Pascale Adelaide
Voiceover Artist

My voice is my instrument, which I work on and train constantly with experts from various fields for audiovisual professionals, because we all have one thing in common: OUR VOICE, which we use to promote and share your word, your messages.

Let me tell you the story of my voice…

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Back in January 2008, I, at long last, decided to make my living using my voice professionally. I set up my company and launched my first website. Clients were interested, orders were coming in and business looked promising.

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In March, I felt the first symptoms of what was to be a distressing episode. I felt discomfort in my larynx. I immediately made an appointment with Professor Jean Abitbol, an eminent French phoniatrics and ENT specialist; then the verdict fell: “You’ve got two options Pascale: either you have surgery on your vocal cords but you mustn’t speak or even whisper for... as long as it takes, or you learn to speak all over again using special techniques, which means you don’t have to go through surgery”.

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Surgery? Not being allowed to speak for who knows how long? My answer was crystal clear: NO WAY, NEVER!

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And, you know what? I’d just finished hours and hours of training in vocal techniques, of all things! But nature and my body had decided otherwise. I’m sure that these methods had helped me and spared me from the inevitable for a while. But now, I had to start all over again or, should I say, learn in a different way.

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So, I discovered a whole new world of vocal cords and everything about how the voice works; I delved into everything I could find on the subject, though not in a disorderly way, but in a sincere, straight to the point way. A sea of possibilities opened up before me. I seized the opportunity. And, oh how fortunate I was as it led to extraordinary experiences and encounters.

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I went to one speech therapy session after another, I took opera and pop rock singing lessons, as well as musical theatre lessons with tenor Pierre-Yves Duchesne (vocal coach to Lara Fabian and Amir, and founder of AICOM - the first European campus dedicated to training in the performing arts), only to discover that I had a four-octave range.

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I also devoured magazines, articles and books on the subject, from a medical, psychological and nutritional perspective. Because if truth be told, diet has a role to play in the quality of your voice. For instance: fancy something sweet or dairy yoghurt just before recording? Forget it! Sweet things cause noises in the mouth and dairy products (like milk) can lead to excess mucus that sticks to your vocal cords... so you clear your throat to get rid of it. Sound engineers can’t stand situations like this and it's not all that pleasant for Artistic Directors during the session.

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Your most faithful friend is water as it moistens your vocal cords. With thyme and a dash of lemon, it's even better!

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But, let’s get back to where we left off…

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This 4-octave range means I can switch between different tones:

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• deep, low-pitched like in Charlotte Rampling's voiceover for Arte                        

• plus higher-pitched, like the Atlas TV advert or the Corporate film for the FFB,

• “medium-pitched” like in the e-learning for MNH.                                                ​​

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By the way, just for info, when drafting your brief, it’s important to specify exactly which pitch you wish me to use.

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I must admit that this episode, which at first scared me, was liberating in the end and taught me a lot... and my clients are ‘apparently’ delighted with the result; their loyalty is a great reward and says it all.

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My references include: Arte, TF1, T18, CherieFM, Nostalgie, Agrica, Clarins, EDF, BNP, Schneider, Total Energies, Orange, Maisons du Monde,… and hopefully You too, soon.

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After a few months of intense work, everything got back to normal.

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I am infinitely grateful to all the professionals who accompanied me and helped me.