Emma Hignett

Female British Voice Over

Durham in the snow …

I have a sideline, OK I admit it.  I do public relations for three small North East England clients … one of which is Durham Christmas Festival.  Working on the public relations for a Christmas Festival is rather quiet for most of the year … and then it’s crazy!

That’ll be this weekend.

I’m about to spend 3 days running round Durham city centre, camera and large bags over my shoulder, trying to get decent photos in the half light (not my strong point).  If you’ve ever visited Durham (if not, then do, it’s beautiful) then you’ll know that there are hills and cobbles!  Add to that snow and ice and I’ll be lucky to get through the three days with all limbs intact and my bum free of bruises!

But I love it – I always find time to spend (well there are 300 market stalls in the city for three days, who wouldn’t) and this year I’m doing something I’ve never done before at the Festival.  I’m singing – busking with my choir.

It only remains for me to add, if you like shopping and you’re near enough to get here, then I’d recommend Durham Christmas Festival … use the park and ride, shop, enjoy, and get in a festive mood.  If you’re not near enough to visit, and you want to speak to me about anything voiceover related … do you think you could wait until Monday?

Thanks 🙂

What’s this week’s priority?

OK I admit it – my office is in need of a little organisation.  They say that an untidy desk/ office is the sign of a creative mind.  I say ‘thank God’ they say that.

Today (yes I regularly say I’ll do it today) I must file, tidy, rearrange and unarrange the last rearrange which left the chest of drawers infront of the door!?

The problem is I will always prioritise work over tidying, I will always record before filing, write and edit before putting away.  I like things near to hand, I do always know where I’ve put something (well almost always) and to be honest, the office is in the furthest corner of the house and the cleaning normally starts at the other end and rarely gets this far.

Someone please give me good advice on how to keep this workspace smart and slick – or find me a great cleaner 😉

My headline was ‘what’s this week’s priority’.  My wonderful husband gets back from working away on Wednesday or Thursday – can I sort the office before then?  Or is something far more exciting going to take precedence?

…

 

Probably 🙂

Summer in the country …

Summer’s coming to an end, if it ever really started in our part of the world, and I can’t work out if I’m gutted I didn’t get a tan (again) or looking forward to the fires being lit in the evenings and a cosy retreat as the temperatures drop.

Last year I ended up with a series of very long studio sessions in the summer.  My studio is in the attic of the house, the warmest bit of the house at this time of the year, and 6 hours in a sealed box was slightly concerning.  I concocted my own air conditioning, a champagne bucket of ice in the corner.  Dare I say, it did a remarkable job.

This year, unfortunately I’ve not had the need for the air conditioning… as the higher temperatures and the longer sessions never collided.

YET!

Roll on September and an Indian Summer….

Warming up …

Motherhood kind of put paid to much of my evening activity a few years back.  Like so many others, I’m good at ferrying now.

But at the beginning of 2017 a new community choir started up locally, and I decided that instead of me waiting while the 8 year old does his activities, for once he could wait while I do mine (thank God for ipads).

Why do I mention this?  Well I’d done some singing training in my teens, and again in my 30s, but what this has given me is excellent techniques for warming up my voice.  I wouldn’t want you to hear the warm up, but am quite happy for you to hear the speaking after the warm up.  And you can hear the choir performing for the first time on Sunday 8th July.

Another thing, the singing warm up certainly is kinder to my vocal chords than the alternative which is shouting at the dog when he’s disappeared on his daily bunny chase …

My son’s help!

I had an interesting request recently … a voiceover to run over a track at 103 beats per minute.

I had this information before I had the script, so was expecting it to read like a poem or song.  It didn’t.  It was a regular script, to run over a 103 bpm track.

Two months ago I would not have had the foggiest idea where to start with that one.  However, thankfully, my son had just done his first rock guitar exam, and prior to the exam we’d spent several weeks practising to a metronome (thankfully smartphones can supply such things).

So – off I went into the studio with my phone headphones supplying the metronome beat and my studio headphones supplying my voice audio back to me.

The client was thrilled … first take!

I felt quite chuffed with that one …

(and if you’re interested, my  8 year old got was one mark short of a distinction in his debut rock guitar exam)