Vocal Characterization Quotes

I'm a musician, and I'm fascinated with the effects of sound, and tone, and pitch and melody and all that sort of stuff. It's the first thing I have to solidify whenever...I get into a character. The first thing I need to get sorted out before I can then move forward, before I can feel any confidence whatsoever, is the voice.

Sid [the character from 'Ice Age'] is a prehistoric sloth. Sloths move really slowly and they store food in the cheek pouches. That's where I got the voice that you hear. He had to sound as though he was storing food.

You know, I like playing around with my voice and trying all different types of kooky voices.

Robin Williams understands sonic performances. He understands what it's like to change your voice up.

I can't do impressions.

Voices have always been my way into a character. I usually approach the voice first.

[When asked if the voice is an instrument:] Yes, of course. Some are violins, some are fountain pens and some are stethoscopes. And others are just washboards.

The established characters are easy to recall. I don't know why, but they come back to me instantly when I need them. It's the one-time-only characters that I don't remember where the voice I used came from.

The odd thing is if you asked me to do the accent now I would find it very difficult unless I was also playing that part, because I associate it so much with entering into the role and stepping into someone else's shoes.

In some ways, I've always approached singing as acting, and the voice is just like a way of carrying the song.