impressions: are they really that bad?
Over the years, “impressions” (mimicking the voice of an existing character) has become sort of a dirty word in the voice acting industry. As soon as a newer or aspiring voice actor mentions anything about “impressions”, hackles are raised and defenses go up about how one should not be doing impressions if they are attempting to get into voice acting.
But is doing impressions actually a bad thing? Not always! This article will break down both the negatives and positives of imitating existing character voices.
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why impressions get a bad rep
Have you ever wondered why the idea of doing impressions can be perceived negatively in voice acting circles outside of the hobby space? Here are some of the reasons.
Perhaps the biggest reason: the most important part of voice acting is ACTING.
Currently working voice actors hear all the time from people who say they’d be a great voice actor as well because they can do a whole bunch of voice impressions. But unless you are specifically hired for a soundalike job, it doesn’t matter how closely you can match an existing character – or even how many voices you can do in general – if you don’t have the acting behind it. Performance is THE most important factor in getting cast for virtually any voiceover job. Yes, the voice needs to fit the character, but if there isn’t a believable performance behind it, you won’t get the job. By focusing too much on “doing voices”, you’re putting the cart before the horse. Acting must come first and foremost, and when you’ve got those foundations down, then you can start to work on expanding your range.
There are already working actors playing those characters.
You might brag about how you do a spot-on Goku or Stewie or Mario, but the fact is, these characters are already voiced by established actors who probably aren’t planning to give up their jobs anytime soon. And even in the cases where an official voice match might be needed, auditions typically go through agencies or established talent pools, not to random people on the Internet. You may end up getting cast to play these characters in online fan projects, but unofficial hobby gigs can’t be listed on an official resume.
Impressions are generally frowned upon in professional demo reels.
Unless you’re making a specialty “impression reel” of iconic/celebrity voices in addition to your normal reel, hearing imitations of recognizable characters on a demo reel is often a turn-off to professional casting directors and will mark a demo as “amateur”. While they can be acceptable in online reels meant for amateur/fandom/hobby spaces, trying to use them as serious demo material probably won’t go over well.
Even for voice-matching, being a soundalike means very little if you can’t also act in that voice.
You may be able to replicate the vocal print and delivery of existing phrases when you have the original line of dialogue right there to listen to and copy. But can you take new lines and deliver them in not only the same voice but in the same manner and performance that the original actor would?
This is the ultimate test of what makes a good soundalike: not only should you be able to replicate the voice, but also the delivery, even when you don’t have an existing reference of the line to work off of. Many times if you are cast for a voice-match job, you won’t be asked to replicate the character’s past iconic phrases; you’ll be asked to record new dialogue that they weren’t able to get from the original actor for whatever reason.
Many newbie actors feel that being able to do a variety of good impressions is a shortcut to getting in the industry.
At the end of the day, there is rarely a substitute for simply putting the work in. While luck and nepotism can still be argued as arbitrary factors in the industry, many people focus on the wrong priorities when they first get started, namely doing a lot of existing voices, as well as their idea of “networking”. NO professional actor is going to go to a studio and say “Hey, you should hire my friend. He has no acting experience or training, but can do a great Vegeta!”
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the positive side of impressions
Impressions aren’t all bad, and they actually have their upsides! While they certainly shouldn’t be your main focus, here are some ways that impressions can actually be a useful tool in your actor’s toolbox.
They’re good for expanding your range.
Impressions – even poor ones – can be a great way to work on expanding your vocal range. While range isn’t a substitute for acting, it is a very useful skill to have especially if you wish to be called in for incidentals/variety/background roles on various projects. Imitating a wide variety of existing voices can help you learn to experiment with pitch, placement, texture, pacing, vocal age, and more. What starts off as an imitation of an existing character can then be reworked to become an original character voice of your own, by adding and subtracting various elements.
“Good actors borrow, great actors steal”.
Let’s say you’re really trying to nail a certain archetype, and don’t have the luxury of working one-on-one with a coach to refine your skills. One thing that can be helpful is to look up successful actors who are already playing the kinds of characters you want to book and study what they do. It’s okay to channel a bit of an existing character or take inspiration from another actor if you need to for an audition—-because you’re you and not them, you’ll still be bringing some of yourself to the role and making it your own. Even established actors have often admitted that their “bad” impressions of someone else later became their own characters.
Impressions can be a useful tool for learning accents.
If you don’t naturally have an ear for picking up accents and dialects, listening to actors or even regular people who are native to a certain region and copying their pronunciations and inflections can help you learn the basics of the accent. It’s a good idea to listen to a variety of different speakers for that region so that you can pick up the patterns more easily and translate it into your own auditions.
Voice matching IS a skill that actors are hired for.
There are many reasons that a soundalike may need to be hired, particularly for celebrities. Maybe the sound didn’t capture clearly enough on a film set and the actor isn’t available to go back and re-record their dialogue, so they need a voice match to come in and dub over their lines or efforts. Maybe that comedian who played a role in an animated movie is too busy to reprise the role for a spinoff series airing on a streaming service. Maybe that big-name actor who played an iconic role in a cartoon is too expensive to be feasible for a smaller mobile game based on the property. Or, maybe an actor is sick or out of town and production still has to make their delivery deadline, so they hire a voice match for a couple pickup lines that are needed. While voice matching is still a niche job and will likely never be your entire living, it can be a helpful skill to add to your kit!
Learning to match voice prints from characters recorded in another language can help you get cast for localized projects.
Many games and shows these days are localized and dubbed over from other languages. While not all casting directors will place much emphasis on matching the tone of the original voice, others like to stick more closely to the character’s voiceprint in the original spoken language. Sometimes this can be a request from the end client as well. Again, while performance should still be the absolute most important factor, being able to hear a voice line recorded in another language and match the tone/inflection/timing in a somewhat similar manner may be an asset to you for projects such as anime, JRPGs or mobile games.
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summary of key points
- Doing impressions (imitating the voices of existing characters) shouldn’t be your focus as an actor, but they can still help you develop useful skills for your acting toolbox.
- Impressions are often viewed negatively in the industry for a number of reasons. The main stigma comes from the fact that many people claim they too could be great voice actors because they know how to imitate voices of existing iconic characters.
- In reality, focusing on performance and intent rather than voice matching will help you be a better actor.
- However, there are situations where actors may be officially hired as a voice match. In that case, you won’t just be expected to copy existing lines, but rather act out new dialogue believably while maintaining the pitch, tone and cadence of the original actor.
- Doing impressions can still help you develop a number of useful skills, such as becoming more comfortable with new pitches, textures and accents. It can also serve as a baseline to help you come up with an original voice for a new character.
- While impressions aren’t a substitute for good acting choices, and generally shouldn’t be included on professional demo reels, they can have their place in terms of practice and learning.
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This article is written by Kira Buckland. While all guides and resources on this site are provided on a volunteer basis, you may optionally support with a coffee if you found them helpful!