What are you the voice of?
This is a question I often get asked when people meet me for the first time. As soon as I mention I’m a voiceover artist they’ll say, ‘Where will I have heard you?’, and the answer is that they probably won’t have heard me!
A lot of the work I do is for relatively small audiences, or even restricted audiences. For example, I’m the voice of the online hospitality training that staff of Hilton Garden Inn in the UK have to go through – but unless you work for Hilton Garden Inn you won’t have heard it.
If you’ve ever visited JCB for their factory tour then you’ll have heard me, as I’m the voice of the health and safety video you have to watch before you go round, but it’s only shown at the factory, so if you haven’t been, then you won’t have heard it.
I’m not currently the voice of any large advertising campaigns, but I did do a TV advert for a Bulgari perfume a few years ago. Although it was shown in a number of countries, the UK wasn’t one of them, so unless you were travelling abroad at the time, you won’t have heard it! Over 3 million people did watch it on their YouTube channel though – so maybe you were one of them?!
If you’ve visited the Escher in het Paleis gallery in The Hague and you’ve taken the English audio tour you’ll have heard me. I recorded this a few years ago and actually I’ve recorded some updates to the highlights tour, and a brand new tour all about the building itself, this year. I’ve voiced a lot of other museum and gallery tours too, and guided walks around historic cities, but not many of them have been for places in this country.
You might have been on-hold with me as I have recorded the voicemail and on-hold messages for dozens of businesses around the country, including a few hotels, lots of accountants and solicitors, beauticians, hairdressers, garages, and a variety of other industries. I’ve actually voiced some messages for the company my husband works for. If he ever has to ring in sick, he has to speak to me which is quite amusing!
It’s possible you’ve been to a conference and had me telling you to take your seats – if you work for Booking dot com or Nestlé that is, or if you attended the TUC conference.
You might have heard my voice on a video on a company webpage or YouTube channel – I’ve recorded a lot of those, for example for Klix vending machines. And I’ve also narrated a lot of explainer videos that explain products and services, such as Ecoffeed (which creates animal feed from coffee waste). But if you’ve never visited these companies’ websites, or searched for them on YouTube, then you won’t have heard me….
I think you get the picture! My voice has been used by some big brands, but not necessarily to advertise their product, which means you may well not have heard me.
Thousands (well millions) of people HAVE heard me, and it’s perfectly possible that you’re one of them, it’s just difficult to say where you might have heard me, as my voice is in lots of places, with a relatively small reach.
If you think you’ve heard me somewhere let me know and I can tell you if you’re right!