Rob Sivak

I have a keen ear for the accents of my native New York City, as well as numerous regional southern dialects. Having grown up abroad, I can mimic the accents and cadences of English-speaking Arabs, Pakistanis and Indians. I have also traveled widely in Europe, and I can nail an Italian, French or Russian accent. Demos to come.

I first discovered the power of voice as a young actor learning how the spoken word - when spoken well - can create a commanding theatrical presence and move an audience. During my 36-year career as a radio-TV broadcaster, my voice reached a global audience and, I hope, made a positive difference in the world. I worked as a radio street reporter, a feature storyteller, a radio newscaster, a documentary narrator and a radio host on hour-long weekend magazines and half-hour sci-tech shows. I learned from all these diverse roles how to shape my voice to suit both the subject and the audience. I’m trained as a writer, actor and broadcast journalist. I earned a BA in English and Communications from Hofstra University in New York. I was no drama major, but I took three semesters of Oral Interpretation classes: lots of public speaking, staged readings, acting, and learning how to unite the voice, body and mind. Oral Interp was as close as I came to the Drama Department, but I‘ve always loved theater arts. As a young man, my resonant voice and outgoing manner helped me land solid roles in some terrific school and community-theater plays - even a few musicals (though I don’t count singing among my strengths, I could sing to save my life). I was lucky to work with several outstanding and creative theater directors in my life, and learned some basics of the voice-acting craft. In 1976, I nearly earned my Masters in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University, but skipped the thesis semester to take a full-time job at Voice of America. I’ve got a Mac-based home studio in a dedicated media room. Installed on my 27-inch iMac (whose optical drive can read and burn projects to DVDs) is my primary audio editor – Avid’s ProTools (v.12x) – connected via USB to a FastTrack Duo mixer. My primary mic is an ElectroVoice RE20, mounted on a boom to cut noise. I need minimal acoustic baffling. I use a Telos phone patch (hybrid) to link in my home fiber-optic landline (Verizon FIOS), when necessary, for interviews or client editing sessions. For digital audio field recordings (news conferences, interviews, nat sounds, etc.), I have my old Marantz PMD/670, but prefer my more compact Zoom H4N recorder. I can dub and edit content from VHS, CD, DVD, phono and audio cassette sources. I can produce and deliver finished audio files via e-mail, FTP, Dropbox or surface shipments, in a variety of digital formats (WAV, AIFF, Quicktime, and of course, standard 16-bit/96kHz interleaved mp3s). I’m using VerizonFIOS’s “Quantum” service, so I enjoy pretty fast 75+ Mbs downloads and 75 Mbs uploads. As a journalist, I instinctively keep up with what’s going on in the world, and my passions and interests are international: I care about global health and the health of the planet, I’m concerned about how we’ll reduce global hunger and increase world food production, and I’m eager to explore solutions to urban poverty, failing schools, and gridlocked transportation systems. I’m someone who greatly enjoys connecting with people, and lifting them up, clueing them in, or giving them hope. I see voice-over work as a way to pursue all of these interests. I also relish the freedom and flexibility of independent work, and look forward to working with a changing roster of creative clients. I'm a committed and conscientious professional; I'm a person who likes to see things through to their satisfying conclusions.