videos

Rosi Amador’s Pro Theater Debut in “In The Heights”

November 16, 2017 by Rosi Amador

From the voiceover studio to the acclaimed Wheelock Family Theater stage in Boston, I’m thrilled to share that I’ve made my live theater premiere in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s (of Hamilton fame) first Broadway musical, In The Heights, playing Camila, one of the principal roles. This is a dream come true!

With "Vanessa" (actress Iliana García, my "husband, Kevin" (actor Luis Negrón) and "Nina" (actress Laura Lebrón) — With “Vanessa” (actress Iliana García), my “husband, Kevin” (actor Luis Negrón) and “Nina” (actress Laura Lebrón)

This 2008 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical centers on an ensemble of characters in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. My character is a strong Puerto Rican mother – kind’a, sort’a who I am! This extraordinary play addresses themes of immigration, Latin culture, connection, love, unity, community and home. It ranges from poignant to hilarious, and the songs (all in great Latin rhythms) and choreography serve the story line faithfully.

Rosi Amador with "Daniela"(Yewande Odetoyinbo in) in "In the Heights" at Wheelock Family Theater. — With “Daniela,” actress Yewande Odetoyinbo.

I haven’t performed in a musical since my days at Bryn Mawr College. During my adolescence it was one of my passions, so you can imagine how honored I am to have been given this opportunity by the award-winning Wheelock Family Theater, where our family saw so many fabulous topnotch musicals when our twins were little, and where they studied theater in the summer.

I cried when I was offered the role and I’m very happy to say that it has been a wonderful experience! We’ve had responsive full houses in the gorgeous 660 seat theater since the show opened. The 16 show run (plus 6 packed shows for middle and high school students) turned into an 18-show run and the last 6 shows have completely sold out! That coupled with a string of standing ovations has made this experience something I will never, ever forget.

Rosi Amador and Johanna Carlisle Zepeda, "In the Heights", Wheelock Family Theater — With “Abuela Claudia,” actress Johanna Carlisle Zepeda

What am I most grateful for? How much this stretched me as an actor, of course! As a voice actor I have continuously studied to improve my skills with fantastic casting directors and coaches. But add in the blocking, the interaction with other actors and the way the audience responds differently each night, and it’s a whole other ball of wax. I have had to continuously respond to the stimuli in the moment. Fun!

With my husband on stage, "Kevin Rosario", actor Luis Negrón — With my husband on stage, “Kevin Rosario”, actor Luis Negrón

I’m reminded of how much I’ve grown since studying with my talented friend Rebecca Haugh’s “Love That Improv” online voiceover improvisation classes, which have helped me become a more creative voice actor.

Of course, I feel tremendous gratitude toward the other talented actor/singers and dancers in the show for their inspiration and patience as I learned all about the theater world and lingo.

The experience has challenged me, but I believe I rose to the occasion thanks to good direction and stewardship from those around me. Gracias de nuevo – thanks again to the Wheelock Family Theater, for choosing me. Lastly, I’m also deeply grateful to all the friends who traveled from all parts of the country to see me perform. I’m so blessed.

I’m reminded of how fortunate I am to make my living from my voice and creativity. From music, to voiceover, to singing and acting on the stage, this experience reminds me of how we transitioned from our full-time music career into voiceover, years ago. I’ve loved every minute of it, but I so look forward to helping my clients once again at my voiceover studio, once we take that final bow on Sunday night!

Our NEW Voiceover Website for Producers of Hispanic Content!

July 31, 2017 by Rosi Amador

Meaningful Content For the Hispanic Market

¡Bienvenidos a Locuciones Bilingües Amador! Our brand new Spanish voiceover website, www.locucionesbilinguesamador.com, created for producers of Hispanic content, is now online! ¡Estamos encantados de anunciar que finalmente hemos lanzado nuestra nueva página web completamente en español, www.locucionesbilinguesamador.com!

Honoring our Mission

Amador Bilingual Voiceovers‘ mission is to be the foremost provider of Spanish and English voiceover services for clients who create content related to Hispanics and the Spanish language, and who serve Spanish-speaking markets. Being a one-stop voiceover shop for commercials and narrations in perfect neutral Latin American Spanish or North American English, our goal has always been to make our clients’ lives easier through every aspect of our business.

Getting the Word Out – Twice!

One of the most important pieces in building a voiceover business is making yourself known to the people who are looking for your particular skill set. Our new Spanish site enables us to connect with Spanish-speaking content producers in the language in which they’re most comfortable.

Paired with our new whimsical animated, 90-second explainer video, “Somos los Amador – La Familia Latina de Locutores Bilingües” (gracias to the talented team at the Boston University AdLab!), the new site lets us introduce our family of voices to anyone in the U.S. or Latin America looking for voiceover services in North American English, Hispanic-accented English, or neutral Latin American Spanish.

We’re also excited to announce that we’ll be posting the same informative articles you find here on our bilingual voiceover blog in Spanish on the new site moving forward.

It’s All About the Client

Having a wide range of services, languages, and voices to meet our clients’ needs is our raison d’être. Our fully bilingual staff (our studio manager, engineer and social media director are all bilingual, too) are always happy to help make your customer experience a pleasant one.

Let us know what you think of the new Locuciones Bilingües Amador website! Whether in English or Spanish, we invite you to read the latest blog post by Brian, Making Lemons into Limonada.

Haz clic aquí para leer este artículo en español.

Hispanic-Accented English Voiceover: Turning Lemons Into Limonada

May 10, 2017 by Brian Amador

“What? I have an accent?”

My name is Brian Amador. I was born in the great state of New Mexico, and until I moved away, I never thought I had an accent in English. I spoke like most of the people around me.

It wasn’t until I moved to the East Coast that I discovered that yes, I do in fact speak with a slight Hispanic accent when I’m not thinking about it.

After having this pointed out to me by too many people to ignore, I concluded that my accented English might be affecting my ability to land voiceover jobs. I decided to try some accent-reduction coaching.

My coach gave me specific feedback about which letter sounds gave me away, and I worked on being able to neutralize my accent. But one of the things she told me, which I’m glad I heeded, was “DON’T lose your accent! It will come in handy sometimes.”

How right she was! As we broke down last year’s voiceover work by genre and language, it became clear that Hispanic-Accented English voiceover represented a small but significant share of my work.

Work with what you’ve got.

It turns out that there is a market for Hispanic-accented voiceover, and it’s quite broad. We’ve been hired for accented English VO for Commercials, eLearning, medical and corporate projects. There’s never been a greater demand for voiceover that reflects the diversity that is the U.S.A.

About the time that I decided to learn to neutralize my Hispanic Accent, I also decided it would also be a good idea to learn to emphasize it, or to vary it. There are many types of Hispanic accents, and someone born in the U.S. won’t speak like someone who immigrated.

How much accent, and which?

While being able to faithfully reproduce all the Hispanic accents in this country would be impossible, it made sense to study certain characteristics of a few of the more common ones. I listen to the differences in speech patterns between East Coast Hispanics of Caribbean descent and Chicanos from California, and how those are both quite different from the accent that I heard growing up in New Mexico.

It’s an ongoing study that’s become kind of a game. When I get an audition or job request in Hispanic-accented English, I consider whether to use my Rubén Blades, my Cheech Marín, my Grandma, or something else.

Meanwhile, my wife Rosi and my daughter Alisa have also been able to parlay accented English into profitable work. Rosi’s big discovery was how just a touch of British accent can make a Hispanic accent sound more Chilean, and for Argentine, she just channels her Papi.

The Payoff

While Hispanic-accented English voiceover doesn’t represent a huge percentage of my work, I have to say that it has brought some of my most fun jobs, and even some recognition in the Industry.

I recently got to do a commercial for a major sandwich chain in the style of a soap opera, playing a Latin lover type. Then a colleague notified me that I had won a prestigious Earphones Award from AudioFile Magazine for an accented read of the beloved children’s book THE STORY OF FERDINAND. These are two really fun, rewarding projects that never would have come my way if I had lost my accent!

Bilingual Voiceover and Marketing to Hispanics

March 19, 2017 by Rosi Amador

Our good friend and super-talented voice actor Doug Turkel recently shared this insightful article with us, “The Importance of Marketing to Hispanics Online in Spanish” by Walter Godinez, which ties in beautifully with our experience in our bilingual voiceover profession.
bilingual voiceover marketing hispanics
As Godinez explains “By the year 2017, the U.S. Hispanic buying power in the United States will equal $1.7 trillion dollars and by the year 2020 the population will represent almost 20 percent of the entire U.S. population.” These statistics show the increasing power of the Hispanic consumer and the increasing need for advertisements and e-learning materials to be in Spanish.

A Bilingual, Bi-Cultural Generation

As the Hispanic population in the U.S. continues to grow, the Spanish language remains important, both culturally and linguistically, to every Hispanic generation. While most Hispanics are bi-cultural, constantly shifting between English and Spanish, marketing that is authentic to Hispanic culture is the most effective way to reach the Hispanic population. However, authentic Hispanic marketing is more than just adding tacos and llamas!

As fluent or semi-fluent Spanish speakers, the Hispanic population in the U.S. appreciates accurately translated and voiced advertising that reflects their culture and identity. Making truly bilingual content targeting Hispanics requires an emphasis on quality in both language and content.

Growing Need for Content in Spanish

Producers of commercial content for and about Hispanics in the United States often hire us to voice ads that promote services and products to the Latino population. In addition, we’re frequently asked to overdub web videos, as well as voicing e-learning content for a Spanish-speaking audience. As the Hispanic population in the United States increases, the importance of educational materials in Spanish becomes necessary for the advancement of future generations. This growing group of people express themselves in both in English and Spanish. Nurturing their bi-cultural identities through bilingual content is a win-win for the producers and consumers.

Bilingual Voiceover Works Both Ways

Here is a bilingual TV commercial I voiced for Nevada Health. (Spanish spot immediately follows English spot.) In this instance our Spanish translation expertise also came into play to help the producer move away from a literally translated script to a more colloquial read that reflected the original English – one that matches how the Latino viewer actually speaks. Sometimes we’re asked to overdub from Spanish to English to make the message accessible to a U.S. audience. Either way, we’re honored that our work helps increase the reach of important messages.

To read more about the importance of bilingual content, check out Brian’s blog post “Two Sides to Bilingual“!

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.

Our Best Business Tool Ever? – Batchbook, our CRM!

July 15, 2015 by Rosi Amador

The Best Business Tool We’ve Ever Adopted? Batchbook, Our CRM!

Several years ago, after many years of touring the country with our Latin band, Sol y Canto and then officially launching Amador Bilingual Voiceovers, we just couldn’t keep our growing contact list and details for each job organized efficiently. It was nuts! We struggled along until we learned about CRM’s, or “Customer Relationship Management”.

We began our research of all the CRM’s available at that time and chose BATCHBOOK. We are SO glad we did. It was a game changer for us.

Here’s a snippet of their explainer video (click below) which I’m thrilled to have voiced. I was so tickled their super friendly staff asked me to do this. Hope you like it.

“We’re stepping up our marketing efforts and really needed a professional, quality voiceover… A deep part of our philosophy is authenticity, so we needed our voice to convey real warmth from a person we know to have a strong character. Rosi to the rescue! We are so happy with and grateful for her artful work. Apparently our customers are too, as we’re seeing remarkable engagement from the video. The impression it leaves with our customers is priceless.”

– Pamela O’Hara, CEO Batchbook

Gracias to Pamela O’Hara for this kind testimonial. I’m telling you *everyone* they are incredibly nice! They all feel like friends to us.

Batchbook promises “organized bliss” and you know what? It’s TRUE! New clients send us inquiries that pop right into their record, as do our “Letters of Agreement” and we now easily keep track of our voiceover jobs no matter how many come in. Plus it’s integrated with social media and so much more.

And it’s so easy to generate reports to help us know if we’re making progress or to contact folks. It’s rather miraculous to be honest. It helps our team to work together better than ever.

The best part is their customer service! The folks at Batchbook really care about us and have come to know us personally, after helping us with our slow learning curve. We’ve been running smoothly for years now. It’s a joy to use Batchbook for both of our businesses and I couldn’t recommend it more highly to anyone reading this.

Brian and I and our fabulous staff all LOVE working with Batchbook. Check out what they have to say:

“Batchbook streamlines every job so we can go to one place to meet our clients’ wishes and it enables us to work as a team seamlessly.”

– Brian Amador, Bilingual Voice Actor/ Principal/ Guitarist/ Composer & Chef Extraordinaire

CRM Batchbook Testimonial “I like how the list functionality allows me to analyze and sort data about our clients and allows me to easily generate reports.”

– Camilo Gómez, Senior Engineer/ Mr. Analytics/ Granola-lover

“Batchbook is able to keep track of all my communication with our clients with a click of the send button!”

– Leslie Rivera, Operations/ Studio Manager/ Ms. Organization/Ms. Friendly to the Max

By the way, after you click on their 2-minute tour you can sign up FREE for a 30 day trial. Incidentally, I am not getting any commissions on this. I just like sharing a good thing with fellow entrepreneurs who could be reading this. It ain’t easy. This helps!

– Me, Rosi Amador, Bilingual Voice Actor/ Principal/ Latin Vocalist & Percussionist/ Idea Lady /Twin Mami

Let me know what great business tool you’ve implemented if you’re so moved in the comments section! I’d love to hear from you. And of course, if you’d be so kind as to share this post I’d be very grateful. Have a great summer!