First gig from v123 since Columbus wandered ashore

Caryn Clark · **Voice Talent** Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 1000

Melba.... wow, that was really EXCELLENT!!!!

Well-deserved! Congratulations!

Kent LaTurno · **Voice Talent** Joined: 24 Aug 2007 Posts: 212

Melba, bravo bravo bravo! Wow, that was good!

Clinton Nobles · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 197

WOW!! I am totally amazed at this. I listened to your other stuff a few days ago on your profile and then I heard this and was totally amazed. You are a great talent!

Mucho Kudos

David Bosco · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Sep 2007 Posts: 281

Before you submitted, did you already know what a Bolivian accent should sound like? Was it a good guess?

Regardless, I'd say that was a pretty tough assignment. I would have had no clue myself.

Outstanding!

Melba Sibrel · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008, 22:44 (GMT) Post subject:

In answer to the Bolivian sound query, David...I had been acquainted with a young Bolivian woman a couple of years ago and took every opportunity to watch/hear her speak. While I had her in mind, I won't claim to be even close to how she sounded. The casting decision here, as is often the case, was based, not primarily on dialect authenticity, but on character creation and storytelling ability.

Edited to add: like many nations, there isn't one Bolivian "sound" -- many dialects of Spanish specific to the region and indigenous languages are spoken.

Edwin Oldfield · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 64

Very nice job Melba, I work with many people in alpaca in the andes, and it was very authentic sounding. I have just done an interactive tour guide of Lima and the same company are bidding on one for Machu Pichu, it has excellent production. I mentioned you to the producer since they will need authentic sounding voices in English and said I would pass the file. Now I will post my piece in the right post.

Melba Sibrel · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008, 01:36 (GMT) Post subject:

Thanks, Edwin...I needed your ear -- thanks for the referral, too. (you've got a very earthy warm sound, by the way; nice!)

Allison Scussel · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 928

Awesome job Melba. You deserve this 110%! 2 daumen hoch

Michael J. Schoen · **Voice Talent** Joined: 21 Jan 2008 Posts: 198

Hey, Melba:
Wonderful job on the Bolivian woman -- very real -- no satirizing at all. Awesome job.
booking inevitable after that performance!!!

Edwin Oldfield · **Voice Talent** Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 64

Melba here is your Andean woman or one of them, and where she lives. This is about a 2 hour flight from Lima, then a four hour bus ride, the thing is the bus only goes once a week on a Tuesday and comes back on a Wednesday (market day). This is on the Bolivian Peruvian border at about 12,000 feet. In the Andes there are two tribes of people Quechuas and Aymara, the Quechua are the direct decendents of the Incas. The Aymara, which this woman is, are a very tough people and this holds true today, were eventually conquered by the Incas but because of there fierce fighting skills were able to negotiate to keep their language, which is why it is spoken today. The people here are alpaca herdas, at the time of this photo most of the alpacas are further up the mountain but there can 50.000 alpacas in this one valley. Valley communities like this are dying as the younger people move to the cities for more opportunity. Just my 2 cents or 3 on Andean culture.

Melba Sibrel · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008, 15:51 (GMT) Post subject:

One of the reads I had done (which will end up being the basis for the character) would be about the age of the lady in the picture...thanks for the picture...imagining the person always helps me with character.

Beautiful place. It saddens me to think that in another generation or two the language and village life there could see its demise. In researching I read a blog from someone who had come from a village where she was lamenting that she had flattened her local dialect to avoid being made fun of when she lived in the city. Now she's older and, having gotten out of practice speaking it, has forgotten the dialect...not the tribal language entirely, but the dialect of Spanish it influences and she can't seem to slip back into it.

But anyway, thank you for the picts. That is the face I want to convey in my voice. Session's Monday.

Deby Cedars · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 1482

Melba I'm very curious as to just how you researched the character!

Please share with me. schauen

The accent part of of it.....

Melba Sibrel · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008, 21:31 (GMT) Post subject:

Deby,
I didn't really "research" much before the audition...don't usually -- there's just not that much time. But a nice little site for hearing native speakers of other languages reading in English is one of IDEA's sites: http://web.ku.edu/idea/ . That along with pronouciationguide.org, can guide you as to what sounds a certain language has or doesn't have compared to English.
No Bolivian reader was on the IDEA, site however, and the South American reads were actually too cosmopolitan for this purpose.

So I relied on the memory of a Bolivian acquaintance from a couple years ago. Also did a google of Bolivia+audio and saw/heard some Bolivian dialect Spanish and tribal speakers in quicktime. That helps get the rhythm.

But I didn't worry about copping a dialect. I just visualized who the woman might be in terms of what she might look like, how she would sit, what she might be doing with her hands, etc., while she told her story. And slipped in to the person in my mind. Just more internal than worrying about the externals, I guess. Don't know if that makes sense.

Deby Cedars · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 1482

That makes complete sense to me. I recently auditioned for and audio book that required a Porto Rican accent. I did my mexican accent and tried to do the same thing you did with getting the right emotions. Did not have time to research anything. Thanks for the tips though.

Jodi Krangle · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 65

Really well done, Melba. As others have already said here, they're *very* lucky to have you working for them. Smile