Life & Work with Sarah E. Mitchell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah E. Mitchell.

Hi Sarah E., we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Originally from the UK, I moved to USA in 1996 with 26 boxes, four suitcases and a three years old boy. We looked for an apartment in town but with the Olympics, there was no rooms available so we ended up in Cobb County. We love Georgia and the US so much and we have two other children born here, we decided to become more permanent residents than green cardholders. We became citizens and can now vote and get more involved in local elections and politics which is especially important to me. I helped lead a campaign to save The Art Place – Mountain View (which was our performance venue) from possible closure. “Save Cobb Arts”

I looked for a community theatre and found CenterStage North Theatre. This is Cobb County’s oldest Community Theatre and I had the privilege to be Production Director, Director and Actor there for over 20 years producing five plays and musicals a year.

Whilst riding around Atlanta in my car, on the radio came an advert with a King and he proclaimed that his home was a “castle” but the actor mispronounced the word castle – British say [KAA] + [SUHL] so I immediately understood that this wasn’t an authentic accent! I chatted with my chum Jeffrey Umberger, a very well-respected VO Talent Agent here in Atlanta and he told me to get a demo built (this is an audio sample of your work with music and sound effects). He recommended Deborah Richards and she taught me proper microphone technique (Voice Over is indeed still acting) and how to perform all the different genres of Voice Over and we happily built my first demo.

My family and I then moved to Singapore for three years and during that time, I learned the Adobe Audition recording software and did a lot of research on the internet about building my VO business. In 2013 I registered “British Voice Diva LLC” and built my business from home.

I have an isolation booth Home Studio and can connect to the world using Source Connect and regularly work with different time zones.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The hardest part of being a VO Talent is the getting the technical side of the audio correct. Having broadcast quality sound is extremely important. It’s lovely to be booked by a client to go in person to a studio and I’ve worked with great studios in Atlanta. But the pandemic shifted everything to work from home and connecting via the internet (had to upgrade that with everyone at home) and that was how I was able to maintain my business. The isolation booth stops suburban sounds from creeping onto my audio (airplanes, blowers, tree felling, dog barking, etc.) and was built by my husband using a DAW BOX plans.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am authentic British and have not lost my accent living here. I specialize in narrations and e-learning. A lot of international companies thankfully love the British female voice for their presentations. I have worked as presenter voice for Yamaha music at the NAMM festival in LA and introduced some of the most iconic musicians on the planet. My voice was hired for the Pompeii exhibition that toured the USA that guided guests through the exhibition. My proudest moment was voicing a documentary “Crimes Against Humanity” that was presented by Washington University in St. Louis at the United Nations conference Known as Sarah E. Mitchell – so many on IMDB!

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Every year my mum and sister and I would perform with The Park Players which was a Pantomine group (Pantomine story typically has songs and dancing and lots of comedy and audience participation and is a British Christmastime tradition). My favorite was when we performed Cinderella and my mum played the evil Queen. (insert cackle laugh here)

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://britishvoicediva.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britishvoicediva
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarah.mitchell.9275439
• Twitter: @BritishVODiva
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT7JgA4sCxGDcXGn2H7V4sA
• Other: https://www.spotlight.com/3978-1206-5868

Image Credits
Photo headshots by Barbara Beneville Imagery LLC Girls group by Cloud8photo