Developing character voices

Post your questions & get help from friendly LibriVoxers
Great Plains
Posts: 870
Joined: September 23rd, 2007, 11:02 am
Location: Manchester, NH, America
Contact:

Post by Great Plains »

Cloud Mountain wrote:I do much like Kristin does in her head but on paper.

I use different colors to mark my script for each person. And also keep the set character voices in mind. What helps me to do that is to assume a particular body position or shape each time I do the particular character.

Marking the script in different highlighter colors of each character, I record a different track for each one, going through ALL of the script of a story one character at a time, to maintain uniformity. If I don't do that things get muddied up. I edit the voice on its own track. Each character being on its own separate track makes it very simple to edit. Also, being on a separate track I can apply different effects to each separate voice, changing tone or pitch or gain, compression, EQing... whatever. The important thing to remember when using this technique is to select ALL tracks when doing an insert, to be certain all exchanges remain in sync.

Have fun developing your own style!
I do a similar think with the colors. I don't do the separate tracks thing; until recently, Audacity didn't handle separate tracks very well. The bleeding edge CVS version does a marvelous job, though. What software do you use?

As for effects, the only thing I usually do is add some reverb if the setting calls for it.
Daniel, the Cylon
([url=http://librivox.org/newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=2136]LV Profile[/url])
sjmarky
Posts: 4551
Joined: August 28th, 2006, 8:47 pm
Location: Sacto CA
Contact:

Post by sjmarky »

Great Plains wrote:
sjmarky wrote:
Great Plains wrote: This would be a cool regular feature for the podcast. A 2 or 3 minute segment where a LibriVox denizen more experienced in the art of acting gives a tip about character voices, accents, how to read dialog without sounding totally stilted, etc.

8)
I'd be willing to chip in.
Right on! Let's make a date to do a Skype chat interview sometime this weekend? Let me know 8)
I could do that. And/or I could put together a short segment and send it to whomever is doing the community podcast.
"Bringing you yesterday's tomorrow...today!"

My website
My Librivox reader page
Great Plains
Posts: 870
Joined: September 23rd, 2007, 11:02 am
Location: Manchester, NH, America
Contact:

Post by Great Plains »

sjmarky wrote: I could do that. And/or I could put together a short segment and send it to whomever is doing the community podcast.
Whichever. If you have something in mind, don't let me stand in the way 8)
Daniel, the Cylon
([url=http://librivox.org/newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=2136]LV Profile[/url])
ceastman
Posts: 4195
Joined: December 28th, 2005, 8:36 pm
Location: Redwood City, CA

Post by ceastman »

Another person you might ask to participate in the Voices segment is Ted Delorme (username Mask o' Glass). I don't know how active he is these days, but he generally does character voices for his readings, and is a professional actor/voice actor.

-Catharine
chocoholic
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 14183
Joined: January 16th, 2007, 9:23 am
Contact:

Post by chocoholic »

John Lieder also does voice characterizations; I think he said there would be 16 for The Adventures of Reddy Fox. His characters sound very, very different from one another (i.e. bear vs bluejay vs skunk, lol).
Laurie Anne
PaulW
Posts: 2272
Joined: February 24th, 2007, 5:00 am
Location: Austin, Texas

Post by PaulW »

ceastman wrote:Another person you might ask to participate in the Voices segment is Ted Delorme (username Mask o' Glass). I don't know how active he is these days, but he generally does character voices for his readings, and is a professional actor/voice actor.

-Catharine
Ted is currently working on The Lectures of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 2. And I don't know if anyone has mentioned Andy Minter (ExEmGe)...he did several different voices, mainly with accents, in his reading of Four Max Carrados Detective Stories, which I enjoyed very much...it's on my list of #1 LV readings, in fact. :D
Paul
[b]DPL: [url=http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12852]Brigands of the Moon[/url]; [url=http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13151]Brain Twister[/url][/b]
SmokestackJones
Posts: 226
Joined: August 20th, 2006, 6:14 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

Post by SmokestackJones »

Hey there,

Lemme know when you guys publish the podcast. I wanna hear.

-SJ
If I'm not me, who am I? And if I'm somebody else, why do I look like me?
-Popeye

Beblach!

My DVD Collection
sjmarky
Posts: 4551
Joined: August 28th, 2006, 8:47 pm
Location: Sacto CA
Contact:

Post by sjmarky »

So, is someone going to coordinate all this?
"Bringing you yesterday's tomorrow...today!"

My website
My Librivox reader page
Jerome
Posts: 87
Joined: November 29th, 2007, 5:27 pm
Location: West Coast, US

Post by Jerome »

Cool idea for the podcast. :)

I'm fairly new to recording, but do try to come up with distinctive character voices, and appreciate pointers from experienced readers.

As for any tips of my own, I've found that incorporating elements from voices I've heard into my characters helps them sound more distinctive and less generic. For example, when I recorded Gawayne and the Green Knight ( http://librivox.org/gawayne-and-the-green-knight-by-charlton-miner-lewis-2/ ), I based the voice of the Green Knight on Christopher Lee's Saruman from the LOTR films. I'm not sure if this is something professional voice actors do, but it's worked for me so far.
[url=http://librivox.org/newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=2137][size=92]My Projects [/size][/url] | [size=92][color=gray] "You can beat a dead horse in the mouth, but you can't make him drink."[/color][/size]
Cori
Posts: 12124
Joined: November 22nd, 2005, 10:22 am
Location: Britain
Contact:

Post by Cori »

Yep, I think I'm going to pick it all up for the podcast, SJM!

What I'd like to do is get all of you who've put in ideas here so far, to record something about what you've said -- with examples! Those'll go into the podcasts, one or two a week, and then I'd also like to make a "meta-show" out of them ... so arrange them all into one informative "character voice" special. My previous special podcast, I knew what I wanted to say in advance, and it was just a question of finding people willing to go along with it. This time, it's being organised the other way round -- once I've learned as much as I can from all you chaps, it can be put into a single piece. I think. :D

Will be PMing people shortly ... get your thinking caps on and your vocal cords loosened up!
There's honestly no such thing as a stupid question -- but I'm afraid I can't rule out giving a stupid answer : : To Posterity and Beyond!
timberwolfmage
Posts: 468
Joined: August 13th, 2006, 3:00 pm
Location: Silver Spring, MD/Goucher College
Contact:

Post by timberwolfmage »

Did not know about this thread until I listened (late) to last week's podcast, but I thought I'd throw my two cents in here, and if I'm accidentally echoing someone else in this thread, forgive me:

When I did Hard Times last year, I tried to make different voices for different characters -- though I don't pretend to be as good as some people on this forum -- and I found it helpful to take the recording very slow, especially during dialogue-heavy periods or points where characters were interrupting each other (Dickens characters are talkative). Basically, I had to keep reminding myself that I did in fact have the opportunity to go through and edit the file afterwards, so I could afford to take pauses and make sure I was being consistent and using the right voice at any given point. Possibly this is really obvious to most people, but it was useful to remind myself not to attempt to rush through it.
-- [url=http://www.trekandromeda.com][b]Rosalind Wills[/b][/url]
GlassMask
Posts: 516
Joined: May 21st, 2006, 4:51 pm
Location: Fort Mill, SC

Post by GlassMask »

sjmarky wrote: Don't do anything that causes strain. Audiobook voices need to be sustained over many pages; hoarseness or inability to sustain voice will ruin it.
Several of the voices in "Enchanted Island of Yew" were an enormous pain in the butt and vocal chords to do. But I did 'em anyway, for the same reason I used to do lots of pratfalls in my younger days. If it gets a laugh, it's worth it. Or maybe I'm just loopy from all those pratfalls…

All part of that "suffering for your art" thing…

Ted
"To those who accept their fate, happiness. To those who defy their fate, glory."
ceastman
Posts: 4195
Joined: December 28th, 2005, 8:36 pm
Location: Redwood City, CA

Post by ceastman »

Heh, yes, I remember you complaining about the.. people of Twi, yes? I think it vos ze Russian accent you kind of wish you hadn't done, right?

-Catharine
GlassMask
Posts: 516
Joined: May 21st, 2006, 4:51 pm
Location: Fort Mill, SC

Post by GlassMask »

Oh no, Russian is easy and fun. I learned it when I did a two-man radio show. The other actor played Robert Frost, and I played pretty much everyone else he met on his trip to Russia. Just yesterday, I cast a Russian guy to play… wait for it… a hispanic waiter.

In Yew, the high pitched fairy voices were tough. They were electronically altered, but I was going as high as I could before filtering them. And the gravelly, low-pitched giant's voice was the other one, for obvious reasons. So Terrence McGovern's advice was sound. Launchpad McQuack wouldn't lie. I'm just saying it's okay to do voices like that for brief periods of time with minor characters. I wouldn't recommend it for a whole book.

Ted
"To those who accept their fate, happiness. To those who defy their fate, glory."
Post Reply