Voice of Simeon

My New Setup (again)

Yep! You read the title right! I've been moving around things to make more space so I won't feel so tight when I'm editing or voice acting.

As you can see in the pictures, it's much more open, but not as echo-y (since I put the acoustic foam on the walls). What I'd like to do next is bring in a fold-up table and then put my computer on there, instead of my extremely rickety/shaky jammed desk. What I'd also like to add to my "studio" is get some mixers to make editing faster (those panels with a bunch of sliders). A mixer can add a lot of effects to make the voice sound better, and it has multiple inputs so I can connect all my mics to it at once. I can also control tracks faster in Audition. I saw a video where you can get an app on a tablet that connects to the computer, and then acts as an interface! This looked really cool, so now I'm considering buying a tablet so I can do that! I'd also be nice to get thicker and heavier curtains for the windows in the room so it can also stop the echo from the window.

My "Sentence" Technique

I have a little trick I use when I voice act, and that's my "sentence technique". What I do is when I read a sentence, I find the most important word in that sentence, and then emphasize it when I read that word. This comes out very handy when I want the listener to notice what's important. Here's an excerpt from a 7-11 ad script:

You don’t even have dog biscuits hangin’ around!

Sometimes I'll even do 2 or 3 words to emphasize, depending on how long the sentence is. In the excerpt above, the word I found to emphasize was "dog", which seemed to bring out the irony in the script (the script was about not having any food in the house, so you go to 7-11). A lot of times the way you read it changes because of your personality, voice, expressions, etc. I've used this little trick a lot now, and learned from an early coach. Sometimes you'll even find your own special techniques that might work just for you. What I'd like to work on is using less saliva sounds and controlling my vocal fry. I think I'll do some research on that!

Audition For "Sonic Forces - In Summary (Parody)"

Yesterday I auditioned for the part of Tails in a casting call I found on CCC (that's right, a casting call that needed the same character I voiced before!). I thought  I would audition because it was a paid part (but a very small amount) and because I had experience playing the character. Although right now I've been hit with pollen allergies, so my voice sounds a little fried. You can see the casting call here.

This is the audition I sent: 

C.S. Lewis Play

Two days ago my dad and I went to San Francisco. It was an awesome trip! We first drove about 3 hours to the bay and stopped in Vallejo, and then got on a ferry boat. This was my first time ever being on a ferry boat, and it was a great experience! Inside the boat the seats were comfortable, and it didn't feel tight or cramped and it wasn't too bouncy. You could also go outside in the back, although there wasn't much space. It was cool to see all the water going in the air because of how much power the engines had. Here's a picture of the ferry boat:

After we got out, we walked around San Francisco until 4:00, when the play started. The play was really good! They had David Payne as C.S. Lewis, and his acting was, shall I say, superb! The story itself was very touching and moving; funny in some parts and serious in others. It felt like it was actually C.S. Lewis himself explaining his story. The play was about an hour and a half.
They're also performing another play with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in other cities. It would be awesome to go to that one too.

Voicing "Tails' in a Sonic The Hedgehog Fandub

Last week, someone contacted me on Casting Call Club and said I would have a great voice for the character of 'Tails' in Sega's Sonic Mania Adventures.

This was a weird coincidence since just an hour previously, I had been playing Sega's Sonic All-Star Racing, which is one of the smaller games based off of the original Sonic games. I was pretty familiar with Tails' voice, so I was able to voice him pretty well. I learned something from another actor I worked alongside with, and whenever he sent in the voice recordings, he would send it as a zip folder. Inside the zip folder, he had the recordings with his voice, except he saved each line as its own file, that way it'd be easier for the audio editors to put the voices together, and that's how I sent my script recordings. I did come across a problem while recording; in the script, I was supposed to do a happy laugh, except it's hard to force yourself to laugh and not sound like it's fake! I've been stressing about what to do and looked up videos on how to laugh on demand. Hopefully, I can figure something out.