JMS VOICES has a wide range, and can
become just the sound you’re looking for!
Jim’s mature style and powerful, warm tone yield the perfect product for commercials and narrations that require a relatable, trustworthy voice with just the right hint of vibrance and enthusiasm. His unique ability to combine being gentle and sincere with being very persuasive easily connects with the listener, while his relaxed, yet clear and concise delivery is certain to command their attention. Real estate narration and eLearning especially benefit from his ability to engage viewers, and his theatrical background allows for the creation of classic video game archetypes. Jim’s experience allows him to offer dynamic vocals for every project’s unique needs.
A Powerful Vocal Presence
James (Jim) Shelton has always had a notable voice. As a young man, his voice was powerful even without training. It only developed further as he took time in high school to participate in acting, public speaking, and competitions in forensic oral interpretation and Shakespearian theatre. He developed a resonant, smooth, mellow, yet bold and commanding tone which is very pleasant to listen to.
A Seasoned Voicover Veteran
Jim was drafted into the U.S. Army shortly after leaving high school. Due to a higher than average aptitude in English comprehension, and an ability to write, he was sent to Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana, to train as a military journalist. As it turned out, the Army also needed broadcasters. Jim auditioned and because of his bold, confident tone, got his start in radio broadcasting. He was trained as a U.S. Army Broadcast Specialist and began his career with the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. Upon completing his training, Jim was assigned as an announcer in the U.S. Army hospital at Fort Carson in Colorado, where he played music and requests, and provided news and information for patients and staff on a closed circuit radio station. He was then sent overseas to Teagu, Korea where he worked as a disc jockey and program director at Radio Kilroy for the American Forces Korea Network. While at Radio Kilroy he was responsible for creating and producing informational radio spots and public service announcements, training other broadcasters, and overseeing the day to day operations of the station. This experience helped him hone his talents as a broadcaster and voiceover artist.
A Man of Many Talents
Upon returning stateside, Jim said farewell to radio and the Armed Services and went to work in the electric utility industry. There, he built a successful career over forty years, taking on roles with increasing responsibility, from building electric substations from the ground up, to supervising whole crews of electrical workers and managing maintenance and construction activities. It was also during this time that he met and married his wife, who worked at the same utility company; and it wasn’t long before the couple had a daughter, Julia, who ended up sharing her father’s attraction to acting. In fact, it was thanks to his daughter’s idea to take a voice acting class together at the local community college, that Jim was reintroduced to the world of voiceover. Although he was still working full time in the electric industry, Jim was looking for something else, and he decided to create JMS Voices when he retired from the utility industry.
A Bold, Charismatic Voiceover Artist
To further this eventual goal, Jim decided to train with Lisa Foster of Such a Voice, who was the instructor for the community college class he and Julia had attended. He completed his training and produced his demos with Such a Voice, also engaging in additional training with Joleene Derks, the Such a Voice Marketing and Career Advisory Coach, and completing her Guru Success course. Today, you can find Jim’s confident, charismatic voice helping projects stand out from the crowd. He is delighted to be at the microphone once more, doing something that he has always had a passion for.
Specializing in video games and animation, Julia’s background in theatre and training with such voice acting legends as Wes Johnson lends her tremendous versatility, enabling her to easily bring to life a wide array of unique characters. In non-character work, her rich, soothing tone and smooth, conversational delivery make her the ideal voiceover artist to provide the perfect balance between approachability and sophistication. Real estate narrations, eLearning, and IVR/Telephony systems especially benefit from her voice, as her clear, confident diction makes for engaging and pleasant listening. Julia offers the best of all worlds with her warm, adaptable style.
A Budding Voiceover Talent
You could say that Julia Wilson, Jim’s daughter, started her voiceover journey while still in elementary school, when she would read aloud to her parents on long car rides simply because she enjoyed it. Using her voice acting to bring the characters in the books to life brought her no end of delight. Fast forward to 2011, just before her junior year of college, when she encouraged her father to take a voiceover class with her in the interest of getting him into the industry. During the class, it quickly became apparent that she could easily build a voice acting career as well. With a natural voice equally as notable as her father’s, and with the additional talent of being able to morph it into a veritable plethora of characters, Julia kept voiceovers in mind while she attended Hillsdale College in Michigan.
Growing Her Acting Experiences
At Hillsdale, she followed her passion for theatre by obtaining a minor in the subject, further developing her natural vocal strength, as well as honing her ability to craft unique characters according to the requirements of a script. She embodied wildly varying roles, from tragic heroines like Hecuba in Ellen McLaughlin’s The Trojan Women, to the deviously shape-shifting Lord of the Underworld in Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice (a role which required no less than three completely unique personas — one of which was a man!), to an ensemble character who had to step into various roles from peasant to princess throughout the production of Mary Zimmerman’s Mirror of the Invisible World.
The Winding Path to Voiceovers
Julia didn’t immediately choose to pursue voice acting at this point, however. God had blessed her with multiple talents, one of which was a healing touch. She pursued massage therapy and opened a successful business which she ran for six years. During that time, she was blessed to meet and marry the love of her life, move to Texas, and start a family. It was during her pregnancy with her first child in late 2019, when massage therapy was no longer as feasible a career for a mother who wanted to be home with her children as much as possible, that Julia once more looked into voiceovers as a way to continue cultivating her creativity while also allowing time for her husband and children.
A Versatile, Unique Voice Talent With Character
Julia chose to train with well-known industry talent Michael Yurchak through the Such A Voice coaching program, the same program her father had used to launch his voiceover career. Her background in theatre made it a breeze for her to take direction and breathe life into scripts. Within just a few months, her training was complete and her demos were cut. Now, she brings her adaptable voice acting and easy directability to the industry, ready to elevate your project to new heights.
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