Sonia Amador

Using Our Voice Overs to Make a Difference

October 13, 2017 by Rosi Amador

The Amador family, Brian, Alisa, Sonia, and I, have always enjoyed doing work geared toward making the world a better place. That’s why we were thrilled to provide voice overs for both the English and Spanish versions of La Familia Verde, an environmentally-themed PSA campaign.

Amador Bilingual Voiceovers - The Green Family - La Familia Verde PSA Want to find out how to save money on your energy bills? Want to learn how to stay healthy in a changing climate? Meet the Familia Verde, The Green Family! Their enthusiasm for saving energy may seem a little exaggerated, but they’d love to be your guides to a green, healthy lifestyle.

On this project, we had the pleasure of working for the first time with ChavoBart Digital Media. They’re a media production and distribution company specializing in short-form environmental and educational content. ChavoBart created the delightful Familia Verde segments as part of a campaign sponsored by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Hear La Familia Verde in English:

Hear La Familia Verde in Spanish:

All in the Family

As a family of bilingual voiceover artists, we love being able to work together. This is especially true when we get to record meaningful content in both English and Spanish. We hope to be able to lend our voices to many more projects like this – projects that connect our skills with our values. Given the current tendency to ignore science and promote environmentally-damaging energy policies, it’s especially important that we do all we can to protect our planet.

One-Stop Voiceovers

As a family business, we pride ourselves on providing our clients with a one-stop shop for a wide range of voices and languages. Improving the voiceover experience for our clients is something we always strive for! Producers often need to search far and wide to cast their commercials or PSA’s. Not when they come to us! At Amador Bilingual Voiceovers, we can provide all the voices they need in one location. Let our avatars tell you all about it.

Our Voices in the Smithsonian’s NMAAHC Mobile Audio Tour App!

February 23, 2017 by Rosi Amador

Happy Black History Month!

In September of 2016, the Smithsonian Institution unveiled the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C., an important and overdue addition to the Smithsonian museum system. It’s the only national museum devoted entirely to African American culture, life, and history, and we’re proud to announce that our voices are featured in the Spanish version of the museum’s Audio tour app.

Established by an Act of Congress in 2003, the NMAAHC is an important contribution to the preservation of our national history, and an architectural wonder! As construction of the museum was underway, my family and I were honored to receive a request for our voices for the innovative NMAAHC interactive mobile audio tour app. I’ll never forget the excitement I felt when it was confirmed that we would be “the” voices of the app that brings this extraordinary museum to life. When I first became a full-time voiceover actor, one of my hopes was to record audio tours for significant national museums, so this truly is a dream come true.

Audio Tour App Expands Access to Exhibits

The history of African American innovation in the United States isn’t always adequately represented in the media. Now, thanks to the Spanish mobile app, the vast wealth of information at the museum is now accessible to Spanish-speaking visitors from all over the world. My husband Brian, my daughter Sonia, and I are proud to have lent our voices so that others can learn about the impact of African Americans on the history and culture of our nation. The Smithsonian continues to rely on us for updates for the app and I recently recorded some additions for the 2017 version of the app, so stay tuned to hear more.

You can download the app on your mobile devices or tablet by visiting this link and take a virtual tour even if you’re unable to get to the museum at this time.

We’re deeply grateful to Mary Ann Findlay and Patricia Musariri of Intrinzinc, for choosing our voices for this project and to Clearly Innovative, the designers of this amazingly interactive app that is one of a kind. We hope you enjoy the sample audio tours that we recorded for the app as much as we loved recording them.

Guest Blogger – Allison Schneider of StudySync

November 4, 2016 by Brian Amador

allison schneider guest blogger It’s our great pleasure this month to feature a guest blog by one of our favorite clients, Allison Schneider of StudySync, developers of digital Language Arts curriculum. The entire ABVO family (Rosi, Brian, Sonia and Alisa Amador, plus our honorary Amador, engineer Camilo) have had the pleasure of recording a LOT of wonderful literature for Allison and her team in English and Spanish.

About StudySync

Allison here with StudySync. It’s a joy to share a bit about the work that StudySync and the Amadors do together. As a digital English Language Arts/English Language Development curriculum, StudySync engages students with media and technology. One of the foundations of our product is a growing library of over 1,200 text selections, many of which include voiceover readings to help students better access and understand the text. That’s where the Amadors fit into the StudySync picture, and it’s where they’ve made a lasting impact on students across the country. I’d like to share a couple of particulars about what makes our collaboration with them so rewarding.

Engaging Students Through Literature

In their work with StudySync, the Amadors engage and inspire students through great works of literature in English and in Spanish, exposing them to the works of prominent multicultural authors including Sandra Cisneros and others. The voiceovers provided by the Amadors help bring Spanish-speaking students along on Tom Sawyer’s adventures by voicing a Spanish translation of Mark Twain’s beloved work. They’ve contributed several dozen voiceovers to StudySync, and with each one, they strengthen our ability to inspire students of diverse backgrounds.

A Shared Passion

StudySync’s work with the Amadors is especially strong because they share our passion for education. That shared commitment shows in every voiceover that they create for StudySync. It makes every project that we work on together meaningful.

A Family Affair

When you work with the Amadors, you’re working with family. Working with the Amadors and their team is a true family experience. First, you don’t get just one talented voiceover artist—you get five! Second—and most importantly—they make you feel like you’re a part of the family. The Amadors don’t just bring talent to the table. They bring friendship and a collaborative spirit.

As StudySync’s curriculum continues to grow, we look forward to having the Amadors along for the journey. Gracias, Amadors, for sharing your talents with us!

Have Accent, Will Travel: Projects We Love

June 21, 2016 by Rosi Amador

South America Travel Video Voiceovers

Argentine Accent — Jaime Andrada, on set in the 1940’s.

This past Father’s Day, like so many others, I was remembering my papi, Argentine theater, movie and radio drama actor and businessman Jaime Andrada, (1919-2001). I am his daughter in many ways, including my, ahem, “willful” nature and love of entrepreneurship. He never lost his charming Hispanic accent in English. And I happily channel that accent on a regular basis for my clients! In fact, one quarter of the voiceovers Brian and I are asked to record are in varying degrees of Hispanic-accented English.

One of our favorite clients requests this accent for an ongoing series of voiceovers that truly feeds my soul – narrating travel videos! Traveling is one of my passions. When we can’t indulge that passion, Brian and I can dream about it from our studio in Cambridge. And we can put those dreams to work when we get to record for stunning Expedia Travel videos featuring amazing destinations all over Latin America and even the Canary Islands. These virtual mini-vacations come to us thanks to Tourism Media of Brisbane, Australia, world leaders in travel content and content management and delivery systems.

Both Rosi and Brian have spectacular voices and their work ethic is outstanding. They received the brief and delivered the exact voice we were looking for. We were lucky to find such a talented pair who are so easy to work with. – Matt Sawyer, Post Production Supervisor at Tourism Media

How Clients Benefit from Voiceover with an Accent

Our four most common requests for Hispanic-accented English are:

ELearning voiceovers, Industrials, Web and Explainer Videos that reflect the Hispanic demographic of a diverse America, including correct Spanish pronunciation of proper names, for clients such as Carhartt and the Centers for Disease Control.
Overdubs of Spanish dialog in documentaries. I recently worked on a PBS NOVA episode on the alarming rise of Alzheimer’s in Colombia. You can watch a short video snippet here.
Commercials and marketing videos intended for first and second generation Latinos who identify with and trust a voice that sounds like theirs (or their parents’).
Voiceover for corporate narration, non-profit organizations and travel/tourism, e.g. World Vision and Expedia Travel, featured in this post, adding a touch of international flavor.

Our mission at Amador Bilingual Voiceovers is to build cross-cultural bridges by bringing compelling messages to life bilingually. Brian and I are so grateful to be able to use our creative juices on projects like these, and put our voices to work to educate, motivate, inspire and entertain. I hope you enjoyed traveling with us through the videos. ¡Buen viaje! – Bon voyage!

Bilingual Overdubs for L’Oreal Paris – Empowering Women

January 20, 2015 by Rosi Amador

Defending women’s rights and empowering women are missions I strongly believe in that took flight during my life-changing days at Bryn Mawr College, so it was such an honor for me to voice for L’Oreal Paris all of last year. Every Wednesday, I had the pleasure of recording bilingual overdubs in English and Spanish for L’Oreal’s weekly international podcast series featuring the voices of their leaders from around the globe.

I found their L’Oreal Foundation’s “For Women in Science Program” (in partnership with UNESCO), which provides support for women researchers, particularly inspiring. I frequently recorded with Brian, and occasionally our daughter Sonia participated, which was even more fun.

It was enticing to me to voice how new, environmentally-sensitive products are being sustainably produced, and how these can empower global communities of women to look and feel their best.

I’d love to know what you think of the podcast samples and this “Projects We Love” highlight, so please email me, Rosi, via our website!

Incidentally, last July we were so lucky to meet the podcasts’ producers in person at Goom Social Radio Factory headquarters in Paris. Merçi Juliette et Laura!

-Rosi Amador, Principal
Amador Bilingual Voiceovers
www.amadorbilingualvoiceovers.com
Spanish/English Voiceovers