Voiceover

Alison’s voiceover career began when she was “discovered” in her hometown newsroom. Here’s the story:

“Who just made that announcement over the PA system?”

Uh oh. The question revved my heart rate to at least 160 bpm. I had paged someone, an everyday occurrence where I worked in the TV newsroom, a loud and energetic environment rarely visited by the promotions director. Yet there he was, asking about my voice.

I admitted that I was the one who’d made the announcement, and the promotions director offered me my first paid voice over job. I became the “urgent” voice of the station’s instant information line and the “warm and conversational” voice of station IDs, topicals, and other promotions on an ad hoc basis. I also had a chance to write promotional scripts and direct the station’s regular voiceover talent, who connected with us via ISDN.

TV stations, like radio stations, often house full-service production departments that create commercials for local businesses. I voiced local spots at all the TV stations where I worked, advertising everything from jewelry and retirement homes to wigs and mastectomy bras.

When I left TV and moved to Atlanta, I took an introductory voiceover class at the Woodruff Arts Center. That led me to study with the wonderful voice actor and teacher Paul Armbruster. Back then, most voiceover work went to actors in Los Angeles and New York because auditions and paying gigs still happened in professional audio studios. 

Today, Atlanta is considered “Hollywood South,” boasting numerous resources and opportunities for voice actors as well as on-camera and behind-the-scenes talent. Technology makes it possible for me to record broadcast-quality audio from my home studio. I have recorded sessions from here with people nationwide and delivered audio files to locations as far away as India.