Character Voices
Today, we'll hear from narrator Nick J. Russo, along with all of the voices in his head. Authors are familiar with character creation of course- all the effort and angst of building a personality out of words. Nick shares his process as a narrator to voice that personality and tell the story that goes with it.
I do voices for a living (and for pleasure).
Sitting here in my home studio, sipping coffee and listening to my favorite music playlist, has given me a lot to be appreciative of over the past few years. I am one of the fortunate ones in this world that creates for a living - and loves every moment of it.
I’m reminded of that fact every time I take part in one of my favorite pastimes -role-playing. No, not THAT kind of role-playing, (get your mind out of the gutter), the nerdy kind - tabletop role-playing. As a game master, it’s my job to tell an interesting story for my players to take center stage in, whether it be a fantastical tale via Dungeons and Dragons, a real world scenario with D20 Modern, or something that goes bump in the night with World of Darkness. My players create unique characters while I create the setting, plot, and non-player characters, (or NPCs for short). It’s that last part in particular that always puts a smile on my face though.
I love giving voice to characters. At this point between narrating audiobooks for four years and role playing for the better part of two decades, I’ve given my best impressions of all sorts of people. From sinners to saints, nerds to jocks, introverts to extroverts, cowboys to yuppies, the occult to the obscenely normal, you name it and I’ve probably done it. But quantifying any given character with a single label such as these isn’t even the half of it.
It’s an utter thrill to explore what makes a particular person tick; their background, their motivations, and the overall impression they leave in any given story. The more complex and juicy, the better! Three dimensional characters offer the chance to throw nuance and intricacies into every bit of dialogue they may have.
The real fun begins when you start layering their voice with subtleties that define them. As an example, I’m reminded of a recent book I voiced, "Can’t Hide From Me," by Cordelia Kingsbridge. The two main characters had a complex history, mostly sexual that ended just plain ugly, but due to demands from their dangerous line of work, they were forced to put it aside for awhile and focus on other matters. Reading the dialogue, the two leads discussing events that transpired and placed them in harm’s way, it would’ve been easy to have had them sound like classic, confident all-American heroes from the days of old.
But that’s not terribly intriguing - without depth, the characters are prone to sound a bit robotic and boring. They need to be alluring in their own ways, filled with juicy emotion and flaws. To quote an old fast food catchphrase, “WHERE’S THE BEEF?”
The “beef” for me is adding the depth that comes with truly voicing these characters instead of simply reading the words presented. With "Can’t Hide From Me," the beef comes with giving life to former lovers-turned-exes tasked with protecting important objectives: a matter of national security. The breakup ended badly - on top of dealing with an already tense situation, there are hints of aggression, resentment, and accusation in any given thing they might be saying to one another. As a narrator, this translates to emphasizing certain buzz words, and adding calculated tone to others - essentially conveying to the listener what’s NOT being said via the dialogue, but is clearly present nevertheless. I absolutely LOVE this. I get to do this everyday with fantastic stories by talented individuals- and they pay me to do so!
So in short, thank you to everyone that allows me to make this dream possible. You allow me to utilize a talent I was only using for nerdy pastimes until recently. It may not sound like it based on whatever the scene calls for, but with every word that I read, I’m smiling.
Find Nick J. Russo and Falcon Sound Company on Facebook or at falconsoundcompany.com
Coming soon! Nick's newest narration is Victoria Sue's "Who We Truly Are."
I do voices for a living (and for pleasure).
Sitting here in my home studio, sipping coffee and listening to my favorite music playlist, has given me a lot to be appreciative of over the past few years. I am one of the fortunate ones in this world that creates for a living - and loves every moment of it.
I’m reminded of that fact every time I take part in one of my favorite pastimes -role-playing. No, not THAT kind of role-playing, (get your mind out of the gutter), the nerdy kind - tabletop role-playing. As a game master, it’s my job to tell an interesting story for my players to take center stage in, whether it be a fantastical tale via Dungeons and Dragons, a real world scenario with D20 Modern, or something that goes bump in the night with World of Darkness. My players create unique characters while I create the setting, plot, and non-player characters, (or NPCs for short). It’s that last part in particular that always puts a smile on my face though.I love giving voice to characters. At this point between narrating audiobooks for four years and role playing for the better part of two decades, I’ve given my best impressions of all sorts of people. From sinners to saints, nerds to jocks, introverts to extroverts, cowboys to yuppies, the occult to the obscenely normal, you name it and I’ve probably done it. But quantifying any given character with a single label such as these isn’t even the half of it.
It’s an utter thrill to explore what makes a particular person tick; their background, their motivations, and the overall impression they leave in any given story. The more complex and juicy, the better! Three dimensional characters offer the chance to throw nuance and intricacies into every bit of dialogue they may have.
The real fun begins when you start layering their voice with subtleties that define them. As an example, I’m reminded of a recent book I voiced, "Can’t Hide From Me," by Cordelia Kingsbridge. The two main characters had a complex history, mostly sexual that ended just plain ugly, but due to demands from their dangerous line of work, they were forced to put it aside for awhile and focus on other matters. Reading the dialogue, the two leads discussing events that transpired and placed them in harm’s way, it would’ve been easy to have had them sound like classic, confident all-American heroes from the days of old. But that’s not terribly intriguing - without depth, the characters are prone to sound a bit robotic and boring. They need to be alluring in their own ways, filled with juicy emotion and flaws. To quote an old fast food catchphrase, “WHERE’S THE BEEF?”
The “beef” for me is adding the depth that comes with truly voicing these characters instead of simply reading the words presented. With "Can’t Hide From Me," the beef comes with giving life to former lovers-turned-exes tasked with protecting important objectives: a matter of national security. The breakup ended badly - on top of dealing with an already tense situation, there are hints of aggression, resentment, and accusation in any given thing they might be saying to one another. As a narrator, this translates to emphasizing certain buzz words, and adding calculated tone to others - essentially conveying to the listener what’s NOT being said via the dialogue, but is clearly present nevertheless. I absolutely LOVE this. I get to do this everyday with fantastic stories by talented individuals- and they pay me to do so!
So in short, thank you to everyone that allows me to make this dream possible. You allow me to utilize a talent I was only using for nerdy pastimes until recently. It may not sound like it based on whatever the scene calls for, but with every word that I read, I’m smiling.
Find Nick J. Russo and Falcon Sound Company on Facebook or at falconsoundcompany.com
Coming soon! Nick's newest narration is Victoria Sue's "Who We Truly Are."
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