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Sam and Friends Bookantsamthompson9
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Cam Garrity: The Elmo voice can't be an easy thing to do. To just create that sound.
Adam Kreutinger: And maintain it.
Cam: What's your vocal regiment either to do warmups and cooldowns or just to make sure you're not damaging your voice?
Ryan Dillon: I am awful at that. I have to tell you, none of us do that and we probably should. I'm lucky in the sense that I sit in a tenor range. Kevin is a baritone, so it was harder for him to get up there. It's not as difficult for me, because I already have a younger sounding voice. Actually Paul Rudolph told me when I started doing Elmo, that his range changed. He can now sing in a slightly higher range because that's where my voice sits. It's only tough to do in vocal records. Like maybe in my second or third year, they were testing out this new toy, and they needed me to record not every known name in the English language, but something like that. That taught me the stamina of keeping that voice going. I save laughs till the end of a record, and I don't do them unless I have to. Cause it's easier on set, when you're on set all day, you're not talking as Elmo. I never talk as Elmo if I don't have to, cause it's a strain eventually. But I max out at 3 hours, my vocal sessions are 3 hours. After that, I'll be on the phone (in a cracky voice) "and I'll be talking like this." My voice does crack after a number of hours doing it. But I'm able to do it the next day, for the most part. There have been times where we're shooting things like Elmo's World, we fly through those cause we have so much to do in a small amount of time. There has been one time where I came in and I woke up in the morning and I couldn't quite do it. I was really nervous but I was able to squeak it out. You know what's interesting about falsetto that a lotta people don't think about? Especially Elmo, and Mickey and Piggy, and all those voices: (Typical high-pitched voice) "People just tend to do this when they do Mickey Mouse or Elmo or whoever."
Cam: "Oh, boy!"
Ryan: But what you're doing is the right instinct. "Oh, boy!" You've got two contrasting sounds. It's not just a falsetto, also in that voice is that performer's lower register, cause their natural speaking voice is gonna come out. I'm always cognizant of that, and when I started I almost had to built up the scar tissue, for lack of a better word, to get that resonance. When I started doing Elmo, it was a very thin sound. It was also very hard for me for diction purposes, the higher your falsetto is, the harder it is to speak clearly. And still there are some words he can't say very well, double L's are hard, they come out like R's, "all" or "hallway". So there are some things he has a hard time saying. I'm always thinking about was that clear, does it sound like him? Cause the longer the day goes on, it does get gravelyer. The only people that have to worry about that are myself and David Rudman. David does Cookie Monster and I think he maxes out at 3 hours. That voice is rough, man, I don't know how he does that and maintains it.
Cam: I'm sure Eric Jacobson has to deal with that with Piggy. I talked with Marty Robinson and he mentioned "There are days where I get a really thick Telly script", he was mentioning the same thing of maxing out, cause that gravel starts to wear out.
Ryan: It's unbelievable what he can do with his voice. You can hear him outside the studio down the hallway, his voice projects so loud and clearly, he's got an incredible instrument. Paul Rudolph recorded his voice to find out what the decibels were, and it was some insane high number. I've been there on days where he's (in a gruff Lewis Gagalgah voice) "Okay, how many more are we gonna do?" Cause he gives it his all, man. When he's got Telly on, he's not holding back.
Adam Kreutinger: And maintain it.
Cam: What's your vocal regiment either to do warmups and cooldowns or just to make sure you're not damaging your voice?
Ryan Dillon: I am awful at that. I have to tell you, none of us do that and we probably should. I'm lucky in the sense that I sit in a tenor range. Kevin is a baritone, so it was harder for him to get up there. It's not as difficult for me, because I already have a younger sounding voice. Actually Paul Rudolph told me when I started doing Elmo, that his range changed. He can now sing in a slightly higher range because that's where my voice sits. It's only tough to do in vocal records. Like maybe in my second or third year, they were testing out this new toy, and they needed me to record not every known name in the English language, but something like that. That taught me the stamina of keeping that voice going. I save laughs till the end of a record, and I don't do them unless I have to. Cause it's easier on set, when you're on set all day, you're not talking as Elmo. I never talk as Elmo if I don't have to, cause it's a strain eventually. But I max out at 3 hours, my vocal sessions are 3 hours. After that, I'll be on the phone (in a cracky voice) "and I'll be talking like this." My voice does crack after a number of hours doing it. But I'm able to do it the next day, for the most part. There have been times where we're shooting things like Elmo's World, we fly through those cause we have so much to do in a small amount of time. There has been one time where I came in and I woke up in the morning and I couldn't quite do it. I was really nervous but I was able to squeak it out. You know what's interesting about falsetto that a lotta people don't think about? Especially Elmo, and Mickey and Piggy, and all those voices: (Typical high-pitched voice) "People just tend to do this when they do Mickey Mouse or Elmo or whoever."
Cam: "Oh, boy!"
Ryan: But what you're doing is the right instinct. "Oh, boy!" You've got two contrasting sounds. It's not just a falsetto, also in that voice is that performer's lower register, cause their natural speaking voice is gonna come out. I'm always cognizant of that, and when I started I almost had to built up the scar tissue, for lack of a better word, to get that resonance. When I started doing Elmo, it was a very thin sound. It was also very hard for me for diction purposes, the higher your falsetto is, the harder it is to speak clearly. And still there are some words he can't say very well, double L's are hard, they come out like R's, "all" or "hallway". So there are some things he has a hard time saying. I'm always thinking about was that clear, does it sound like him? Cause the longer the day goes on, it does get gravelyer. The only people that have to worry about that are myself and David Rudman. David does Cookie Monster and I think he maxes out at 3 hours. That voice is rough, man, I don't know how he does that and maintains it.
Cam: I'm sure Eric Jacobson has to deal with that with Piggy. I talked with Marty Robinson and he mentioned "There are days where I get a really thick Telly script", he was mentioning the same thing of maxing out, cause that gravel starts to wear out.
Ryan: It's unbelievable what he can do with his voice. You can hear him outside the studio down the hallway, his voice projects so loud and clearly, he's got an incredible instrument. Paul Rudolph recorded his voice to find out what the decibels were, and it was some insane high number. I've been there on days where he's (in a gruff Lewis Gagalgah voice) "Okay, how many more are we gonna do?" Cause he gives it his all, man. When he's got Telly on, he's not holding back.
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