The search for authentic voices
In a world of fake news, phishing and click bait, only authenticity can be king. Which is why brands are searching for it, creatives are demanding it and yes, we at Rumble are scanning the world for it. But why now? Storytelling… that’s why.
A good old fashion story told well appears more truthful and more relatable… whether it is a 6 second Facebook ad or a 7 season 68-episode epic on Netflix, a story can help to Trojan Horse the sell to consumers. We don’t need to smack the audience around the ears with a gold plated shiny voice artist over-selling every pronunciation.
Gone is our plastic fantastic single serve ‘I want it now’ society as we lean harder into brands, products and even foods that are real and tactile and artisan. Which is weird right? Because we are living more and more of our lives online. Wait… maybe that’s not weird. That’s exactly why.
The best bit about authenticity is we can all be authentic. Every person on the planet is unique, so only they can truly be them, it’s our inherent superpower. And this is so relevant in the world of voice acting. Every voice actor has the ability to be authentic, it’s when he or she try and be someone else, we can have a problem in the studio. I’m a big believer in; cast well and you’ll need to direct less. Find the right voice actor to bring their touch to the script and sometimes the best take is the take before the practice. When the voice actor is reading the words for the first time, they’re experiencing them for the first time and understanding them like their audience will. Over the years we have learnt to record everything from the moment someone enters the booth.
So how do we find, cast and record authentic voices? Well, we scour small and leading acting schools, comedy clubs, universities, theatres, TV, and even our local cafés and company reception desks. And source connect, ahhh it’s a beautiful thing, allowing us to connect to virtually anyone, anywhere. And once we have our voice actors in the booth we have a few simple techniques we use to get the best out of them. We try and minimise feedback and micromanaging, create a scene for the voice actor to act in or move them on and off the mic. But no one knows their voice like them, and some voice actors will have their own techniques to get their best sound. For example, we work with one legend that takes his shoes off when he gets in the booth, so he can feel a greater connection to the earth and it works a treat.
For one ALDI Christmas brief we would have auditioned over a hundred voices (felt like more) before one of the actors told us he knew a guy who could sound like ‘time’ itself and gave us the phone number of the great Australian actor of stage and screen Kelton Pell who went on to nail it, and many more, because of his beautiful, rich and authentic delivery.
But unfortunately, the more you hear the same authentic voice, the less authentic it sounds, which is why Rumble is always on the lookout for new voices to tell new stories like no one else can.
Technology has made the world a smaller place and voice actors from all over this tiny spinning rock can be cast and recorded by a sound studio in Sydney down under, because to be honest, nothing brings us together like a good story told and recorded well.
Rumble is a full-service music and sound design studio based in Sydney Australia. Armed to the teeth with a team of talented and passionate composers, sound designers and producers, Rumble specialise in creating unique and engaging soundscapes across a range of media.
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