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VOICE ACTING 10 Ways To 'Place' Your Character Voices: From Natural To Monster, Nasal And Pug  By Elley-Ray HennessyVoice Talent & Coach There are infinite qualities of vocal magic, but the basis of most of these is the foundation for character voices - along with rhythms, speeds, compressions, weights and efforts in expression. Let's look at which placements are most useful to the voice over professional. 1. Signature. The natural place in which you communicate daily, to which you can add accents, compressions, aspirations, emotional rhythms, etc. to change it up. 2. Head Voice. Reaching to the top of your head inside - a higher pitched or falsetto. Men tend to dislike this placement, but it's a wonderful addition to many characters. 3. The Mosquito. Do not be confused - this is not a high note. Imagine that you have blown up a balloon and have the lips of the balloon in your fingers, pulled apart and air is releasing. It is a very high-pitched expression of air from a place of holding your breath and allowing this piercingly bright, high quality to escape. 4. Soft Palette Pull. If you imagine the yawn and
then hold the structure, you will have a
round, back-of-the-throat sound. This sound is
generally used for an older character
or lower status character.
5. Swallow. This is when you pull down into the lower
throat region (Kermit the frog) and
then compress the muscularity above it to hold up
higher in the back, as if you had
phlegm at the back of your throat and went to
dislodge it - that is where the hold is.
6. Low or Barrel. A low, thick placement that is
weighted in the chest with pressure
from above and below to keep it held there.
7. The Mask. A placement that is used quite a bit
in animation. If you suck helium,
it causes your cords to shrink and you sound like a
munchkin. But you can shrink the
muscularity of your cords yourself by pulling them
into themselves just like when you
take your outstretched arm and then fold it in half
when curling a dumbbell. It is also
like pulling a bowstring back in archery - a unique
quality.
8. Monster. This is a compressed, low quality that
has gravel, which is created by
bearing down and pushing past the compression. You
can play around with the
amount of compression and how low the lock off is.
You can add many qualities to
this growly, transformer-type placement. Make sure
that the soft palette is raised, as
this placement can damage you if done incorrectly.
9. Nasal Head. This is the head voice forced through
the adenoidal system and given a
strong push. It is a very active placement and has a
sharp, not a dull, sound. Make
sure you can express strong blasts of air out of your
nostrils onto the back of your
hand, as this action is employed when playing with
this placement.
10. Pug. This is when you block the entire adenoidal
system so that the k's are almost
impossible to voice. This is the little child with a
cold quality that can be found by
aspirating in and out on the k and then locking
around the placement where the k hits the back of the instrument and plugging above
and behind the soft palette. Try
honking and bringing the back of the tongue up to
chock off the sound. BE READY FOR ANY VOICE Be prepared for everything that might be required of you, and that is everything and more. This instrument of yours is brilliant and capable of huge feats that even you have no idea about. Do your homework every day! Draw the
energy to you by being of the
world of voice. Make it
your business to surround yourself with all things
vocal and positive. Express because you love it, and because it is what feeds you and ultimately feeds us and changes the resonation of this planet. You
have a big responsibility to all of us. Get voicing! ------------------------- ABOUT ELLEY-RAY Based in Toronto, and with over 30 years experience in voice overs, TV, film and theatre, Elley-Ray Hennessy is a leading voice talent and coach, specializing in animation, commercial announcing and multi-voice. She's won multiple awards, having voiced thousands of TV and radio commercials and countless animation series and films. Email: elleyray@hotmail.com Web: www.elleyray.com |
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I would like to start character voicing and have just tried these techniques, with a bit of difficulty. The different voices I've recorded in the past few days all sound the same to me. No matter what voice I've tried, I can still tell it's ME!
I was wondering if it's possible for you to post an audio of you doing all these variations? I realize this is a year old post and it's extra work, however, the information in it is timeless and this article is currently being shared on several platforms and I know it would help those trying to succeed...
Thanks again, I'll continue to practice. Happy Voicing!
On a personal note, I'd just like to say that your articles consistently strike a deep chord with me. (I even had a dream about your last one, in which I realized the value --no, necessity-- of play.)
Thank you for sharing your amazing creativity and practical knowledge. You're an inspiration!