Vocal Coaching

aegisflashfire · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:38 pm Post subject: Vocal Coaching

I'll be the first to admit I'm not the greatest character actor in the world. One of the things that really sells a character is if you can do a distinctive voice or mannerism for them. What sorts of quirks/voices do you do for your NPCs?

On most my NPC's I generally write a 1 sentence description of their speaking voice to help me get back into them whenever I've got a lot of interactions that have to play out.

For example:
ZFX-32 is almost sarcastic, not quite impolite. Typically refers to PCs as "Boss"

BNQ-ES is polite, effeminite, though (this came out of RP) contemptous of pcs who don't take care of themselves. Voice is high & nasal.

Mel Barshos is Informal, speaks with her hands a great deal,

Pel Joloon speaks slowly as an old man, voice is low in the throat, under the tongue.

Moff Aliet measures each sentence carefully unless upset, pauses frequently, tries not to display emotion.

I'm looking for more things to do with my voice, without ripping off known characters. I'm still pretty unhappy with Kellak my quarren-- WAY too much Zoidberg in there. The big issue I expect to have a number of vocal interactions with the Igatic, and I need to thematically tie 8-10 voices together yet still vary them each.

Any ideas either for just my regular session or as a post-production thing would be great
_________________
http://swfallingstar.podbean.com
GM of Falling Star: D6 Star Wars Campaign Podcast

griff · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:05 pm Post subject:

All my Imperial officers have a British accent.
_________________
"EXECUTE ORDER 67. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound like order 67..... No, wait. Yes, yes it does. EXECUTE ORDER 68" Palpatine's last moments - robot chicken.

garhkal · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:49 am Post subject:

I often try to go with Germanic accents for my imperial officers. But it often comes out Russian. I would LOVE to do some of the more off the wall English accents, such as Yorkshire, Cornish, Scouse, but usually those come out Irish or Scottish.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

aegisflashfire · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:35 pm Post subject:

I'm playing with compressing my larynx, or my nose to give a different vocal quality, but I'm not terribly satisfied with either.
_________________
http://swfallingstar.podbean.com
GM of Falling Star: D6 Star Wars Campaign Podcast

garhkal · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:06 pm Post subject:

Ive wanted to take some language courses in how to sound like you are from country X or region Y before, to make it easier to DO these accents.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

jmanski · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:29 pm Post subject:

To do a good English accent its a southern accent without the lilt (crazy, huh?)
_________________
Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

Zarm R'keeg · Commander Joined: 14 Apr 2012 Posts: 481 Location: PA

I totally know this feeling. I've started to play more with back of the throat/closing off the throat stuff, but it is pretty killer. I had a Trandoshan who the PCs kept baiting into conversation to get me to do the voice more, and started answering every conversational attempt with just the word "No" because my throat was killing me.

I've also tried hitching my tongue to different spots in my mouth (upper-left, lower-right, planted in my cheek), shifting my jaw to one side or the other, or curling a lip... which often create more varied performances (though about half of them are useless). Just an idea.
_________________
Star Wars: Marvels, the audio drama: www.nolinecinemas.com

Hard core OT, all the way!

Xain Arke · Line Captain Joined: 19 Sep 2010 Posts: 989

	The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Gamemasters	All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1