Hi Everyone!

Where can I learn how to make a cartoon voice like Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and others? Is there training somewhere I can get? I want to create a cartoon voice for my puppet.

When I was in Vegas I saw Frank Calliendo and he could make voices like John Madden, President Bush... I wonder if I can learn how to do that or if it's a natural skill you either have or don't.

Thanks

I have voiced many puppets over the years. I find the easiest way is just working with the puppet, over time a voice will develop naturally.

A voice that is in your natural voice range will feel comfortable and sound natural. In no time every time you pick up the figure the voice and personality will just kick in.

You can use a voice coach (I have never bothered) They can help with range, projection and diction.

Again my opinion is find a voice in your range so it doesn't sound and feel strained. You will be glad you picked a comfortable voice especially if your performance is long or frequent. Think of it this way, alter the voice you speak with naturally now.

If you must duplicate an existing voice, my best advice is listen carefully and practice, lots of practice.

Jimmy

Mt I have done impressions most of my proforming career. Yes you can learn. it takes Practice ,practice,practice. you listen to the voice you want to impersonate over and over then start to say the phrase with the recorded voice. For instance with mickey the laugh and hi ya donald. try recording your voice as well you will get very close after practice. Hope this helps.

I can't sing, and have only one voice, which as you might imagine created a problem when I got a puppet and decided to add vent to my act. I went to a voice coach for eight weeks. He helped me find a second voice.

I have heard there are CDs that actors use to learn different accents. I don't know anything about them, though.

Years ago, I used Foreign Dialects by Herman.

More recently I started using Pat Fraley's c/d on the Greatest Cartoon Voices stolen out of Hollywood. It goes over things from the "under water" voice, to animal sound.

One of his suggestions is to listen to the radio or tv and change the channel every 20 seconds or so. For each change in voice or music tone, try to match it with your voice. He shares position of the mouth and tongue to help you along.
This was a great find for this nearly normal vent.

Search for the book with CD titled "Mouth Sounds". I got mine from Amazon.

Thanks Lou. Looks brilliant. I'll be ordering tonight.

I totally agree with Chuck on this one. Practice, practice, and more practice. The use of good recording equipment is essential for feedback, both positive and negative. The recorder can be either voice or video. You can also record the voice(s) you are currently trying to learn/mimic and listen to them as much as you want/need. The late Mel Blanc always amazed me with the voices he did. I was shocked to learn that Woody Woodpecker's laugh was actually done by Mel's wife (if I remember correctly).

I think it was Walter Lantz's wife who did the voice of Woody, but they kept Mel's laugh.

-Philip

Philip: yep, I think you are right about that. I got the two guys mixed up:o(