Early
on the Saturday of AnimeIowa, when most fans hadn't recovered from the previous
night's parties, three voice actors dragged themselves into a room and talked
about their craft. The voices are familiar to fans of ADV Films' dubs: from
left to right they're Rob Mungle, best known as the voice of Pedro in Excel
Saga; Jay Hickman, who has had dub roles in Martian Successor Nadesico Bubble
Gum Crisis 2040 and Generator Gawl; and Greg Ayres, Son Goku in Saiyuki. Hickman
joked that "I've been killed a couple of times by Greg Ayres" in ADV dubs.
Because of the U.S. dubbing process of recording all actors' lines separately,
these performers don't work together in the booth in the same way that actors
work together on stage. But when they were together at AnimeIowa, they all
had some great stories to tell.
Mungle
has been around for all ten years that ADV has been dubbing anime, but his
most famous role has been Pedro, the long-suffering construction worker in
Excel Saga. "I had no idea what that was," Mungle said about learning he
had the role. "The director asked me, `Can you do a mexican accent for a
guy who has sex with a giant universe?'" Mungle admitted his accent wasn't
quite Mexican, but he got it right - so much that fans have loved his cries
of "No!" That sound was developed in a late-night recording session. "I was
told we've got the studio, can you come in? Then they said `We need a long
no, can you do it?" After several takes, Mungle was told his "No" wasn't good
enough. "Fifteen takes later, after my throat was gone, I did it again -
and that was the one that got in the show."
Hickman
has developed into ADV's specialist in maniacal laughs, possibly because
of the roundabout way that he started getting roles with the Houston company.
In the studio's early years, they advertised for actors in a weekly Houston
newspaper. The woman who was Hickman's girlfriend at the time responded to
that ad, and after a few tries she was able to get an audition. Hickman said
he tried to piggy-back on that audition and was told ADV didn't need any
male voices at the time. Hickman still drove his girlfriend to the audition
,and was sitting in ADV's waiting room when a production assistant arrived
and started taking names. When the assistant reached Hickman, the acting
hopeful said he didn't have an appointment, where the assistant said that
ADV needed male voices anyway. Hickman read two lines lines from Dirty Pair
- "Yuri! Kei!" - and that got him a small part in master of Master
of Mosquiton. "They told me during the audition, at least at ADV, they like
to start you out small, regardless of the success of the audition," Hickman
recalled. "A lot of people come in and have a great audition, have a lot
of talent and they get in front of the microphone and break down." Ironically,
Hickman's girlfriend (whom he eventually married) got only a minor singing
role in Galaxy Fraulein Yuna.
Ayres,
one of the busier of ADV's newest generation of male dub actors, has become
the studio's teen-voice specialist. All he needs to do is to make sure that
fans know exactly what those roles are. He's Shinji in Full Metal Panic,
not the Shinji in Evangelion. He's Son Goku in Saiyuki, not the Son Goku
in Dragon Ball. While Ayres is a dub actor, he didn't start as a dub fan,
preferring subtitled anime when he was a teenager. Then at the University
of Houston, Ayres did alot of live theater and met established Houston-area
stage actors who also dubbed ADV projects. While working with Chris Patton
on a stage production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Ayres learned that
ADV needed male teen voice. After passing the audition, Ayres got a small
Spriggan role where "...I got beat up by a kid." More auditions followed
before Ayres got a part in Steel Angel Kurumi and then Son Goku in Saiyuki
- "It was my dream role," he said.
Early
on the Saturday of AnimeIowa, when most fans hadn't recovered from the previous
night's parties, three voice actors dragged themselves into a room and talked
about their craft. The voices are familiar to fans of ADV Films' dubs: from
left to right they're Rob Mungle, best known as the voice of Pedro in Excel
Saga; Jay Hickman, who has had dub roles in Martian Successor Nadesico Bubble
Gum Crisis 2040 and Generator Gawl; and Greg Ayres, Son Goku in Saiyuki. Hickman
joked that "I've been killed a couple of times by Greg Ayres" in ADV dubs.
Because of the U.S. dubbing process of recording all actors' lines separately,
these performers don't work together in the booth in the same way that actors
work together on stage. But when they were together at AnimeIowa, they all
had some great stories to tell.
Mungle
has been around for all ten years that ADV has been dubbing anime, but his
most famous role has been Pedro, the long-suffering construction worker in
Excel Saga. "I had no idea what that was," Mungle said about learning he
had the role. "The director asked me, `Can you do a mexican accent for a
guy who has sex with a giant universe?'" Mungle admitted his accent wasn't
quite Mexican, but he got it right - so much that fans have loved his cries
of "No!" That sound was developed in a late-night recording session. "I was
told we've got the studio, can you come in? Then they said `We need a long
no, can you do it?" After several takes, Mungle was told his "No" wasn't good
enough. "Fifteen takes later, after my throat was gone, I did it again -
and that was the one that got in the show."
Hickman
has developed into ADV's specialist in maniacal laughs, possibly because
of the roundabout way that he started getting roles with the Houston company.
In the studio's early years, they advertised for actors in a weekly Houston
newspaper. The woman who was Hickman's girlfriend at the time responded to
that ad, and after a few tries she was able to get an audition. Hickman said
he tried to piggy-back on that audition and was told ADV didn't need any
male voices at the time. Hickman still drove his girlfriend to the audition
,and was sitting in ADV's waiting room when a production assistant arrived
and started taking names. When the assistant reached Hickman, the acting
hopeful said he didn't have an appointment, where the assistant said that
ADV needed male voices anyway. Hickman read two lines lines from Dirty Pair
- "Yuri! Kei!" - and that got him a small part in master of Master
of Mosquiton. "They told me during the audition, at least at ADV, they like
to start you out small, regardless of the success of the audition," Hickman
recalled. "A lot of people come in and have a great audition, have a lot
of talent and they get in front of the microphone and break down." Ironically,
Hickman's girlfriend (whom he eventually married) got only a minor singing
role in Galaxy Fraulein Yuna.
Ayres,
one of the busier of ADV's newest generation of male dub actors, has become
the studio's teen-voice specialist. All he needs to do is to make sure that
fans know exactly what those roles are. He's Shinji in Full Metal Panic,
not the Shinji in Evangelion. He's Son Goku in Saiyuki, not the Son Goku
in Dragon Ball. While Ayres is a dub actor, he didn't start as a dub fan,
preferring subtitled anime when he was a teenager. Then at the University
of Houston, Ayres did alot of live theater and met established Houston-area
stage actors who also dubbed ADV projects. While working with Chris Patton
on a stage production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Ayres learned that
ADV needed male teen voice. After passing the audition, Ayres got a small
Spriggan role where "...I got beat up by a kid." More auditions followed
before Ayres got a part in Steel Angel Kurumi and then Son Goku in Saiyuki
- "It was my dream role," he said.
