Comments on: What Mickey Mouse Can Teach You About Voice

By: Andy N

Andy N — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:44:28 +0000

Well the Mickey Mouse song’s stuck in my head now. Shame that I’ve only ever heard it at the end of Full Metal Jacket.

Erm… Anyway, great post Lisa!

By: Zack

Zack — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:04:19 +0000

That’s what is cool about social media. You get to give your brand a personality.

By: Kieran Hawe

Kieran Hawe — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:35:21 +0000

The solution is simple – there is a voice tuner in Mickey’s head gear…the magic is in the tuner itself.

By: Alec Perkins

Alec Perkins — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:33:20 +0000

These voice-changing costumes are ripe for parody use. I hope they don’t have them under too tight security… A drunk Mickey would be more than slightly hilarious.

By: Alec Perkins

Alec Perkins — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:22:29 +0000

What impresses me is that Disney was willing to go without a voice for so long, for the sake of the brand. Mickey’s voice is so distinctive that substitutes and imitations didn’t cut it; all the complications that result from having a voiceless Mickey were worth not compromising the impression of the character. Of course, it helps that kids will play along with the whole “Mickey’s helper” who can speak for him.

By: cory huff

cory huff — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:08:49 +0000

As an actor myself, I’ll answer your question.

Doing Mickey is really hard. His voice is really high, but distinctly masculine. I can do it, but only for a couple of hours at most. After that, my voice is absolutely shot.

The actors in those costumes are out for hours at a time, and those costumes are insufferably hot. Being that tired also strains the voice. Also, the actors are switched out every hour to two hours during the really hot months, and the inconsistency between the voices is another problem.

Having a high-tech voice changer is a pretty good solution.

By: Heather Villa

Heather Villa — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:49:40 +0000

OMG – I just can’t get past that Mickey Mouse now has a voice! I am super excited! I mean I look forwad to Lisa’s blogs on a regular basis, but I watched each of these videos 2x. LOL

By: Davina K. Brewer

Davina K. Brewer — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:03:06 +0000

As a Disney fan, so glad I read this. So cool they are using this technology with Mickey (you could talk to other virtual characters like Crush).

“You can either continue to be that robot or you can speak in a way that ties everything you’re doing together to create a fluid experience. ”

You gotta respect your voice, and in social media it’s crucial. You can’t be a robot or just read from the script. You have to think and speak in a way that’s true to you, the brand and the interaction. FWIW.

By: James

James — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:39:13 +0000

Well, I guess the only way to settle this is vivisection. I’ll bring the scalpel, you bring the forceps.

By: Joe Hall

Joe Hall — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:21:08 +0000

(5) Wash it.