Being Not John Malkovich

Voice matching or voice mimicking is part of an arena of the voiceover industry that falls into voice over production work, specifically matching, voice replacement, ADR or looping. ADR stands for Automatic Dialog Replacement. This was previously referred to in the industry as looping. Voice matching includes adding background sounds to films, adding sounds of TV or radio and a movie and generally fleshing out the film in a studio or ADR sound stage. At times, it also means matching a celebrity to save time and money when a project is in an urgent situation.

Paula Rhodes gives voice acting audition advice.

We are excited to announce we are kicking off a new series of videos around the voice over production process and industry. From individuals we have had the pleasure of working with on projects, you’ll find regular updates right here on our blog and soon, on iTunes and other platforms.

We’ll be covering topics like voice matching, the voice over recording process, handling multiple characters, voice over directing and much more.

To start, here are four videos from actors we have had in the studio, giving their audition advice for aspiring voice actors. First, Sean Hankinson reminds us that this whole process should be fun. Paula Rhodes then gives a couple of tips, including how you can get close to voice over casting specialists and voice over directing experts. Next, Nakia Burise shares that you should always be yourself and have faith in your success. And finally, Laura Gerow tells why you should let yourself be nervous.

What are the roles of a Voice Over Producer and Director?  A producer is someone who takes a kernel of an idea and out of that kernel, creates an actual event. In the world of Voice Over Production, they are responsible assembling all the principals needed to fulfill the ultimate vision of the project. If we use the analogy of The Wizard Of Oz, the producer would ultimately have to be The Wizard, that being said s/he can be the Wicked Witch as well.

The voice over director has a myriad of responsibilities. They include, but are not limited to: The breaking down of the script by character, by scenes, beats within each scene and determining the flow of the voice actor’s performance as well as the correct edit and cut. Organizational and communication skills are paramount to the success of the director, as s/he is liaison between actors and the engineers, writers and producers, and must be as loved as the Scarecrow by all.

The Engineer is the person responsible for all the machines used in the voice over recording session working perfectly; their job is to capture all the vocal magic. While they could easily be regarded as ‘button pushers’ or machine-focused; the fact is, that the Engineer put his/her heart and soul into each project and their performance cannot be understated or overlooked. One could argue that they are our Tin Man – seemingly machine, but truly much heart.

It is the Engineer’s attention to the detail and their knowledge of each component that allows the other members of the team, namely the writers, directors and voice actors, to focus on their creative responsibilities.

By Debbie Munro

What?! I thought I was getting into a fun industry?!

If you have ventured into the world of animation and video games, you know exactly what I’m referring to. The wonderful thing about make believe, is that anything can happen. I’ll never forget my time on DragonBall – I played a character named ‘Mai’ and she died in what seemed like 50% of the episodes. You have to get very creative in your death scenes. You can only die so many times and in the world of video games, you can die over and over again. The interesting thing about a death scene is that this isnt something we can truly relate to ourselves. And the way we die in animations isn’t realistic to most deaths we know. So we have to become very creative and think outside the box.

Voice actor Nolan North.

In this episode we sit down with Nolan North, one of the great voice over actors we have had the fortune to work with. In this first video of the series we find out about the many games where you can hear his voice including the recently released Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. The gaming industry is creating its own stars as they come even closer to motion pictures. Most notably known for his portrayal of Drake in the Uncharted franchise, North is the closest the gaming industry can come to a leading man. His resume is extensive having appeared in Batman: Arkham City as The Penguin, Assassin’s Creed as Desmond Miles, Prince Of Persia (as The Prince), & And Then There Were None as Patrick Narracott.

As winter blows through the northern hemisphere, the season brings with it the chilling threat of illness to those in the voice over industry. Nothing halts a voice over production faster than the actors losing their voices! Even worse, for the struggling actor or singer, blowing an audition because you’ve caught a cough can be a devastating hit.

Taking care of your voice during cold and flu season really just involves paying extra special attention to the normal tricks and habits that most voice over professionals should already be considering. For instance, be sure to drink LOTS of water with a minimum eight glasses of water of day to ensure proper hydration. In the winter this is especially true because the air tends to be dryer than usual, therefore vocal cords tend to become stressed with the relatively low humidity. In addition, many of us often drink extra coffee or tea to warm ourselves up, however these things, in combination with the dry air, only serve to dehydrate the body even more and, as a result, strains the vocal cords.

Voice actor Nolan North.

In this second episode in our sit down with voice over actor Nolan North, we find out how voice acting for video games may differ from other projects. His response? It doesn’t! Nolan shares that he believes the medium is irrelevant. Acting, any acting is all about brining life and truth to a fictional character. Whether that is on camera or through voice over recording for many different genres of projects, the production challenge is the same.

Last month, the whole team at Resnick Interactive ventured over to the studio for a Motion Capture (MOCAP) test for a video game we’ll be working with in the near future. With the help of the always charming JB Blanc, we all had a great day in the studio filled with new technology and lots of eyeliner. Eyeliner? Yep, eyeliner. The MOCAP camera uses dots (in this case, provided by liquid eyeliner) to pick up on and track facial movements. Phillip from MOCAP Design was the lucky gentleman that got to dot eyeliner all over JB’s face. For those of us not getting outfitted with little black dots across our faces, the entire process was pretty hilarious.