Lesson Two - Voice Acting

Voice Acting

Today’s lesson is on voice acting. Voice actors give life to the character’s dialogue. They receive their directions directly from the Director and the Floor Manager. Often their creativity and imagination are called upon to help director’s decide which way they want to take specific characters.

People have written entire books on voice acting. I have a chapter to do an overview.

Basics:

When you start out, you’ll most likely be using your own voice as it is. There are several characters that will fit your natural voice and delivery. Much of voice acting is being hyper aware of speech patterns, both your own and others. Much is communicated through your voice that has nothing to do with words. Your cadence, tone, diction, volume, speech patterns, and dialect all add to the overall effect.

When most people read aloud, the timbre of their voice changes to indicate to the listener that they are reading, not speaking. Voice actors must be aware of how their voices change and actively work against that. When they read, it must sound like they are speaking and emoting naturally.

Pay attention to the details of conversation. Start to recognize patterns like how voices go up at the end of questions, how a person’s voice gets higher in pitch when they’re nervous, how people tend to talk slower when they’re puzzling something out… etc.

Record yourself reading out scripts, or dialogue from books. Listen for where it sounds weird.Identify the why and adjust in the future. Awareness, practice, and courage will be your best friends as a voice actor.

As a voice actor, you’ll always want to go bigger than what you think you should. What sounds distraught to your ears might only come across as displeased to the listener. Don’t be afraid to over act, let your Director reel you in if it is necessary to do so (unlikely).

Also don’t be ashamed to put your all into a performance. Many people get held up out of embarrassment. Check your sense of shame at the door and not only will your performance improve, you’ll probably get more enjoyment out of it too.

The best way to go all in on your performance, is to employ the principles of “Yes And,”

From Wikipedia: "Yes, and...", also referred to as "Yes, and..." thinking is a rule-of-thumb in improvisational comedy that suggests that a participant should accept what another participant has stated ("yes") and then expand on that line of thinking ("and")

Success will come from Passion, Perception, Participation, and Practice.

Voice Actor’s Kit:

What every voice actor should bring to rehearsals and performances.

• Portable, Wi-Fi capable, and electronic script reading device.
  • Bringing a wall charger for the device is also recommended.
• Marable script (if provided)
• Script Marking Device
• Room Temp Water Bottle
  • Hot or cold water will affect your vocal chords. Avoid for three hours before using voice acting skills.
• Granny Apple Slices
  • Adjusts the moisture of your mouth for crisp performances.
• Comfortable clothes and shoes that don’t make extra sound (avoid wearing jewelry, especially dangles or bangles)
  • For performances these should be dress blacks or director approved costumes.
    • Dress Blacks: All black attire, business casual minimum for voice actors.
• If in studio, you should bring headphones with you.
  • Studio quality that can adjust between ⅛ Inch and ¼ inch with adapter.
    • See image in Lesson 5

Throat Maintenance:

Directly from https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/taking-care-your-voice. I removed some that only seemed pertinent to people who are currently having vocal problems. NIDCD = National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

• Drink plenty of water. Six to eight glasses a day is recommended.
• Limit your intake of drinks that contain alcohol or caffeine, which can cause the body to lose water and make the vocal folds and larynx dry. Alcohol also irritates the mucous membranes that line the throat.
• Use a humidifier in your home. This is especially important in winter or in dry climates. Thirty percent humidity is recommended.
• Avoid or limit use of medications that dry out the vocal folds, including some common cold and allergy medications. If you have voice problems, ask your doctor which medications would be safest for you to use.
• Don't smoke and avoid secondhand smoke. Smoke irritates the vocal folds. Also, cancer of the vocal folds is seen most often in individuals who smoke.
• Avoid eating spicy foods. Spicy foods can cause stomach acid to move into the throat or esophagus, causing heartburn or GERD.
• Include plenty of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables in your diet. These foods contain vitamins A, E, and C. They also help keep the mucus membranes that line the throat healthy.
• Wash your hands often to prevent getting a cold or the flu.
• Get enough rest. Physical fatigue has a negative effect on voice.
• Exercise regularly. Exercise increases stamina and muscle tone. This helps provide good posture and breathing, which are necessary for proper speaking.
• If you have persistent heartburn or GERD, talk to your doctor about diet changes or medications that can help reduce flare-ups.
• Avoid mouthwash or gargles that contain alcohol or irritating chemicals. If you still wish to use a mouthwash that contains alcohol, limit your use to oral rinsing. If gargling is necessary, use a salt water solution.
• Try not to overuse your voice. Avoid speaking or singing when your voice is hoarse or tired.
• Rest your voice when you are sick. Illness puts extra stress on your voice.
• Avoid using the extremes of your vocal range, such as screaming or whispering. Talking too loudly and too softly can both stress your voice.
• Practice good breathing techniques when singing or talking. Support your voice with deep breaths from the chest, and don't rely on your throat alone. Singers and speakers are often taught exercises that improve this kind of breath control. Talking from the throat, without supporting breath, puts a great strain on the voice.
• Avoid cradling the phone when talking. Cradling the phone between the head and shoulder for extended periods of time can cause muscle tension in the neck.

Exercises:

• ARTC Favorites: Before every show our Executive Producer runs us through a few exercises to get us warmed up. He’ll start with us making a variety of faces and sounds, and end with the tongue twister “To Sit In Solemn Silence.
  • Example of how a warm up goes:
    • Big Face: Open eyes and mouth wide looking up
    • Little Face: Pucker your lips, squint your eyes and suck in your cheeks.
    • MaMaMaMa MoMoMoMo MuMuMuMu MeMeMeMe
    • PopPopPopPop PupPupPupPup Pep,PepPepPep
    • Evil Laugh, British Laugh, French Laugh
    • “To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark, dock, In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock, Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp, shock, From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block! To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark, dock, In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock, Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp, shock, From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block! A dull, dark, dock, a life-long lock, A short, sharp, shock, a big black block! To sit in solemn silence in a pestilential prison, And awaiting the sensation from a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!”

• Vocal Warm Up: https://www.entnet.org/content/vocal-warmup-put-your-best-voice-forward
  • Breath Relaxation: Releases tension often associated in the breathing mechanism that can interfere with effective voice production. Ordinarily, if there is tension when breathing, that tension radiates to the voice box muscles. Take a normal breath and then exhale. Make sure your shoulders and chest are low and relaxed. Repeat many times making sure that your breaths are focused low in the abdomen and that there is not associated chest, neck, or shoulder tension while breathing. You can place one hand on your abdomen to remind you to keep the focus low and away from the chest and shoulders. Hold an “s” sound like in hiss when you exhale.
  • Jaw Release: Reduces tension in the mouth and jaw area during speaking and singing. Place the heels of each hand directly below the cheek bone. Pushing in and down from the cheeks to the jaw, massage the facial muscles. Allow your jaw to passively open as you move the hands down the face. Repeat several times.
  • Lip Trills: Release lip tension and connects breathing and speaking. Releases tension in the vocal folds. Place your lips loosely together release the air in a steady stream to create a trill or raspberry sound. First try it on an “h” sounds. Then repeat on a “b” sound. Hold the sound steady and keep the air moving past the lips. Next try to repeat the b-trill gliding gently up and down the scales. Don’t push beyond what it comfortable at the top or bottom of the scale.
  • Tongue Trill: Relaxes the tongue and engages breathing and voice. Place your tongue behind your upper teeth. Exhale and trill your tongue with a “r” sound. Hold the sound steady and keep the breath connected. Now try to vary the pitch up and down the scale while trilling. Again, don’t push beyond what is comfortable at the top or bottom of your scale.
  • Two Octave Scales: Provides maximum stretch on the vocal folds. Start in a low pitch and gently glide up the scale on a “me” sound. Don’t push the top or bottom of your range but do try to increase the range gently each time you do the scales. Now reverse and glide down the scale from the top to the bottom on an “e” sound. You can try this on the “oo” sound also.
  • Sirens/Kazoo Buzz: Improves the resonant focus of the sound and continues work with maximal stretch on the vocal folds. The mouth postures are easily made by pretending you are sucking in spaghetti with an inhalation. On exhalation make the “woo” sound. It will be a buzz like sound. Hold the sound steady for 2-3 attempts. Now use the woo sound to go up and down the scales.
  • Humming: Highlights anterior frontal vibrations in your lips, teeth and facial bones. Begin with lips gently closed with jaw released. Take an easy breath in and exhale while saying “hum”. Begin with the nasal sound /m/ and gently glide from a high to a low pitch as if you were sighing. Don’t forget your vocal cool down after extensive vocal use. Gently humming feeling the focus of the sound on the lips is an excellent way to cool down the voice. You should hum gentle glides on the sound “m” feeling a tickling vibration in the lip/nose are.
  • Cool Down: Don’t forget your vocal cool down after extensive vocal use. Gently humming feeling the focus of the sound on the lips is an excellent way to cool down the voice. You should hum gentle glides on the sound “m” feeling a tickling vibration in the lip/nose are.

• Breathing Exercises: https://azsneeze.com/vocal-cord-dysfunction-breathing-exercises/
  • Paused Breathing:
    • Sit in a position that allows your neck & shoulders to relax but keep your back straight.
    • Breathe in gently through the nose.
    • Stick your tongue out of your mouth, past the teeth & lower lip, in preparation to exhale. This forward stretch of the tongue helps to open the airway at the vocal cords..
    • With the tongue out, exhale only through the mouth in slow, paused or spaced breaths. The timing should be like saying Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, very slowly. Don’t use your voice, just breathe out.
    • Repeat 10 times a session
  • Belly Breathing
    • Sit in a position that allows your neck and shoulders to relax but keep your back straight.
    • Place your hand on your belly. Breathe in gently through the nose with your belly pushing your hand outward from your body.
    • As you start to exhale, place the tip of your tongue where your upper teeth meet the roof of your mouth. This will allow you to make a hissing or “S” sound as you exhale. This creates a back pressure to help keep the airway open.
    • Slowly exhale allowing the hand & belly to move inward to a resting position and make the hissing or “S” sound as you push the air between your tongue & teeth.
    • Repeat 10 times a session

Auditioning:

Auditioning at ARTC is very different from most other companies. There are two ways commonly being used now, since we’re in a transitory phase.

• The historic ARTC audition: The Producer and/or the Director announces which script will be performed. They may have done this in advance. If so, the script will probably be available in advance on the ARTC script archive. The audition will be held during the usual rehearsal time. The Director will ask who wants to read for each role. Then a readthrough will commence with the Director calling for voice actors to switch off parts until they’ve heard everyone read and the entire script is completed. Casting will be announced sometime soon (although not the same night) after the auditioning process is completed.
• The new way: Holds more in line with what most other theatre companies do for auditioning. It starts off the same where the Producer and/or the Director announces which script will be performed. They may have done this in advance. If so, the script will probably be available in advance on the ARTC script archive. The Director will prepare sides from the script. (Reminder: a side is a small selection from the script which the Director thinks best exemplifies the character.) The sides will not be available beforehand. The audition may be held during regular rehearsal time or it may be scheduled separately, the Director should notify actors in advance if the auditions will be held outside of regular rehearsals. At the audition the Floor Manager will collect a list of who wants to audition for which roles. The Director will then provide the sides and auditioning actors will do a cold read of the sides. A cold read is an unprepared reading. Casting will be announced sometime soon (although not the same night) after the auditioning process is completed.

NOTE: The ARTC script archive can be found at www.scripts.artc.org. This is where ARTC scripts can be found once they are final, approved, and in the correct format for production. There will be a special section for scripts that are in the workshopping process. Ignore the login button unless you are trying to upload a script. Clicking on the script you want to read will open the pop-up box where you will enter the username and password (provided in person) to be able to view scripts.

Interacting with your Director and Floor Manager: We’ll go over this in more detail in Lesson 7, but, for now, let me stress the importance of patience in communication between creative types.

Directors and Actors are trying to communicate ideas and feelings. This is not an easy nor an exact artform. This will lead to frustration and defensiveness on both sides.

The best way to get through this, is to be aware and keep in mind that YOU ARE ON THE SAME TEAM. Directors need to have patience and be able to come at an idea from multiple directions. Actors need to have patience and be willing to go over and over the same thing in order to get it right. Do not take criticism personally or to heart. Rather, look at it as an opportunity for improvement.

If at any point tempers start to rise, take breaks. Breathe through it and resume your efforts. Mantras and manners are key.

If you have a difference of opinion with your Director, clearly and respectfully communicate it to them. Be willing to work with them and offer creative ideas. Remember though, the Director’s job is to be the decision maker. At the end of the day, their decision on the creative vision is final.

Making notes of directions is essential. The Floor Manager should be sending out director’s notes after each rehearsal, and you should be marking your scripts during rehearsal and while reviewing the Floor Manager’s notes. Make sure to prompt yourself in ways that you’ll remember what you’re talking about.

Professional Etiquette:

• Be on time
• Be prepared
• Be polite and respectful
• Respond to scheduling requests as quickly as you can
  • Currently we’re using Doodle Polls to see when people are available. Doodle Polls allow you to put in all times that you could be available. Allow as much flexibility to planners as you can, as trying to get any number of adults available at the same time and in the same place requires much mental gymnastics and fortitude.
• Tell people as quickly as you can if you’ve had a schedule change that affects them.
  • Schedule changes should not be made frivolously.
• Practice good hygiene and do not apply cloying scents (perfume, body wash, hair products) when going into studio.
• Stay away if you are contagious.
• Refrain from personal conversation outside of breaks.
  • Unnecessary distractions make the already tense process of communication between actors and directors more tedious.
• Practice Leave No Trace Principles
  • TL/DR: leave rehearsal, meeting, and performance areas in the same or better condition to how you found them.

Accents:

This condensed advice is from “How to learn any accent” by Amy Walker on YouTube.

• Be Fascinated. This will increase your observation skills naturally. Use your observation skills to see how they do each of the following items.
  • Pronunciation
    • Vowels
    • Consonants
    • Substitutions for sounds that don’t exist in other languages
  • Melody and Melodic Patterns
  • Rhythm and Stress
  • Grammar and Word Meaning  (More for writers I think)
  • The vibe/attitude
    • This is the individual twist given per person that you should try to give your character
    • This also covers how people speak in time periods not just by location.
    • Add gesticulations to get into character
      • Watch out for the tech and people around you
  • Practice habitually, record it, always be observing others

I also find it useful to learn how to read and write phonetically. This way you can mark up your scripts in ways that remind you how to speak.

NOTE: Accent sensitivity. Doing an overly stereotyped foreign accent will not be received well. Observe and practice from real sources, not parodies.