Matthew Lehtola

Well, I can do some voices, but only in spurts. I have yet to reach a level where I can carry on a full conversation in character (other than my own). That said, my "old man" voice is pretty good, and I can nail the villain with aplomb. The redneck accent is also relatively easy for me. My strongest asset is my deep voice, which is growing deeper by the year.

I got started with voiceover in 4th grade via the morning announcements (which I read over an intercom in the main office of my elementary school). I continued this practice in middle school, where, in 7th grade, my voice plummeted to new depths. Everybody started telling me I had a great set of pipes. Combined with an insane love for music, I decided that I wanted to be a radio DJ. I continued to do the morning announcements in high school, which had a full-on TV studio, never mind televisions in every classroom. I anchored the morning news broadcast, and also became the go-to announcer for performances put on by the drama department. In college I signed up to be a DJ at the University of Florida's student-run radio station, Rock 104, where I eventually became Music Director and worked all day parts. There, I learned, in addition to having a solid voice, I was also a dab hand at crafting audio imagery. I began honing my radio production skills, churning out promos, commercials and bumpers (doing the voiceover for each spot). Added to a natural talent for writing (I majored in magazine journalism because the telecommunication classes were a joke) I had the ability to create radio commercials from scratch - complete vertical integration! However I knew, though I had been blessed with a booming voice, without training, it would never reach its full potential. So, as a graduation present to myself, I signed up for (and successfully completed) an intensive kinesensic training program in voice and body work, developed by Arthur Lessac. It changed the way I spoke, the way I did voiceover, everything, 100% for the better, and I still practice Lessac methods to this day. I worked at the radio station for another year, eventually deciding to move to New York City (to see if I could hack it with the best). There, I landed an internship with a budding internet radio station called BTR, where I've been ever since, honing my voiceover craft whilst producing 4 radio shows a week. At BTR, I've hosted well over a thousand podcasts, built a music library from the ground up, interviewed hundreds of up-and-coming bands & recording artists, and crafted unique audio imagery for all of my radio shows. I've covered the CMJ & SXSW music festivals for BTR (4 years & running), written a slew of articles about current music, produced radio dramas and remixed songs. Now, at 33 years of age, having spent the majority of my working life talking into a microphone, my voice has matured into an experienced instrument. It's getting deeper, richer, and more arresting by the day. I'd love to share it with you. I graduated cum laude from the University of Florida in 2004, majoring in magazine journalism & minoring in film. After that I completed a intensive kinesensic training program in voice and body work, developed by Arthur Lessac, in which one basically learns an entirely new way to speak. I hope to do another one soon, but the courses are quite expensive. For the past 5 years, I've hosted a music-centered talk show @ www.breakthruradio.com called In The Den. I interview up & coming bands, report current music news and tell stories culled from my life experiences. All of this, of course, involves a whole heck of a lot of writing. Over the years I've learned how to write for radio very well. You wouldn't know I was reading something, and I try to make it sound as natural as possible. Lately I've been discovering the ridiculous power of the well-placed pause... Also, unlike most talk radio shows, I don't have a producer, or an intern, or co-host, or any help. I do it all myself, crafting the audio imagery for each unique segment, setting up the interviews, picking the music, et cetera. One thing I really like to do (but don't always have the time for) is tell a story, and then add sound effects & music to that story, making for something you might hear in an episode of RadioLab. As far as music, I know quite a bit. In addition to my talk show, I also host two music-based shows every week (The Synapse & The Dapper Fitting Drinking Hour), which focuses on up-and-coming bands that most people have never heard of. If you take a gander at my Soundcloud page, you can listen to a bevy of interviews I've recorded with some of those bands & recording artists (as well as intros to podcasts I've created, weird audio collages and story mixtapes). More later, got to eat dinner...