Voice acting. Character voices. H o w do y'all do em? 

I've been watching Jello's 'Tip Of The Tongue' series for voice acting and a few other series. It got me wondering, how do y'all voice your characters? How do you prepare, come up with voices that fit, etc? I have my own process, which is usually just repeating a phrase in a specific accent before I speak as them, but how do ye lot do all this jazz? Just curious for answers.

I keep it very low key, usually. Tone of voice, some recurring phrases and expressions, things like that. Going for heavy accents is beyond me.

Ah, gotcha. That adds up, recurring phrases for characters makes em iconic to be honest. Just for the sake of asking, do you not lean on accents because it's difficult or because you don't see the need?

Quote from NotAnAlien >>

Ah, gotcha. That adds up, recurring phrases for characters makes em iconic to be honest. Just for the sake of asking, do you not lean on accents because it's difficult or because you don't see the need?

 It's difficult for me to do consistently. I could manage a few for recurring NPCs, I suppose, but not more than a handful or so. The added difficulty is that none of us are native English speakers, so a lot of our conversations end up being mixed language and my native dialects aren't easily transposed to English.

Riiight, I getcha. That must be tough, I'd say. I speak Irish, English and a little bit of French, so those are naturally the accents I focus on. That and Nordic accents. Though your English is spot on, to be honest.

My mom taught English in high school all her career, I spent several summers with a guest family in Folkestone as a kid and probably at least 80% of what I read is in English. It's just practice. It helps that I'm something of a grammar nazi in any language too. :p

Pshh-- Hah, that's amazing. Only reason I know Irish is 'cause it's mandatory in the South of Ireland. Being a grammar nazi has its perks though, huh? I'd give that a solid A+ if I could

I love doing voice work in the shower lol

I don't wanna admit to it,, but I 100% practice my character voices in the shower as well. Like. All the time, whether it be singing in their voice or just practicing lines. It deadass helps a ton--

I'm no kind of actor or voice person at all. I'm just a nerd who loves D&D. So I don't roll a character and then think about how I'm going to voice them. Instead, well... I'm maybe just a little bit crazy to start with, because I have always had a habit of talking to myself. Maybe it's because I've played RPGs for so long. Maybe it's because I'm always thinking up new NPCs for a campaign world I've been building. Maybe I'm just nuts. But I always have a handful of running dialogues going on inside my noodle at any given time as those characters talk to me and to each other, and I just try to keep up. Whenever I'm alone (or when I think I'm alone) those dialogues often become spoken out loud. And many of those characters have specific accents or dialects, and I try to remember that and I try to speak in those voices, as a form of practice in case I ever have to voice them in a game. And sometimes I'll hear from a particular character a lot, and I'll really start to like that character, and I'll write up their entire backstory and whatnot so when the group I play in starts a new campaign I'll roll that character and I'll already have their voice and backstory ready to go. 

Also - while it's nice to incorporate a distinct voice for your character, I think if you try to go too extreme it can really detract from the gameplay. All you really need is a voice that is just ever so slightly different from yours that the other people at your table will know when it's you talking and when it's your character talking. Another neat tip is to find an existing character in film or tv or music that sounds similar to what you're aiming for and just listen. When I created a sorcerer that was based on Jafar from Aladdin, I spent a bit of time watching youtube videos of Jafar's scenes in Aladdin before each game session. I never sounded like Jafar. I sounded like some middle-age nerd trying to sound like Jafar. 

The only time you'll need to practice specific phrases is maybe for the most basic introduction type dialogue. How do they introduce themselves? How do they say thank you? How would they insult someone? That's about it. The rest is just a general ballpark of a voice. And lately, since games like Critical Role have become such huge successes, people may be a bit intimidated by how well those people do their voices. Just remember, those are professional voice actors who quite literally do that for a living. They are a nice ideal to which to aspire, but that's all. None of us should make the mistake of judging our own abilities by their talents. We play a game. Games are meant to be fun, and maybe a little bit goofy and maybe a little bit scary and if doing a voice helps you have fun - go for it. As long as you're all having fun, that's all that matters.

Quote from ChessMess >>

I love doing voice work in the shower lol

Quote from NotAnAlien >>

I don't wanna admit to it,, but I 100% practice my character voices in the shower as well. Like. All the time, whether it be singing in their voice or just practicing lines. It deadass helps a ton--

Not bad! I practice at work - but my feathery coworkers tend to yell at me most of the time for it XD

Honestly there are a lot of good resources used by actors that can be transferred to situations like this.  I have a small sheet that I use if I'm rolling a random character that can quickly build a personality. From there it is a bit easier to get tone and cadence in when you know their general personality.  I don't do much accent work unless it is going to be more of a reoccurring NPC.  But doing different pitch ranges is another way I will distinguish a character (even as just a PC). 

If you are looking for a good place to pick up accents: https://www.dialectsarchive.com/ is a wonderful database that has actual people from those regions speaking to help you learn it.  It is a wonderful source we used all the time in college.

I usually script a few lines they’re certain or likely to say in the session. I rehearse those lines until I’m happy with the delivery.

I also sometimes sing songs in character. Timminator the Warforged has been known to sing, “I just took a DNA test. Turns out I’m 100% that *****.”

Quote from AnzioFaro >>

And lately, since games like Critical Role have become such huge successes, people may be a bit intimidated by how well those people do their voices. Just remember, those are professional voice actors who quite literally do that for a living. They are a nice ideal to which to aspire, but that's all. None of us should make the mistake of judging our own abilities by their talents. We play a game. Games are meant to be fun, and maybe a little bit goofy and maybe a little bit scary and if doing a voice helps you have fun - go for it. As long as you're all having fun, that's all that matters.

 Yeah, I’d shoot more for the quality standard of a parent reading a story to a child. Make the voices distinct enough to be recognizable, but don’t worry about winning an Oscar.

In the car I listen to NPR and while I’m driving I practice mimicking the voices of guests and interviewees. It helps keep me better able to wing rando NPCs when I have to.

We play in Russian (none of us are Russian but everyone knows it) and accents are not really as big a thing in Russian as it is in English and they're mostly a sign of you not knowing the language properly. So general rule is no accents. Most players in my group use their normal voices when in character, the difference is mostly mannerism and dictionary.

Absolutely, I wholeheartedly back this! I kind of do the same thing, repeating bits of dialogue out loud-- Usually it's from characters from shows I love. I base the core personality of my characters off of other characters from shows, though I try not to make a carbon copy. Ultimately though, I do borrow some phrases and antics from other personalities. I agree with the idea of not going to hard on the voice though, that often makes things too grandoise. I like your take on things, and the idea of dialogues and concepts constantly in your head-- and sometimes aloud-- is something I totally vibe with!

Rolling for character personalities actually sounds neat though, I might give that a try! Normally I base the personality and voice off a reference image before drawing up the character myself but..Rolling for that sort of stuff sounds pretty interesting now that I think about it!

This is an interesting take on things. Focusing on mannerisms and dictionary is core for this sort of thing, though here in Ireland (at least with my group) voicework is a very valued thing, as it kinda defines our characters. But your take on that is pretty neat!

Another vote for “don’t feel like you need to be Matt Mercer.” He’s an entertainer first and foremost, not an average DM! I was an improv kid, and I have 50-ish distinct voices for NPCs in my current game, but the best DM I ever played with had like 3 voices plus his own that he’d use for every NPC, and none were that good. Just find what works for you and stick with it! Silly voices are fun, but being good or adaptable is far less important than Critical Role makes people think.

That said, my #1 trick is to mimic movie or TV characters, especially ones with distinct voices (think Jon Snow or Snape). Even if your impression is bad, it’ll still be distinct, and most players, even if they’ve watched the inspiration, don’t recognize Walder Frey when he shows up as a mayor in Innistrad!

Quote from NaivaraArnuanna >>

That said, my #1 trick is to mimic movie or TV characters, especially ones with distinct voices (think Jon Snow or Snape). Even if your impression is bad, it’ll still be distinct, and most players, even if they’ve watched the inspiration, don’t recognize Walder Frey when he shows up as a mayor in Innistrad!

 Pretty much. You don't have to be recognizeable as whoever you're doing an impression of, all that really matters is being distinctive in character.