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Mike Sommer

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:59 pm

Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 455 Location: Los Angeles

How does one go about finding his or her "signature voice"?

Though it would seem rather simple, there are forces that seem to impede the process for some: ones self-image, how one hears them-self versus how one actually sounds, the list can go on and on. But it all seems to boil down to, how one wants to be perceived and dealing with reality.

Is it just about being comfortable with your own voice and selling who or what you are and hoping that someone will buy into it- let's say like a Brian Posehn?

I believe Brian is one of the best "natural" character voices of our time, such as the likes of a Sterling Holloway, Wally Cox, or Don Adams of their time. When any of these men opens their mouth, they transcend who they are and become whatever character they are playing. Even though we're saying, "hey that's so 'n' so" in our heads, we still believe them to be the character they are playing. This is acting, I know, but they are perceivably comfortable with there "signature voice," that allows them to move forward as the character they are playing.

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:38 pm

Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 905 Location: HERE!

I don't know that anyone can consciously seek to determine what their "signature voice" might sound like. While you can recognize it when your casting calls start to lean in a particular direction that strikes a familiar chord with previous "notable" performances, the "voice" itself - just happens, naturally; during well-received stretches of dialog/monologue performances, when not really thinking about whether or not the sound you're delivering might be "a marketable commodity". In Don Adams' case, it turned out to be a well-liked personal "pet character voice" (only a slight departure from his own speaking voice, that he liked to "put on" to amuse people); but otherwise it's just the instinctive style and tone of expression a person naturally gravitates to as part of their comedic or dramatic "resonance". It's simply "organic".

Mike Sommer

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:57 am

Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 455 Location: Los Angeles

So it's kind of like a 6th grader learning to play the clarinet. Eventually you'll learn to move form one note to to another without scaring the cat, and with persistence someone besides your mother will enjoy your virtuosity. "?"

Regarding tone and range, in another post you stated:
"...my overall vocal tone and range wasn't anywhere near as impressive as I felt was then necessary to "launch a career" with (compared to practically all of the vibrant Professional Voices I was familiar with)"
I'm surmising you were comparing yourself to someone you admired, who were they?

Any tips on developing tone and range, and how important is it?

Hope you don't mind me picking your brain.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:32 pm

Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 905 Location: HERE!

Quote:

...like a 6th grader learning to play the clarinet...

Not quite. That may compare to developing "technique", but the organic tone and delivery that form a personal "signature voice" are innate: They occur spontaneously, and develop by themselves over time.

But having a strong, identifiable vocal "signature" isn't by any means a necessary factor in having a good career in the VO business. ...In fact, it can often severely limit your audition "playing field" and potential earnings lifespan - unless you're extraordinarily lucky enough to be "tagged" as a timeless "evergreen" sound, who can perennially "ride the waves" of fashion and culture, come what may. I've always figured it was best to simply adapt to whatever the assignment calls for, in as sincere a style as I have within a comfortable range, to best suit each individual piece. There isn't any way to effectively plan or design such a thing - so why even worry about it?

Quote:

Regarding tone and range...:"(...the vibrant Professional Voices I was familiar with)"...who were they?

To list them all would fill up nearly the entire Academy Players Directory of 1968. But "in a nutshell", they encompassed a major portion of the sonic landscape I grew up with: Those "Bigger Than Life" voices that set loudspeakers alight with spoken word "magic". The kinds of voices that could rattle walls, and thrill the soul without any apparent production gimmickry or musical support. A sound that hardly exists amongst performers anymore, and that, sadly, there no longer seems to be any great demand for.

Quote:

Any tips on developing tone and range, and how important is it?

You just DO it: Fearlessly explore the possibilities of characterization through genuine instinctive acting performance shaded with accompanying shifts in placement and texture that come easily and naturally.

If your career goals include having a variety of distinctively different "doubles" on hand (character voices that strike the ear as though emanating from someone other than yourself), you can certainly stretch, holler and sing your vocal mechanisms into greater range and strength, eventually expanding the margins of tonal and textural expression; but when it comes to the actual procedures involved in developing a full range of complex and interesting vocal qualities for speaking characterization (as opposed to formalized "proper" singing training); it is purely an exercise in self-discovery - and cannot be taught.

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