What’s New With MIKE COOPER Fall 2019 is part of a series in which MVO: The Voice-Over Guys checks-in with one of our male voiceover talents to learn more about a recent media project he has voiced. Here’s what Mike shared with us.
1. You mentioned a really cool voiceover project in your recent MVO: The Voiceover Guys update. Can you talk about who the project was for and where it was heard or seen?
I recently completed a “reversioning” project for the Smithsonian Channel, for all three seasons of their documentary series “Air Warriors”, which is now being broadcast in the UK.
2. What made the media production’s content interesting from your perspective?
This was a series of over thirty programs featuring military tech from almost a hundred years in the air: the planes that helped America win wars, stay ahead of the enemy, and so on. It was fascinating to hear the challenges that were faced and overcome, and how some of these aircraft developed loyal followings over decades of service.
3. As the voice talent in the media project, were there any technical or performance challenges during this voiceover recording session?
Reversioning is what broadcasters call it when you take a program that’s in one language or dialect, and then change it to make it more desirable for another audience. Although a British accent usually plays well here in the US, it’s not the same the other way around: British audiences prefer to hear narration in a British accent. Once you start to change the accent though, you also need to start changing the idiom, too – changing things like temperatures to Celsius, swapping out anything that sounds “too American” for its British equivalent, and so on. In this show, every instance of “airplane” needed to be changed to “aeroplane” for a start! American producers are pretty good at most of this, but the Smithsonian producers really appreciated how I could bring my British ear to it and improve it further, so we collaborated on these scripts as we were recording them.
4. Is there anything else you would like us to know about this voiceover project?
Air Warriors is now airing in the UK on the Smithsonian Channel, which is free-to-air on Sky. You can also watch out for some other documentaries I recently completed: “9-11: Stories in Fragments” and “Great Snakes”, which are also now on the station.
ABOUT MALE VOICEOVER TALENT MIKE COOPER
Mike is a British voice over from London, who’s now based in the mountains of North Carolina. Mike emigrated from London to the USA in 2014 with his partner, two rescue dogs, and his natural, neutral, and famously friendly sound – which is fast becoming as popular in the States as it is in the UK.
The voice of numerous shows for A&E, HISTORY and National Geographic in the UK – as well as being heard globally for a decade on the BBC World Service – Mike has been called a “one-take wonder”, and loves bringing his wit and humour into the booth (when appropriate!) to play tongue-in-cheek, as well as straight/dramatic British. Producers who are taking the time to get to know Mike just seem to love him and keep coming back.