When Documentary Producers need an authentic, charismatic, engaging and informative voice, it’s often the British Male Voice that they reach for. It also really helps if the Voice Artist is a good egg.
The British Male Voice has a strong legacy in documentary VoiceOver and its appeal is legendary. It conveys trust, intelligence and authority and as an experienced British Voice Artist, James makes a Production Team’s life easier in lots of ways.
James honed the skills of strong teamwork, effective communication and collaboration during A 30 year Military and Corporate Careers. He’s since successfully adapted these to help Creative Producers, Directors and wider Production Teams achieve their goal, whilst retaining his natural warmth and infectious enthusiasm.
A professionally trained Voice Actor with a wealth of experience, James study’s the cadence, tonality and pacing of the greats. The performance of his Narrative Style skill and technical ability is all there to deliver to brief, on time and on budget.
James has a tone that balances warmth and knowledge, with emotional intelligence. His approach has been likened to that of Professor Brian Cox, the popular TV presenter of science documentaries around the World. Take a listen here.
Watch this video that features his classic British RP voice, a popular approach for factual content.
It’s not just about having the performance and technical skills in place though. That’s all in the bag of course.
Film production can be stressful for Producers and Directors, so James focusses on being flexible and easy to work with and thats why they keep coming back.
James takes direction well, understands his role in the wider production effort and as goes the extra mile to help deliver the outcome.
He listens, responds well to feedback and offers multiple voice options.
Take a look at these Client Testimonials, which demonstrate why he is such a trusted and in demand UK Voice Artist.
James has been hired by clients in the past to record a straight delivery, before then being hired to include character voices, music composition and audio post production.
James delivers convincing accents in a natural style that work well in off-camera work.
Before becoming an established British Voice Artist, James composed music for visual media. He was master-minded by the Award Winning Mix Engineer: ‘Jason Moss’. This unique skill set alone sets James apart from other documentary voice over providers.
George and Dimitris from Gullwing needed a British Voice for their hugely successful production ‘Wings of the Great War’ for Comote TV. It’s a fascinating account of the role that pilots played in the Eastern Mediterranean, with incredible journalistic depth.
They had the footage and all the interviews with the modern descendants of key characters in place, so it was mostly a British Continuity Voice that they needed. However there were also lots of ‘voices from the past’ that needed depicting.
The initial plan was for these to be visual representations of written testimonies, but it didn’t feel right for George and Dimitris. When James noticed these sections of text, he offered to provide multiple voices for them.
He delivered character voices for German, Greek, French and British Pilots, spoken in both historic, ‘in the day’ and contemporary voicing.
The Team at Gullwing were impressed and opted to use this format instead. It added variation and texture and there was the added value in having one voice actor deliver multiple parts.
As a result of this forward leaning and helpful approach, James was re-hired for the follow up series: ’Wings of World War II’
James has a dedicated professional Voiceover Studio in Hampshire, UK, well run, well resourced and equipped with remote connection for directed sessions.
Familiar with creative project platforms like Slack and when working remotely its a good way of collaborating with production teams. If you need James to work with these, no problem.
The first step is to drop James a message and he’ll quickly get back to you. He’ll audition a script so you can test his voice with your project.
If you’re happy with the audition, it can be helpful to jump on a call at this stage.
Hello it’s James here, if we don’t cover it all in a call, I’ll send you a short questionnaire (super quick 5 questions) covering style, broadcast intent and usage. It helps to align budget expectations and generate a fair quote for services.
For the sake of brevity, I usually charge a Basic Studio Fee of £250 per hour, with usage added. I also follow the industry standard non-union rate guides:
GFTB Rate Guide (Non US based work)
GVAA Rate Guide (US based work)
Here’s a useful blog I wrote that offers more guidance on Voiceover Rates.
I provide a quote and if you’re happy we agree a working process and get a contract set up – then I get cracking with breathing life into everything and we both look forward to meeting at the Awards Ceremony – simple as that.
