Voice Talent

“I would never join a pay-to-play.” We hear it every day. Some voice actors have a negative opinion about pay-to-play voice over casting sites. While there are a few sites that deserve to be looked down on, the negative view of P2P sites in general, is largely based on misconceptions. And there is a particular set of voice actors who like to position themselves as too cool to join a P2P VO site. Face it, bashing P2P is popular. Everyone loves to jump on Facebook and post the latest P2P outrage. While there are actual issues on some sites, that does not hold true for all pay-to-play sites. And the idea that the only way to properly market your voice over business is by contacting clients directly simply isn’t true.

The demand for a neutral international sound has popularized a voice over accent that is not quite American, British or European. Transatlantic voice overs, also known as Mid-Atlantic English, International English or Neutral English, are in demand and voice actors who have mastered the accent are being cast with increasing frequency. Voice buyers and voice actors are sometimes unsure of what exactly Neutral English is. To get a better idea we went to the experts. We talked to Juliette Gray and J. Michael Collins, two of the top professional voice actors who book Transatlantic voice over work, about what the accent is, how it’s being used and what exactly it sounds like.