I popped into Mutiny Recording Studios in Dublin today to do a spot of recording as a brand new Brand Voice for a great brand. I can't say the name of the brand just yet, but when I can reveal the deets, best believe you will hear it here first.
This was a pretty intensive audition process and it was very nice to land the role at the end of it.

Keep the ears on the radio and telly and the eyes firmly glued to my website and social media announcements, if you're *that* invested, that is.

I certainly am! I'm delirah and exirah, truth be told.

More soon....

​
After a lovely - and distinctly sweaty - break away in Portugal over the last week, I stepped swiftly back into the studio at bitsixteen with Paul Fegan for a spot of character recording for Health Service Executive.

Feeling refreshed and rested as I head into the next few weeks at the mic before I and my family go on another adventure (with baby no.2!).

You never know what you'll be voicing on any given day as a voice actor, and that's why the humble art of e-learning voice-over work is often, surprisingly, a joy to me.

I work with a number of e-learning companies, one of them is LRN, through whom I have learned all about how to perform, ahem, I mean prevent, money laundering and other financial crimes, as well as how to steal and/or protect sensitive information from getting out into the big bad world of the internet, all through Austen English!

Most recently, I got to travel to Scotland, The Phillippines, the US, and Mexico via Diageo, all without ever having to book a ticket or disrobe from my studio earphones.

Whatever will voice-over bring me next...? I'm on the edge of my seat here waiting to find out.

The journalist Cathy Li interviewed me for ASIA IP, a magazine that focuses on legal issues for the industry in Asia.

Using my story as a highlight for the intersecting issues of AI expansion and artistic copyright, the article delves into great detail about this murky, many-stranded situation.

Interviewing me alongside leaders in law, IP, and tech, and referencing the union action taking place in the USA, Li aims to highlight the difficult legal balance that is being struck between what many hail as 'technological progress' and those on the other side of the coin, calling for greater protections of human-made creations, and human rights to fair compensation, work, and freedom of thought.

The power imbalance at the heart of the whole issue is one she returns to, and its clear (to me, at least) that this is the true crux of the issue. The David vs Goliath battle rages on!

For more about David, Goliath, myself, Scarlett, Sam, Fran, Bill et al, read the article in full here.

It was a very nice thing to be setting foot back in the Beacon Studios once more after a protracted hiatus, and under the stewardship of Noel Storey, chief man at the studios, as we recorded some new radio for Barden, the expert Irish recruitment company.

Much in the world has changed since last I walked through the doors of the Beacon, but thankfully, it hasn't, and yet it still looks as fresh and clean as it ever did, much like Noel, who hasn't aged a day.

We were joined by the lovely Siobhan Gavigan of The Radio Room and Jennifer Brennan of Thrive Marketing, and, as always, it was good to be in the company of clients in a live recording session. Collaboration at its finest, not an endless wheel or frozen screen in sight! 

​It's funny that whenever it's a particularly hot and sweaty day in my unconditioned home studio I invariably end up with liners to record for HOT102.7FM, thus really getting into the spirit of the South African radio station.

This time I also got to learn a little more African geography - and geographic pronunciation - thanks to a partnership with Airlink. You learn something new everyday in the world of voice-over copy!

For award-winning imaging and banging old school tunes, move the dial to https://hot1027.co.za/ 💋

​Ever wonder how to keep an almost decade-long client relationship fresh? Here's how we did it...

Way back when in 2015 I started a collaboration with Danone Cow and Gate, showcasing a soft, warm, and loving sound for their 'Your Baby's Tummy' campaign, a gorgeously gooey series enhanced by the beautiful vocals of James Vincent McMorrow's 'Higher Love' cover.

Fast forward to 2024 and we're lifting the mood and energy with the vibrant 'Here Comes Happy' series, a totally new look and sound, but with the same 'ol voice actor, recorded at Mutiny by Mark Richards, with ZOO.

Just goes to show that you can indeed teach an old dog new tricks.

There is a new article about AI and creative exploitation that features my own Ariel vs Ursula story (as well as the Scarlett vs Sam news) written by James Muldoon, Associate Professor at the Essex Business School, whose book, 'Feeding the Machine: The Hidden Human Labour Powering AI', I was interviewed for during the course of its research. Muldoon writes:

​"OpenAI has since removed the voice, but the broader concern is that not all creatives have the fame and power of Johansson to defend their rights. In 2023, Irish voice actor Remie Michelle Clarke signed a contract with Microsoft to voice Bing, only later to discover a synthetic version of her voice marketed on another company’s AI voice website. What she didn’t realise at the time was that the contract allowed third parties to use her recordings in perpetuity. Her lawyers informed her that while the contract might be unethical, she had limited legal avenues to prevent the company from using a likeness of her voice.
What each of these incidents demonstrates is a potentially exploitative relationship between tech companies and creatives. Artists are justifiably concerned..."


You can read the rest of the article HERE.

The Book, "Feeding the Machine" can be pre-ordered here, or simply wait until its publication date, on the 18th of this month (July)!

There's so much that goes into one of the TV commercials or narrative films that I work on as a voice-over artist, and my job is usually one of the very last pieces of the puzzle.

First there's the client who wants the thing. Then there's the creative who they hire, who has all the fantastic ideas about the thing. Then you have a producer to put it all the balls rolling into action to get the thing done. Once the storyboard is created, you need to make the damn thing. You need a director who can see the vision of the thing through, and a DP to make sure everything looks peachy. Then you need help with all the other bits and bobs to make sure things run smoothly - assistants, runners, and the like. If you've talent, you need to go through the cast(h)ing process and then book them, going through agents to get everything settled and sorted for the right day and time. You'll need costumes, too, which means wardrobe, and a make-up artist... and the list goes on when it comes to location scouting, prop sourcing and accounts.

In short, there's a helluva a lot of things that go into a rather short 30 second TV ad. Now you know why it takes years to make a 2 hour film!

Here's a bit of background on one I made this year for the lovely folk at The Hype Factory.

And you can watch the finished thing riiiight here.

Hello!

And here is my fresh new 2024 Narration demo for your ears, thanks to the lovely lads at Mutiny.

Featuring the old, the very new, something that may be slightly borrowed, but nothing blue.

Listen to this reel, and more, here at my Irish agency page, Volcanic.