Moho Forum

So, it came to my attention that my voice acting could use some more work. I practiced a bit and researched some famous voice actors to give me ideas on how to improve. Here are my results. Just two for now, so if you have the time, please hear them over and tell me if you like them. Thank you

Yasuo (reference from league of legends) Drama- http://jmp.sh/eNfGbiZ

Salesman Comedy- http://jmp.sh/aYN6MVE

Both of the links go to the same audio.

My layman impression is that it's not bad, but it could be more convincing on an emotional level. Actually the lines you chose make it extra difficult. He is saying a lot of separate ideas and they're all intense. The way that you say them should help suggest the connection between the ideas. Like after he says "they call it justice" what makes him say "I'm the only one who knows the truth?" Is that why people want him dead? Or is that the reason he needs to survive? Or something else? Is this all something he has already known or is this a moment of realization? Each of these considerations would change the way you deliver the line. Another thing to think about is who he's talking to and what kind of relationship he has with that person. Is he sharing an intimate moment with them by revealing this information or is he distancing himself? etc etc.

If you flesh out his motivation and how he thinks, the emotion should come more naturally.

Also, I think it was the book Acting for Animators that says that when you're acting well, you should feel a little embarrassed. :D

As always, Iwaxana, you give very detailed and helpful critiques. Thank you

The biggest key to voice acting is remember that it's acting. Too many people get caught up in how to change their voice or to sound silly or goofy or different and forget that the actual purpose is to convey the feelings of a character. Develop the character, the voice will come naturally. All too often you hear someone who definitely came up with a unique voice, but it sounds like little more than someone with a unique voice reading off a piece of paper. Your salesman character came across this way. This guy is pushing for the hard sale, he should be way more enthusiastic in his pitch. The voice works, but his lack of oomph to really drive that sale makes his lines fall a bit flat.

Read the lines and understand the scene. One character who is convincing and "real" will go 10 times as far as a dozen characters who all sound different but lack any dimension. Forget the microphone and think about how you'd play this guy for real in front of an audience.

Here's an example: in a show I worked on, I had to play a dimwitted drummer. So my thoughts were all about the character: he's a drummer, so his entire means of expressing himself come from hitting stuff. Who else does this? How can I convey that? Well, how about a wrestler? I broke out a pretty awful '80s-era Hulk Hogan impression ("well, you know Mean Gene..." is still the line I use to get into character). Dimwitted? That's easy: give him a southern accent. And second, first I make sure he displays absolute confidence in everything he says regardless of how wrong he is. I didn't sit down and say "hmmm, if I play this guy as gruff and from the south it'll make him sound different," I applied characterization to display his traits and the voice came naturally.

I hope this helps!

Hello LightYagami123. Not bad, but I think with enough practice, you'll become a pro.I like the second one more than the first one.

I'm no expert, but I do have a few tips that may help.

1. If you don't do this already, try making a character bio that with every character you create,(maybe overboard...maybe every character with a role) with all of their traits, specifically their personality. This way, you have a solid foundation of your character. The next thing now is to put the foundation into work.

2. Next its finding your voice. There are too many ways to do this... but its fun figuring out doing it ya know? Try to micmick someone, make your own unique voice, or even hire someone (which would make these tips pointless if you wanna work on your voice work). Using your regular voice works as well. In fact, I think you should do that first, and I'll explain why later. Also, between us, its okay to "cheat" ;p. If there is a certain tone you cannot reach, its okay to use some sort of voice altering software to get the voice you'd like. I use Morphvox pro for female voices, or monster like voices. That being said, its still good to trying it out first without the alterations.

3. The latter and this tip is relative to each other. In fact, all of them all of them are but these 2 specifically. This is where the personality/emotional part comes into play. The funny thing about this one is this tip came from my job that had NOTHING to do with with voice acting. I wrote these down to help me with voice acting...

Here are the notes:

"How we use our voice often say more than words we choose. What aspects of our voice can we use to show meaning or emotion?"

They are;

*tone/ intonation
*Pitch
*Volume
*Speed
*Phonemes
*Word stress
*sentence stress

"note:( to self) remember this for voice acting "

(end note)

Now I would use my normal voice first when I do this. If not sure how to do a certain emotion, put yourself in your characters shoes and be like "now how would feel if _______" Do it until you find the way that works for you then apply your character voices. Try not to over think this step. The whole emotional thing...It's something that you do everyday!

4. The Final thing I forgot to mention is the quality of the audio. You want that noisy static to be non existant, or so quite it won't be heard. I recommend using something like audacity (free) to get rid of that. Also, it may be a good idea to either normalize your audio, or add a compressor...or maybe both. Experiment with it =).

Well I hope this helps.