Voice warm ups?

[Azure]

Just out of interest how many of you warm up before you record? and how do you do it? I learned how to speak from the diaphram from a book and it helps my evil voices..

[Masahiko]

what i do is, i sit straight, start speaking really low with my diaphragm then get really high. only thing not to do is cough to clear your throat.

[Cecil]

yes I do, and its definately a great idea to. Here I have a section on it at the VA Council here's the link to it: http://www.illuminatedvisions.net/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=5

[Azure]

ahh sweet ^_^

[Cecil]

no prob. the least I can do. I'm always adding new ones too so check back every now and again, I'm working on some new things, a great one: how to get ride of "pops" for producers.

[Ridgewolf]

Yes. Warming up is essential. Personally, I have a checklist of things I go through before I record something. Listing those things here would make this post rather long, but they are worth it. :)

Yes, tongue twisters DO help with diction. :wink:

[Kei]

Stick ur tongue straight out, WIthout touching you lips and without curling ur tongue at the tip.

Its supposedly a good warm up technique...but i cant do it

[sparf]

Deep breathing from the diaphragm, then the following:

"Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba"
"Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta"
"Ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga"
"Ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-ca"

to work out the articulators. Do the sounds for a bit, then switch to the next. Then do some tongue twisters.

"To sit in solemn silence in a dull dark dock of a pestilential prison with a life long lock, awaiting the sensation of a short sharp shock from a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block."

"With stoutest wrists and fiercest boasts, he thrusts his fists against the posts, and still insists he sees the ghosts."

"I am the very model of a modern major general. I've information vegetable, animal and mineral. I know the kings of England and I quote the fights historical, from Marathon to Waterloo in order categorical."


"What a to-do to die today at a minute or two till two. A thing distinctly hard to say, and harder still to do. For they'll beat a tatoo at twenty till two. A rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tat-a-tatoo. And the Dragon will come when he hears the drum, at a minute or two till two today, at a minute or two till two."

Making certain of course to enunciate the ending sounds especially clearly.

I go through a few of those each time before I record. :)

[Ridgewolf]

SPARF! :D

"To sit in solemn silence" is may favorite tongue twister! :shock:

Good show, old son! :wink:


8)

[StNick79]

um, i guess i really dont have warmup. when i record, its usually early in afternoon (which is usualy when i wake up). i just sing a song or 2 just to get rid of that morning grogginess...

not too much help i guess

[Edwyn]

I don't.

This explains how I do the kitty rumble so easily. That's my morning throat. I can only achieve that throat if I've just woken up or had something that contained more than the reccomended amount of chillis.

By the way, avoid milk, peanut butter and orange juice. Especially in a combination. They make your throat sound NASTEE.

[Maverick]

I do some warm-ups, but not nearly as many as I should. I drink plenty of water, flex my voice a bit and dive in. But sparf's got this down to an art form.

[Matt Alan]

^.^ I scream at the top of my lungs in as many different voices that come to my head. Then I sing out random verses. Repeat some of my favorite lines. Scream some more. Do my do rei mi's, if I remember. Get me a cup of orange juice (if avaliable) Scream some more.

Then start recording.

[U-1]

I do a few snorts and hacks to get the snot and mucus out. Then I'm ready to go.

[Aelf]

Stick ur tongue straight out, WIthout touching you lips and without curling ur tongue at the tip.

Its supposedly a good warm up technique...but i cant do it

That's funny, I remember being taught to do that as part of my warm up when I used to sing.

For warm ups when I used to do puppetry characters we used to do all sorts of wierd stuff when I did performance at college. Like making strange sounds like clicking noises, and er, grunting, and things like "eeeiiiiiiiwwwaauuuuu" and "tttkkkksttttakkkk" stuff, making the sounds larger with facial movements. Can't remember all the stuff I got taught though. Hmm, maybe I should have paid more attention.

[Amby Leigh]

I warm up just because it's a force of habit.
I warm up before I sing. I warm up before I act.

[steel_angel]

Wow this helped me! I have been wondering how to warm up my voicea for a while Usually I just cough and try to clear my throat.

[Ishtar]

I learned that a variation of Yoga is a good addition to your voice warm up. Basically you push a pose tilll you literally start tremering... though I'd suggest finding a book on this before trying it.

Breathing exercises are a must, followed by the "bu-du-gu-da" speech exercise (there are more but I just listed the one since I know how to say it more than I know how to type it >.<)

[Lucien]

I'm usually able to instantly know if a part of my range is constricted, and then take steps to release it. Otherwise though, I have to admit I don't do warn ups. Sometimes the voice I need is the voice that I get when I first wake up. I tend to organize the roles that I have to record for by ordering them by first doing the roles that don't need my voice to be warmed up, leading up to voices that need extra resonance, or flexibility. That way by the time I've finished recording the roles which don't need my voice to be warmed up, I've warmed up my voice for the other roles which do. Also if any part involves recording a long series of efforts (efforts = character getting hurt, death screams, picking up a heavy object, jumping, battles cries, etc) I tend to save those for the end of my recording session.

[hideko_dahlia]

Let's just say, if I talk, it's voice acting. Oo;; I'm a nut like that. I act like I breathe. But if it's something special, I say some tongue-twister I learned for musicals and dramas... My favourite has got to be this one,

"What-a to do, to die to-day, at a minute or two till two. A thing distinctly hard to say, but harder still to do. We'll meet at a two, at a quarter till two; and we'll rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat a tattoo, at a minute or two till two to-day, at a minute or two till two."

It's fun. Say it like Mary Poppins, and it's great for diction. That or I do Japanese tongue-twisters. (Hayakuchikotoba) Like, "nama-mugi, nama-gome, nama-tamago."

If I'm having trouble doing a voice, I'll talk in that voice for a while beforing recording a line-- or use my favourite remedy, A SPOONFUL OF HONEY! ^^ Otherwise, I just start randomly talking to my computer, and my family thinks I'm crazy.

[Haushinka]

I usually just talk in character for a while to try to get into the voice. Like when I play Kagome, I'll either improv or go through the little intro thing she always does ("Remember me? I'm Kagome Higurashi. I was your average 15 year old..")

[Runai]

I'm more or less with Lucien, especially in terms of 'prioritising' lines to do depending on how much effort they need. If there's a long laugh in there somewhere, it's going dead last, that's for sure =)

I like to sing (albeit pretty badly) in order to warm up sometimes. Often dig up some lyrics from Japanese songs I've heard and sing along; it kind of helps loosen up the palette a bit, as there's usually more variety in the type of sound.

By the way, thanks for those guides, Cecil! I'll be sure to give some of those practices a go the next few times I'm recording ^^

[Li]

i usually drink a nice big glass of water to my help my voice sound more clear. There are warm ups i should be doing but i'm too lazy. I'll usually read the lines through several times till i feel comfortable with the voice I want to use for auditioning.

[Jenna]

Deep breathing from the diaphragm, then the following:
"To sit in solemn silence in a dull dark dock of a pestilential prison with a life long lock, awaiting the sensation of a short sharp shock from a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block."
I go through a few of those each time before I record. :)

I love that song from the Mikado! I never thought of using it as a warm up though. To be honest I have never bothered with warm ups. Only for singing but not for VAing. I usually find I need to do multiple takes of a line before I am happy with it, so that kind of is my warm up.

[Amakasu Toko]

hm, well my friend who takes singing lessons told me it really improves your voice range is you kinda go "nyyyYYYAAAAAaaayyyyyAAAAA" like, from your nose so it sounds really nasal and weird. Amazingly, it works o.o; I normally do that if i'm trying to tackle a low range song though, since my voice is naturally too high and childish >_o;
for voice acting, i do that or i just read the lines over starting with my normal voice then gradually going to the voice im supposed to speak in XD

[Beware_UY7]

As a musical theatre major... I suppose I'll put in my two bits (or more) about warming up.
Start easy... like humming. Humming 5-1-5 (so do so) and stretching your range in a hum is the best way to start out.
Relax your face, too... scrunch it up all nice and ugly (no one's watching usually, so don't be afraid of looking funny) and then stretch it out.

A few diction excersises... uhmm..
"The tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips." Just repeat it. Then start to say it faster.

"Whether the weather be warm, or whether the weather be hot, we'll weather the weather whatever the weather, whether we like it ot not."

There's a few.

Don't cough or clear your throat. Stay away from dairy and citrus. Avoid belting or useless yelling.

[Akoto]

I sing in the shower to warm up. The acoustics in there are wonderful. :D

[AllyKatAVR]

all I do to prepare is do breathing excersizes, sirening, and saying tongue twisters speeding up as I say them.

[Radiant Paws]

How about just getting yoru voice started by readign fanfiction or some kind of book?

~ LOoks at the link~Ahhh! :D

[Cecil]

By the way, thanks for those guides, Cecil! I'll be sure to give some of those practices a go the next few times I'm recording ^^

Oh hey no problem! You know the VA Council is closing but when it comes back it will have A LOT more stuff like that and more in-depth too! So watch for it :D [/quote]

[natty_dread]

some warmup tounge twisters ive been taught are as follows


good blood bad blood (repeat)

red leather yellow leather (repeat)

six thick thistle sticks

hot coffie in a proper copper coffie pot

...

[Nick Tiner]

I don't really have to worry about screaming lines all tht much. I get tounge tied easilly. So i try and say a few tounge twisters so i can be use to speaking smoothly and fluidly.

[Henageshi]

I do quite a few things to warm up. First thing I do is stretch by doing some yoga moves.

Another thing I do is stand up straight and extend my arm and rotate it in a circle. When the circle goes down I use my voice in a low tone and when it comes up higher I make it louder. So it's like "ooooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOooooh !" I learned that in one of the acting classes I took.

Then I practice breathing. I just take deep breaths through m stomach and exhale.. not too hard.

After that, I drink some water and practice singing scales and do re mis.

Anddd.... thats about it. ^_^

[Jason Axelrod]

So far, the best thing for me to do is to get my heart rate up and get a little hyper. Obviously not enough so that I'm panting or too out of breath to do my lines, but just enough to get me into a deeply hyperactive and outgoing mood.

Whether it's jumping around, boxing, jogging and then even speaking to my dog and two cats or just out loud in whatever voice comes to me is usually how I get in good character. It's helped a lot especially with my Albedo voice.

Though I'll probably wind up trying a few of these.

[wpt1031]

I just put on a cd and sing along with it. It always warms my throat and gets rid of all of that nasty crap in my throat.

[ILuvHeijiHattori]

Stick ur tongue straight out, WIthout touching you lips and without curling ur tongue at the tip.

Its supposedly a good warm up technique...but i cant do it
Koolies! I can accually do that!

[ILuvHeijiHattori]

Stick ur tongue straight out, WIthout touching you lips and without curling ur tongue at the tip.

Its supposedly a good warm up technique...but i cant do it
Koolies! I can accually do that!

[ClokeNdagger]

(Alright, this may sound strange, but lemme explain) Shave your inner nose hairs. As many know, if your sinuses are congested, you can pretty much forget about getting out a good voice performance. Using a small shaver, designed to get at hard to reach areas, to trim down your nose hairs, around the inner walls of your nose, you will notice much more clarity in your voice, and a much more desirable control over your over-all voice, pitch, and quality, especially if you sound nasal from time to time. I've found this to work quite well at decongesting my sinuses, or simply improving my tone.

[-Tsuki-]

I take a big honkin' glass of water, then run through what I'm doing a couple times until i really like it. (which is never...)

[Sweet_Silents]

Breath from the diafram like others said,make a whole bunch of different funky noises like animal noises...and higher pitches and lower ones.Then your suppose to make rumbling sounds with your lips.
And find a sond that has a whole bunch of higher and lower tunes *no words though just music* then try to copy those sounds.

[Cristina]

I won't post everything I do, but here are some warm ups I do before performing~

1) "Red leather, yellow leather, green leather, purple leather" (Repeat continually with increasing speed)

2) "The big black bug bled black blood" (Repeat continually with increasing speed)

3) Cinnamon, Synonym, Aluminum, Menolium (Repeat continually with increasing speed)

[Pamela]

Even though I can't carry a solid tune, I like to sing.. that helps open up my diaphram. Also, if I decide to do lines after I've exercised, that helps a lot. ^_^

[Butters]

Ok, I know this is a stupid question and sorry for asking, but how do you know when you're speaking using your diaphragm and not just producing these sounds from your throat? I need to learn how to properly utilise my diaphragm when doing va work... can someone help me out please? ^^; I've read this topic and I've picked up ALOT of great tips and exercises, thanks everyone!

[Iscabibble]

I must be really boring. I don't do anything at all to warm up! *laughs* :D

[aj]

I'm gonna sound like such a band geek here buuuuut..

If you're in band, the first thing you learn is BREATHING. (You're running around a field AND playing an instrument, you better know how or die. Lol.)

For band geeks, JUST USE THE BREATHING TECHNIQUES TAUGHT TO YA! Your voicebox IS an instrument after all!

:):):):):):):)