Featured Voice Over Artist: Rob Paulsen

Other great voiceover artists can be a source of inspiration!

Next in our series of voiceover greats, we suggest you check out the wonderfully talented Rob Paulsen, who says he is "Getting paid to do what got me in trouble in the 7th grade."

Rob is best known as the voice of Yakko Warner and Dr. Otto Scratchansniff from Animaniacs, Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Pinky from Pinky and the Brain. In his long and lustrous career, Rob has played more than 250 different animated characters and thousands of commercials.

From Rob's website:

"Born in Detroit, Rob Paulsen spent his childhood in Livonia and Rochester, attending Junior and Senior high school in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Rob loved cartoons like most kids but aspired to be a professional hockey player. “Fortunately, thanks to some big, strong, kid from Winnipeg who drilled me so hard my ears are still ringing, I learned around age 18 I had neither the talent nor the temperament to make a living playing hockey. So, I turned to my other passions: singing and acting.”

The goal of bringing absolute believability to a fictional character, live-action or animated, is what every actor strives for. Those who are committed to their career and who combine experience, passion and skill are likely to succeed.

Those gifted with exceptional talent who focus on maximizing their potential by finding their own niche, quickly break away from the pack...."

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Voice Actors: Practice People-Watching & People-Listening!

One great way of getting your ear (and then your voice) attuned to a variety of voices, inflections, accents and qualities is to practice people watching and people-listening.

Find a fairly busy spot, like a mall, a zoo, a crowded lobby, café, etc, sit yourself down, and observe. Listen to how different people talk, take note of their pauses, inflections, their unique affectations and things you find interesting about them. Without appearing creepy, you might even pay attention to their mouths to see if there’s something specific they’re doing to create sounds.

If you think it might help, bring a note pad along so you can take notes on things you want to remember. Consider also bringing your quality check list with you so you can quantify for yourself the characteristics of the voices you’re hearing. In case you haven’t built a quality list yet, here are some examples to start with. Use them as a jumping-off point and add your own!

Calm      Pointed      Sincere      Flustered      Agitated      Loving

Hypnotic      Polite     Warm       Shrill       Distant       Brash

See how many different qualities a particular person’s voice might have: perhaps they have a calm, sincere, loving, polite voice, or maybe their voice is pointed and agitated. Mix and match to best describe the voice you are listening to, or add any qualities you become aware of that aren’t yet on your list.

Happy people listening!

Voice Over Actors: Be Willing to Play!

When it comes right down to it, we do this – voice acting – because it’s fun, because we get to play. But sometimes we can forget that. Remember to have fun, be personable, and enjoy what you do.

Fact #1: people like working with people who are having a good time doing what they do. We mentioned being flexible when we talked about being prepared. Showing that you are willing to play and experiment lets everybody know that you will be a positive force on the creative team. And that you play well with others.

Fact #2: people like working with those who don’t take themselves too seriously (see earlier note about not being a jerk). There is, of course, a line which should not be crossed; nobody likes working with someone who is always goofing off or being a little too creative with the script. But you’ll get the feel for it; don’t worry.

The focus of this book is the actor. However, don’t let this mislead you. The actor is only one piece of the puzzle. Acting is a profession in which teamwork or group effort is definitely key. In order for an actor to perform even the most basic of jobs, a number of different people must be involved as well: writers, producers, directors, engineers, editors, technicians, designers, and developers, to name just a few (and that’s not even counting the audience). So, always remember that you are a part of a fantastic and exciting team.

At the end of the day, when people have to make casting choices, there are a lot of things that come into play. Partly it is a matter of them thinking, Can this person get the job done, partly, How much time/cost will we incur by having this person do the job, and maybe most importantly, What will it be like having to spend a lot of time working with this person? Be a person everyone will want to spend their time with.

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Check out our VoiceOverVoiceActor website for more tips and exercises. We post daily VO tips on Facebook and Twitter, and our book, Voice Over Voice Actor: What it’s like behind the mic includes a wealth of exercises to build your voice and keep it ready for a successful voice over career!