"So it's really nice when you have a legitimate test like that. A lot of times they can't tell who you are. It's more fun because you're being tested on how you sound, not the way people think you sound. I would prefer they always do it that way."

Improving Situations
Today, recording sessions are limited to four hours, much to Welker's relief.

"Speaking for myself, supposedly representing my fellow thespians, we are like children. Our attention span only lasts so long," he says. "I've seen award-winning shows done in an hour, and I've seen shows that have dragged on for a day.

Welker at a mid-'70s recording session before the 4-hour maximum recording rule. Photo by John Findlater. Courtesy of Frank Welker.

"No longer can you drag on for a day. Four hours is the maximum, which is great.

"Actors have got to get to other jobs. One show, one cannot a living make. So as professionals, you should be able -- if you're cast properly -- to do your job, and go on to the other one," he says.

Sometimes, Welker's versatility can pose a scheduling problem, particularly when he's cast in two different shows that are recording on the same day.

"It's better now with the four hour sessions for the studios too, because they have two chances of getting you instead of one show holding you all day," he says.

"Most studios don't like to do pickup lines, but it does work. Sometimes you're not able to physically be in that session. You've gotta get the track to Japan or wherever, so you gotta get that actor.

"I found that when you do a lot of different kinds of work like I do, it's even better that way, because when you're doing monsters, or special FX voices, you can concentrate on one line or action. You don't have all that dialogue inbetween. It's really helpful.

"When it's a story and jokes, then it's better as an ensemble group. Otherwise [if you're recording by yourself], all you're doing is reading your lines, and you don't know what the action is. The director has to tell you. You may not get as good a performance when you're performing as an ensemble group. (But sometimes when you do have a whole group, it can be just as disjointed.)

"Unfortunately, in one of our shows, the director would stop us all the time even when we were recording. ‘Stop-stop-stop.’ So you're never really getting that ensemble flow anyway."

Unintentional Voice Changes
As people grow older, their voice changes. Actors may find it increasingly difficult to match the vocal qualities of characters they had performed earlier in their careers, as happened with Mel Blanc in his later renditions of the Looney Tunes characters. With Frank Welker, however, his range seems to be improving with time.

He reports, "It's starting to change a little bit and I'm able to do a few more lower voices that I've never been able to do before, and it's still not enough. I've always wanted to have that big, deep, announcer kind of guy, and it's always sounded like Freddie [from Scooby Doo].

"Coincidentally, when we were doing the direct-to-video movie, Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, I was basically the only one left from the original group. I thought they might replace me because they thought my voice had gone down an octave. I personally feel I can do Freddie right up front."

To prove it, Welker recited the line, 'Would you do it for a Scooby snack?' in a dead-on vocalization as Freddie Jones.

Welker doing what looks like a World’s Strongest Man impression, in this 1970s publicity photo. Photo by John Findlater. Courtesy of Frank Welker.

He continues: "For me, fortunately, it's always there. That happens to be pretty close to my voice. When we were recording it, the director kept saying, 'Higher and higher,' and I kept saying, 'No, no, I don't think so. I did that for a lot of years,' and I went back and looked at some tapes, just to make sure, because I don't want to be doing something that would be wrong for the studio, either. And so they were looking at some old tapes, 'cause they were worried about some of the old voices and matching them. She [the voice director] listened to the Freddie voice and she said, 'I'll be darned. He's absolutely right. He sounds exactly like Freddie.' It's a double-edged sword."

A possible explanation lies with the Cartoon Network, which time-compresses early episodes of Scooby Doo, Where are You! This is done to squeeze in more commercials and network promotions. However, time compression speeds up the audio of the characters, which makes them sound higher-pitched. Hence, there can be a perception that Freddie Jones is a tenor when his actual recorded voice is a baritone.