Brain FoodPlayer Advice

3 Steps to Better Character Voices

Hank Azaria, voice actor extraordinaire, has a net worth of $70,000,000.

70 million dollars.

Voice acting is valuable work. And what are you doing when you speak like your RPG character? Voice acting. Daunting, right?

The latest episode of Gaming and BS, Adding Voice to Your RPGs, is all about character voices. I happen to be a voice actor on a podcast or two, so I loved listening to their tips about how to create voices specifically for a roleplaying game. Brett and Sean provide a handy list of ways to change your voice:

  1. Hold your nose as you speak.
  2. Speak with a different expression.
  3. Speak with a different posture.
  4. Mumble.
  5. Speak in monotone.
  6. Speak quickly.
  7. Repeat all of the above… but with an accent.
  8. Emulate a celebrity actor/actress.

These are all great tips, particularly the ones that tell you to pay attention to your body as well as your voice. However, these tips are one part of a process of developing a unique voice for your character.

Action-Packed… Speaking?

As I mentioned in my post about GOTE sheets, considering your character’s actions is a good way to go about building that character. The same is true for developing a voice. Think about Eeyore, the stuffed, depressed donkey in the Winnie the Pooh stories. I’d imagine anyone could replicate his voice just by seeing a picture: those doleful eyes, the drooping head. Likewise, anyone who tried to replicate Eeyore’s voice would almost certainly adopt the same posture. Like Sean says (and Brett demonstrates), it’s natural for the voice to follow what the body is already doing.

Ugh.

Not only is Eeyore’s voice as droopy as his ears, but it’s also this deep, plodding wretched thing. Again, look at him. Watch him walk. See how tired he looks all the time. That caboose is a lot to drag around, and creates a lot of room for a voice to bounce around. Connecting big characters with deep voices is a time-honored tradition, but more accurately: a character’s appearance and behavior is deeply connected with their voice.

A Voice Like an Onion

Layering is another key element of a good character voice. As Bob Bergen (current voice of Porky Pig and Tweeter Bird, plus many, many other voices) points out in this video:

Character voices are gradually assembled by starting with something familiar, then adding quirks based on the character’s description and personality. The familiar foundation helps to make the voice “iconic,” while the rest helps to make it unique.

3 Steps to Building a Character Voice

Props to Brett and Sean for coming up with some great tips, but I’m going to integrate them into a simple checklist:

  1. Start with a familiar foundation. Some people have more character voices than others. Whether you’ve got 50 or just the one, go with one that’s comfortable and feels at least vaguely right for the character. It’s important to note I’m not talking about accents or dialects here, just the base quality of a voice. Is it high pitched or deep? Fast or slow? Clear or mumbled? Just the basics to start off.
  2. Ask: who is my character? This is where a lot of Brett and Sean’s tips really start to come in handy. Does your character lack stamina? Maybe she’s got a cold, so she’s nasal. Is he ever-joyous? Then you should smile a lot when you talk. Jaded? Don’t be an apathetic player, but speaking in monotone will send a clear message about the character. On this step, you’re putting the character into your body, with the knowledge that you voice will inevitably change as a result.
  3. Mix well. No one’s voice is made up of just a single quality. Even normal speaking voices are a combination of posture, energy, attitude, habit, conditioning (to name a few). Your character’s voice will truly come to life when you repeat Step 2 a few times. Let’s say my players walk up to a kindly grandma to ask for directions. She’s a woman, so a high-pitched voice is my foundation. She’s kindly, so I should be smiling. She’s elderly, so I’ll make my voice quaver a little bit as I speak. I might slow down my speech and (if I’m really feeling ambitious) put a bit of jowly slurring in to really hammer home her age. Four twists on a vanilla base make for some tasty ice cream!

Next time you’re watching animation, pay attention to the voices of each character. Think about the character’s major qualities, and see if you can hear them represented in the character voice. You might even look up the voice actor to see if they look much different from the character. And if you like this sort of stuff, I highly recommend you check out the documentary I Know That Voice.

What tips and tricks do you use when you’re developing a character voice? Let me know in the comments.

3 thoughts on “3 Steps to Better Character Voices

  1. Good advice. Thank you. 🙂

    I try to create individual characters via voice and mannerisms. I try to think of the characters (NPCs or monsters) as individuals with real personalities, goals, and perspectives. This helps a lot to bring my campaign to life, I think. Of course, sometimes I’m not quite as good as others, and some types of characters pose a real challenge for me – such as monsters that I really don’t have a good idea of how they sound, but know it would be totally alien to anything we’ve ever heard. For example … what does a Beholder sound like? Hmmm… hmmmm… hmmm… it should sound really, really freakin weird, and horrifying. But trying to voice that … is a challenge. Nevertheless it’s a fun challenge. 🙂

    1. Great points! The issue for me is often that I’ve got too many balls in the air at once. I want to create a unique voice for each character, but it’s not as important as, say, making sure the encounters are engaging and each player has a chance to shine.

      Your process sounds a lot like what I describe in my post about GOTE Sheets (linked in this blog post). If you haven’t read it yet you ought to give it a look! I’d be curious to see how it compares to your process.

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