When AD
Vision starts their "anime channel" cable TV service in 2003, the Houston
company's dub actors will get a new audience. Chris Patton and Monica Rial,
who have performed in Gasaraki and Excel Saga, are looking forward to the
opportunity to reach new fans who haven't discovered Japanese animation.
It'll help to make worthwhile all of the hours making multiple takes of
one-word lines, crowding into booths with other actors to make "foley"
and "walla" sound effects, and the agony of auditions. Fans at NekoCon
wanted to know what auditions are like, and the actors said they were surprised
at what they were asked to do by the ADV producers. Patton said "I went
in ready to do 25 voices and they ask you to read it in your regular voice."
Added Rial, "You go in, you're ready to make voices, and they ask you to
read it normal. I don't know how, but they seem to know how you can sound."
After Patton
sang Happy Birthday to a fan, he and Rial spoke about their roles in Excel
Saga. Patton in Excel plays a gay rock star who gets to show a different,
unexpected side of one of the lead characters' personalities. He also gets
to sing, but didn't say anything about the song because "it would be a
spoiler." "For ADV I usually play the quiet characters. I don't know how
that happened," Rial said about her role as the quietly dying Hyatt. When
it was time to try out for Excel roles, "I said `God don't let me audition
for Excel," knowing of that role's intense difficulties. "I auditioned
(for Hyatt) and I got three lines. I was told she's an alien, she's a princess
and she died a lot. It was one of those chance things." Lorissa Walcott
replaces Jessica Calvello after ADV's third volume of Excel episodes, and
knowing of Calvello's popularity among convention fans, Patton and Rial
asked them to give Walcott's performance a fair airing when it's released.
Doug Smith,
who was part of the panel, was asked who he admired as a voice actor. Smith
replied that he's impressed by many of the modern-day performers, but his
idol is the late Mel Blanc, the only person credited for the voices in
the classic Warner Bros. cartoons of the 1940's and the 1950's. Blanc was
so valuable to that animation studio that it's taken a large number of
performers to replace him for the Warners' updates of those characters.
Rial noted that she's heard of a Canadian show where two actors, Kirby
Morrow and Michael Coleman, handle all of the voice roles. One of Rial's
modern favorites is Scott McNeil -"He's got a voice for every thing," she
said. Patton also likes McNeil, but his favorites are the old school Blanc
and the modern era's Dan Castellana, voice of Homer Simpson and many more
characters in The Simpsons. "Those two men have really inspired me with
the diversity of their voices and what they've been able to do with their
instrument," Patton said.
When AD
Vision starts their "anime channel" cable TV service in 2003, the Houston
company's dub actors will get a new audience. Chris Patton and Monica Rial,
who have performed in Gasaraki and Excel Saga, are looking forward to the
opportunity to reach new fans who haven't discovered Japanese animation.
It'll help to make worthwhile all of the hours making multiple takes of
one-word lines, crowding into booths with other actors to make "foley"
and "walla" sound effects, and the agony of auditions. Fans at NekoCon
wanted to know what auditions are like, and the actors said they were surprised
at what they were asked to do by the ADV producers. Patton said "I went
in ready to do 25 voices and they ask you to read it in your regular voice."
Added Rial, "You go in, you're ready to make voices, and they ask you to
read it normal. I don't know how, but they seem to know how you can sound."
After Patton
sang Happy Birthday to a fan, he and Rial spoke about their roles in Excel
Saga. Patton in Excel plays a gay rock star who gets to show a different,
unexpected side of one of the lead characters' personalities. He also gets
to sing, but didn't say anything about the song because "it would be a
spoiler." "For ADV I usually play the quiet characters. I don't know how
that happened," Rial said about her role as the quietly dying Hyatt. When
it was time to try out for Excel roles, "I said `God don't let me audition
for Excel," knowing of that role's intense difficulties. "I auditioned
(for Hyatt) and I got three lines. I was told she's an alien, she's a princess
and she died a lot. It was one of those chance things." Lorissa Walcott
replaces Jessica Calvello after ADV's third volume of Excel episodes, and
knowing of Calvello's popularity among convention fans, Patton and Rial
asked them to give Walcott's performance a fair airing when it's released.
Doug Smith,
who was part of the panel, was asked who he admired as a voice actor. Smith
replied that he's impressed by many of the modern-day performers, but his
idol is the late Mel Blanc, the only person credited for the voices in
the classic Warner Bros. cartoons of the 1940's and the 1950's. Blanc was
so valuable to that animation studio that it's taken a large number of
performers to replace him for the Warners' updates of those characters.
Rial noted that she's heard of a Canadian show where two actors, Kirby
Morrow and Michael Coleman, handle all of the voice roles. One of Rial's
modern favorites is Scott McNeil -"He's got a voice for every thing," she
said. Patton also likes McNeil, but his favorites are the old school Blanc
and the modern era's Dan Castellana, voice of Homer Simpson and many more
characters in The Simpsons. "Those two men have really inspired me with
the diversity of their voices and what they've been able to do with their
instrument," Patton said.
