Resnick Interactive Group » In Their Own Voice

In Their Own Voice: Richard Epcar

Resnick Interactive Group — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:41:14 +0000

Richard Epcar has voiced more than 300 characters, in games, cartoons, and anime, so he’s no stranger to juggling multiple roles. He recently worked on an audiobook where he played the entire cast, and we were curious to know what it was like to have to go back and forth between so many characters. Here’s what Richard had to say:

Check out Richard Epcar’s work in the Doc Savage audiobook White Eyes. This video and transcript is brought to you by Resnick Interactive, a voice over casting company in Los Angeles.

Transcript: I just did a project where I had about 10 or 12 characters that I had to do, and I had to read, it was an audiobook, actually, is what it was, and I had to basically do the narrator and then I had to be all these different characters when they would show up in the story and it was…it was really difficult. And you just do it, you know. You see, “Oh, this guy’s coming up,” and then you just become that guy, and then, oh here….

I actually had to play some women, I had to play some guys, I had to play, you know, all these crazy characters. Bad guys, good guys, cops. And you know, there were scenes where there was 10, 15 cops and I had to come up with all different voices for all those guys, so, you know…It was pretty crazy to try to keep all that straight.

In Their Own Voice: Laura Bailey

Resnick Interactive Group — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:19:39 +0000

This week, Laura Bailey talks about how she got into voice acting. We’ve had the pleasure of working with her many times on both games and animated projects.

Laura Bailey has performed lead roles in popular anime titles including Shin Chan, Fruits Basket, and Fullmetal Alchemist. Gamers may recognize her as the voice of Chun Li in Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs Capcom 3, as well as Jaina Proudmoore in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

Transcript: I first got into voice acting, let’s see, I was in college, and I was doing a play in regional theatre, and one of the guys that was in the show with me actually did voice over for an anime that was popular at the time called Dragonball Z, and they had, like, a whole bunch of female characters coming up and the company that was doing the show was very new, so he asked if I would come in and audition for some roles they had coming up, and so I did, and I ended up getting a part on that, and voice over just kind of took off from there, you know, I started doing more shows with Funimation, and that led to more video game and interactive work and it just kept building on itself.

In Their Own Voice: David Lodge

Resnick Interactive Group — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:35:39 +0000

David Lodge is one of our favorite people to have in the studio. Not only is David super talented, but he always keeps us laughing. In this clip, he talks about what it’s like doing voices for video games.

If you’ve ever watched a cartoon or played a video game, you’ve probably heard David Lodge’s work; his resume boasts a wide range of heroes and villains alike. We’ve used him as everything from orcs to puppies, and his never ceases to surprise us with his creative choices.

Transcript: Video games are very spontaneous, we don’t get the scripts in advance, so we can’t cheat and memorize it. There’s no “Actor Prepares” kinda Uta Hagen stuff goin’ on. The magic starts right then and there, you’ve got to be able to deliver a lot of voices, ‘cause most of the time you’re playing six or seven characters, or at least two or three. And so it’s very immediate, and you have to be ready to change your voice, change the pace, change the character. One minute you’re like an old wizard that talks like this, “Bazamba-ka-dooba!” and the next minute, you’re like a little, you know, peasant kid that’s being kicked around a little bit, you know. Or, you’re like a pirate, aye there matey, oh ho!

So all this stuff, including, you know, dogs, animals, birds, pigs…you gotta be ready. So, unlike cartoons where you get the script way in advance and you can sort of build on the character, get familiar with the lines, this is very, very, like, right now, read, go, go, go, go, go. So, improv helps.

In Their Own Voice: JB Blanc

Resnick Interactive Group — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:19:11 +0000

Welcome to In Their Own Voice, a series of interviews with some of the excellent voice actors we work with. To kick off this new column, we have JB Blanc sharing what it’s like to prepare for a recording session.

Transcript: You usually don’t have a lot of clues, you’ve gotta go in and make snap decisions – which is fantastic if you’ve got enough experience to be able to do that – that’s the best way to do it, because then you’re not bound by the constraints of any preconceptions that you might have. If you decide what a character is before you come in then the producer goes, “Actually, no, this guy’s 26, and, you know, from East India.” You—then you’re in trouble because then you’ve gotta react very quickly.

So, I think—I think a lot of younger actors would like as much information as possible before they come to work; I prefer flying by the seat of my pants because then you’ve got to rely on your instincts, you’ve got to make quick decisions, and you’ve got to be 100% committed to them.