Hey there! The title sums it up nicely: I'd like to improve (or perhaps I should say START to develop) my ability to do voices for D&D campaigns.
To begin, it would be phenomenally helpful to be able to identify which accents or voices I might have a natural inclination for and work on just one or two voices that I can use as a single player over the course of many, many weeks. This voice (or voices) would be used consistently each week and I'd like to be able to achieve what sounds like a natural speaking voice that is unique from my own, regular speaking voice.
In the long term, I'd like to be a DM, which is to say I'd be running campaigns and, therefore, in need of AS MANY VOICES AS POSSIBLE to be able to portray a diverse world, rife with myriad races and personalities. It'd be a bonus to also develop onomatopoeia/various sound effects, as well. My attempts at doing any of this thus far have been discouraging at best, as the internet videos and the like can only go so far.
I don't have any aspirations to land a job doing voice acting, but I'd love to be able to do a voice with confidence and without it hampering my ability to improvise responses. As both a player and a dungeon master, I'll need to think on the spot, and my current experiences have shown that when I need to think critically AND maintain a character voice, usually one or the other gives way.. not to mention any voices I've had have been flimsy at best to begin with.
I am located in Boston, MA, so with COVID and with distances varying, I am hoping to achieve this with you via the use of the internet, microphones and video cameras. My ideal coach will be able to help me figure out my own natural inclinations, but also will be willing to help me try accents and/or voices outside of my comfort zone. I have no experience with any of this, so forgive me if this is a tall order!
I do work a regular 10-6 (USA EST timezone) job Mondays - Fridays, so a potential coach would need to be available after 7:00 PM EST and/or on weekends.
If this sounds like something you may be able to help me with, then I look forward to learning more about what you might charge, what sort of schedule you can work with, and how we might go about this.
Thanks for reading my short novel and I hope to hear from you soon,
-KB
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Game: D&D 5e Group preferred: Online/In Person Experience: 2 years of 5th edition Location/Timezone: US Eastern Time Zone Availability: Limited Preferred role: Player and DM Preferred play-style: I prefer an arcane spellcaster Game: I prefer a nice balance of social interaction, combat, exploration, RPing, and more Discord: KBShaman #9732
So, here is some free advice from a DM who does a lot of voices and works in performance (as more then just a performer):
Try things. When you are home alone it is the perfect time to just be silly and do voices at random. You'll find out what you have a tendency to be able to do constantly and easily.
Find 'Character Phrases". If you are doing a character that has a more difficult character voice, Id recommend finding a 'character phrase' that you can say in the cadence of the character that lets you get back into the character easily. Practice makes perfect, and really just trying something new might work out.
Lean into the goofyness, especially when you are by yourself. It doesn't matter if it is bad. Also, if you do a voice for your characters and the players like them, you WILL get better at that voice because your players will force you to get better at it.
Have fun with it. If you try and force yourself to do more then you are able to and it doesn't work out the way you expect it can be really disheartening and you could just give up. But you said it yourself, you don't plan on doing this for anything other then fun, so let it be fun.
Look stuff up online. There are so many good guides to accents its insane. Watch some of those and if they don't work out you can always make your own version of an accent. If nothing else attempting the mimicry will help exponentially, especially at first.
In the long term, I'd like to be a DM, which is to say I'd be running campaigns and, therefore, in need of AS MANY VOICES AS POSSIBLE to be able to portray a diverse world, rife with myriad races and personalities.
I'm going to step in here and say... no, you don't need to do voices. Doing voices can be great if that's your thing, but tons of DMs don't do any voices at all, yours truly included. Doing the voices does not make you a good DM. It makes you a good voiceover actor. Good DMing is about other things -- like attention to detail, familiarity with the game, ability to organize large groups of players to get together every so often, memory/note-taking, ability to pull something out of your tail when the players go so far off the rails you can't see them in the rear view mirror. Voices won't help you do ANY of that.
You don't, actually, even need to speak in the words of the NPCs. You can simply say "The guard looks angry and asks you what you were up to, in a Slavic accent." That's it -- you just RPed a guard with an accent and never had to do any voices.
I'm not saying don't do voices if you want to, if you think you'd enjoy doing it, if you think it would be fun or pleasant... what I am saying is, don't think that you have to do them to be a good DM. Tons of great DMs do not do the voices.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
To those of you who have responded already, thank you! Those are some great tidbits of advice.
However, this is where I should mention that I have already consulted the internet and spent hours and hours trying to follow YouTube videos and mimic what I hear. I do not learn very well in this manner when it comes to stuff like this. I would learn best with someone who can respond to what I am doing in real time with advice that specifically pertains to me and my vocal ability. Like learning guitar, sure, you can learn on your own and from the internet. But sometimes it takes having an experienced teacher SEE you play to tell you that you are doing long-term damage to your wrist by strumming the way you are, for instance, etc.
As for not needing to do voices, again, I am also aware of this, and I feel that I have most of those other areas covered. However, I would like to bring more to my games and they would feel a little empty from my perspective without some voices being thrown in.
So this isn't me looking for advice from everyone on that side of things! Rather, I am reaching out to you, the DnDBeyond community, to ask if you know of anyone who can offer voice-acting lessons online to someone like me.
Thanks,
-KB
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Game: D&D 5e Group preferred: Online/In Person Experience: 2 years of 5th edition Location/Timezone: US Eastern Time Zone Availability: Limited Preferred role: Player and DM Preferred play-style: I prefer an arcane spellcaster Game: I prefer a nice balance of social interaction, combat, exploration, RPing, and more Discord: KBShaman #9732
If you are just looking for a voice coach, I submit that you came to the wrong place. I don't suspect many people here, even if they do the voices, have received professional instruction and will be able to hook you up with a coach. You'd be better off contacting one of the pros like Trevor Devall (who is pretty responsive in his channel comment section) and ask him where he learned it or something. He'd be much more likely to be able to point you in the right direction than a bunch of players and DMs who mostly don't do the voices themselves.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I agree with Bio. There are many services that you can find that will teach you voice acting. You said you live in Boston? Id recommend reaching out to a local theatre or college and see if anyone their would be willing to work with you. Over Zoom of course. If not they are probably better connected then us on the internet are.
I would also like to say, if you are trying to do a voice while you play, you are in fact doing a voice while you play. The more you do them the better you will be at them.
Alternatively, the vast majority of people that I have worked with when discussing voice acting and doing voices there is a big difference between them. Voice acting is ACTING. Learning to act will make your vocal work better. Doing voices is not voice acting. I know you said that you don't want to be a voice actor but if you really want to be good at doing voices and not acting that is something that you are most likely going to need to figure out on your own.
I would say in my professional opinion but I know that claims on the internet mean almost nothing and I'm not the type of person to say "I kNoW wHaT Im DoInG sO LiStEn tO mE" but I'm also hesitant to give my information away on a DND forum so, take my word for what it is, just an opinion on the internet.
Again to ConalTheGreat and BioWizard, I appreciate your feedback and suggestions!
However, I have already received a couple messages regarding exactly what I am looking for as a result of posting in this forum, so I would wager that this community is exactly where I should be looking. And I would say to anyone reading this thread, please feel free to reach out to me if you think you can fit what I'm looking for, as well.
Game: D&D 5e Group preferred: Online/In Person Experience: 2 years of 5th edition Location/Timezone: US Eastern Time Zone Availability: Limited Preferred role: Player and DM Preferred play-style: I prefer an arcane spellcaster Game: I prefer a nice balance of social interaction, combat, exploration, RPing, and more Discord: KBShaman #9732
I just go on YouTube and listen to people speak in different accents or watch a tutorial. After about a minute I know if I can do an accent or not, lol. I love doing voices, anytime I’m a player all of my characters have an accent or voice of some kind. Most of my NPCs don’t have accents though since there are just so many. The ones that do have a distinct voice are usually important NPCs or NPCs the players will interact with on a regular basis. Barkeep #2 that asks what you want to drink is S.O.L. and just gets my boring ol regular voice. Even just slightly modifying my own voice, up pitch, down pitch, speak slower or faster, can have add a lot of character to an NPC and can make them more memorable or likable for your players. Or something as simple as putting more emphasis on “O” sounds. Also, I don’t know about any of you, but my game takes place in a fictional world, so if your Scottish accent sucks (that would be me...and I’m mostly Scottish so that’s disappointing) then fantastic, Scotland doesn’t even exist in my world so whatever the heck is coming out of my mouth is just the local accent for the people of Havenbriar.
That’ll be $5,000, good day to you.
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Hey there! The title sums it up nicely: I'd like to improve (or perhaps I should say START to develop) my ability to do voices for D&D campaigns.
To begin, it would be phenomenally helpful to be able to identify which accents or voices I might have a natural inclination for and work on just one or two voices that I can use as a single player over the course of many, many weeks. This voice (or voices) would be used consistently each week and I'd like to be able to achieve what sounds like a natural speaking voice that is unique from my own, regular speaking voice.
Game: D&D 5e
Group preferred: Online/In Person
Experience: 2 years of 5th edition
Location/Timezone: US Eastern Time Zone
Availability: Limited
Preferred role: Player and DM
Preferred play-style: I prefer an arcane spellcaster
Game: I prefer a nice balance of social interaction, combat, exploration, RPing, and more
Discord: KBShaman #9732
So, here is some free advice from a DM who does a lot of voices and works in performance (as more then just a performer):
Buyers Guide for D&D Beyond - Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You - How/What is Toggled Content?
Everything you need to know about Homebrew - Homebrew FAQ - Digital Book on D&D Beyond Vs Physical Books
Can't find the content you are supposed to have access to? Read this FAQ.
"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
I'm going to step in here and say... no, you don't need to do voices. Doing voices can be great if that's your thing, but tons of DMs don't do any voices at all, yours truly included. Doing the voices does not make you a good DM. It makes you a good voiceover actor. Good DMing is about other things -- like attention to detail, familiarity with the game, ability to organize large groups of players to get together every so often, memory/note-taking, ability to pull something out of your tail when the players go so far off the rails you can't see them in the rear view mirror. Voices won't help you do ANY of that.
You don't, actually, even need to speak in the words of the NPCs. You can simply say "The guard looks angry and asks you what you were up to, in a Slavic accent." That's it -- you just RPed a guard with an accent and never had to do any voices.
I'm not saying don't do voices if you want to, if you think you'd enjoy doing it, if you think it would be fun or pleasant... what I am saying is, don't think that you have to do them to be a good DM. Tons of great DMs do not do the voices.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
To those of you who have responded already, thank you! Those are some great tidbits of advice.
However, this is where I should mention that I have already consulted the internet and spent hours and hours trying to follow YouTube videos and mimic what I hear. I do not learn very well in this manner when it comes to stuff like this. I would learn best with someone who can respond to what I am doing in real time with advice that specifically pertains to me and my vocal ability. Like learning guitar, sure, you can learn on your own and from the internet. But sometimes it takes having an experienced teacher SEE you play to tell you that you are doing long-term damage to your wrist by strumming the way you are, for instance, etc.
As for not needing to do voices, again, I am also aware of this, and I feel that I have most of those other areas covered. However, I would like to bring more to my games and they would feel a little empty from my perspective without some voices being thrown in.
So this isn't me looking for advice from everyone on that side of things! Rather, I am reaching out to you, the DnDBeyond community, to ask if you know of anyone who can offer voice-acting lessons online to someone like me.
Thanks,
-KB
Game: D&D 5e
Group preferred: Online/In Person
Experience: 2 years of 5th edition
Location/Timezone: US Eastern Time Zone
Availability: Limited
Preferred role: Player and DM
Preferred play-style: I prefer an arcane spellcaster
Game: I prefer a nice balance of social interaction, combat, exploration, RPing, and more
Discord: KBShaman #9732
If you are just looking for a voice coach, I submit that you came to the wrong place. I don't suspect many people here, even if they do the voices, have received professional instruction and will be able to hook you up with a coach. You'd be better off contacting one of the pros like Trevor Devall (who is pretty responsive in his channel comment section) and ask him where he learned it or something. He'd be much more likely to be able to point you in the right direction than a bunch of players and DMs who mostly don't do the voices themselves.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I agree with Bio. There are many services that you can find that will teach you voice acting. You said you live in Boston? Id recommend reaching out to a local theatre or college and see if anyone their would be willing to work with you. Over Zoom of course. If not they are probably better connected then us on the internet are.
I would also like to say, if you are trying to do a voice while you play, you are in fact doing a voice while you play. The more you do them the better you will be at them.
Alternatively, the vast majority of people that I have worked with when discussing voice acting and doing voices there is a big difference between them. Voice acting is ACTING. Learning to act will make your vocal work better. Doing voices is not voice acting. I know you said that you don't want to be a voice actor but if you really want to be good at doing voices and not acting that is something that you are most likely going to need to figure out on your own.
I would say in my professional opinion but I know that claims on the internet mean almost nothing and I'm not the type of person to say "I kNoW wHaT Im DoInG sO LiStEn tO mE" but I'm also hesitant to give my information away on a DND forum so, take my word for what it is, just an opinion on the internet.
Buyers Guide for D&D Beyond - Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You - How/What is Toggled Content?
Everything you need to know about Homebrew - Homebrew FAQ - Digital Book on D&D Beyond Vs Physical Books
Can't find the content you are supposed to have access to? Read this FAQ.
"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
Again to ConalTheGreat and BioWizard, I appreciate your feedback and suggestions!
However, I have already received a couple messages regarding exactly what I am looking for as a result of posting in this forum, so I would wager that this community is exactly where I should be looking. And I would say to anyone reading this thread, please feel free to reach out to me if you think you can fit what I'm looking for, as well.
Game: D&D 5e
Group preferred: Online/In Person
Experience: 2 years of 5th edition
Location/Timezone: US Eastern Time Zone
Availability: Limited
Preferred role: Player and DM
Preferred play-style: I prefer an arcane spellcaster
Game: I prefer a nice balance of social interaction, combat, exploration, RPing, and more
Discord: KBShaman #9732
I just go on YouTube and listen to people speak in different accents or watch a tutorial. After about a minute I know if I can do an accent or not, lol. I love doing voices, anytime I’m a player all of my characters have an accent or voice of some kind. Most of my NPCs don’t have accents though since there are just so many. The ones that do have a distinct voice are usually important NPCs or NPCs the players will interact with on a regular basis. Barkeep #2 that asks what you want to drink is S.O.L. and just gets my boring ol regular voice. Even just slightly modifying my own voice, up pitch, down pitch, speak slower or faster, can have add a lot of character to an NPC and can make them more memorable or likable for your players. Or something as simple as putting more emphasis on “O” sounds. Also, I don’t know about any of you, but my game takes place in a fictional world, so if your Scottish accent sucks (that would be me...and I’m mostly Scottish so that’s disappointing) then fantastic, Scotland doesn’t even exist in my world so whatever the heck is coming out of my mouth is just the local accent for the people of Havenbriar.
That’ll be $5,000, good day to you.