Voice Description

According to my clients: 'clear, pleasant and reliable voice sound'.
'Natural and reassuring'. 'Bright, powerful and impressive'.

Commercials: from warm and deep till strong hard sell.
Corporate videos: convincing, friendly and clear.
Instructional and educational: bright, easy and explicative.

Though I am often categorized as a warm deep low voice; most of the jobs I do are with my more natural (higher) voice sound.

Sometimes they cast me to be the 20 year old son, sometimes as the 50 year old father. Most of the times as a man who has no particular age in his voice sound. When people who know my voice meet me face to face, some of them say: "I thought you were older", others say: "I thought you were younger".

Voice Genders and "Ages" I Can Perform

• Teenage Boy
• Young Adult Male
• Middle Age Male

Language(s) of Which I Am a Native Speaker:

• Dutch

I Offer my Services for these Recording Purposes

• Commercials
• Promos
• IVR, voicemail, phone systems, and on-hold messages
• Training, business presentations, sales, and web sites
• Videogames
• Documentaries
• TV shows and movies
• Movie and game trailers
• Songs
• Others (on-camera, informercials, live announcers, spokespersons)

Jobs I Am Willing to Take (Union-wise)

• Non-Union Jobs

My Union Affiliations and Memberships

None

My Recording and Delivery Capabilities

• I will go to any designated studio in my area
• I can record and then deliver the audio files via Email
• I can record and then upload the audio files via FTP
• I can record and then deliver the files by regular mail

Pre-, Post- and Production Services I Offer

• I offer copywriting services
• I offer translation services
• I can deliver edited and finished voice tracks
• I offer voice direction services
• I offer radio ad production services
• I have a music library and can add music to any project
• I can add special effects to any project

My Home Base

Ede, Netherlands

Accents, Impersonations, Characters and Dialects

Standard, common, 'official' Dutch. As spoken in The Netherlands.

Please note that I am native Dutch. I was born in The Netherlands and have always lived here. Even more: I live in the area where the most pure Dutch is spoken. There is no distracting accent or dialect in my intonation and pronunciation.

I hope you consider this seriously if your production is meant for the Dutch market. What may sound Dutch to you, may sound very strange to people living in The Netherlands. I guarantee you that the recordings I deliver are in proper undisputed Dutch that is spoken and understood today in The Netherlands.

My Voice Experience

Main line of international work is corporate, instructional/educational and presentations. Brands that used my voice include: Amway, Bouwfonds, Canon, CretaColor, DHL, Dutch Government, Halfords, Kenteq, LyondellBasell, Nefit, Shell, Spyker, TomTom.

I am 'the voice' in all Burger King tv and radio commercials in The Netherlands since 2002. But also in commercials for Alfa Romeo, Bart Smit, Gatorade, Napoleon, Nikko, Nintendo and many more.

The shortest script I ever recorded contained only 1 word (and it was also one of the toughest of them all). The longest script I recorded contained over 25,000 words.

My Training

Started as a singer, guitarist and keyboard player.

Studied musical composition at the Conservatory of Utrecht (High School of the Arts).

Worked as a recording engineer and voice director in a post production studio for 8 years.

Decided to concentrate on voice work from the third time a voice talent who was behind the microphone said to me: "Man, you should be in my chair".

Composing music is still something I do in my free time. Beyond doubt the best way to keep the ears in shape. And believe me: for a voice talent good ears are even more important than a good voice.

My Studio Equipment

Apple MacPro * ProTools * Logic * MBox2Pro.
Sennheiser MKH-416 and Neumann U-87 microphones.
Dedicated sound booth with perfect acoustics.
Blue Sky monitoring.
Sennheiser HD 280 and HD 595 headphones.
Mackie Big Knob studio command system.

Dedicated ftp file server with huge capacity. I upload my recorded files to the server, then I send you an email with a link that you can click on, and downloading will start automatically. No hassle with user names or passwords, still 100% safe.

I can deliver in any possible file format. MP3 (32 till 320 kbps), WAV and AIFF. From 5 kHz till 192 kHz. From 8-bits till 32-bits. Normally you would go for 16-bits and 44.1 or 48 kHz.

More specific formats are also possible: Dialogic Vox, Pika, MP1, MP2, MP4 (AAC), SDII, MACE 3:1, VOC, System 7 Sound, CCITT G.726, AVR, Paris Linear... just name it.

Oh... and one of the great treasures in my studio is a Wurlitzer 200A electronic piano (from 1974). Has nothing to do with voice recording, but perhaps you dig the vibe.

Additional Skills

Great experience in 'sync reading', meaning that the original (English, German or French) voice is on my headphones and I read and speak the Dutch translation along.
What I consider to be one of my best qualities is the ability to speak fast without sounding rushed. Quite convenient since a Dutch translation is usually longer than the original script.
I always succeed in 'making it fit'. Either by speaking faster, adapting the script or by digital manipulation afterwards.

I am a member of the Foundation 'Our Dutch Language' which helps me keep a close eye on the current status, developments and pitfalls of the Dutch language.
Whenever my eye meets a word or sentence that seems not totally right, I will mention this to my client, ready to discuss the matter.

In my studio I do a lot of voice recordings with other voice talents. Keeping my technical and directional skills up to date.

Payment Methods Accepted

• PayPal
• Personal checks, cashier's checks, or money orders in my local currency
• Personal checks, cashier's checks, or money orders in any currency
• Wire transfers

Online Payments Via PayPal

Contact Information

To contact Willem Van Den Top by email or phone, please click here.

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