Meet the voice actors behind the city’s spoken-word soundtrack

Lawan, one of the country’s top voice actors in English, records an announcement for Central department stores.

Meet the voice actors behind the city’s spoken-word soundtrack http://www.manager.co.th/IHT/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9490000013033&#Comment

Lawan is a woman of average height with brown hair that she usually pulls back into a ponytail. She’s in her early 40s and wouldn’t stand out in a crowd, but as soon as she speaks she sounds familiar to everyone around. “She haunts you everywhere you go,” says her friend.People listen as she walks by. They ask if they know her from somewhere. Well, she asks, have they flown on Thai Airways, shopped at Central, used Bangkok Bank’s autophone service or browsed at HomePro?Have they sent a package through DHL, or booked a room at the Westin, Novotel or Princess Hotels?No? Then have they seen that commercial with the little cartoon bear, the infomercials for TAT, or watched Cindy Crawford selling Pizza Hut in Thai?


Lawan has been in the voiceover industry for more than 20 years. For her, hearing her voice in Bangkok is almost as commonplace as walking through a cloud of smog. She did a recording for Foodland 22 years ago. They’re still running it. “Think of food, think of Foodland,” she mocks.Breaking into her industry takes time and persistence.

Local sound studios such as Cine Sound keep their talents’ voices recorded on discs. So when clients come in, looking for the right voice to promote their product or enterprise, the studios can match them with the right vocal chords. Many studios use time-tested talent, such as Lawan, over and over again.This means that in Bangkok, only a select few get regular gigs doing English dubbing and voiceover work. They are like a family. There’s Ricky, Martina, Leena, Jeff, Jackie, Andy, Trevor, JJ, Ken, Russel, Pat...“We talk for one hour, and get 5,000 baht cash as we walk out,” says JJ Kasher, whose voice might have a familiar ring to UBC viewers and customers at Tesco Lotus or Asia Books.

Voice work is sporadic and jobs are intermittent. Lawan gets between five and 20 calls a month. When she’s hired for a “spot,” the routine begins. She goes to Cine Sound at the appointed time and climbs the six flights of stairs – past the mixing, dubbing and editing floors – to the voiceover recording studio.She often doesn’t know the script until just before she is to perform it. She rehearses the script several times before putting on her headphones in a room lined with black foam. She marks with a pen where she will add emphasis and then puts on the voice designed to dazzle shoppers into splurging at Central for weeks to come.“Twenty-eight days are not enough for this amazing month,” she reads, “as February monthly gift exchanges are a must for you to have!”Within 20 minutes, Lawan is out the door with a check.

Though it seems like easy money, voiceover work isn’t all sugar dumplings and egg floss. Lawan explains that not only are voice workers denied the same recognition as actors, they also have to work twice as hard to convey emotion. “Actors can show emotion physically and vocally. We have to go the extra mile,” she says.Another challenge is trying to meet the unrealistic expectations of some clients.“They say, ‘We want you to sound excited, but excited and sexy. Excited and sexy, but with a smile in your voice,’” explains Lawan. JJ has been asked to whisper, but in a loud way. If the talent wants more work, he or she must comply.Then there are those particularly Thai challenges. Not any English speaker can do voiceover work; he or she must be well-versed in the intricacies of what, in the industry, is called “Tinglish.”Tinglish is the art of giving English words a Thai flair. That means that even though Bangkok Airways is in English, the recording would pronounce Airways as though it were singular. “Thais drop the ‘s,’” explains JJ. There are other rules of that kind.


Another challenge is that English scripts are often sub-standard, but advice from talent is not always appreciated. Lawan remembers the time when she recorded an advert for steak. “‘The steaks are wet,’” she recalls the script saying. “I think they meant succulent and juicy. I was speaking rubbish.”Unlike singers who “la-la-la-laaaaaa” to warm up before going on stage, practiced dubbers such as JJ and Lawan talk to themselves to get their voices well-oiled in the morning. Jackie Russell, whose voice one might recognize from ads for Singha fruit juices or Bangkok Airways, sometimes listens to music that will put him in the mood for his role. For example, something pop for a perky advert, something sentimental for a UNICEF campaign about poverty.They also say a warm drink get the voice up and running. But all agree that the secret to good vocal quality is a good night’s sleep.

A promising voiceover career can be derailed by chance – such as getting sick the night before an appointment – or error. Talking about clients while the microphone is “live” is the biggest. “You never know,” says Lawan. “Never say anything bad in front of a microphone.”Russell had the opposite problem. Some clients ordered his all-American voice based on a sample disc, but when they met him and saw his Singaporean looks, they had regrets, which he heard only too well. “They were expecting blond hair and blue eyes,” he says. “They had the microphone on and I could hear. I took the money and cried all the way home.”

Though Lawan, Russell and JJ have been in the industry for many years and enjoyed much success, they each have something they would change about the way they sound, like a supermodel who wants to lose just one more pound. Lawan wants a bigger range – her voice has gotten low in recent years. JJ, who is usually pigeonholed into teenybopper roles with her high-pitched shrieks, wishes she would be chosen for more mature jobs.Russell dreams of having “the” voice.

“I aspire to have the big voice . It translates well in any country. Deeper, with loads of bass and baritone,” he says. “You know, the hero voice. I can put it on, but I can’t sustain it.”Unfortunately, the most sought-after roles are hard to come by in this country. There are too few feature-length films or serial cartoons, so voice talent must always rely on the odds and ends – ads, phone recordings and small cartoon ad campaigns.As for JJ, she won’t stop until she reaches her highest goal. “I want to get on the BTS,” she says of the SkyTrain’s announcements. “It’s everywhere!”