212. Vocal Combat Technique
If your voice was a handshake, would it be strong?
In this episode I chat with voice coach D'Arcy Smith about VOCAL COMBAT TECHNIQUE and how you can use it to make a better impression when you speak.
D'Arcy developed this technique to help actors create vocally aggressive sounds in the healthiest possible way - on stage, film and voiceovers for video games.
As we explain.. you don't need to be a professional actor to benefit from this technique!
Transcript
Sally:
Hello, hello! Welcome back to That Voice Podcast. I have a pretty cool episode in store for you today. Episode. So recently I attended an international symposium for voice and speech trainers down in Melbourne. My foundational training is as a speech and drama teacher, and one session really stood out to me. It was with our guest on the show today, all about vocal combat technique. And to give you a hint, our guest says people know him as the scream Coach because the technique helps actors create vocally aggressive sounds in the healthiest way possible. His name is D'Arcy Smith. He's a voice coach for voice over film stage and video games based at the University of Cincinnati. Now, if you are a business owner or a professional and you listen to this podcast for communication tips with no plans to voice professionally, do not think this episode is not for you. I love the way D'Arcy explains a strong voice is like a strong handshake and we explain how you can use vocal combat technique to give that strong handshake every time you speak. D'Arcy Smith, welcome to That Voice Podcast. It's so wonderful to have you on the show.
D'Arcy:
Thank you. Yeah, it's great to be here. It was awesome to meet you in Australia. And here we are talking to each other from the other side of the world.
Sally:
Yes, I loved our session that we did with the vocal combat technique. It was so interesting. Before we get to vocal combat technique, I'm interested in how you became interested in voice work.
D'Arcy:
Yeah, I started out as an actor and I had, I had really bad stage fright, like really bad. And at the 10 minute call I would run to the restroom and I would throw up, and then at the five minute call I would go back to the restroom and I'd brush my teeth like crazy and then, you know, sort of stumble through that first couple of scenes which I'm sure were terrible because I can't remember them at all. I would never remember what what the heck just happened. And it was my voice teacher, David Smuggler, who was a link later teacher. And it was his work that really helped me to calm my nerves to, it gave me a practice for how to prepare before I would perform, how to engage with other people. And it really was life changing. It was life changing for me. And I remember I came to him in my third year of actor training and I said, I think I want to do what you do. And he said, you don't know anything, like go away, go be an actor. And so I did and about seven years later I came back to him and I said, I think I wanna do what you do. And he said, okay. And he trained me. And that's when I got into it.
Sally:
D'Arcy, I didn't know that. And I love that you found your way through dealing with stage fright through voice work.
D'Arcy:
Oh yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I still use a lot of the techniques that I've learned even now. Like even coming to to chat with you on the drive here, I'm using mental rehearsal techniques. I'm, I'm using breath techniques, I'm doing my vocal warmup before I show up. My you probably don't know this 'cause you know, most people think about me as just like the guy who screams, is that my thesis was on stage fright.
Sally:
Wow.
D'Arcy:
Because, 'cause that's what I was struggling with and I still use those management techniques all the time because it's a, it's a thing that I think is not innate for most people. To get up in front of somebody else and speak your thoughts in an authentic manner, I think is, it takes a lot of guts.
Sally:
Yeah. And of course it's a big, big, big part of the work that I do as well is once you are able to have control over your body and your breath and have your voice, then it's just such a great way for all of those fears to, to melt away.
D'Arcy:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Sally:
So vocal combat technique, great name. Tell us all about it. What is it?
D'Arcy:
As training actors, I had this one I would say really defining moment with an actor that I had trained. And I was watching a performance. He was in a West Side story and it's opening scene. He gets grabbed, dragged upstage, he's thrown against a fence and he calls out--Jets! And it's the, you know, totally supported, really clear. I'm up in a 1200 seat theater. I'm up in the corner and I'm listening to him and I'm feeling kind of like, I'm feeling pretty chuffed. I'm like, Oh, I taught him, I dunno how to do that. And at the same time, I suddenly felt like really disappointed because I didn't believe him. I didn't believe that moment. It seemed super theatrical because I know that if 20 people were about to come and beat me up, I probably wouldn't make that sound. Another kind of sound would come out of me. And that started me on the journey. Every day I would go into the actor studio before I taught my classes, and I would scream and I'd grunt and I'd growl and do a bunch of different things with my voice. And I tried to incorporate some of the learning I gained from other teachers.
D'Arcy:
And some of it was effective, some of it wasn't. And over time I started training stage combat fighters, actors in how to make these sounds in a healthy way. And that was really the start of it. It was really working with actors in stage combat. The next shift really occurred, I don't know, maybe five years into it a group I was teaching a group of stage combat actors, but at the end of the session about, I don't know, about four actors kind of like came around me and they said, can you help us? We're video game actors and the stuff that you taught is great for stage, but for video games, for film, it's not aggressive enough. It just didn't sound intense enough.
Sally:
And I think people forget that on video games and things like that. All of those sounds, there is a real voice at the other end of those effects.
D'Arcy:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And they can spend anywhere between, depending what country you work in and what, whether you're a union actor or not, anywhere from two to four hours at a time screaming, grunting you know, being pretending like you've been set on fire, getting stabbed, all these kind of really aggressive kinds of sounds and you have to do them over and over and over and over again.
Sally:
Yeah. Very hard on the voice. Anyone who's been to a sporting match or a concert might have to experience coming home and not having any voice. But imagine if that was your profession and you needed to do that at a high level for hours, you know, several times a week.
D'Arcy:
Yeah. And you're right. And they have to come back the next day and do something potentially completely different, like maybe a commercial or like, or read an audio book. 'cause Rarely do they just do video games all the time.
Sally:
Yeah, that's true. So take us through a little bit of the technique at the workshop in Melbourne. I love how we did efforts and impacts, which was essentially a change in the sound depending on whether you are punching someone or getting punched.
D'Arcy:
So actors, you know, when we're in the booth and we're in a video game, we're modeling what's gonna happen inside the game engine. And so there's some kind of animation that's going along with the sounds that we are performing. And so when you'll see somebody like throwing a sword, right it goes a shape of the sound has to match up in terms of the volume, but also the pitch. And it goes basically from quiet to loud. So if I'm picking up a double ax or something like that, right? Ah! Quiet, loud as you throw it. And similarly as you get attacked and you get hit, there's an impact sound, and that's gonna go from loud to quiet. So perhaps, you know, I'm in Call of Duty and I get shot, Ah! And you can hear it goes loud to quiet. And so depending also on that, where they got shot, what part of the body got hit, how the shape of the movement is incorporated into that attack, how impactful it was, and then even how what kind of character you are. So for example, in call of Duty, they don't like them to sound like it really hurt too much. They gotta still sound kind of tough. So they kind of gird themselves against the shot rather than being like a civilian who got shot and kind of screaming. They're like, you know, there's sort of like a grunt I can take it that happens with it. That's right.
Sally:
Yeah.
D'Arcy:
Yeah. Because you don't wanna play a character who's like, oh, like, gosh, this guy's really weak. He gets, he screams every time he gets he hit.
Sally:
Yeah. And I love that body position as well. Like, it's not like you would get slapped in the face and go, oh, or you'd get punched in the stomach and go, oh, you know, so it's about matching the sound to the part of the body.
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This is a great spot to remind you. It doesn't matter what you say or to who you say it to, if you are not connected to your voice, people can feel it. This is why you need the magnetic voice formula. If you're a soul speaker, it's in the portal. If not link is in the show notes.
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Sally:
A lot of people listening to this podcast are probably not voice actors for video games, although I'm sure like very intrigued in the whole process, and they're thinking, right, well in my promotion of my business or in my day-to-day work, I'm probably not going to have to simulate getting getting shot. How could they hopefully?
D'Arcy:
Hopefully not.
Sally:
Absolutely. So how could they use some of these techniques in their own communication?
D'Arcy:
You know, something that I often say to, to my clients is that a strong voice is like a good handshake. And that when we are on our voice and we're able to feel like we can project in a comfortable, easy way to a group of people, it's like that good handshake. We feel like, oh, this person is confident, we're able to trust them, we're able to relax at that moment because they're in control of themselves. You know, when someone gets up and speaks in front of me and they look nervous and their voice sounds shaky, I certainly am worried about them and how they're gonna do, rather than thinking about what is it that they're saying to me and how is this impacting on my life? And so having some of the breath work that you might do or that any voice teacher might do in terms of breath support, filling the body, getting a bit more on voice, practicing that projection, because even though you may not need to project all the time, having it there in your back pocket, super helpful for those moments when you do need to, to talk to a group of people and sound confident.
Sally:
Yeah, absolutely. And so much of that projection and strength comes from feeling the voice throughout the whole body. So doing those little exercises like is it in the stomach area or up in the head, or, you know, working with that whole range of the voice I find is really effective as well, because I'm sure you experience a lots of people in professional settings are keeping their voice too much up in their head. It's like just from the neck up and there's no strength from down in the body.
D'Arcy:
Yeah, I agree with that. And I find that with voice actors as well, because, you know, voice actors do other things for their livelihood. Like I've trained a fair number of audiobook actors and so they spend most of their time talking quite quietly, intimate, you know, that sort of audio book kind of voice. And so developing that part of their voice where they have, as you said, that fuller range, but also that projection level. I love Patsy Rhodenberg's, you know, using the three circles so that, you know, you can feel what it feels like to be in third circle, be a little bit more projected being in Second Circle where you're sort of meeting people. And then there might be moments where, hey, I wanna draw you in. I'm gonna move into a more of a first circle intimate kind of voice to draw the listener in a little bit more.
Sally:
Mm. That's a great way to think about it, D'Arcy. Amazing. Was there anything else that you'd like to add?
D'Arcy:
Voice is a part of every part of our life. When I'm training actors, one of the things I say to them before I sort of sign off with them is the work that we're doing as actors emerges into your life. You know? And so I've taught people a fair number of people who I've worked with as they're, as they're learning how to, you know, shout to scream. They call out commands to use their command voice. They're like, oh, this is kind of like how I talk to my kids. And and I think they mean that in a, in a helpful way, but it's something to keep in mind is that our professional life and our personal life, they merge, they match together. And so as you're learning these skills for your professional life, it's great to see them also begin to be used in your personal life. And that those two things, you know they're always working together in tandem.
Sally:
Amazing. And D'Arcy, how can people find out more about vocal combat technique or find out more about working with you? What's the best way to get in touch?
D'Arcy:
Yeah, I've got a website and a team of people have been training teachers over the last two years all over the world. We've got teachers in Australia and the US, Canada and the UK. And if you go to www.vocalcombat.com. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, there we go. You can learn more and you can reach out to me if you have any questions.
Sally:
Oh, D'Arcy Smith, thank you so much for coming on That Voice Podcast.
D'Arcy:
My pleasure. Thank you.