Never hurts to play a storytelling bard, if you can't sing or you're shy. :) Or, if you want, a bard that thinks they can sing but can't.. Or a bard that casts spells through interpretive dance.. Dungeons and Dragons is the best kind of game to go nuts
"I'm such a bad singer, I can't even hit the wrong notes." Sometimes, one comes across a gem on TH-cam purely by chance. This video, and this quote in particular, is one of them. Although technically, it's two of them (video + quote)...
Dude this is brilliant... seriously the BEST video to break this down for DMs I’ve seen probably 100 videos on stuff while trying to improve myself... this... is the BEST
This is by far the best RPG voice acting video that I've seen. So many focus on theory or getting into character, but your tips get straight to the heart how to actually form the noises.
So an “accent-less” American accent with a barely-there Southern twang that you can *just* hear if you know what to listen for but otherwise makes Californians say, “You’re from Alabama? Where’s your accent?” :)
I’m currently playing a Wild Western styled character and I was making him speak in the Ozark English dialect because it sounded like something the “cowboys” would use, I didn’t know it had a name until I watched your video and now I can look up new phrases for him to use so he isn’t reusing the same 3 phrases over and over
I used to have a REALLY bad stutter, to the point where I wouldn't be able to communicate past the first three words of my sentences. I went to speech therapy, and since I've gotten into DnD I've decided to try DMing. I have several characters who have stutters, stammers and clutters. I personally don't find other people imitating speech impediments offensive, I like that they're somewhat normalized in DnD. I'm delighted that you demonstrated speech impediments.
Quite aside from the fact that this video gives practical tips that anyone can use, I just love that you realise that "voice acting" is a different thing from "roleplaying". Just a really practical video. Though with Baron Vallakivich, I personally went for more of a manic screech. "All will be well!"
Thank you! Yeah, there's a lot of different ways to play the Baron. I went for someone who *feels* in control and acts like it, even though that's far from the reality of the situation. It worked well for him, right up until he and his wife were hung over the town walls.
I have a stutter, but I never try to do one for a character of mine. Not because I or anyone at my table finds it offensive, I just can't remember where to stutter. I think of my own stutter is random, so it's very hard for me to fake my own without being dramatic. Btw, great video. Should've probably said that at the beginning, but seriously great! Most video are gender specific, so it's hard for me to just find basic tips.
i personally will never do a stutter in my game, because the shit pisses me off enough. Plus i might start the stutter voluntarily and end up stuttering either way. So a lot of not fun for me.
Yeah, I got to that part in the video and was like _yeah I'm not gonna touch that_ because I used to have a stutter and I have an irrational fear that if I reteach myself to stutter I will not be able to stop :S I also agree that for me and my brother (who still has one) it feels a little more random than that.
Amazing video. Now that I'm DMing over video it's become a lot more comfortable to use voices. Controlling breathing is also a good tool especially for monsters. Undead sound great on an inhale. Maybe someone nervous is not taking pauses and always at the end of a breath. Someone holding back secrets takes a deep breath and speaks slowly hardly exhaling at all.
As someone with chronic stammer, that tutorial was incredibly accurate. Typically, the consonants which require a lot of air or breath will be the ones where the vocal cords will tense up ig. H, M, S, T or P also known as Her Royal Majesty's Toilet Paper. Really nice video, well done!
Going over how things literally work is left out of a lot of tutorials in general, even thought it helps so much. This is a really good video and I appreciate the work that went into it.
I'm glad you found it instructive! It's very frustrating when the person giving instruction makes assumptions that some things are already known or axiomatic. Then it ends up being a "rest of the ***king owl" sort of thing.
Me: Can sing, plays as a bard, likes music Also me: *I REFUSE TO SING, IF YOU ASK ME TO SING ONE MORE TIME I WILL NEVER GIVE YOU INSPIRATION FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE.*
Solid, practical tips and clear explanations for how and why people speaking the same language can sound unique! Like you said, the variations we call impediments should be used sparingly and not for laughs, and I think you did a good job of showing how they actually work 👍🏻
I would like to add something to your list: Airway control. Using your lungs, throat and the back of your tounge, you can create a sort of raspy voice, which I love to impliment. If you sharply cut off and force your air out of your throat, you get a voice that kinda sounds like Tiberius Stormwind from Critical role. Using the back of your tounge and your lungs and a faint Australian accent, you get a variation of Grog Strong-jaw. Doing all three and forcing your words out can make any voice sound like they're severely injured. I did this with one of my characters when he was dying. (His death caught the entire table except for one off-guard.)
Great video man! So summing up and adding a couple: 1. Dialect 2. Pitch 3. Speed 4. Crackly noise or clear 5. Stutters & disabilities 6. Position of lips, jaw, tongue 7. More/less Rhinal
Nice video. Remember articulators and resonating chambers/parts of the mechanism are slightly different and should be addressed separately before putting both together. Nice video. As professional actor, opera singer, and VO artist, It is nice to actually see a video with solid info and not bullshit.
I started a campaign in December where my players started out helping to build up a small village. The village was founded by a couple people who were half-elf/half-orc, and thus both elves and orcs hated them. The leader is a guy named Sheg, who's a bit of a noble type, so I gave him a sort of British-sounding voice with a slight lisp. I also lowered the pitch of the voice and shoved my tongue as far back in my mouth as I could, along with moving my jaw to the side slightly. The result was a character who sounds like a cross between Sean Connery, Jimmy Stewart, and Grog Strongjaw. Lol.
As a singer who matches voices I naturally shift accents and actually most of these other techniques depending on the voice im singing to. Like when singing Queen you can litterally just throw your top jaw forward to mimic Freddys overbite and it actually naturally makes your voice sound more like his in terms of both pitch and pronunciation/accent.
Smiling or just talking with your math wider is kind of fun, I like doing it to sound more different then my regular speaking voice if I don’t want to do anything specific. Or if I just want an NPc to seem happy/ jolly
Time for the notorious Australian accent and if you're feeling brave the similar-to-an-outsider-but-completely-different-and-distinguishable-to-a-native-user-of-either New Zealand accent.
@@LunchBreakHeroes if you do a follow up to this video,, maybe about how to find and implement the "core" of an accent i.e. what makes Australian Australian, I'd like to hear it. Matt Mercer's is surprisingly good and Dev Patel in the movie 'Lion' pretty much nails it and is the only time I've seen a non-Australian actor do it convincingly.
A more accurate way to do a stammer is to restart or slow down words halfway through. It's most often about the sounds trying to fall out of your mouth all at once and having to correct yourself instead of just repeating a single letter at the beginning. "Let's op- ..opeN the dooor and get, get under the tAble" is a very natural way to stutter through the example in the video. (Caps for possible emphasis) People stammer more when they're under pressure or trying new/too elaborate words and phrases. Imagine trying to read a longer drug name with no practice and rushing before anyone can correct you (people with speech issues are constantly talked over so there's pressure to hurry through). A way to make this work is mispronouncing something halfway through and restarting either the syllable, word, or whole phrase to get a clean take. "I found something called 'bensa-zo-benzodiazeph-' - I found a bottle of 'benzo dia zepine' in the other room." Is a convincing and considerate portrayal of a common type of speech impediment. (Yes it's broken into 2 syllable chunks on purpose)
Now this is what I call content... there is actual technique and knowledge that's being shared. A Wealth of Knowledge for those of us starting in this field. A true gem 💎
"You probably already know how, this is something everybody does." Mate I'm sorry to disappoint, I've never been able to reach any pitch other than the one I talk at, I tend to sound very monotone due to it.
You know... This is actually really useful. I look at a ton of other video's on a similar premise and it usually just sums up to 'be more confident, and use mannerisms' rather than any actual voice control. Neat!
This was so much fun to watch, the extra time you spent on each specific voice gave me time to position my mouth and try the same techniques along with you! There's so much I didn't realize you could do for voice acting through altering these little things; I can't wait to try it in my next session
From the Ozarks, at first I was going to say you were off, but after re-listening to it, I can think of at least 4 people who sound almost exactly like that. Its a minority that sound that thick accented but there's still plenty.
I'm quite used to doing voices, be it for whatever but usually D&D and I kinda ran out of ideas. That is until I found this video. Simply by revisiting a few basics I've got a whole new cast of characters ready to go for my next campaigns. This was nice.
Your 'even the evil ones' voice is the kind of NPC I would fall for in every campaign LMAO Thanks for the advice! I'm gonna DM for the first time in a few weeks and I'm a nervous wreck!
Thank you very much for this video. As a beginning DM who's never been great at doing voices, this is incredibly useful to me. I've tried all the techniques and wrote them down. Accents and dialects are a bit tricky because we speak a different language; a tough guy western voice sounds like a silly farmer when you use it in Dutch. Now if I could just keep myself from using the wrong voice after I've switched characters a few times..
This is great and has given me thoughts on how to refine my character’s voice since I play a male tiefling sorcerer but being female I can’t reach the really low notes so I tend to make you for that with changing up how I speak and using a rather exotic sounding accent and dialect trips to help make the voice have a bit of perception of being male though I have a lot of work to do and often you’ll find as you do one particular voice more and more it will change and develop into its own thing overtime which is a benefit of having only one character to worry about unlike dms but practice makes perfect.
Suppressing air in different portions of your mouth or throat is another great technique. It will avoid the strain of pushing on your throat and vocal chords if you're doing a gravelly tabor, and can be used to achieve sounds like 'helium'. Run a bit of controlled air through your nasal passages and atypical 'snob' tone is achieved. This is an excellent video- basics are perfect building blocks for more complex sounds. I salute you, Sir! Your DMing is clearly accompanied by a vast and diverse cast.
9:56 I'm almost certain that If you don't have a tongue, you can't speak at all (or at least your phonemic inventory will be DRASTICALLY reduced) and by the way you also don't need your lips for all plosives, just bilabial ones
Ngl this has been pretty educational, super helpful since I've had issues making character's voices unique recently (have a list of character voices that follow these but formed by chance, ie deep, old slowly speaking man with a shaky voice). Thanks for the video!!! Edit: If you happen upon this you could totally make content related to creating character voices, say write a small description of a character/NPC and assign a voice accordingly.
Definitely subbing. Top notch work. I feel like I learned more from this video than hours upon hours of others. Can't wait for the video about accents, I seriously want to expand my talents in that area.
Good, practical advice that covers the linguistic side of the craft? Where have you been lurking all this time? Your writing and editing on this (my first video of yours) are really succinct without leaving out anything important. You seem like a natural teacher, and the hobby ALWAYS needs more of those. Nice work, man. Subbed.
My boy, you are great! I know Chris Perkins too is a great fan of accents. He makes drows like french accents character. I liked your comunication style very much. I'm a DM too (here in Italu) I'm sure you recognized where my nick belongs
Personally I used slip into an accent naturally when I talked to some people, I didn't realise it at all. I don't see those friends anymore, and I think it might not be natural for me nowadays.
I've added quite a few accents to my altered personas. When I think region, I automatically switch into the accent. Practice is definitely key. The accent easiest for me is Scots, to the point that I often slip into it accidentally when trying other accents from the British Isles. I cannot do a Welsh accent to save my life. More practice :)
My stammer happens mainly when I'm having an anxiety attack. I'll repeat whole words several times before I can say the next word. I stutter on consanants like S and T as well as the harder ones like F, M, P. Sometimes I just give up talking when that happens. When I try to duplicate it it doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as the real deal. I also don't stammer in German. Only English. Sadly, while great advice, some of these techniques (specifically with the lips) don't change my voice that because my lips don't move near as much as the average person...especially the left side of my mouth. I've also instinctively practiced a lot of these techniques to pull off different voices for years. I used to want to be a voice actor. Still do, to an extent.
Thanks for sharing, I don't know much about stammers and this was interesting to read, please don't take that the wrong way. Out of curiosity, which is your native tongue, German or English?
I have always struggled with making voices in my games but these tips are helping me out quite a bit! I'm genuinely taking notes on this as though I were in school. That said, my note taking did lead to me having one gripe: it doesn't feel like speech disorders are really in the same category as articulations and pitch. Like, doing a lisp sounds like an articulation done for a single sound, whereas stuttering sounds more like a mannerism. Different speech disorders don't really have anything physically in common with each other aside from the fact that they get in the way of communication. Compare that to articulations in which every articulation follows the same basic idea. Feels to me like speech disorders are more useful as an inspiration of how to utilize the other techniques rather than a building block. Anyway, thank you for the great video!
Great video! Please more of it. :) I love playing rpgs but one thing that kinda take the fun out of it is the fact that my characters sound and act all the same even if their personality is completly different. An evil warrior feels the same as a shy little girl. I try my best to bring some differencec in it but it is hard.
One thing you can do for that is to talk slower when voicing evil characters. Often when I voice evil characters, especially highly intelligent ones, I have them talk slower and more drawn out than my other NPCs. It gives them the feel of the narcissistic entity who believes like they're better than everyone else.
A trick I've found useful for accents is to pick a specific person and copy them. Watch some of their stuff, especially interviews, and practice sounding at least somewhat like them. It's fine if you don't mimic them perfectly, you just want their general sound without players figuring out exactly who it is. Exception: don't use Sean Connery for Scottish. Even a bad Connery impersonation sounds exactly like him. Use Billy Connelly instead. These people don't have to be famous actors - sometimes using TH-camrs works even better. Want an over-the-top but still accurate Irish accent? Check out LeatherJacketGuy. Want casual Australian? Ozzy Man is great for that. Tennessee Southern? Trae Crowder's your man. If you think your impersonation sounds too ridiculous or off, just dial it back somewhat so it's a "lighter" attempt at mimicking them. But keeping that person in mind helps to keep you from drifting into a different accent entirely otherwise going off the rails with it. It's usually easier to mimic a specific person than an "accent" overall. And even if you do it kinda badly it'll still work fine for your purposes.
This is excellent advice. Doing this while honing in on their accent's key sounds (Irish "I", Scottish "O", etc.) will take you far. And dialing it back just a bit goes a long way to making you sound natural.
I've definitely used this tactic before! I'm not sure what it is about imitating voices that's not only easier for me, but it can also sort of inform how you or your players interpret a character? It's like the difference between Trae Crowder and say, Steve Shell, or Tom Waits (the latter of whom I'm actually saving for a villain I'm introducing to my game soon), both are all very southern but their vast differences in tone all suit them for very different character types.
Thank you so much for this. Love this video and I am very impressed you are breaking this all down without cuts in the video presentation. Definitely will use these techniques in my games. Keep up the good work :)
A good tip for people that want to voice monsters demons or A very edgy orc, if you want to try growling, inhaling or any metal technique, please learn to do it correctly and practice it until you can do it for A good period of time without being exhausted If you try to force yourself you may injure Your vocal chords. If it hurts - you are doing it wrong
At about 17:00 about accents it’s not instinctual at first but after you do it a certain amount then it does. For anyone trying to practice accents I recommend using it in normal conversation so you get the experience of having to do the accent without a script
I saw Christian artist Jason Gray in concert and he actually talked about this. He was stuttering like crazy the whole time he talked, but as soon as he started singing the stutter was gone.
Im not even surprised Between the Sheets with Matt Mercer is the fiest thing TH-cam recommends on your video. Good listen random guy, glad I found this. Even though I dont play DND anymore.
I've lived in the south for most of my life, but I don't have a southern dialect. What's interesting about that is that I didn't WANT to have a dialect. I never say y'all and ain't without a forced sort of exaggeration. That said, I sometimes can't help but have an accent. It wad easy to reject the dialect, but I had trouble rejecting the accent. I think that the main reason boils down to the difference between accent and dialect. It is a lot easier to change the words that you say than to change how you say them. It is also easy to not change the words that you say. Dialect is not directly influenced by those around you; it's more of a choice or habit. Accent is much more easily influenced. What I'm trying to say is that a character can have an accent without a dialect, and a character can have a dialect without an accent.
I just found this in my recommended and thank you. All of this was clear and easy to follow. I struggled on some things so I’ll keep practicing on those so I can sound better for future games
Thank you for your video, certainly subscribed! I love doing voices for DnD so much that I am now wanting to try becoming a voice actor, though my microphone may take a few months to arrive. I thought I already had a lot of techniques, but now I have even more, thank you! I even discovered some that you didn't directly mention because I did some weird things with my tongue. This is so awesome! ^^ (Don't worry, I'm studying english to become a english teacher as well, I'm not actually foolish enough to try doing it as a main job)
@@LunchBreakHeroes cannot thank you enough for the video! Year since watched again, sent all of my buddies to watch and it's so great. And thx for Ravenloft videos as well. Leep it up and cheers!
Thanks for the video, I hope to be able to test those techniques! I speak fluently 3 different languages, each from a different language family (english, italian and polish) and I do change my accent completely when I switch language, so much that I feel like I'm speaking with a different voice.
Yeah, I feel the same when I try to switch a Japanese voice to English. I think cultural perception/knowledge has something to do with dialects too? idk, I'm not fluent in Japanese, but I've studied the language for a few years.
"I'm such a bad singer, I can't even hit the wrong notes."
Me, playing a bard at my first time in D&D
Best kind of bard, if you ask me!
Never hurts to play a storytelling bard, if you can't sing or you're shy. :)
Or, if you want, a bard that thinks they can sing but can't..
Or a bard that casts spells through interpretive dance..
Dungeons and Dragons is the best kind of game to go nuts
Hahaha!
That's what I call a Hobo Bard; performances are just OK, but they're so charming you throw him out of town rather than kicking their ass.
@@MindOfGenius hobard
"I'm such a bad singer, I can't even hit the wrong notes."
Sometimes, one comes across a gem on TH-cam purely by chance. This video, and this quote in particular, is one of them. Although technically, it's two of them (video + quote)...
Overthinking this: Being unable to hit the wrong notes means your notes don't land on the twelve tone scale, right?
When I tried to do the lisp, it made a whistle sound. I wasn't expecting that and it's pretty cool actually.
New skill, woot!
I know a guy who had his tongue cut out. Gotta say it's fairly accurate
Is this a dead silence reference?
@@vodka5410 I wish. But I legit do know someone
How did it happen if you don't mind me asking? Writing a book where a character gets their tounge cut off but I need an idea how
@@neno3123 it was surgically removed due to a cancerous growth before I met the guy. I don't really have any details beyond that I'm afraid
@@aspenator42 Thank you, that helps with ideas.
Dude this is brilliant... seriously the BEST video to break this down for DMs
I’ve seen probably 100 videos on stuff while trying to improve myself... this... is the BEST
Glad you liked it!
It very much is the best. Love it
Hey its the Dungeon Coach!
This is by far the best RPG voice acting video that I've seen. So many focus on theory or getting into character, but your tips get straight to the heart how to actually form the noises.
Same here. My heart is already 100% focused on the mind of the character, i am just terrible at doing the actual voicr TuT
Thank you so much!
Instructions unclear, I cut out my own tongue. Send help
Instructions unclear. Dr. Lecter sent for culinary assistance.
@@LunchBreakHeroes But, Dr. Lecter, how can I taste with no tongue?
@@socalacura1338 you can't. But he can. xD
Instructions unclear, my warrior-girl from a distant land now speaks in a South Alabamian accent
T'aint nuthing wrong wi'dat.
So an “accent-less” American accent with a barely-there Southern twang that you can *just* hear if you know what to listen for but otherwise makes Californians say, “You’re from Alabama? Where’s your accent?” :)
7:09 I'm Enchanter Pumat Sol
I'm also Enchanter Pumat Sol
I myself am also Enchanter Pumat Sol
The Invaulnerable Vagrant greets all of You humbly.
Thank you, I read it in the voice and it was wonderful
Exactly what I thought
0:55 Controlling the Pitch of your Voice
. . 1:33 high (young/skinny/small/feminine)
. . 1:52 low (stocky/beefly/masculine/tough/evil)
. 2:12 Larynx
2:50 Modifying your Articulators (face/tongue/neck/jaw/lips)
. 3:45 Lips
. . 4:22 side lips (wise old grifter who knows the land, friendly old man)
. . 4:54 forward/puckered lips (take off your skin ~lighting mcqueen)
. . 5:18 lips inside mouth (old man without teeth)
. . 5:40 lips peeled (skeleton)
. 6:22 Jaw
. . 6:30 jaw forward (imperious, used to being taken seriously, lockjaw, mr.howl, barron)
. . 7:05 jaw back (nice country dumb or nerd um actually (not nasal))
. . 7:30 jaw to the side (mix between the above two)
. 7:49 Tongue
. . 8:20 spread to the sides (geeky voices/retainer/braces/nerd (not quite nasal))
. . 8:49 tongue hotdog bun shape (eating?)
. . 9:20 curled back tongue (no tongue)
10:00 Speech Impediments/Disorders
. 10:55 Lisp
. . . 11:09 napoleon dynamite
. . 11:23 Alveolar Ridge
. . . 11:55 more lisp
. 12:21 Stammering
. . 12:41 Stutter
. . 12:57 Fixed Posture aka Prolonged Letter Sounds
. 13:40 Spasmodic Dysphonia (old/sick people)
. . 14:00 Tighten Vocal Cords (add a higher pitch and I can do Parro's voice, note for myself)
. . 14:36 Shaking
I’m currently playing a Wild Western styled character and I was making him speak in the Ozark English dialect because it sounded like something the “cowboys” would use, I didn’t know it had a name until I watched your video and now I can look up new phrases for him to use so he isn’t reusing the same 3 phrases over and over
Glad I could help!
I used to have a REALLY bad stutter, to the point where I wouldn't be able to communicate past the first three words of my sentences. I went to speech therapy, and since I've gotten into DnD I've decided to try DMing. I have several characters who have stutters, stammers and clutters. I personally don't find other people imitating speech impediments offensive, I like that they're somewhat normalized in DnD. I'm delighted that you demonstrated speech impediments.
you won me at the "I'm such a bad singer I can't even hit the wrong notes"
Quite aside from the fact that this video gives practical tips that anyone can use, I just love that you realise that "voice acting" is a different thing from "roleplaying". Just a really practical video.
Though with Baron Vallakivich, I personally went for more of a manic screech. "All will be well!"
Thank you!
Yeah, there's a lot of different ways to play the Baron. I went for someone who *feels* in control and acts like it, even though that's far from the reality of the situation. It worked well for him, right up until he and his wife were hung over the town walls.
I have a stutter, but I never try to do one for a character of mine. Not because I or anyone at my table finds it offensive, I just can't remember where to stutter. I think of my own stutter is random, so it's very hard for me to fake my own without being dramatic.
Btw, great video. Should've probably said that at the beginning, but seriously great! Most video are gender specific, so it's hard for me to just find basic tips.
Glad I could help with the basics!
I've never known anyone who stuttered, so that's my best effort to replicate it based on my readings.
Why would someone get offended for something that you already have?
i personally will never do a stutter in my game, because the shit pisses me off enough. Plus i might start the stutter voluntarily and end up stuttering either way. So a lot of not fun for me.
Yeah, I got to that part in the video and was like _yeah I'm not gonna touch that_ because I used to have a stutter and I have an irrational fear that if I reteach myself to stutter I will not be able to stop :S I also agree that for me and my brother (who still has one) it feels a little more random than that.
Amazing video. Now that I'm DMing over video it's become a lot more comfortable to use voices. Controlling breathing is also a good tool especially for monsters. Undead sound great on an inhale. Maybe someone nervous is not taking pauses and always at the end of a breath. Someone holding back secrets takes a deep breath and speaks slowly hardly exhaling at all.
Those sound like great characterizations. If I do another voice acting video, perhaps I'll go into character-specific examples like that!
As someone with chronic stammer, that tutorial was incredibly accurate. Typically, the consonants which require a lot of air or breath will be the ones where the vocal cords will tense up ig. H, M, S, T or P also known as Her Royal Majesty's Toilet Paper. Really nice video, well done!
Going over how things literally work is left out of a lot of tutorials in general, even thought it helps so much. This is a really good video and I appreciate the work that went into it.
I'm glad you found it instructive! It's very frustrating when the person giving instruction makes assumptions that some things are already known or axiomatic. Then it ends up being a "rest of the ***king owl" sort of thing.
Me: Can sing, plays as a bard, likes music
Also me: *I REFUSE TO SING, IF YOU ASK ME TO SING ONE MORE TIME I WILL NEVER GIVE YOU INSPIRATION FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE.*
'this worked really well on The Witcher show'
lmfao im dying
Solid, practical tips and clear explanations for how and why people speaking the same language can sound unique! Like you said, the variations we call impediments should be used sparingly and not for laughs, and I think you did a good job of showing how they actually work 👍🏻
Thanks, Bob!
I would like to add something to your list: Airway control.
Using your lungs, throat and the back of your tounge, you can create a sort of raspy voice, which I love to impliment. If you sharply cut off and force your air out of your throat, you get a voice that kinda sounds like Tiberius Stormwind from Critical role. Using the back of your tounge and your lungs and a faint Australian accent, you get a variation of Grog Strong-jaw. Doing all three and forcing your words out can make any voice sound like they're severely injured. I did this with one of my characters when he was dying. (His death caught the entire table except for one off-guard.)
That “‘Mmmaybe” really reminded me of Orly 🥰
Orly what a legend
Great video man! So summing up and adding a couple:
1. Dialect
2. Pitch
3. Speed
4. Crackly noise or clear
5. Stutters & disabilities
6. Position of lips, jaw, tongue
7. More/less Rhinal
Nice video. Remember articulators and resonating chambers/parts of the mechanism are slightly different and should be addressed separately before putting both together. Nice video. As professional actor, opera singer, and VO artist, It is nice to actually see a video with solid info and not bullshit.
Thank you!
Almost everything in the background I love, Doctor who, Harry potter and D&D
I started a campaign in December where my players started out helping to build up a small village. The village was founded by a couple people who were half-elf/half-orc, and thus both elves and orcs hated them. The leader is a guy named Sheg, who's a bit of a noble type, so I gave him a sort of British-sounding voice with a slight lisp. I also lowered the pitch of the voice and shoved my tongue as far back in my mouth as I could, along with moving my jaw to the side slightly. The result was a character who sounds like a cross between Sean Connery, Jimmy Stewart, and Grog Strongjaw. Lol.
As a singer who matches voices I naturally shift accents and actually most of these other techniques depending on the voice im singing to. Like when singing Queen you can litterally just throw your top jaw forward to mimic Freddys overbite and it actually naturally makes your voice sound more like his in terms of both pitch and pronunciation/accent.
Smiling or just talking with your math wider is kind of fun, I like doing it to sound more different then my regular speaking voice if I don’t want to do anything specific. Or if I just want an NPc to seem happy/ jolly
Time for the notorious Australian accent and if you're feeling brave the similar-to-an-outsider-but-completely-different-and-distinguishable-to-a-native-user-of-either New Zealand accent.
I'm quite proud of my faux Australian accent. Which probably sounds like crap to an Australian!
@@LunchBreakHeroes if you do a follow up to this video,, maybe about how to find and implement the "core" of an accent i.e. what makes Australian Australian, I'd like to hear it.
Matt Mercer's is surprisingly good and Dev Patel in the movie 'Lion' pretty much nails it and is the only time I've seen a non-Australian actor do it convincingly.
wait 'outsiders' hear New Zealander voices as similar to our Aussie ones?
this is news
and not good news I can tell you that much
A more accurate way to do a stammer is to restart or slow down words halfway through. It's most often about the sounds trying to fall out of your mouth all at once and having to correct yourself instead of just repeating a single letter at the beginning.
"Let's op- ..opeN the dooor and get, get under the tAble" is a very natural way to stutter through the example in the video. (Caps for possible emphasis)
People stammer more when they're under pressure or trying new/too elaborate words and phrases. Imagine trying to read a longer drug name with no practice and rushing before anyone can correct you (people with speech issues are constantly talked over so there's pressure to hurry through). A way to make this work is mispronouncing something halfway through and restarting either the syllable, word, or whole phrase to get a clean take. "I found something called 'bensa-zo-benzodiazeph-' - I found a bottle of 'benzo dia zepine' in the other room." Is a convincing and considerate portrayal of a common type of speech impediment. (Yes it's broken into 2 syllable chunks on purpose)
Now this is what I call content... there is actual technique and knowledge that's being shared. A Wealth of Knowledge for those of us starting in this field. A true gem 💎
"You probably already know how, this is something everybody does."
Mate I'm sorry to disappoint, I've never been able to reach any pitch other than the one I talk at, I tend to sound very monotone due to it.
Have you ever raised your voice in surprise or pain? If you can move your larynx up or down, you can do it!
or yawning! yawning moves your larynx down, so if you speak while yawning it's deeper. If you can yawn you can do this!
You know... This is actually really useful. I look at a ton of other video's on a similar premise and it usually just sums up to 'be more confident, and use mannerisms' rather than any actual voice control. Neat!
I mean seriously, this was simple and very well done. I could see/do the changes immediately! Thank you !
Glad I could help!
This was so much fun to watch, the extra time you spent on each specific voice gave me time to position my mouth and try the same techniques along with you! There's so much I didn't realize you could do for voice acting through altering these little things; I can't wait to try it in my next session
Lemme know how it works out for you!
I would be curious what he would make Strahd sound like...
From the Ozarks, at first I was going to say you were off, but after re-listening to it, I can think of at least 4 people who sound almost exactly like that. Its a minority that sound that thick accented but there's still plenty.
I'm quite used to doing voices, be it for whatever but usually D&D and I kinda ran out of ideas. That is until I found this video. Simply by revisiting a few basics I've got a whole new cast of characters ready to go for my next campaigns. This was nice.
I'm glad I could help!
My first time dming, I was really nervous and shuddered a few times, but it worked out perfectly because they were intimidated by one of the players
This channel is very underrated. Quality content 👌
Thank you, Kenneth!
Your 'even the evil ones' voice is the kind of NPC I would fall for in every campaign LMAO
Thanks for the advice! I'm gonna DM for the first time in a few weeks and I'm a nervous wreck!
Thank you very much for this video.
As a beginning DM who's never been great at doing voices, this is incredibly useful to me. I've tried all the techniques and wrote them down.
Accents and dialects are a bit tricky because we speak a different language; a tough guy western voice sounds like a silly farmer when you use it in Dutch.
Now if I could just keep myself from using the wrong voice after I've switched characters a few times..
Getting stuck on an accent is tricky! I have a hard time switching between them, too.
This is great and has given me thoughts on how to refine my character’s voice since I play a male tiefling sorcerer but being female I can’t reach the really low notes so I tend to make you for that with changing up how I speak and using a rather exotic sounding accent and dialect trips to help make the voice have a bit of perception of being male though I have a lot of work to do and often you’ll find as you do one particular voice more and more it will change and develop into its own thing overtime which is a benefit of having only one character to worry about unlike dms but practice makes perfect.
"I'm such a bad singer that I can't even hit the wrong notes." I about died. :P
Just wait till you hear me try to sing
Ok I'm surprised not a lot of people in the comments said how helpful this video actually is. Thanks for everything man :3
You’re very welcome!
I studied a minor in phonetics at university which made this video all the more entertaining! Looking forward to the accent video so much! :D
I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing for me. :-D
@@LunchBreakHeroes Definitely a good one, don't worry!
2:04 I swear we could mistake you from Matt Mercer (from a french guy perspective at least xD). Great video, awesome content thanks a lot :)
Hey, thanks!
I like how his voice changes while he moves his hand up and down, it looks neat XD
Good video btw
Amazing how litle adjustment (that I have never thought about) can make all the right adjustment
Suppressing air in different portions of your mouth or throat is another great technique. It will avoid the strain of pushing on your throat and vocal chords if you're doing a gravelly tabor, and can be used to achieve sounds like 'helium'. Run a bit of controlled air through your nasal passages and atypical 'snob' tone is achieved. This is an excellent video- basics are perfect building blocks for more complex sounds. I salute you, Sir! Your DMing is clearly accompanied by a vast and diverse cast.
That's an excellent tip. I'll have to figure out how to describe that mechanically for a future video.
9:56 I'm almost certain that If you don't have a tongue, you can't speak at all (or at least your phonemic inventory will be DRASTICALLY reduced)
and by the way you also don't need your lips for all plosives, just bilabial ones
Yes, you're absolutely right on the plosives. That was a bit of a simplification on my part.
Ngl this has been pretty educational, super helpful since I've had issues making character's voices unique recently (have a list of character voices that follow these but formed by chance, ie deep, old slowly speaking man with a shaky voice). Thanks for the video!!!
Edit: If you happen upon this you could totally make content related to creating character voices, say write a small description of a character/NPC and assign a voice accordingly.
Definitely subbing. Top notch work. I feel like I learned more from this video than hours upon hours of others.
Can't wait for the video about accents, I seriously want to expand my talents in that area.
YES!! I was going to do something similar and was on my top next 5 videos! You got it though bro! I LOVE IT!!!
Thanks DC!
Good, practical advice that covers the linguistic side of the craft? Where have you been lurking all this time?
Your writing and editing on this (my first video of yours) are really succinct without leaving out anything important. You seem like a natural teacher, and the hobby ALWAYS needs more of those. Nice work, man. Subbed.
Thank you! That means a lot. 🙂
My boy, you are great!
I know Chris Perkins too is a great fan of accents.
He makes drows like french accents character.
I liked your comunication style very much.
I'm a DM too (here in Italu)
I'm sure you recognized where my nick belongs
Thank you very much!
I just saw him do many jim carry techniques...esp for count olaf. Jaw forward sounded like captain sham.
I find it so fun to play characters with different voices. Thanks for the tips!
Not a problem!
Personally I used slip into an accent naturally when I talked to some people, I didn't realise it at all. I don't see those friends anymore, and I think it might not be natural for me nowadays.
I've added quite a few accents to my altered personas. When I think region, I automatically switch into the accent. Practice is definitely key. The accent easiest for me is Scots, to the point that I often slip into it accidentally when trying other accents from the British Isles. I cannot do a Welsh accent to save my life. More practice :)
I loooove the Scottish and Irish accents. Two of my favorites!
2:35 So who else just stared and started watching his larynx for a minute. It's mesmerizing.
My stammer happens mainly when I'm having an anxiety attack. I'll repeat whole words several times before I can say the next word. I stutter on consanants like S and T as well as the harder ones like F, M, P. Sometimes I just give up talking when that happens. When I try to duplicate it it doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as the real deal. I also don't stammer in German. Only English.
Sadly, while great advice, some of these techniques (specifically with the lips) don't change my voice that because my lips don't move near as much as the average person...especially the left side of my mouth.
I've also instinctively practiced a lot of these techniques to pull off different voices for years. I used to want to be a voice actor. Still do, to an extent.
Thanks for sharing, I don't know much about stammers and this was interesting to read, please don't take that the wrong way. Out of curiosity, which is your native tongue, German or English?
I have always struggled with making voices in my games but these tips are helping me out quite a bit! I'm genuinely taking notes on this as though I were in school. That said, my note taking did lead to me having one gripe: it doesn't feel like speech disorders are really in the same category as articulations and pitch.
Like, doing a lisp sounds like an articulation done for a single sound, whereas stuttering sounds more like a mannerism. Different speech disorders don't really have anything physically in common with each other aside from the fact that they get in the way of communication. Compare that to articulations in which every articulation follows the same basic idea. Feels to me like speech disorders are more useful as an inspiration of how to utilize the other techniques rather than a building block. Anyway, thank you for the great video!
I'm watching this video about ten seconds at a time and trying everything out 😂 lots of fun
Great video! Please more of it. :)
I love playing rpgs but one thing that kinda take the fun out of it is the fact that my characters sound and act all the same even if their personality is completly different. An evil warrior feels the same as a shy little girl. I try my best to bring some differencec in it but it is hard.
How about an evil warrior that IS a shy little girl?
One thing you can do for that is to talk slower when voicing evil characters. Often when I voice evil characters, especially highly intelligent ones, I have them talk slower and more drawn out than my other NPCs. It gives them the feel of the narcissistic entity who believes like they're better than everyone else.
7:18 bruh you just made pumat sol
It is quite close, lol. Putmat is more muted and monotonous, though.
14:40
Eyyy its a solid impression of grampy Ethan from unis anis (not exclusively, but more recently)
This is probably the best rpg tip I ever came across. Good job man.
Glad to hear it!
A trick I've found useful for accents is to pick a specific person and copy them. Watch some of their stuff, especially interviews, and practice sounding at least somewhat like them. It's fine if you don't mimic them perfectly, you just want their general sound without players figuring out exactly who it is.
Exception: don't use Sean Connery for Scottish. Even a bad Connery impersonation sounds exactly like him. Use Billy Connelly instead.
These people don't have to be famous actors - sometimes using TH-camrs works even better. Want an over-the-top but still accurate Irish accent? Check out LeatherJacketGuy. Want casual Australian? Ozzy Man is great for that. Tennessee Southern? Trae Crowder's your man.
If you think your impersonation sounds too ridiculous or off, just dial it back somewhat so it's a "lighter" attempt at mimicking them. But keeping that person in mind helps to keep you from drifting into a different accent entirely otherwise going off the rails with it.
It's usually easier to mimic a specific person than an "accent" overall. And even if you do it kinda badly it'll still work fine for your purposes.
This is excellent advice. Doing this while honing in on their accent's key sounds (Irish "I", Scottish "O", etc.) will take you far. And dialing it back just a bit goes a long way to making you sound natural.
I've definitely used this tactic before! I'm not sure what it is about imitating voices that's not only easier for me, but it can also sort of inform how you or your players interpret a character? It's like the difference between Trae Crowder and say, Steve Shell, or Tom Waits (the latter of whom I'm actually saving for a villain I'm introducing to my game soon), both are all very southern but their vast differences in tone all suit them for very different character types.
Thank you so much for this. Love this video and I am very impressed you are breaking this all down without cuts in the video presentation. Definitely will use these techniques in my games. Keep up the good work :)
Thank you!
This actually help me understand my character's voice.
A good tip for people that want to voice monsters demons or A very edgy orc, if you want to try growling, inhaling or any metal technique, please learn to do it correctly and practice it until you can do it for A good period of time without being exhausted
If you try to force yourself you may injure Your vocal chords.
If it hurts - you are doing it wrong
...I'm now tempted to make a kenku who communicates exclusively in unintelligble black metal screams.
i cracked my jaw doing this
thanks for the sensation
No problem! Do that a few more times, and you should be able to unhinge it like a snake.
I love your shelves background!
Thank you!
I know I'm late to the game - but yeah!
Dig it.
Super informative and helpful.
Not only learning about voice affects but the anatomy involved.
Never too late!
This is great, I'm seeing alot of tips I've been trying to figure out for my dming. Also because I've been playing new types for me.
At about 17:00 about accents it’s not instinctual at first but after you do it a certain amount then it does. For anyone trying to practice accents I recommend using it in normal conversation so you get the experience of having to do the accent without a script
Thanks for explaining how the pitch works. I mean, like, EVERYONE talks about it but i had no idea of what they meant, so i really couldn't do it XD
My step sister has a bad stutter, interestingly when she sings she doesn't stutter.
Isn't singing in a separate part of the brain from talking? That could explain it.
yall should watch The Kings' Speech it might provide some inspiration or help.
Scatman John had the same. If you listen to his song Scatman, you wouldn't think that he had an almost debilitating stutter.
@@SirMethosEverybody's sayin' that the Scatman stutters, but doesn't ever stutter when he sings.
I saw Christian artist Jason Gray in concert and he actually talked about this. He was stuttering like crazy the whole time he talked, but as soon as he started singing the stutter was gone.
"Use these very sparingly"
That's gonna be tricky, as I myself have a speech impediment.
I love how he uses the hard “c” as a plosives. Clearly a fricative, silly goose.
Im not even surprised Between the Sheets with Matt Mercer is the fiest thing TH-cam recommends on your video.
Good listen random guy, glad I found this. Even though I dont play DND anymore.
I'm saving this to my DM toolbox. Excellent video sir.
Please do make one on accents!
This guy's lower pitch sounds like Kronk.
Been trying to find a voice for my Aaracokran Druid and this has helped. Thanks!
Glad I could help!
This video is a gem, i wish people knew more about this guy
Share it with the world!
I love the pompous voice's closed captioning: "I'm Baron Vargas Melaka bitch"
lol, I haven't quite gotten to that part of the subtitles yet! But perhaps I should keep that in.
I've lived in the south for most of my life, but I don't have a southern dialect. What's interesting about that is that I didn't WANT to have a dialect. I never say y'all and ain't without a forced sort of exaggeration. That said, I sometimes can't help but have an accent. It wad easy to reject the dialect, but I had trouble rejecting the accent. I think that the main reason boils down to the difference between accent and dialect. It is a lot easier to change the words that you say than to change how you say them. It is also easy to not change the words that you say. Dialect is not directly influenced by those around you; it's more of a choice or habit. Accent is much more easily influenced.
What I'm trying to say is that a character can have an accent without a dialect, and a character can have a dialect without an accent.
This was super helpful, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
This is super helpful. Thanks a lot!❤
This is Pelor's work. Thank you.
Glad you like it!
The speech disorder thing is actually interesting concept because I have a character that has a tongue disorder
Nice Video again! Your advice is very helpful during my Curse of Strahd campaign :D Thank you!
Glad I could help!
that was advice i did not know i needet. very helpful. subscribed
Glad it was helpful!
I just found this in my recommended and thank you. All of this was clear and easy to follow. I struggled on some things so I’ll keep practicing on those so I can sound better for future games
Thank you for your video, certainly subscribed!
I love doing voices for DnD so much that I am now wanting to try becoming a voice actor, though my microphone may take a few months to arrive. I thought I already had a lot of techniques, but now I have even more, thank you! I even discovered some that you didn't directly mention because I did some weird things with my tongue. This is so awesome! ^^
(Don't worry, I'm studying english to become a english teacher as well, I'm not actually foolish enough to try doing it as a main job)
Hey, some folks make a darn good living at it!
Incredible video!
Thx for sharing those techniques, it helped a lot!
You're quite welcome!
@@LunchBreakHeroes cannot thank you enough for the video!
Year since watched again, sent all of my buddies to watch and it's so great.
And thx for Ravenloft videos as well.
Leep it up and cheers!
While he was doing the wise transient i happened to notice the tardis he's got. Alonsi
Thanks for the video, I hope to be able to test those techniques!
I speak fluently 3 different languages, each from a different language family (english, italian and polish) and I do change my accent completely when I switch language, so much that I feel like I'm speaking with a different voice.
That's awesome! I'd your can switch between those, I'm sure you'll do great.
Yeah, I feel the same when I try to switch a Japanese voice to English. I think cultural perception/knowledge has something to do with dialects too? idk, I'm not fluent in Japanese, but I've studied the language for a few years.