Rosi Amador – Hispanic Female Voiceovers in English and Spanish
Link to full profile: bluewavevoiceover.com/voices/rosi-amador/
Email: rosi@amadorbilingualvoiceovers.com
When you’re looking for a female voiceover talent who can deliver your political spot flawlessly in both English and Spanish, look no further than Hispanic bilingual voiceover talent, Rosi Amador. Rosi actually comes from a family of bilingual voiceover artists. We’re proud to have her husband Brian and son Zia on our Blue Wave Voiceover roster as well. Rosi is also able to deliver copy in English with an authentic Hispanic accent. We know that the Latin and Hispanic community represents a large part of the electorate and is a huge target for Democratic candidates and ballot initiatives, so using a confident female voice like Rosi can authentically help get your message into the right ears!
Tell us a little about your broadcast-quality home studio. Where is it? What kind of equipment do you have? What do you like about it?
We’re lucky to live in a lovely, solidly built 1850’s home in a quiet neighborhood in Cambridge MA where we set up a professional home studio to record our music in the 1990’s. In 2009 we vamped it up for voiceovers. We’re 100% Remote-Ready with SourceConnect Pro, ipDTL, phone patch or Zoom/Skype available for our clients to listen in or direct in real time. We use various topnotch microphones including a Warm Audio WA-87, CAD E100S, Audio Technica AT4040, AKG Perception 220, Shure SM-7B and AKG Perception 120, an Apogee Duet 2 preamp/interface. Our preferred DAW is Twisted Wave but we also use Digital Performer 9, Logic Pro and Reaper recording software.
What’s one thing that most people don’t know about you?
Many of our voiceover clients may not know that we’re also professional Latin musicians. In fact we toured for 27 years prior to choosing to move into our full-time voiceover career in 2009. I am our Latin band Sol y Canto‘s lead singer and bongo player/percussionist and my husband Brian is our composer/arranger and a fabulous Spanish guitarist if I do say so myself. I am passionate about doing improvisational singing these days and am furiously studying it online during this pandemic so that I can come out scatting like Ella Fitzgerald (I wish).
How did you get into voiceover work?
A music colleague and fan asked us to record children’s stories and eLearning modules for Scholastic in the early 90’s and we thoroughly enjoyed it. A few years later the hospital where I gave birth to our twins caught wind that I was a Latin singer with a following and asked me to record a testimonial in both English and Spanish as a TV and radio spot. I went into my first pro voiceover studio downtown in Boston and recorded with several producers listening in and directing. It went great and I was hooked. Right then and there I decided I would pursue bilingual voiceovers as a way of using my voice creatively moving forward that didn’t require that I tour constantly away from my infant twins once they started school. I recorded part-time as I built up my client base and went full-time in 2009. I love it!
Do you remember the first voiceover job you ever did?
The first spot was for the Hospital I gave birth in – St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston. It was a bilingual spot about what good care they took of me and my premature twins. All true and very personal. I did it pro-bono to help the hospital and their wonderful NICU nurses and doctors.
What has been your favorite voiceover project – political or otherwise – to date?
I had the privilege of being selected to record the overdubbed English voice for the fearless indigenous leader Nemonte Nenquimo in “Global Goal: Unite for our Future,” an internationally broadcast documentary and concert. It calls on citizens to tackle global injustices by using our collective voice to drive change for everyone, everywhere. This online event was produced by Global Citizen, a social action platform for a global generation that aims to solve the world’s biggest challenges and promotes social change. Here it is:
Why do you think voiceover is an important part of political advertising this season?
Now more than ever diverse voices must be uplifted, and all the Democratic and progressive candidates know that they must include Latin, Hispanic, African-American and our Native populations voices in their campaigns in order to be voted in. These populations are amongst the ones that have been most hard hit by the double crisis of the pandemic and systemic racism.
What issues would you like to see at the center of the Democratic platform for this year’s election?
Ending the separation of immigrant children from their families; radical immigration reform, including protection for Dreamers,
policies to combat systemic racism including community-based police department reform, access to quality early childhood education, and quality healthcare coverage for all.
What is your biggest voiceover pet peeve?
When clients send me scripts in Spanish that were translated by Google Translate or by someone who is not a professional translator and they are literally translated in a way that no Latin or Hispanic person would ever speak. It happens more often that I care to say, and puts me in the uncomfortable position of having to point this out to the client and help them fix these problems. I will not voice anything that is not written in proper Spanish, so I’m happy to help with this, but it’s not how I prefer to use my time. I do my best to educate each client so that when they return they’ll have a pro to send the script to in advance. It’s a win/win.
If you could tell political voiceover clients one thing that would help you do your job better, or help them get what they want faster – what would that one thing be?
If you could tell political voiceover clients one thing that would help you do your job better, or help them get what they want faster – what would that one thing be?I frequently record bilingual versions of spots and very often the Spanish is too long for the :30 or :60 time frame. There are 25-30% more words in Spanish than in English, so if the creative team hires a pro translator who understands and practices the script to see if it’ll fit into the amount of time that’s available, by the time the script gets to me it’s good to go. It is usually well written and I don’t have to rush (making it sound like a used car sales ad!) This makes my job way easier and more fun! I love doing political spots for causes and folks I believe in when I get the opportunity.
What advice do you have for talents who want to do political voiceover?
Study with knowledgeable voice acting coaches or an acting coach, listen to political ads and learn about the different styles so you’re fluent in them and will know what approach to take when you get a script.
What hobbies do you have outside of your voiceover work?
I’m a longtime yoga practitioner and I meditate daily. My husband and I also do a vocal improvisation every morning after we meditate together. It’s a great way to start off the day before I exercise. And I LOVE to travel, when it’s allowed! Can’t wait.
Any final thoughts?
It’s an honor for me to be able to represent the Latin community in my political voiceover work. I am frequently hired to be the voice of an immigrant, a business owner, or to voice the spot of a Latin political candidate who is trying to make things better for my community. There is no higher honor than this one, whether it’s in English, Spanish or Hispanic-accented English.