Voice actors can portray a lot with their voices and the technical side of voice acting can be quite challenging. This is why we love to promote our artists as they have mastered the art of voice control and manipulation.
When searching for character vocals, you need to make sure you find a voice actor skilled enough to understand the character’s tone, pitch and sound but also the emotional side of the character.
There are a variety of professional voice over artists across the world, but narrowing down the search can be difficult. This is where we come in. We can help you with your search for your characters in a game, audiobook, animation and any other project you may need a character for.
Depending on what your project is, you may be searching for a strong and bold main character, a menacing villain, or some supporting characters to add depth and dimension. Either way, there are a few things to consider when searching for your character vocals.
We see a variety of different projects throughout the year, so here are our recommendations on what to look out for.
Tone
The tone of voice is especially relevant when it comes to finding the right voice actor for your project.
A formal tone of voice consists of someone using correct pronunciation and avoids the use of slang. This kind of tone will make sure to avoid any shortening of words or merging that you might find in a casual voice.
This kind of tone suits characters who are in high positions such as politicians, CEO’s or professionals.
An informal tone might incorporate more slang but will still stick to grammatical rules. This tone can be used with a lot of different characters. This could be used for a friendly next-door neighbour character, a manager or a friend.
A casual tone will be very relaxed with both diction and grammar. This is where slang, clipping and merging often occurs. This kind of tone works very well for characters that are everyday people and can be adapted to localisation.
Another tone that is often portrayed with upper-class characters is received pronunciation (RP). Often used to portray the royal family or aristocracy, this tone can be used in satire or a serious style.
The tone of voice is something our artists are very hot to pick up on. Their professional skills with vocal performance will guarantee a great finish.
Pitch
Pitch is another element to consider when looking at your character vocalisation.
There are often differences in sex and gender, for example, a male vocal can have a low to medium pitch, whilst a female vocal might have a mid to high pitch.
Pitch will often assist in emoting a particular emotion. For example, it can assist with displaying anger. Often anger is reflected with a lower pitch both for male and female characters.
Spoken language will often emote as a higher pitch, so if a character needs to emote a happy tone, then it would be good to look for someone with a higher pitch.
A vocal artist that can focus their pitch will help exaggerate emotions, which makes them great for a variety of projects such as commercials, adverts and characters in games or animation.
Lots of our artists are professionally trained and have a great understanding of pitch. If you are looking for a particular pitch for your character, then we can find the voice for you.
Style
An artist’s vocal style is another thing to consider when looking for voices for characters. This could be anything from their style of conversation, be it professional, comedic, confident or quiet.
Voice artists will each have their own style, such as delivering a crisp, gravelly or smooth vocal. Depending on the character voice you are looking for, you may want a smooth voice for someone who is very charismatic, or a gravelly voice for someone rough around the edges.
If there is a particular style you wish to use on your project, then we can see who we have available and who suits the style you request.
With over 1000 artists to choose from, we can definitely find the right voice over artist to match the style you want.
Volume
The volume of a character you want to portray can be a big factor in your search. Some characters who are confident and bold might be a louder character but likewise, a character who is angry might need a louder volume to add emphasis to the emotion.
If a character is scared or low in mood, then they are likely a quieter character that requires a softer voice.
There is a wide array of emotions that need volume to help convey said emotion. If the main character goes through a mixture of emotions, then having a skilled professional voice over artist will make all the difference to the end product.
Our artists are ready to turn up the volume or reduce it, depending on the character you need.
Overall, there are many factors to consider when looking for a voice for your characters. Tone, pitch, style and volume are the key things we recommend considering when searching for your character’s voice.
By providing as much detail as possible, it will make the search a lot easier for your project, making sure you end up with the right voice and avoid recasting.
Chatterbox Voices
We hope this article has helped you to identify what you are looking for in your character vocals. If you would like some advice on selecting a voice over artist for your project, get in touch today!
Call us on +44 (0) 203 744 3558, email us at info@chatterboxvoices.co.uk or contact us through our contact page. Our friendly team is here to assist.
