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Spoken Word Voiceover Talent for Politicals – Meet Kabir Singh

July 19, 2020 by Blue Wave Voiceover

We’ve started a new series to introduce you to our talents by going even more in-depth than their profile listings. So, meet Kabir Singh, a Blue Wave Voiceover Talent!

Meet Kabir Singh – Voiceover, Poet, Philosopher

Tell us a little about your broadcast-quality home studio. Where is it? What kind of equipment do you have? What do you like about it?

My home studio is in Los, Angeles California. I use a VocalBooth that allows for -70db noise floor. I have a iMac, Logic Pro, Sennheiser 416 with Apollo Twin setup. I like having the ability to record and edit in the same booth. It makes it more efficient for the client and myself when turning deliverables around.

What’s one thing that most people don’t know about you?

I enjoy solitude in nature. It feeds my soul. It keeps me appreciative of this dream we live in.

How did you get into voiceover work?

I’m a poet at heart. Poetry was my only friend growing up. I used it to communicate and coupe. When I started voiceover, there was no money in poetry (YouTube was barely a thing). So, I researched ways I could make money using my words and my voice. From there, I took a Voice Over class and the journey began.

Do you remember what your first voiceover spot was?

I will never forget it. “Mac Keeper” 3rd party cleaning software for Apple computers. A $100 job that gave me the confidence to keep going. It changed my life.

Do you remember the first political voiceover spot that you did?

A local Democratic nominee needed a young, urban, poetic voice for his radio campaign. He was targeting teens and young adults in a low-income Detroit area. It was a powerful political spot.

What has been your favorite voiceover project to date – political or otherwise?

Nintendo Switch. I voiced all the spots for 2 years and it was the biggest project I ever landed. It showed me the values of residuals. It gave me insight into how large companies like Nintendo run their voice over sessions. It was a great learning experience for me.

Why do you think voiceover will be an important part of political advertising in the 2020 election?

Voiceover has always been a vital part in communicating messages of: despair, hope, love, community, and leadership. During 2020, it will be even more vital as we face challenges that are affecting humanity on a global scale. The leadership of our country needs a drastic change and communicating that change with our voice is our job.

What issues would you like to see at the center of the Democratic platform for this year’s election?

Healthcare and relief from Covid-19.

What is your biggest voiceover pet peeve?

Revisions due to script changes after approval and AFTER recording a long and tedious live voice over session.

If you could tell political voiceover clients one thing that would help you do your job better, or help them get what they want faster – what would that one thing be?

Please have your script ready in pdf/doc or a format that is clean. No markups. No video Notes. Just words. You can have this in addition to a version with markups and notes. But, a clean version for your political voiceover talent allows for a fluid read.

What advice do you have to aspiring voiceover talents that want to work in the political arena?

It is no less difficult and joyous as pursuing any other genre. Hold on and keep it pushing.

What hobbies do you have outside of your voiceover work?

Hiking and reading. I love to do both. I find peace in the depths of observation and internal discoveries.

If you’d like to book Kabir Singh on your next political voiceover project, please visit his profile here and get in touch!

How Will the Election be Affected by Coronavirus

March 13, 2020 by Blue Wave Voiceover

Political Messaging During a Pandemic

All across the country, large cities and small communities are taking the advice of government officials and the CDC to restrict large gatherings to try to stem the spread of the Coronavirus. As more and more towns follow suit, the question of how this will affect the 2020 election cycle — and workers, from public servants right on through the gig economy — is ever prevalent. Of course, we are in the early days of these bans, but we don’t know how drastic the effects will be in the long run for political campaigns or how the election will be affected by Coronavirus. If rallies, events, and canvassing are not possible, it is important to consider the problems that might arise and how we can tackle them head-on so information can reach voters.

No doubt campaigns for elections all over the country are putting their thinking caps on to figure out a way to get important messages about their candidates and causes out to those who need to hear them. With restrictions on movement and quarantining, many voters will be getting to know their candidates through political commercials and radio spots and robocalling. This means there will be a greater demand for voiceovers — and in particular, freelance home studio voiceover talent.

How the Election will be Affected by Coronavirus and Political Voice Talents with Home Studios

Voiceover artists live every day in a fast-paced and quick-turnaround industry: we might have to provide a demo for an audition, book a job, and be required to send in the final, edited recording all in the same day. Because of this, most voiceover talents have their own broadcast-quality home studios. With soundproof booths, high-end microphones, soundboards, and the best audio software to produce top-quality audio, they are streamlined, self-sufficient studios, able to get jobs done quickly and effectively. Better yet, they don’t need to come into contact with anyone outside of their own home, making the CDC-recommended precautions easy to fulfill.

This is all to say that the show must go on — indeed, will go on — and if spreading political messages has to go fully digital, the voiceover talents at Blue Wave Voiceover are ready. Each member of the collective at Blue Wave Voiceover is able to produce high-quality voiceover recordings for political commercials with a fast turnaround time, because everyone in the Collective has a professional home studio, is flexible and understands the needs of ad agencies and producers and their tight deadlines.

How Voiceover Can Help with COVID-19 Preparation

As companies from every industry are trying to advise employees and consumers on new safety regulations and new policies of operation, they will need to send out videos, phone messages, commercials and all kinds of messaging that feature voiceover. Blue Wave Voiceover has diverse, experienced, and bilingual voiceover talent with home studios, who are all well versed in medical and scientific terminology.

It is times like these, where we are looking at policies with a close and critical eye, that campaigns have the opportunity to prosper. It might be that politicians and causes will have to change the way they reach their voters, but technologies and social media are on our side. With clear messaging and an expansive outreach, we can get a candidate’s ideas out and within the voter’s reach. Through quickly produced, yet exceptional quality voiceover, Blue Wave Voiceover is dedicated to showcasing the voices of every voter in an effort to bring forth a Blue Wave in November. Our voice talent of all ages, races, genders and sexual orientations — voices that look and sound like America today — are all prepared to work even harder to elevate the voices of reason.

The Shifting Electoral Map: This Isn’t Your Parents’ Red State

February 17, 2020 by Blue Wave Voiceover

Demographics are Changing, and the Voting Patterns

The 2016 election brought a shock to the shifting electoral map. States that were previously thought to be part of the “Blue Wall” were no longer the safe havens they were once thought to be. But some states, though impervious to Democratic advances, have also begun shifting, creating new challenges for candidates in these changing districts to reach potential voters. Especially with shifts in the media ecosystem making it harder for political advertising voices to cut through.

Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin were all part of what had previously been considered firmly Democratic states, ensuring a Democratic presidential candidate a considerable number of electoral votes, with Ohio being the Rust Belt state that was often considered a swing state and a huge focus for political advertising dollars. But 2016 upended those preconceptions, with all 4 states failing to go Democratic, albeit by slim margins in the former “Blue Wall” states.

Introducing: Purple States

However, Democratic fortunes in formerly unassailable states like Virginia and Arizona are raising hopes of activists there. Arizona is trending toward a much more purple state, with victories both on the state and local level by Democrats, including Senator Kyrsten Sinema, 5 of Arizona’s 9 U.S. House seats, and the Secretary of State. The party remains in the minority statewide however, holding only 42 of 90 State Senate and House seats, and lost the governor’s race in 2016 by 15 percentage points.

Virginia is in the process of becoming a fully blue state, with all major statewide seats, both Senators, and the majority of both houses (by the slimmest of margins) held by Democrats. Growth in the metropolitan areas around Washington D.C., bolstered by influxes of northern transplants have fueled this change. Residents of these states can expect to see a huge surge in Democratic political spots hitting their airwaves and streaming platforms.

Other southern states like North Carolina have experienced similar changes. It became a firmly purple state in 2008, when Barack Obama won the state, and in 2012 when he lost it by a very slim margin. Growth in Charlotte and the Triangle area has fueled the balance, though it may be some time, if ever, before the state consistently votes Democratic.

They Do Say Things Are Bigger In Texas

The biggest prize is still out there: the purple-trending state of Texas. The Lone Star State has been solidly red for decades, but some cracks have started to appear in the expected areas: high growth urban areas like Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston, all fueled by the same migration patterns that have brought northern transplants to other Southern states. Democrats have pushed to move the state into their column for years, and are hoping to see this shift happen in the next 20 years. Given the number of electoral votes at stake, residents of Texas can expect to hear political voiceover in their living room right up until Election Day 2020.

For political voice actors supporting and voicing for progressive and liberal causes, ample opportunity is available, as these areas are and will continue to be flooded with advertising in this high-stakes electoral season. These states are growing more diverse; in Virginia, 3 in 4 new residents are people of color since 2000. But growth in diversity is not limited to the South: U.S. News and World Report states that Colorado Springs, CO and Henderson, NV have some of the fastest growing diversity rates in the country.

And as advertisers and candidates look to reach out to this growing, diverse population, finding the right voices to reach all segments of these areas — with voice actors who look and sound like the people moving into and living in these regions — will be the key to reaching voters for decades to come.

George Washington III is an 18 year veteran of the voice over industry based in Charlotte, NC. His voice has supported many national and local brands in television and radio, on the web, and on Internet radio like Spotify and Pandora. He has called Charlotte home for 22 years. You can find samples of his work at voevolution.com.