Working as a nature documentary narrator
This is living the dream as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve voiced narration on many other topics over the past 20 years or so but getting to record a nature documentary was always at the top of the list.
I messed up an opportunity years ago. I was running an acting class for adults in the evening in Angel Islington and someone in the class (who just happened to be a doc producer) approached me at the end and said that they thought I’d be great for a NatGeo project they were working on. They gave me their business card and I…..failed to follow up. What an idiot!
By the time I remembered I didn’t have the card and had no idea who they were.
In our house we’ve watched pretty much every Attenborough documentary there is – even going back to the original ‘Life on Earth’ recently. Perfection. I hope they’ve sampled him recording every word in the dictionary so that one day a clever AI can continue to use his voice for yet to be filmed documentaries!
For me, the opposite experience of Attenborough who helps the story along with his own genuine passion and interest, is that ‘sound of an actor’ (acting) recording a documentary narration. That’s a massive generalisation and I don’t mean it to be but instead refer to certain pieces where I’ve either had to stop watching or turn the sound off as we have what is tantamount to an actor giving an audition speech about a giant tortoise! All overly dramatic and showing off their vocal gymnastics of well-drilled articulation and booming theatricality.
I had this in mind when I finally got to record some nature documentaries in recent years. Judge for yourself as to whether or not you think I nailed it.
One of the best things about working in voiceovers and narration is the variation. One day it’s a massively technical programme for a software company and then another it’s helping the story move along by lending your voice talking about these wonderful creatures.
Your Nature Documentary Narrator
Of course, I’m always happy to discuss the possibility of more work as a nature documentary narrator. If you are interested, check out my other work as a narrator.
A cat-mad household
I grew up in a cat-mad house, we never had less than 10, and these days we have our very own house-tiger Basil!
If you are working on a project as and think I might be a fit then please drop me a line.