Voice artists are actors with the face value of their ‘voice’. Whether it is Goku’s signature attack Kamehameha in the DragonBall series or dubbing Harry Potter’s voice in any regional language, voice artists give life to a character, creating its identity and a personality to be remembered for eternity. However, the invasion of AI in this industry is giving many voice artists sleepless nights over job security.
While AI has impacted narration, commentary, and announcement voice-over, its influence on voice acting remains limited. Voice artists fully embody the characters they portray, infusing them with personality, emotion, and depth. They craft unique voices, mannerisms, and personalities for each role.
Through mastery of vocal techniques like pitch modulation and tone variation, they skillfully convey emotions and breathe life into characters. Sanket Mhatre (40), a renowned voice-over artist, lent his deep, gritty voice to dub Robert Pattinson’s The Batman, and transformed into a teenager’s voice for Ben Tennyson in the cartoon series Ben 10. Not only the main protagonist, Sanket modulated his voice for all the 11 aliens in Ben 10.
He joyously says, “I am still a fanboy who collects action figures and reads comic books. It gives me immense joy that I can voice different characters.” Amongst his plethora of celebratory work are dubs for Deadpool, Sasuke from Naruto, Shazam, Bear Grylls for Man Vs Wild, and even the Batman animated series.
Priya Adivarekar, .