0663 – Creating a Cast of Core Character Voices

2022.10.25 – 0663 – Creating a Cast of Core Character Voices

Creating a cast of core character voices

(This section is also of use for the following part on ‘audiobook narration’ when you may be required to speak in the voices of different characters.)

When you’re given an audition animation script, is not the time to start creating a voice for the character you’re about to play. That process has to start way earlier with you developing your very own ‘cast of characters’ which you ‘know and own’, which you can either use ‘off the shelf’ or whose vocal attributes you can mix and merge to create a new voice ‘in the moment’.

So how do you develop a repertoire of core voices? Use your ears!

Vocal imitation is the basis for learning a language: we simply listen and try to make the same sound. It’s how we develop language, speak like our peers and parents and assimilate into communities.

So, pay attention to how people talk when you meet them or overhear them. All around you, there are people who sound amazing: a husky woman dragging on a cigarette as she talks with friends outside the convenience store; the eager and slick young man who’ll be your friend just long enough to sell you a used car; the plumber sucking on their teeth and shaking their head as they look at a dripping tap in the kitchen; the clichéd student, ‘upper class’ twit or Valley Girl and so on.[1]

Concentrate on listening, not just hearing but truly paying attention to voices: as we’ll talk about tomorrow …

[1] Some people come up with a new character by taking parts of the voice persona of a famous person. They are not trying to imitate that celebrity, but they can use the attributes of say Winston Churchill (jowly and low), or Donald Trump’s cadence, as an ingredient in creating another voice. And of course, the internet is a great source to find a million clips of celebrities, which makes research really easy.

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