VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[imaginator]

okay, i'm going to admit my ignorance...but before i do it in front of a client i'll risk it here.

some of you may have gotten the audition request for a "Universal English" accent.

is that simply un-accented english (like american midwest), or does the client want a specific type of British voice?

as always, any enlightenment is appreciated.
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rowell gormon
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[Philip Banks]

As English originates from England in the UK then the root must be British English. There exists in the UK a way of speaking know as RP - Received Pronunciation, this would be the correct or accepted standard of non-accented English. Needless to say, it isn't. With the aforementioned in mind one can only ask the people requesting the voice for thier definition. The question should be phrased thus -

"What do you want, any idea?"

[louzucaro]

Well said, Philip.

If we were to assume that all writers / directors / producers / casting directors were perfectly articulate and accurate in specifying what they want, then the first line of Philip's post would be spot-on.

Since they're not, the last line of Philip's post is the best way to proceed.
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[RayAnime]

I agree with the guys above! My guess is that they're looking for a "Standard British English" dialect, which is along the lines of the RP mentioned above (someone speaking with an RP accent--or "the Queen's English" would most likely speak in a Standard British English dialect, but the technicalities of all that is another can of worms entirely), but it's probably better to ask. If you're worried about looking uninformed, just ask them if by Universal English, they mean Standard British English or un-accented American English.

[mcm]

No way to know whthout asking. I saw a request for Native American English recently. The request was from South America, and it was for someone who was an English-speaking native of the U.S. rather than anything to do with "First Peoples".

[James Lorenz]

As an aside, for those that might be interested, I've been doing a lot of research into accents lately and found a really great site that some (or most maybe) may already know about.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/

Very interesting case studies with real examples of the amazing array of accents in England and Ireland.

Click on Voices Recordings.
Great stuff.
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[davidmonteath]

Just a small point, avoid the 'Queens' English......she speaks dreadfully strangulated English.
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[ccpetersen]

I read somewhere that the accent the Queen uses is colloquially referred to as "Fraffly" as in "Weh fraffly gled yorkered calm."

(We're frightfully glad you could come.)

They could also be asking for a "mid-Atlantic" accent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_English
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[dhouston67]

I've said it before, but "British accent" is just as vague as "Texas accent". Valley (as in Rio Grande)? East Texas? West Texas? Plano housewife?

Characters, that is to say "people", are more believable than "accents".
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