About Sarah Kennedy, Australian Voice Over Artist…
An acting graduate from the University of Southern Queensland, Sarah worked consistently in professional theatre, film, & voice over for over a decade before falling in love, getting married, buying a house, and having kids! She lives in Brisbane, Australia with her husband Nick and their three children, all of whom also do voice over work.
How it started…
In 2002 when Sarah first started in voiceovers, her work was ONLY radio commercials and ONLY recorded at the radio stations themselves. Theatre acting was her focus, so Sarah saw voice over as a great way to use her skills to supplement her theatre income. But after the birth of her second child, Sarah decided to get serious about making voiceovers her full time career. One that she could easily balance with motherhood. So that’s what she set about doing!
How it’s going…
Now, two decades after she first got a taste for voiceover work, Sarah works happily as an Australian Voice Over of choice for clients all over the world!
She has a professional quality studio in her home
- Sennheiser 416
- Neumann TLM 103
- Audient iD14 Interface
- DemVOX ECO 100 Sound Isolation Booth
- iZotope RX7
- Twisted Wave
- Source-Connect (username “sarahkennedyvoiceover”) for connecting with participating studios all over the world.
And these days with 99% of her voiceover work recorded in her home studio, she simply sends the files to her clients directly!
Here’s a totally raw unprocessed recording of Sarah to give you an idea of what her studio sounds like.
Listening to the sample above will give you a true indication of Sarah’s studio sound, so you can feel assured that what you hear is what you’ll get. It starts with totally raw audio and as it plays you will hear it change after it’s had a basic clean-up, then change again after Sarah’s editing stack has been applied. You can choose to receive your audio in any of these forms, or all three! It’s up to you!
Live Directed Voice Over Recording Sessions
Sarah offers plenty of options for live directed voiceover recording sessions. She has a full Source-Connect Standard license under the username sarahkennedyvoiceover for connecting with other studios so they can record the sound from her microphone straight into their audio editing software.
If you’re happy just to listen & give direction while Sarah does the recording at her end, her favourite option is Source-Connect NOW. All you need to do to is click this link from a Chrome browser and be sure to wear earphones that have a built-in mic. Sarah loves Source-Connect NOW because everyone participating in the session (she can have up to 9 guests) receives excellent audio quality. It’s completely free and you don’t need to sign up or enter any details. Other options for live remote direction include CleanFeed, SessionLink Pro, Phone, Zoom & Google Meet.
Other Voiceover Genres
Sarah’s voice over career may have started with radio commercials but has since grown to include most other voiceover genres such as:
Sarah's Blog
Known amongst her voice over colleagues for her honest and refreshing attitudes about the voiceover industry, Sarah loves to share anecdotes, advice and nuggets of wisdom she’s gained over her 20-year voiceover career – so if you’re a voice talent, either aspiring OR established, you might like to check out her blog.
The Early Years...
During her theatre career, Sarah worked with companies including The Queensland Theatre Company (now Queensland Theatre), La Boite, Grin & Tonic Theatre Troupe and Queensland Arts Council, among many others. Sarah also appeared in the cult classic feature films All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane, Jucy and The Last Man on Earth.
For her theatre acting, Sarah received the following awards:
- Matilda Award Commendation – Sylvia
- Matilda Special Commendation – Queensland Theatre Company, supporting emerging artists through it’s inaugural repertory program, and for the excellent body of work by it’s ensemble of actors; Chris Beckey, Melinda Butel, Sarah Kennedy and Jason Klarwein
- Matilda Award Nomination – Best Female Actor in a supporting role – God is a DJ
- Matilda Award – The Interactive Theatre Australia Award for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Lead Role – Hitchcock Blonde
[The Matilda Awards are a not-for-profit organisation that honour and celebrate the achievements of the Queensland Theatre Industry.]
Voice Over Specialties
With two decades worth of voice over experience under her belt, an acting degree and a large body of theatre & film acting to her name, Sarah is an outstanding all-rounder when it comes to voice over genres.
Sarah has:
- Voiced a hilariously zany cartoon character for the children’s animated series Space Chickens in Space
- Breathed life into a plethora of video game characters
- Narrated numerous audiobooks
- Read thousands of commercial scripts and explainer videos
- Narrated hundreds of hours worth of eLearning content
- Welcomed thousands of customers to businesses with her IVR and on-hold recordings
Sarah’s known by her industry peers for her warm and natural conversational reads as well as her ability to deliver information in a smooth and engaging way.
Sarah’s acting background gives her a strong advantage and her ability to be re-directed during live voiceover recording sessions is one of the reasons Sarah books so much work. Take look at what some of Sarah’s clients have to say about what she’s like to work with here.
Clients
Sarah is proud to voice commercial and eLearning content for clients like
- Westpac
- Suncorp
- CommBank
- Telstra, Optus
- The Iconic
- Vueve Clicquot
- Viking Cruises
- Australian Building Company
- KPMG
- PetBarn
- ClickView
- Rheem
- QFES
- Ericom
- Chemist Warehouse
- Energex
She has narrated audiobooks for Penguin Random House, Spineless Wonders and USA today best-selling author Juliette Duncan. You can hear her video game voice acting in Espire 1: VR OPERATIVE, CloudPunk, Repella Fella, LoveSick Darlings, and more that are yet to be released.
Agents
Although Sarah is an independent freelancer and represents herself in most circumstances, there are times when she embraces the expert guidance of one of her international agents for those more complicated quotes and contract negotiations.
- Kristin Claxon – Starz Agency – USA
- Tanya Buchanan – Ta-Da Voiceworks – Canada
- Sarah McLeod – BigMouth Voices – NZ
Free Auditions
Sarah is always happy to record short, free auditions because she understands that you might like to hear what she can do with your script before you book her for a voiceover. Simply get in touch and Sarah will record a portion of your script. To request a free audition, contact Sarah today.
