Being the voice of the main character in a popular game; recording in the most bizarre places; providing live commentary at an international trade fair: Voicebooking’s voice overs go through a lot. In The client is always right – stories from our voice-overs you get a glimpse into the life of a voice over (and maybe even your own). This time with our American voice over Matt. Are you reading along?
Introduce yourself quickly; who are you and what do you do?
Hi I’m Matt and I am an award winning voice actor and love to bring a lifetime of performance skills to each project. Ik ben meestal beschikbaar voor TV/Radio commercials, promo’s, radio-imaging, narratie, corporate, industrials, medisch, e-learning/training, web explainers, On-hold/IVR en jingles – ja, deze VO guy zingt zelfs!
Een greep uit mijn klanten waar ik voor heb mogen werken: BestBuy, Dockers, Go Daddy, Honda, Hunter Douglas, IBM, Logitech, Marriott, McDonalds, Mercedes-Benz, Nintendo, Nissan, Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Time Warner Cable Business Class, Trivago, Verizon en nog veel meer!
How did you become a voice over actor?
I followed a life-long passion of mine and finally took the plunge in 2005 when I had a VO critique from a professional voice actor, who said to me after the session, “I think you have a shot at this” and the rest as they say….is history.
What do you love about your job?
On a daily basis, from the comfort of my professional home studio, I get to play all sorts of different characters, learning so much about ‘everything & anything’, working with people from around the globe. The moments when the client comes back and says, “Matt, you made our video shine, it was an absolute success and we will be returning to you for our next project”, is so rewarding.
If you weren’t a voice actor, what would you like to do instead? And why?
Well, I wore many hats leading up to that day in 2005 when I officially decided I would pursue voice acting, but if I had to choose today, in 2022, I would say green, sustainable home design/construction. It’s a passion of mine.
Why did you choose to be a part of Voicebooking? And what do you like about Voicebooking?
Well, I was referred to Jente from another client when VB was just a startup and I thought, why not give them a try and see where it goes.
Well, 10 yrs later, it speaks for itself. I like the simplicity in the format VB offers when receiving a project from a client, the rates are transparent to all parties and the work is varied.
What project did you like the most/are you most proud of, and why?
Oh boy! That’s a tough one. I’ve voiced close to a thousand projects for VB. The one I’m most proud of would be a project I did for Philips, which won me the award for Best Overall Medical Narration Performance in 2021. I love the challenge of medical terminology.
What was the most crazy voice over job you have had? Which job was the most fun to do?
The most crazy/awkward would have to be when I was asked to play a sci-fi hacker/ character and it was this ugly looking creature. The Director wanted me to sound as if I was extremely sleepy and out of it, like waking up from a bad hangover, soft spoken, kinda slurring my words.
It was a challenge and got me to truly embody that feeling and in the end it worked out really well with the video. When you get to play someone other than yourself and when comedy/improv and true acting is involved, well, that’s ALWAYS fun!
Every craftsman/woman has their own special set of talents. What makes you the voice actor that you are?
There are a lot of facets that come together when you are a voice actor. For me, performing, being a singer, improvisation, on-camera actor and continuously training and honing my craft makes me successful at what I do. I also love languages which comes in handy when pronouncing international words.
And lastly, in my humble opinion, clients really love my voice, so that’s a bonus. ;).
What advice would you give your younger voice actor-self?
Train with as many voice coaches as you can, right out the gate. Take acting/improv classes, have the courage to take risks, stand out and when performing, be your authentic self and BE IN THE MOMENT.
