​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.