Timbre: Maximizing Your Unique Sound as a Voice Actor
/The Voice Actor’s USP
In business you’re encouraged to identify your unique selling point. What separates you from your fellow voice actors? Why should a client choose you?
What is your jeune se quois?
The answer isn’t your quirky logo, your killer audio chain, or your stunning versatility.
It’s your timbre.
Disclaimer: I use the term ‘timbre because I grew up studying music, but some musicians may argue that I’m playing a little fast and loose with it’s meaning… what can I say? I like to live dangerously.
What’s Timbre?
Timbre (pronounced tarm-ber) is the quality of your voice. It is the unchanging centre of your sound that can be heard across all of your character voices and reads.
Imagine an orchestra filled with flutes, clarinets, trumpets, violins and all other manner of instruments. They’re all able to play the same notes but the way that note sounds is completely different; you can tell the difference between a ‘c’ on a flute and a ‘c’ on a trumpet. That’s their different timbres in action.
Furthermore, picture a string trio with a violin, viola and cello — they’re all string instruments with similar builds so you’d expect they’d sound the same, right? Nope. They still sound different from one another, even when playing the exact same note.
Finally, imagine two violins: the exact same build; made by the same craftsmen; and with the same materials. Over time, they too will sound different from one another, which is why some instruments are prized above others — their unique timbre.
You can see where I’m going with this.
Your timbre is UNIQUE TO YOU!
And when you understand the value and power of your timbre, you can take your auditions, reels, and performances to the next level.
How To Identify Your Timbre
Describing Your Sound
Record yourself reading a variety of texts in a range of character voices and moods. You can then use these samples to work out the common sound quality: your timbre.
It’s important to note: your timbre is present in almost all your readings — adjusting when certain accents are used — and is not the same as emotion.
Some examples voice timbre descriptions may be:
Bright — Sunny; Pingy; Brassy
Dark — Smokey; Closed
Sharp — Shrill; Harsh; Cutting
Mellow — Flat; Smooth
Thin — Strained; Wavering
Twangy — Nasal; Forward
Resonant — Full-bodied; Rich; Heavy
Raspy — Croaky; Husky; Buzzy
Pure — Clean; Free
This is only a small selection, and voices are generally a combination of elements eg. a voice can be both resonant and husky; shrill and smooth; thin and bright.
If you’re having trouble deciding what your voice is, watch a TV show and make notes about all the voices you hear. This will help loosen you up and start finding common ground.
Words Not Really Doing it for You?
Colours, pictures and environments are also wonderful ways to describe voices!
A great exercise can be listening to recordings of your voice while creating a collage of images and colours.
You may keep hearing shades of green and yellow and be drawn to images of rain forests and mossy trees, indicating a warm, clean timbre. Or perhaps it’s a dark smokey cityscape with neon lights, implying your timbre is dark, flat and buzzy.
Recruit a Friendly Ear or Ten
It’s true that we are rarely capable of objectively assessing our sounds, so feel free to request feedback from friends, family and mentors.
Remember: you’re not asking for emotions or possible castings, you’re asking for sound quality. If they struggle for objective, descriptive terms, you can work your way back from casting descriptions.
Your Casting ISN’T Your Timbre
However, knowing your casting can help you determine your timbre.
Your ‘casting’ or ‘type’ are the roles that suit you. The ones that come naturally and just ‘sound right’ in your voice.
If you’re often cast as young heroines, chances are your voice is quite sunny and pure. If you’re playing the villain, you probably land somewhere on the darker spectrum.
If you’re split fairly evenly across roles, you may already be exercising your timbre to your advantage…
How to Make Your Timbre Your Secret Weapon
So, you now know you’ve got a rich, smooth voice — you can sell luxury cars and chocolate for days! But what do you do now that you know that?
There are few things…
Look for Jobs that Suit Your Timbre
This is the obvious one.
When you know that you naturally nail the twangy, forward sound of the nerdy best friend, find those roles and put yourself forward for them. And do it with the confidence that this is what you do best!
Also, get those voices front and centre in your reels. Let casting directors know your strength upfront.
Play with the Extremes of your Sound
You voice is a sliding scale, and now that you know your baseline quality you can stretch it to see what you are capable of.
You’ve got a naturally dark, husky sound that lends itself to sultry seductress. How husky can you be? Do you cross an age bracket by injecting more of that rasp into your voice, enabling you to also play the seductress’ grandmother?
You’ve got a resonant, buzzing sound, and you’re used to playing the muscle. How booming can you get that resonance? Can you ascend beyond a mortal sound, emanating the voice of the Lord of Thunder?
Explore your natural capabilities enabled by your timbre.
Bring Your Timbre to EVERY ROLE
This is the game changer.
Some might think that timbre precludes you from certain roles, when in fact it can make your interpretation of a character the most interesting of all.
When you lend your timbre to a character or reading that it’s not usually heard in, you can create something really special.
Imagine you have a sunny, twangy voice and you get sent a cold, calculating villain role. Before you work to eliminate that natural twang from your read, consider leaning into it.
Your warmth and twang will bring an added layer of humanity and interest to what could be a fairly two-dimensional ‘evil’ character.
Similarly, a harsh or cutting voice might not seem like the obvious choice for the soft-spoken hero, but if you temper your voice and choose your moments to lean into your timbre, you can create a shy hero with unexpected moments of strength.
Always ask yourself: what can my natural timbre bring to this role that isn’t obviously there?
That is how your make your audition stand out amongst the hundreds of others.
When a casting director has listened to the two-hundredth tough guy, your naturally mellow tone will cut through (with the right intention behind it, of course).
And while you might not be the one they’re looking for, I can almost guarantee they will remember you— moreso than if you’d simply tried to imitate what you thought they were looking for, sacrificing your natural timbre in the process.
Not Everyone Will Like You, And That’s Okay
I want to wrap this up by reminding you: not everyone will like your voice.
No matter your interpretation of the character or the read, some people will simply not enjoy your timbre.
It’s just a reality of any creative job.
I have a pure, bright timbre that many have described as ‘Disney-esque’. Some casting directors have loved it, and some have told me they don’t — one even said to my face that they hated it and I should change my sound if I want to work, (which hurt like crazy at the time).
However, I’ve always lent into my natural warmth. As a result I’ve gotten to play ageless gods, princesses, corporate villains, moody teenagers, undead anarchists, beleaguered star-ship commanders, pirates and more.
The most common feedback I’ve received from directors and creatives is that my interpretation sounded inherently different from other auditionees. They could hear my natural warmth, even in darker, colder characters.
This is by no means a ‘go me’ moment, but an example of how versatile we all are — even if we don’t know it yet!
So give it a go. Lean into your timbre, and watch your characters become unique and interesting creations that set you apart from the crowd!