Question:
I’m a Jack Nicholson Look-Alike who wants to be able to sound more like the real Jack when performing. I have tried many different ways to accomplish this, but so far, nothing has worked to my satisfaction. Any suggestions? PS: The best advice I’ve had so far is to… Speak from the front of my mouth, in low tones with some of the sound through my nose. Keeping a low tone consistently is not easy to do, especially late in the day.
Answer:
Because I can’t hear how you sound, I can’t possibly answer your question with anything specific. That being said, here are some hints for imitation in general. Listen for specifics: how your subject sounds each vowel and consonant, whether the resonance (different from pitch) is deep and in the chest or bright and in the head, or balanced and in both places. Notice what happens if you imitate your subject’s body language and facial expressions. If you position your weight over your feet the way they do instead of the way you are normally inclined, your voice will sound more like theirs. It’s fascinating! Listen broadly: to the rhythm and speed of their delivery, to the habits of phrasing. The more brilliant is the person you are trying to impersonate, the harder it will be because what they do will be much more varied, subtle and complex.
The other thing I will say is that imitation has a great deal of limitation built into it. The shortest road to your gifts is to be in your authentic voice at its highest function.