The sound of his voice

[Inactive-Shapeshifter]

Hi there fellow trekkers!
I'm planing on doing a Odo cosplay this year and i was thinking...
How the hell did René do that deep voice for Odo? I try but never get it right!

Any ideas or tricks?

Thanks!

 

[dub]

I read this and thought...he just sort of adds a grunty texture to his voice. It can't be that hard. Then I tried it. LOL! Yeah, it's not that simple. Sounds like a good convention question for Rene.

 

[mrk]

I may be remembering incorrectly, but I think he said that he achieved it by relaxing his vocal cords.

 

[House Stark]

Haha just tried to do it and failed miserably.

 

[mrk]

I tried when I read this thread, and I can roughen my voice for a short time (as long as I concentrate) by doing something I think is "relaxing my vocal cords", but I can't do anything else at the same time -- I can't control the pitch, inflection, tone, or anything else that adds emotion and nuance. I end up sounding like a robot!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Steve Smith used to do the same thing for his Red Green voice, and he said it was actually easier on the vocal cords than his normal speaking voice.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYbrQ-0djt0[/yt]

I wonder if Rene felt the same about his own voice...

 

[Inactive-Shapeshifter]

WOW! He actually relaxed for doing that voice? Wen i try i actually hurt my vocal cords!

I wonder how he could maintain that voice during all the time he was acting as Odo...

I'm gonna see if i find more about relaxing vocal cords on the internet

 

[wulfio]

drink whiskey and smoke every day, and in 20 years you will have that voice naturally.

 

[Tosk]

Just cheat and be "early season one Odo" from when he didn't have the voice down yet.

Rewatching very early episodes is always funny to hear how much his voice evolved. Rom too.

 

[Inactive-Shapeshifter]

I did not found much on the "relaxing vocal cords" stuff on google, there are just to much techniques for relaxing them!

Could anyone be more specific?

Thanks for the help people!

 

[mrk]

I suspect it's easier to figure out how to do it if you've had vocal training!

 

[Iamnotspock]

Hi there fellow trekkers!
I'm planing on doing a Odo cosplay this year and i was thinking...
How the hell did René do that deep voice for Odo? I try but never get it right!

Any ideas or tricks?

Thanks!

Well, you don't have René Auberjonois's vocal chords, so that's a bit of a disadvantage.

Three years' worth of vocal training at drama school, then 20+ years of regular warm-up exercises and making a living by frequently using your voice in very specific ways should do it.

 

[wulfio]

I think my suggestion is the easiest.

 

[Keith1701]

I read this and thought...he just sort of adds a grunty texture to his voice. It can't be that hard. Then I tried it. LOL! Yeah, it's not that simple. Sounds like a good convention question for Rene.

I'm sure he had a some good voice lessions.

 

[Inactive-Shapeshifter]

Ok, i tried all i could so far and that's what i managed to do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fADbGsBkzY&feature=youtu.be

Did i get any resemblance?

 

[Eric Cheung]

When coming up with the voice for Sirol, the Andorian security officer of the USS Mariner (watch here: http://vimeo.com/28040680 and check out my YouTube channel for some of my other work: http://youtube.com/dlz2000 ), I threw in a bit of Odo, a bit of Word, and a bit of Martok. I pictured him a bit more square-jawed. I have yet to do a voice like that in a way that's good for the vocal cords, but I did it. I'd say, if you can't "relax the vocal cords," then at least make sure they're lubricated some how. Potato chips are actually pretty good for that.

But, it's not just that the voice is gravelly and gruff. Think about the character too. Watch his episodes and read about him as a person and try to feel what he feels in a moment of schadenfreude at something Quark has done. Try to empathize with his quest to understand his changeling nature. Try to understand his unrequited love for Kira.

Such an understanding will be far more helpful in constructing the voice than simply being gruff. Voice acting is more about the acting than the voice.

The voice you did isn't bad, but it's probably better suited for a Klingon.

 

[Inactive-Shapeshifter]

When coming up with the voice for Sirol, the Andorian security officer of the USS Mariner (watch here: http://vimeo.com/28040680 and check out my YouTube channel for some of my other work: http://youtube.com/dlz2000 ), I threw in a bit of Odo, a bit of Word, and a bit of Martok. I pictured him a bit more square-jawed. I have yet to do a voice like that in a way that's good for the vocal cords, but I did it. I'd say, if you can't "relax the vocal cords," then at least make sure they're lubricated some how. Potato chips are actually pretty good for that.

But, it's not just that the voice is gravelly and gruff. Think about the character too. Watch his episodes and read about him as a person and try to feel what he feels in a moment of schadenfreude at something Quark has done. Try to empathize with his quest to understand his changeling nature. Try to understand his unrequited love for Kira.

Such an understanding will be far more helpful in constructing the voice than simply being gruff. Voice acting is more about the acting than the voice.

The voice you did isn't bad, but it's probably better suited for a Klingon.

A friend of mine sow the video e said the same thing, and he is not even a trekker . Yeah, i guess you are right, feeling come before the words. Thanks for the tip. I'm a Odo fan so watching his episodes will be quite fun

Really nice cartoon by the way! What program did you used? I have made cartoons myself, but never one so good as yours! Any hopes for a tutorial?

 

[Eric Cheung]

It wasn't me exactly. I got cast, then I offered to help critique and write the scripts. We wrote and recorded 12 episodes, culminating in a three-parter, but it never got finished beyond three of the episodes. I toyed with turning it into a fanfic novel.

Wish I could help, as animating myself would provide me more opportunities to do some voice acting.