Help with differing voices.

[ComeLetsMakeHistory]

Heya!
Well, I'm not sure if there's a thread about this already, but whenever I try to do different voices they seem to sound too samey. Is there any way I may make them vary more?

[~ChibiSammii]

Well, just keep experimenting with your range. Maybe attempt imitations at first so that you get used to your range, then play around with your voice. That's really how I learned how to develop my range. This probably isn't too helpful, but... XD

[tehnoobydude]

Practice I guess, it takes time T_T

[Pratorian]

I was actually going to ask this question myself. But I think I may have another problem. I practice a lot but I forget what voices and ranges I do. It just can be really hard to recall them most times. I think my bad memory plays a role. Any ideas?

[~ChibiSammii]

I was actually going to ask this question myself. But I think I may have another problem. I practice a lot but I forget what voices and ranges I do. It just can be really hard to recall them most times. I think my bad memory plays a role. Any ideas?

No real ideas, but just keep practicing them every day. The only thing you can do is try to remember XD

[XTREEMMAK]

This is actually something I'm working on myself so I'll give you some advise that I can offer.

My character range isn't insanely extensive yet. One truth exists stating that it doesn't take a voice actor with many voices to get voice over work. You don't have to be Mel Blanc to get VO work. If you can execute a few amount of voices professionally, it's better than executing a plethora of different voices amateurishly. However it's an equal truth that the one who can offer more for less get's more jobs as well.

In any case, I would first develop the voice that you know the most...particularly the one that you use every day. Ask yourself, how does this character say this line with my voice? Experiment with your acting ability. Ask yourself then, who is this character? Is this character being portrayed as "x" the way I'm doing it?

Assurance of your ability as an actor is key. We can only get so far without secondary criticism, so if when practicing a line you still feel that it might not be there yet, record the line and ask your pears here and get a critical review. DONT EXCEPT "Ohh that was nice" or "WOOW You go with your bad self" as anything critically meaningful. A credible or a reviewer who is building credibility will take the time to break down your performance bit by bit. Depending on how detailed that review is, depends on the reviewers patience and competency.

One additional practice here to use with your own voice is to frequently talk with the radio. Act the roll exactly as it's being performed by the "professional" on the radio. Once you learn it, try to vary it up your own way. Lastly, act out or try to free create a commercial or line using the signs you pass by everyday as fuel.

Ok after you've become more comfortable with your natural voice, GET A PAPER! Write in the middle of it, "Natural voice".

Now here is what I've done to start creating voices. Experiment with vowel sounds . For example, "ah", "eh", "ee", "oh", and "oo". Taking "ah", hold the "ah" through every word you say. It may sound strange, but you'd be surprised with what you can come up with. Holding it is the hard part and what you'll find is that adjusting or squeezing the opening of your throat (with your throat muscles) will help hold the implied sound. Now when I say open throat, imagine a frog how when he croaks pushes his throat out. Pretty much the same thing. Squeezing is the reverse.

Another thing to experiment with is inflections or little sizzles, wiggles, etc. that happen in your voice at certain times. Depending on how they are executed, you can achieve some more interesting characters.

Another thing to try is experimenting with rhythmic cadences. This is something I'm also learning about a bit more as it falls under the umbrella of accents. From what I understand on this subject thus far is that "character" can be achieved at almost any point in a sentence. If you have rhythm or know a little bit about music, this could help you some. It's a little hard to explain without an audio example. If you need more information about what I've gathered on this thus far, Let me know and I'll try to explain it with an audio file or something.

Edit:
Think about how the traditional Dracula say "I want to suck your blood" vs. how you'd normally say it. The exaggerated natural rhythm between each word is the rhythmic cadence. Each accent has one and learning them could open more opportunities to other characters.

There are many things to try. For me, it's beginning to learn more accents and the fundamentals of creating them. However, it's not the fact that the accents alone increase my character range, but once you understand the nuances of accents, you can combine them to create even more characters! This is one of the techniques Mel Blanc used to create characters like Bugs Bunny. Search on YouTube for his interviews. You'll learn something there.

After all is said and done and you've found your new character, take that same piece of paper and give this character a name. It might also be a good idea to separate the characters by range. In some cases, you may actually find that you have overlap of your said character. As best I can get it here, here is my character list:

---Low--
Demon Lord
Gruffy
Clint Eastwood
Natural
Eugene the Buttler
Marvin the Martian
Lizzard Man
Squeaky
---High----

After doing so, you might also find that you can combine two characters in the list to create new ones. For example, my "Mark Hamill Joker" voice is a mix between Lizzard man and Squeaky.

Another thing to consider is mouth positioning. The shape of your mouth can also have an effect on your character. For example, what would happen if we did the Mark Hamill Joker, with your lips tucked under your teeth? Chances are, you might get a very creepy old man.

There are probably an infinite amount of possibilities on the process of characterization. These are just some of the ones I know and have experimented with. Eventually, it will be your job to take what you've learned and apply them by looking at image portraits and becoming the character in under 5 minutes. Doing so will definitely give you a heads up in your pro career.

For what it's worth, I hope something here helped

[monisstar]

^ Ooh.. Thanks a lot for the helpful tips XTREEMMAK! I am definitely gonna try these!!

[Mooshu_Beef]

I'm no pro by any means, I grew up trying to make different voices and I feel like it helped simply to be LISTENING to people and accents. If you are cognizant that people are talking differently, you kind of pick up on their speech pattern as a whole. It's just just an accent, but it's way to say things, like for the Dracula example:

"I want to suck your blood"

You can say it in the vampire cadence (the rhythm), but for the complete accent, it's more:

"Aye vant tuu suck your bluud"

The challenge is being comfortable enough with an accent or character voice where you do these things naturally. It's not just about saying "OK British accent means I don't say my T's" but being comfortable with speaking from the back of your throat where it JUST SO HAPPENS that T's in the middle of words don't sound.

So my big suggestion is: Listen. Listen to people. We all have the same tools for speaking but we all use it in a different way. It's not about listing down how everything is enunciated but about where they are naturally speaking from, and how they carry themselves.

Again I am no pro but this is what I believe is the key to different voices.

[pyromaster]

You can try different textures, accents and tones in short. Try to cover all ranges of your voice, from low to high. When doing lower voices, work on your neck muscles because that can really help. I can't really explain it, but it really helps in maintaining the pitch and having a full voice. When doing a voice with texture, like a chalky voice, use more of your throat. With higher voices, I tend to speak with a softer voice if that helps. Unless I have to yell and such. Also, always try having a full voice when speaking, it will always sound better. Unless you want to play a nasal type of character. Some people forget to breath when they're in front of a mic, so make sure you sound as natural as possible by taking small pauses to breathe. That way your lines don't sound rushed or like you're running out of breath.


How to Disguise Your Voice Check out the link, its an interesting video. Hope it helps and good luck! The most important part is practicing and having fun with it. Record your self constantly and see you develop a certain voice over time.

[Ceraisian-Alchemist]

I was actually going to ask this question myself. But I think I may have another problem. I practice a lot but I forget what voices and ranges I do. It just can be really hard to recall them most times. I think my bad memory plays a role. Any ideas?

What I've been doing is that I make sort of like an audio library of the different kind of voices that I can do. And then if I learn how to do a new one, I make another recording and just keep adding to my voice library.

Of course, I'm still relatively new to voice acting myself, so I don't have very many to begin with. lol