• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Roy Samuelson

Roy Samuelson

voice over artist

  • Roy’s Recent Credits
  • Demos & Bio
    • Samples of Roy’s Work
  • Featured Titles
  • Audio Description
  • News About Roy
    • Articles and Interviews
  • Contact

movies

Audio Description, News

Nation’s Blind Podcast

March 4, 2020 – Audio Description: A Professional Perspective (Part 2 of 2)

This episode of the Nation’s Blind Podcast is the second of two episodes exploring the topic of audio description. Chris Danielsen chats with Roy Samuelson, voiceover artist and audio description narrator for hit shows like NCIS and Star Trek, Picard, and major motion pictures like the Oscar-nominated 1917. Roy talks about how he discovered the field of audio description, his evolution from narrator to passionate advocate, how collaboration with the blind people who make up the audience is essential to quality audio description, and how blind people can and should become involved in its creation and production.

https://www.nfb.org/sites/www.nfb.org/files/2020-03/nations_blind_podcast_march_4_audio_description_1_0.mp3

audio description, interview, movies, narration, narrator, news, tv series

Audio Description, News, Uncategorized

Blind Pride International

Around 49:44, Joel Snyder introduces me to this call in conference. This entire conversation shares a lot of valuable feedback from audiences and professionals.

An eyeball with rainbow colors surrounding a globe iris: Blind-LGBT Pride International
Here’s the selection in audio

audio, audio description, interview, movies

Audio Description, News

Life After Blindness

LifeAfterBlindness.com with a blue paint splash along the left side

https://lifeafterblindness.com/39

podcast link

download link

From LifeAfterBlindness.com:

It’s an audio description extravaganza on the Life After Blindness Podcast! First, I speak with audio description narrarator and voiceover artist, Roy Samuelson about the creation process and the current state of audio described content. Then, I show you how to turn on the audio described track within 5 of the top video streaming services. And finally, I share my thoughts on the availability of audio description, accessibility and the future of AD.

If you would like to support Life After Blindness, please donate here. Thanks!
A Conversation about audio description.
Roy Samuelson is a voiceover artist and audio description narrarator who has lent his voice to well over 500 national network episodes and blockbuster films. This includes NCIS, Lethal Weapon, Star Trek Picard, 1917, Spiderman Far from Home and Spiderman Homecoming, . Roy is also known for his voiceover work on many popular video games and television commercials.

Roy begins our conversation by talking about what audio description is by comparing it to color commentating on a live sports event. He then describes the process of creating an audio description track beginning with the writing, the recording and editing. He explains the maticulous planning and creativity that goes into producing an audio described track.

Roy discusses his excitement over how much audio description has grown in recent years. He is particularly excited about new streaming services as well as work behind the scenes that will continue the growth of and access to audio description.

Roy is a big believer in advocacy. We talk about consumers asking for audio description for The Dark Crystal series and Daredevil on Netflix. In each case, the community spoke up and they got results.

Next, Roy tells me about how he got started doing voiceover work and how that has affected how he narrators an audio description track. Roy played a gangster in the former Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World where he was really able to sharpen his acting and narration skills.

Roy has a passion for storytelling and connecting to an audience. In this interview, Roy definitely demonstrates that passion and the dedication that it takes to create an audio description track.

He continues to learn as well as teach, conducting occasional workshops for other narrators.

I am so grateful that Roy took some time to speak with me for this interview. He tells so many great behind-the-scenes tidbits and anecdotes. It was such a joy to speak with him!

If you would like more information about Roy Samuelson, you can visit his website, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Additional resources for audio description that we discussed are:
The Audio Description Project from the American Council of the Blind. (ACB)
Audio Description Discussion Facebook Group
On Twitter, follow the hash tags #AudioDescription #KnowYourNarrator and #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs

Todays Tech Tip
Continuing the audio description extravaganza, I show you how to activate the AD track within 5 of the top video streaming services.

You will hear me navigate through the player controls of Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV+, Netflix, Disney+ and CBS All Access. I demonstrate this on my iPhone 7 using iOS 13.3.1.

As a little bonus, I show how accessible most of these apps are and how one in particular is not so accessible.

Just my two cents about AD
To close out the show, I spend a few minutes talking about the current state of audio description and where I hope it will progress to in the future. I also share my displeasure with the way that AD tracks are licensed and distributed.

Overall, I think that the future of audio description looks good. It’s just that the road to get there might be a bit rocky. But as long as we keep advocating for accessibility and inclusion, we will hopefully get there faster and together.

If you have any comments or questions, please send your emails to: tim@LifeAfterBlindness.com. You can also leave me a voice mail by calling, 201-855-5221.

Please join me again next time as we continue our journey together to find that there truly can be a life after blindness.

audio description, interview, movies, podcast, tv shows

Audio Description, News

Box Office Pro (Film Journal) article

Hearing the Picture: How Audio Description Creates a True Movie Experience for the Blind and Visually Impaired

(Image link description: A recording studio with engineers, equipement, and two narrators behind glass in front of a mic)

article, audio description, interview, movies, tv

Audio Description, Audio Samples, Clients

The Great Wall

https://www.roysamuelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Great-Wall-The.mp3

Chinese characters above the title "The Great Wall" - an image of Matt Damon with other characters with swordsThe Great Wall

 

audio description, feature, movies, narrator, Universal

Primary Sidebar

Stay Up to Date

Sign up for Roy’s fan newsletter and you’ll get updates about his latest work and other announcements.

Sign Me Up

Browse Roy’s work

Browse by Tag

ADR amazon animation announcer article audio audiobook audio description cbs all access comedy commercial corporate discovery documentary dvd feature features FOX industrial interview kcrw loop group movie movies narration narrator NBC online podcast promo radio sample series short film sony streaming tv Universal Universal Pictures video video game voice of god voice over vo samples youtube

Choose Your Category

  • Audio Description
  • Audio Samples
  • Clients
  • Featured Client
  • News
  • Uncategorized

Listen to Samples of Roy’s Work

two examples

Star Trek Picard CBS All Access. Jean Luc looks down at a dog, in front of a vineyard, lit by a vast sunset

Star Trek: Picard

A yellow background with a bloodied letter X crossing out the words "Amazon Original HUNTERS"

Hunters

Bloodshot official trailer. Vin Diesel looks at camera. The "o" in bloodshot is whited out like a gunshot

Bloodshot (SAMPLE Audio Description)

An image of Abraham Lincoln from the $5 bill "The Lincoln Project"

The Lincoln Project: Maga Church video with Audio Description

The word Universal hovers over the Earth

Nuance in Audio Description

The word SOLVE in front of 4 shadowed faces in a red filtered background.

Solve: Til Death Do Us Part

Typed words "DailyBloid"

Daily Bloid

White letters on a blue background" "Warren" underlined

Elizabeth Warren Campaign Ad

Logo Pete over a white bridge shape, between the numbers 20 and 20

Had To | Pete Buttigieg Campaign Ad

Roy’s Twitter Feed

Retweet on TwitterRoy Samuelson Retweeted
CityofAngelleAngelle Haney Gullett@CityofAngelle·
17 Apr

@RoySamuelson Any time the question is "Do you want to watch #MadMaxFuryRoad?" my answer is YES!

And I've never watched anything with audio description before, so yay for new experiences! #TADAChallenge

Reply on Twitter 1383236647421038594Retweet on Twitter 13832366474210385941Like on Twitter 13832366474210385942Twitter 1383236647421038594
Retweet on TwitterRoy Samuelson Retweeted
jrodadaptsJordan Rodriguez👨🏻‍🦯@jrodadapts·
16 Apr

Anyone want to do this with me? 👨🏻‍🦯 https://twitter.com/RoySamuelson/status/1382926149332848642

Roy Samuelson@RoySamuelson

Happy Audio Description Awareness Day!
Today, @BoldBlindBeauty launches The Audio Description Awareness Challenge. #TADAChallenge:

Find a friend to watch a tv episode or movie of your choice with audio description

By the end of the month, post your experiences on social media

Reply on Twitter 1383110882700382209Retweet on Twitter 13831108827003822091Like on Twitter 13831108827003822091Twitter 1383110882700382209

Roy’s Facebook Page

Roy Samuelson Biz

Copyright © 2021 · Roy Samuelson Fans · All Rights Reserved.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok