I took a class a couple of months ago on accents and dialects, with the particular intent of tightening up my English accent. Everyone does an English accent, but 98% of those are terrible. After (ahfter) the class, I think my consistency is solid – but I’ll see how recording goes tonight.

I support lots of Kickstarter projects, such that I can justifiably call myself a “patron of the arts,” and I’ll offer my voice to lots of them as well, that I can call myself an artist as well as a patron. I don’t actually call myself either thing, but the fact is, I could and so could you. And who wouldn’t want to be considered a “modern Medici?” If you see projects you think are ambitious and clever on Kickstarter, don’t hesitate to toss them a few bucks. If you think the project isn’t doing so well, it’s even less of a risk for you to invest in their possible success, as you’ll only be charged if they meet their funding goals.

I’m including my Kickstarter profile here so you can hopefully support the projects I support / might be a part of. Show that love and open your wallets!

I have meetings set up with a few independent games developers, but if you’d like to have my voice in your project, feel free to contact me!

I answered a call for voice actors from Mountainwheel’s writer and voice director, and was given a smaller part. They were very pleased with my performance and asked me to audition for Zand, and here we are! I’m looking forward to sharing more information as it becomes available. Until then, here’s a brief teaser.

Jerrod Smyrna of Quest for Infamy, in-game screenshot

A demo of Quest for Infamy is available now – so go hear my silly voice!

It was my most fun demo to record, easily!

I probably won't display demos in these posts any longer, and just let you in on some of the work I've been doing. Enjoy!

I didn't veer terribly far from the "character" nature of the work I do, but it still works within a commercial venue.

Voices represented:

• TV Promo: This is a deeper, but friendly voice. It’s meant to be strong, yet soft, inviting the listener in, but also demanding a listen with the slight rasp.
• TV Promo: This is a more urgent, sinister voice, not necessarily deep, but very strong on the rasp. It’s almost whispering more than speech, to fit the more “suspenseful” script. This should be a familiar voice to most people.
• Animation Promo: Much higher voice, very friendly, almost in a crazed way. You can hear how I’ve tucked my neck into create that overly sincere sound. This is primarily a voice for promoting kids’ content, but if dropped, it could be rather villainous.
• Product Promo: This is closest to my actual voice, but slightly raised in pitch. Emphasis is on “transmitting a smile” via audio. Diction is not as focused, to suggest a more casual relationship with the listener.
• “Sexy” Product Promo: With a dropped pitch and a slower pace, this voice is meant to have the listener “ask for more” about the product. This voice is improved in a later demo.
• Character (Russian): Your standard “Moose and Squirrel” accent, but looser in the mouth to give a greater sense of character. I want the listener to hear an older, heavyset sort, world-weary and moist of mouth.
• Character (Bees): My wife hates this one. This is a product demo, but I wanted to give the bees their own personality, and not forget that they are, well bees. The “buzz” in the back of my throat for the main bee is meant to communicate that, and the indignant voice is the script pairing.
• Character (British – South/London, various classes/ages): You may recognize this script from Saturday Night Live in the 1990s. I chose to use several voices for this script. The first and last you’ll hear is a standard, but light and friendly posh voice. The middle voices get sillier and sillier, with the final voice evoking an image of someone with very bad breath who would probably get way too close.

Not bad for a first time, all in all!

A little background: I’ve always loved the sound of my own voice, and I’ve always loved stretching it to its limits. One of my earlier memories, from when I was five years old, was of hearing my dad trying to imitate a housing contractor, and correcting him on how the contractor actually sounded. I became a popular kid, at times, from doing my various imitations of the TV personalities we all knew, as well as my parodies of fellow students (which tended to land me in fights from time to time).

I spent countless hours reading, studying speech patterns, trying to perfect my diction and make the characters come alive in my own way. What makes sense for a voice based on a script? How would the words flow? Do other interpretations of the voice make sense, or could I do it better? Let’s just say there was quite a lot of talking to myself throughout my life.

A while ago, I developed an ear condition that put some of my hearing at risk, and it was time to fulfill the dream I’d had for so long. I worked hard on a demo, and got signed with Central Casting in DC. But it’s hard to start from scratch, so I started doing my own outreach: the old-school hustle. And now, my work bears fruit, and that’s where we are!