15 Facts About Voice Acting That You'll No Doubt Find Interesting
"It's surprisingly hard and not everyone can do it."
Think back to all the times you fell in love with an animated character. Sure, their personality was great, their storyline superb — but an important factor, which is often easily overlooked, is their voice.
The brains behind providing that much-needed layer of characterisation are voice actors, who use their talents to breathe life into the things we watch and consume.
To find out more about the industry and the life of a voice actor, BuzzFeed chatted to Kari Wahlgren, who has voiced over 700 different characters in her career so far.
You can hear Kari's voice in a long list of TV shows (seriously, check out her IMDB), like Rick And Morty, DC Superhero Girls, Ben 10 and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, as well as video games like the Final Fantasy series.
1. Voice actors aren't just used for TV shows, movies and video games.
Radio and TV commercials, talking toys, navigation systems, rides at theme parks — those are all part of a voice actor's catalogue, too! Basically, if there's a voice being used and you can't see the actor themselves, a voice actor is being used.
2. And to become one, you need strong acting skills and the ability to read well, take direction and — most important of all — laugh at yourself.
In Kari's case, she knew from a young age that someone was doing the voice of her favourite animated characters. Wanting to be part of that, Kari told her parents that she was going to voice a Disney cartoon one day. This led to her studying theatre and music while growing up, as well as mailing recordings of her voice to cartoon shows she admired.
3. There is no such thing as a typical day of work.
According to Kari, every day is different. But you can expect a lot of driving from one studio to another, doing recording sessions for multiple projects, answering emails and phone calls from agents about scheduling, reading scripts and eating on the run. Oh, and prepping for the next day, of course.
4. And the job itself can be incredibly demanding.
"I JUST finished the most challenging role I’ve ever done. It was for a video game, and they had to split the work up over a number of sessions because the voice was so difficult to do."
5. First round auditions for a role are usually done at a voice actor's home or agent's office.
Most voice actors have a decent recording set-up at home, so they're easily able to do this.
6. And they'll usually receive character descriptions and artwork to help inspire a voice to audition with.
"With animation and video games, I read the character description and the scenes. But artwork that the client includes is the best. For example, if the character has droopy eyes or big buck teeth, that sparks my imagination as to what the character would sound like."
7. The best way to prepare for a recording session is to "warm up" your voice.
Singing in the car is a popular way of doing this for voice actors. For Kari, she does metal songs in really ridiculous voices.
"It warms up my voice, gets my energy pumped up and just puts me in a good mood for my recording session."
8. While filming, the most stressful thing a director can say to a voice actor is to "use your natural voice".
Voice actors spend a lot of the time altering their voice for roles to the point where it's hard to remember what their "natural voice" is.
9. Depending on the genre, there are different recording processes.
"Sometimes I might be recording a cartoon with a group of people. And the next day I might be alone in a studio doing the AI voice for a live-action show like Supergirl. I love the variety and the different processes keep it fresh and interesting for me."
10. And you may need to change up your vocal tone depending on what you're filming or the sort of character you're auditioning for.
For example, anime has much more of a "rhythm" to it than your typical American cartoon.
11. You need to treat your voice like an instrument — which means taking care of it and making sacrifices.
"If I have a vocally stressful session, I will go home and not talk to anyone for the rest of the night. I don’t cheer and scream much at concerts and sporting events anymore. I’ve developed what my friends call my, 'very aggressive clapping' instead!"
12. But that doesn't mean voice actors aren't partial to a prank or two.
"I’m a bit shy, so I rarely just whip out voices in public. But I make full use of my little girl voices when telemarketers call. I'll say something like, 'No, my mommy isn't here. No, I don't know when she'll be back.' Works every time!
13. Inspiration for new and different voices can come from anywhere and everywhere.
"Just playing around and being silly with your voice can create inspiration. Sometimes talking to my cats triggers an idea for a voice. And more than one of my impressions of family and friends have ended up in a project!"
14. It may look easy — but there's a lot of skill and talent involved in voice acting.
"It's a surprisingly hard gig to do and not everyone can do it."
15. Because it's not just about doing a funny voice, it's about creating a character.
"If you just change your voice to sound weird and kooky, that’s not necessarily good voice acting. There’s got to be something more underneath it."
