New Living Character Meet and Greets being tested at DL

Liverstealer

Liverstealer

New Member
Whether its a one man or a two man operation isn't the interesting thing to me. For Crush (and correct me if I'm wrong), they simply use sound alike performers to emulate Crush's speech from the movie. I'm no voice actor, but the classic "surfer dude" voice seems fairly easy to recreate from a performance perspective.

Mickey however, at least to me sounds a bit more difficult to recreate with your voice alone. Wayne Allwine has passed, but for many has been the iconic voice of Mickey for quite some time. I have not heard any work from his official replacement Bret Iwan.

My question is, were either Wayne or Bret directly involved in this voice changer technology?

There is a company that specializes in synthetic voices. They can "build" a voice from pre-recorded audio to say whatever you'd want to say. Since Roger Ebert lost the ability to speak, they recreated his voice so he can still talk via his laptop computer. Below is a link to the company's website as well as an example of their "Bush-o-matic" voice processor.

http://www.cereproc.com/products/voices

http://www.idyacy.com/cgi-bin/bushomatic.cgi

Could similar technology be at play with Mickey?
 
Wilt Dasney

Wilt Dasney

Well-Known Member
Liverstealer said:
There is a company that specializes in synthetic voices. They can "build" a voice from pre-recorded audio to say whatever you'd want to say. Since Roger Ebert lost the ability to speak, they recreated his voice so he can still talk via his laptop computer. Below is a link to the company's website as well as an example of their "Bush-o-matic" voice processor.

http://www.cereproc.com/products/voices

http://www.idyacy.com/cgi-bin/bushomatic.cgi

Could similar technology be at play with Mickey?
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Based on the clip we saw, I don't think this is the same technology. This kind of voice generator technology really shows its limitations when you make it "say" combinations of words that the person didn't actually record in that order. You can hear the "jumpy" quality as different recordings are pressed together.

(As an example, here's what I made George say at the Bush-o-Matic. Try it yourself and see how garbled it gets in places: "I am George W. Bush. My voice sounds like wallpaper. Hello to bear cubs. Where is the sand gnat stadium? Welcome to my chandelier. So long, monkey pie.")

The only way around it with Mickey would seem to be to have his response to any question or statement from the audience be an entirely pre-recorded spiel. There would be no chance for truly spontaneous reactions...and if Mickey is calling people by name, you have to have pretty much every possible human name pre-recorded in the database for it to sound natural.

My assumption was that this technology takes what a CM is saying at any given moment and "translates" it into Mickey's voice.
 
puntagordabob

puntagordabob

Well-Known Member
TTA-ATW said:
This tech is really cool! At first it did look a little freaky but after i saw it for a minute it was exactly what it should be. This is one of those experiences where RFID could really shine. They will be able to know everybody by name like they have been old friends for years. Even know if they have met before.
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Yep...I think this is actually part of their RFID plan...


Salutes to the Imagineers!!!
 
zweltar

zweltar

Well-Known Member
It is really cool, although Mickey seemed to say "pal" a little bit too frequently.
I mean, I know it is a word Mickey uses in cartoons, but not every other sentence...
 
sponono88

sponono88

Well-Known Member
kingdaniel97 said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6k2xdtU8Wc#t=00m12s

Is it just me or does she seem a little too happy when Mickey touches her?

Yeah, it's cool tech though, I saw the videos a few days ago on the network. Really cool stuff. I'd assume they've got a voice changer or something so that Mickey doesn't end up stuttering or talking too fast.
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Your sister was wayy too happy to be visiting Mickey. Look at her face. Creepppy
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that comment was totally unnecessary. as Sandgirl said, the girl seems to be mentally disabled.
 
Kamikaze

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
Wilt Dasney said:
Mute characters have always been one of my biggest issues with the parks. I really think for any kid with the smallest amount of discernment, the fact that Mickey never moves his mouth would make you wonder what's up.

I like this a lot!
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You would have cried at what they looked like before say the 80s.
 
Pete C

Pete C

Active Member
Incredible...I am in awe right now. It doesn't seem creepy to me at all. If anything, the existing characters are more creepy because their faces are not animated. This will revolutionize all of the shows at Disney. My guess is that there will no longer be meet and greets for costume characters just walking around the parks. Perhaps this is why they are building more actual rooms in the FL expansion for meet and greets.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Per Jim Hill on the Magical Definition Podcast:

The plan is to ultimately roll this out using 6 characters:
Mickey
Minnie
Donald
Goofy
Pooh
Tigger

As a means of covering the initial cost of this technology, the talking characters may appear exclusively at character dining for a year or more.

He also speculated that this will ramp up much quicker in Disney World if Disney sees it's losing attendance to Harry Potter
 
wm49rs

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
RSoxNo1 said:
Per Jim Hill on the Magical Definition Podcast:

The plan is to ultimately roll this out using 6 characters:
Mickey
Minnie
Donald
Goofy
Pooh
Tigger

As a means of covering the initial cost of this technology, the talking characters may appear exclusively at character dining for a year or more.

He also speculated that this will ramp up much quicker in Disney World if Disney sees it's losing attendance to Harry Potter
Click to expand...

I wonder what the sample size/time will be for WDW to react to the WWoHP opening affecting their numbers?
 
imagineer boy

imagineer boy

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
Per Jim Hill on the Magical Definition Podcast:

The plan is to ultimately roll this out using 6 characters:
Mickey
Minnie
Donald
Goofy
Pooh
Tigger

As a means of covering the initial cost of this technology, the talking characters may appear exclusively at character dining for a year or more.
Click to expand...

Ooh, that sounds fantastic! I hope Jim Hill is right about this one.

He also speculated that this will ramp up much quicker in Disney World if Disney sees it's losing attendance to Harry Potter
Click to expand...

In that case, go WWoHP! :lol:
 

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