tutorials and community building with the hopes of helping amateurs along.

Finally, and this is something more personal, we have Rob Paulsen's website, which he is currently using to promote a string of tours and seminars across America to raise money for charity. Mr Paulsen was pretty much the voice of my childhood, giving life to either a major or supporting character in pretty much every cartoon I watched as a child, so having his weekly podcasts where he discusses the world of professional voice acting with other actors is really helpful and inspiring.