Ian Pringle
I completed my training as an Actor in 2000 in London UK. One of my first proper paid Jobs on leaving Drama School was a Voice Over project….do you remember Freeserve Broadband? “Be Freed by Speed, with Freeserve Broadband” It was strange to walk into shops and around London and hear my own voice blasting out of computer screens! At the time i did wonder if perhaps Voice Over work was the way to go for me….but I was a young Actor and wanted to be on the stage with other actors. I have always loved performing in live theatre and in particular enjoyed improvised performances…so anyway, I didn’t actively pursue Voiceover (VO). At the time VO was a different business and coincidentally it was Broadband that would change all that. At the time however the VO business was based on getting agents and working in studios mainly around London.
Anyway I hit the road and spent the next 19 years working in Theatre. I toured schools, arts festivals and even Prisons. In fact I worked for 5 Years taking improvised theatre performances and Drama based workshops to Prisons across the UK. I learnt a huge amount and crafted my skill as an Actor and Facilitator. It was amazing work and changed the way I see the world and myself. It also gave a melot to draw on as an Actor…I met some incredible characters along the way.
In 2013 I started a family. I needed money and touring the country in the back of a Van doing theatre work was not financially nor personally viable. This is when the first seeds were planted about potentially re-visiting the world of VO. However it wasn’t until 2018 that I made the decision to go for it.
When i finally landed on the idea of becoming a full time Voice Over Artist and Audiobook Narrator, the whole landscape of the business had changed. With the internet and in particular High Speed Fibre Optics, it was now possible for VO’s to sit at home, in studios, and share their work across the world.
I set about researching and building my own purpose built studio in my home, in Derbyshire UK. My studio is a acoustically treated environment with considerable sound isolation. You can find out more about my studio here.
I love my studio, I love being able to drop the kids at school come home, step in the studio and just get to work doing some acting without the need to leave my local town.