Canals and Pride
My love and admiration for Amsterdam are no longer a secret. A mere glance at my posts will reveal that. Every day I receive a gift from this welcoming city but sometimes its presents are even sweeter than usual.
Het Grachtenhuis
The other day I paid a visit to the newest museum in the historic center of city: Het Grachtenhuis: Gateway to the Canals. The ultimate kick-off to your visit to Amsterdam. The funding house of America’s independence. It opened last year on the 1st of April and after a short renovation it reopened this year on the 31st of March. According to National Geographic it is the new star attraction of Amsterdam. It attracted more than 4 million guests in its first year alone and has received rave revues from cultural critics.
Voice over recording
I had a special reason to visit it: I participated in the recording of the Italian version of its audio tour as female Italian narrator, together with other Italian colleagues. The script was very well written and translated, I must say, and the professionals assigned to the recording and creation of soundtracks and sound effects were a pure joy to work with…
The recording director was not only Italian but a composer and a musician as well.
I had never before had the good fortune of working with an Italian director. It was indeed a rare privilege; so you can imagine how exciting the experience was. Modulating my voice in consonance with intonation, punctuation and emotion and to the accompaniment of a captivating soundtrack furnished by an Italian was an unprecedented collaboration. He had his finger precisely on the pulse and the project was an overwhelming success and needless to say very professionally rewarding for all involved.
Visit
For years I have been leaving my footprints, or rather, my voiceprints and translator-prints in Amsterdam, whether it be in commercial, cultural or educational institutions. This museum had something special in store for sure: in an ancient residence I would find three-dimensional and multi-media presentations. I shall not go into details to prevent spoiling your possible visit. Suffice to say that I am extremely pleased with the final results and with what I saw and heard. I am particularly proud of having voiced the introduction to the audio tour.
Here you can have a glimpse at audio tour
Enjoy your visit!
Simonetta Ronconi
Features image credits: upload.wikimedia.org
Attribution: [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons