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craigcrumpton
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Joined: 17 Mar 2008
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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 Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:30 pm Post subject: Vocal Oddities |
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I didn't want to take another thread further into off-topicdom so I'm starting one afresh for discussing any particular odd or unusual vocal talent you or someone you know has in their repertoire.
For example, animation voice actor (and the voice of Lexus) Maurice LaMarche can produce a guttural belch-like sound as made famous by "The Great Wakkorotti" segments on Animaniacs (FYI: Moe performs the intro voice as well):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_N1Q3upxoU
And something Mike Harrison said in another thread is what inspired this thread:
| Mike Harrison wrote: | Yep, CORD, as in two elastic bands of muscle that form a 'V' inside the larynx. Whereas 'CHORD' is a group of usually three or more musical notes sounded simultaneously.
Just to clarify  |
What if you can actually produce a vocal sound that's a chord? I have the ability to produce two harmonic tones simultaneously (I believe the musical term is a "perfect third") -- sounds a wee bit like a train whistle. And if I happen to get really hoarse, I can actually produce tri-tone that is an actual chord.
My older brother has the same ability. If we sing a song producing this tone together, it sounds like a really weird barbershop quartet.
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Mike Harrison
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:46 am Post subject: |
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Craig, can you produce this sound at will, or is this something that just happens from time to time?
Either way, as your sinuses also contribute to the sound of your voice (the resonance), this might be of interest to your friendly neighborhood Otolaryngologist (Ear, Nose, Throat Doctor). I'm not suggesting it's a problem, but it sure is - as you put it - a vocal oddity.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.
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craigcrumpton
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Mike Harrison wrote: | | Craig, can you produce this sound at will, or is this something that just happens from time to time? |
At will. And I can actually go up the scale about a half-octive in perfect thirds. And it's a whistle-tone.
There was a Otolaryngologist who gave a lecture on proper voice care when I was at college, and afterwards I spoke to him about my..."talent" and he said he'd heard about the "condition" but had never witnessed it in person. He found it fascinating and theorized that somehow I'm able to manipulate my vocal folds so the two membranes are touching in the middle and then blowing air over that produces two tones. But he said without putting a camera in there to see it, it was just his "educated guess."
I saw a video clip last year of a guy on an old B&W variety show where he was singing like this -- producing tri-tone so he was like a one-man trio, but unfortunately I can't find the clip or remember where I saw it. I tried several different keyword searches on youtube and found nothing.
I've got a new little portable video recorder that I haven't done a proper field test with yet. If it doesn't make me look too silly, I'll record a sample later this week and put it on my youtube page so you can see an example.
There are tutorials on youtube for how to do a train whistle vocally (like this one, but the audio is horribly distorted), but it's a combination of technique and vocal placement (gargling and doing falsetto at the same time). It's not the same as my odd vocal ability. I can't teach mine. Either you can do it or you can't.
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kgenus
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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Frank Welker. Don't know how he or anyone else does it.
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craigcrumpton
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 5:45 pm Post subject: |
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| kgenus wrote: | | Frank Welker. Don't know how he or anyone else does it. |
Frank is a genius when it comes to his voice and he seems to have a photographic memory as well. I think he studies animal noises for fun.
Check out this video of Frank and Paul Rugg (as Manny the Uncanny) at the Los Angeles Zoo with Frank imitating every animal they see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq48dhbWfIQ
Frank's repertoire is so huge that if you ask him to sound like a monkey, he asks you what species of monkey you want to hear.
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Eddie Eagle
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craigcrumpton
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Posts: 240
Location: Atlanta, GA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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Wow. That is...odd. Some kind of glottal thing with a vocal flutter? I'd like so see video.
| Quote: | | Where's Bob Bergen? I bet he has some fun stuff he can do. |
Only oddity I've heard Bob do is the dog bark he teaches at his workshop, an exercise that forces people to think about placement and technique because you have to suck air in and hold your mouth a certain way in order to produce the right sound.
I've been trying to get Marsha Crenshaw to do a reel of her dogs and cats noises. And they're amazingly spot on. I was talking on the phone with her once and both the cats were laying on the bed. I put her on speaker phone and asked her to do two cats fighting. They both panicked and fled.
Marsha's an enigma: she's a ham, but at the same time it's like she's embarrassed to perform those vocal effects in public, or to have a reel of them on her site.
She gives only a brief doggie bit on one of her demos (the 60-sec one in the link below):
http://www.marshacrenshaw.com/demos.htm
Dee Bradley Baker is another amazing animal vocal effects master:
http://www.deebaker.com/deebaker.com/Demos.html
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