At 2003's AnimeIowa convention, our own Nathan Thorell had the opportunity to interview Greg Ayres, the up-and-coming voice talent from the Houston, TX talent pool. You may have heard Greg in recent hit series' such as Saiyuki, Full Metal Panic and Angelic Layer. Here, then, is the third installment in our series of interviews with the Squeaky Sensation himself, Greg Ayres-- as conducted by Nathan Thorell.
Last time, we talked with Greg about shows like Aura Battler Dunbine and Saiyuki. This time we ask him a little more about other shows he has worked on, such as Full Metal Panic and Super GALS, as well as his life in stage acting and some other aspects of recording at ADV Films.
Nathan Thorell (NT): What do you think about Full Metal Panic?
Greg Ayres: I love Full Metal Panic! I secretly wanted to be the talking alarm clock in Full Metal Panic. Out of all the shows, I don’t know why I didn’t see Shinji coming. Normally, I’m like, "I can do that guy. I could voice this character." Shinji was a total surprise to me and I don’t know why now. When I go back and think about it, it’s like, that’s so obviously a character that I would end up voicing. Also, I think the manga is amazing, which I’m excited ADV is going to be releasing on their new ADV Manga line. But, I really like the show. To be such a silly show, it gets so serious. To me, it’s like for a new generation of anime fans. It’s got everything. It’s got mechas, romance, silliness, espionage, and military. Just everything. I think the only thing we’re missing is magical girl powers, and technically, Chidori has a little of that buried inside of her. It’s just a little more dark than say Magic Users' Club or Jubei-chan.
NT: And it’s got a lot of great performances in the English cast.
Greg: I’m really impressed with a lot of the English performances. I think Vic (Mignogna) is doing an amazing job as Kurz. There are so many people that perform for ADV on a regular basis; Monica, Chris, Vic, and Hilary, but especially Luci. It was Luci Christian’s first big role and she would later go on to totally steal my heart in Super GALS!, but I really can’t say enough about the dub performances. I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve heard so far on FMP!
NT: Speaking of Super GALS, could you also say a little something about that one, which is probably different than Full Metal Panic?
Greg: Oh, such a great show. Chris Patton and I fell in love with the show instantly when we started working on it. I knew nothing more about the show then it was a show about a girl who liked to go shopping a whole lot, and that was not something that I thought sounded very interesting at all. When I saw the animation, it was very, very fun, very school-girly, very trendy, it was just a neat little show. The minute David Harrison played the opening song for me, that was it. I was hooked on the show. And when we started recording, I think Chris Patton, Monica Rial, and I went out for coffee one night and he was like, "Oh my God! What do you think of Super GALS?" and I said, "I love Super GALS!" And we recorded it at such a fast pace. We went all the way through the first season in just a matter of months. We recorded volume one, volume two, volume three, etc., almost back-to-back and that I think helped all of us settle into our characters very quickly. It was a change to work with a director that I’m very fortunate to have gotten to work with, David Harrison, who left ADV on good terms. He left to go to graduate film school at UCLA and I’m really glad I got the chance to work with him, because he’s an amazing director and all of us were really happy with how he directed and did with the Super GALS! Project..
NT: Before you started working for ADV, you were involved in theater in the Houston community. What is the transition like from stage acting in front of an audience to voice acting in a booth with just yourself and the director?
Greg: It’s a really neat transition and up until now, I’ve always said my favorite form of acting is stage, but stage acting requires a lot of different people being in the same place at the same time in the same mood and the same temperament to pull of a really solid performance. Voice acting requires you, a director, and a sound director. It’s very different learning to make the switch going from a rehearsal-based stage production to a jump in the booth and record situation. You record in small bursts, but at the same time, you get to double check your work and you know almost instantly if you’ve given a rotten or weak performance and you can say, "Oh, I don’t like that. It wasn’t believable, can I record that again?" I’ve heard other voice actors complain that it takes too long for the DVD’s to come out and I don’t see the final product, but I don’t think that’s much more different than working nine weeks on a stage production and not seeing the end result until everybody’s in the same place at the same time. I think that you get probably equal turnaround. But, I really do enjoy that intimate, three-person recording session, because it really just depends on you and two other people in order for you to get a good performance, so I really like that a lot. It’s a very interesting way to perform.
NT: So, what exactly does a sound engineer do at ADV?
Greg: Well, where a director directs your performance, and sometimes the sound engineer may help to, but, where the director directs your performance, the sound engineer has the unbelievable task of getting what you said to sit perfectly on top of the lip movements, or lip flaps, of the character, and they also do some really amazing things with the sound in the final product. The first time I heard them apply a filter to my voice to make me sound like I was in another room, it was amazing to me, because in acting, you have to walk fifty feet across to the backstage wings and holler real loud, whereas, I’m just standing in the booth and a few buttons are pushed and it sounds like I’m outside. They really have just an exhausting job during recording, because, they’re constantly moving tracks back and forth, and making sure that everything looks just right, and so forth. I really enjoy working with the sound engineers at ADV.
NT: They’re pretty much synching the tracks real-time right there?
Greg: Well, not real-time, but I mean, there’s a lot of studio work that goes on after recording. It’s really neat to watch. They are the technical side of the performance, whereas the director is the acting side of the performance. It’s pretty neat to watch as it’s happening.
NT: Have you ever had a director tell you, "No," when asking them to rerecord a line?
Greg: I’ve never had one tell me "No." I’ve had to learn to trust the director. An actor is his own worst critic. There are several times when recording something three or four more times, might not be financially a good thing to do. You’re just sitting there spinning your wheels. There’s been a few times where I’m like, "You know, I really don’t like that," and Steven or someone says, "Oh no! That was good!" When I hear it in the final take, when you finally hear it in the final mix or on the DVD, it’s perfectly fine. So, I’ve learned after what, a year and a half, two years, to trust the director. I do, several times, say, "can I record that again," and sometimes they’ll use that one or the first one, but I do have a lot more faith in the director and a little more security in the performances I’m turning out.
NT: Do you still continue to do stage acting?
Greg: I do, although, one of the weirdest things about voice acting, especially voice acting in a series that goes on forever and ever, I don’t know what show I could be talking about. (Laughs) But, between recording schedules and trying to go to conventions and promote anime, sometimes it doesn’t allow us to schedule it. A stage production is a good nine weeks, putting it together, and it’s just our luck that there’s a show that comes around that Chris or Monica or I want to audition for and opening weekend is the same as AnimeCentral, Anime Reactor, or NekoCon. So, we all do want to continue to perform stage-wise, but I think all of us have made voice acting our priority number one. If there is stage work that can come around, that fits into those gaps, then that’s great and I think it will happen. I think Monica, Chris, and I are all going to audition for A Chorus Line next year. I don’t know if everyone knows that all three of us sing and dance, so I’m looking forward to that. I hope we have a good cast a good show.
Check back for the next installment where we talk with Greg about anime in general and the future.