Conversations with Nick Di Cola

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Di Cola.

Hi Nick, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
As a kid moved from Carlsbad, CA where every one of my friends and teachers spoke Spanish to Rochester, NY where I noticed a strong accent in their English. That was the clearest start of my interest in languages and the way people sounded. I was enthralled with the idea of being able to sound like someone and somewhere else!

I went to University of Rochester for Linguistics and did my graduate work in London at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in Voice Studies. From there I have had a very eclectic career from teaching voice and accent in a drama school setting, serving as voice coach and director for the Amazon Alexa and Polly voices, to inventing languages for video games!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In many ways yes, but one major hurdle was being denied visas to the UK despite having recommendations from the Head of Voice of the National Theatre of the UK, as well as the Head of the International Centre for Voice. That major shift led me to moving to Los Angeles! The world of a client or project-based business model is that you’re always looking for the next gig or reliant on the good graces of other people, which can be a struggle in an industry that’s difficult for many to break into.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As a voice, dialect, and dialogue coach with a broad and eclectic experience, I have picked up a few things I’m known for. I’ve directed the voiceover (VO) sessions of nearly 20 different Text-To-Speech voices for Amazon, Disney and other companies wanting proprietary voices for their business. Before advancements in AI, these sessions would be a full-time endeavor for a duration of about 6-8 weeks working with one VO artist and a small team of sound engineers. With that expertise, I’ve consulted for companies wanting to improve their in-studio productivity during a VO session.

Another project I”m quite proud of was having served as the Language Advisor or the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle video game in which I invented the Adamic language and served as dialect coach for that and other foreign languages during the Performance Capture filming. It was a wonderful, creative pursuit and was able to contribute to and support the wonderful performances of the actors in that game. As a linguist, former improv actor, and of course, trained voice and dialogue coach, I am really able to connect with actor’s and help them achieve their vocal goals using their strength.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Most people are surprised by my job in and of itself or that my experience is as broad as it is. I’ve coached on the West End in London, worked with every English-speaking voice of Alexa… Oh yeah, I guess this is a good one…

I also act, and there are many opportunities to do so in LA if you’re open minded. When I first moved to LA, I signed up for acting websites and call services that’ll book you to be background, audiences in game shows, etc. One of the gigs I got was to serve as a body double to a man who plays a character that is a Kraft Mac and Cheese hermaphrodite version of the DJ, Daft Punk, called Kraft Punk. Basically a neon orange body suit, suit jacket and motorcycle helmet covered in Kraft Mac and Cheese. They needed someone to be a body double to film him getting live-painted by an artist who was one of the guests on the show while he was filming another segment at the same time. I had just moved back to the US and was a little behind on US cultural phenomenon on Netflix as UK Netflix plays different documentaries.

The artist who was the guest and was live painting me was Rachel Dolezal. At the time there was a major Netflix documentary about her, which I had NO IDEA about as I didn’t have Netflix and recently back and hadn’t seen any news stories about her, I went in completely clueless as to who she was. I spent my time with her complimenting the fact she was featured on the show and excited about her documentary….

Pricing:

• Free first assessment meeting via zoom.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nickdicola.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ndvoicecoach
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dicolavoice
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-dicola-ba00a139/

Image Credits
Marios Gavrilis, Tony Todd, Alessandra Mastronardi