Jason K Myatt

So here’s the thing, recently I was sharing some thoughts and knowledge with some young actors. During this session, I was discussing voiceover styles and I had one of those eureka moments.

For twenty something years, “radio” taught me to do voiceovers a certain way…a very announcer style.  A style that I’m good at … but it’s not my favourite style, it’s not the style that challenges me the most.  This is where those young actors have it over me…. well maybe not.

Over the last couple of years, until she retired, I worked with Dr Kate Foy for a few months every year.  Dr Foy, then lecturer in Voice & Movement, would teach some mad voice-acting skills to the student actors while I would push buttons and share the occasional thought.  During these sessions I learnt a huge amount , some things I already knew, some things I knew from a different angle, and some stuff was all new to me.  One of the things we encouraged the students to learn was to be able to sound natural.  Actors have the ability to sound natural no matter the role they’re playing.  Quite simply an area, due to my radio training, I found difficult.  I remember a session many years ago now, where the director spent quite a lot of time trying to coax a real person/natural sound out of me – with little success.  Today due to the training with Dr Foy, I can say that I’m a lot more comfortable with this style.

Back to my epiphany – this natural sound, is now my favourite style.  I still find it the most challenging, but it is certainly the most rewarding, when I get it right.  Let me know  your thoughts, I think I kinda got it right

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