About the Pipes

Jeff Kaylor has been working as a professional voice over talent for nearly a decade, after beginning his career in Dallas, where he found his first agent, the Kim Dawson Talent Agency.

Prior to becoming a voice over talent, Jeff was a senior executive with an international Fortune 500 company. People he met in person, or over the telephone, routinely told him he had a distinctive voice - a memorable voice. He never thought about voice over as an occupation, until an associate, a retired casting agent, interrupted a business meeting to ask Jeff if he had ever done voice over work.

Jeff went home that night and told his wife, Lori, about the random comment made by the retired casting agent. Lori also knew how people routinely commented about her husband's voice, including a utility company service rep he had called earlier that day to report a service issue. "I know I shouldn't say this," said the service rep, "but has anyone ever told you that you have a GREAT voice?"

"It happened to be a two comment day, and the next thing I know," said Jeff, "my wife, a copywriter, is setting-up a 'surprise date night.' After dinner, I found myself recording my first demo in a sound booth with sound engineer Andy Lipholdt at the Goodnight Production Studio in downtown Dallas."

A few months later, a second demo was recorded with one of Dallas' most reputable sound engineers, Gordon Nicol of Scotch Productions. "Gordon has since moved back to Scotland," said Jeff. "And now Scotland has one of the most talented sound engineers in the world. Two weeks after recording that demo with Gordon in Dallas, I had an agent - one of the top agents in the United States."

Today, Jeff brings scripts to life for producers of TV and radio ads, training and promotional videos, and web narrations. He also works with game producers. "Recording character voices is a blast," he says. "I recently recorded a script for a Wii football game producer. One of the characters was a sacked quarterback. By the end of the recording session, I had definitely mastered grunting!"

Jeff's voice over career includes work as an announcer for an AIDS fundraiser in Kansas City. He has also worked as an announcer at corporate events, including an annual awards program hosted by Sam's Club. His voice has even been heard in football stadiums, including Carroll Dragon Stadium, in Southlake, Texas, when Jeff sat in the press box with ESPN and voiced commercials for local businesses.

Since moving from Dallas back to the Kansas City area with his family in 2005, Jeff has been signed by a number of agents. His agent relationships include Exposure Inc. in Overland Park, Real People in Atlanta, Cast Images in Sacramento, Talent Plus in St. Louis, and Edge Studios in New York.

"At first, I thought I'd just try voice over for fun," said Jeff. "I had a demanding position with a large company and being able to come home and lock myself in 'my padded room' with a script, my mic, and my recording equipment was a great way to unwind at the end of the day. I am also a technical geek, and my Avalon M5 and Sennheiser MKH- 416 bring me great joy. I'm still trying to figure out why people send me money for spending time in my padded room!"