FEATURE: How Anime Voice Over and Music Get Made
How did your favorite anime get created? It’s a pretty big question that has an equally big answer. Japanese animation has a highly unique and specific workflow from start to finish and there’s very few comprehensive explanations of that workflow available in English. That’s where this article series comes in!
Welcome to How Is Anime Made? a series of articles that will guide you through the entire lifespan of an anime, from the initial seed of an idea to watching it here on Crunchyroll. This series is organized into six articles that break up the creation of anime into broad concepts. We’re publishing a new part every day this week, so be sure to check back on our article hub to see when new articles go live!
After tackling pre-production, the first stages of production, and animation, today we’re exploring the audio production process for anime. In this article we will be taking you through dialog recording, music production, and sound effects. Each process is highly differentiated, but they are all overseen by the role of Sound Director (Onkyo Kantoku). Whenever any sound is added to an anime episode, the Sound Director has some input in its creation, its recording, and its placement within the scene.
Here are examples of some prominent Sound Directors:
- Akiko Fujita — Sound Director for series like Bocchi the Rock!, JUJUTSU KAISEN, and My Dress-Up Darling
- Yota Tsuruoka — Sound Director for series like Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Monogatari, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica
- Yasunori Ebina — Sound Director for series like Naruto, Ranking of Kings, and A Certain Magical Index
Let’s begin by exploring one of the most well-known aspects of anime audio…
Anime Voice Acting
A group of seiyuu performing during a recording session in Paranoia Agent
Behind every one of your favorite anime characters is a voice actor (or seiyuu) whose performance brings that character to life. Seiyuu are almost always represented by a talent agency, and the series director, sound director, and sound producer will work together to coordinate with the agency and cast each character. Casting the right talent for each character is important, but consideration is also paid to which actors are popular with the demographic of the anime series, the talent’s additional skills (singing, dancing, etc), and further points that might have a bearing on live events, drama CDs, or any other seiyuu-driven merchandise or events.
Let’s take a look at some of the names behind anime’s most iconic voices:
- Naruto Uzumaki — Junko Takeuchi
- Monkey D. Luffy — Mayumi Tanaka
- Dio Brando — Takehito Koyasu
- Koyomi Araragi — Hiroshi Kamiya
- Sakura Kinomoto — Sakura Tange
Unlike voice acting for Western animation, seiyuu are often recorded in groups, with every actor for each anime character in a scene present in the room. This allows for a more dynamic and natural flow with the actors able to adjust their performances in reaction to the other actors. Their dialog is recorded and then edited and adjusted by the Sound Director and a team of engineers before it is then timed to the animation during the editing stage.
Anime Music
Kumiko Oumae performing music that is techinically also a part of the original soundtrack for Sound! Euphonium
Music in anime is generally divided into two camps: the background music and the theme/insert songs. Background music (or the OST — original soundtrack of an anime) is written by a composer and then performed by studio musicians, whereas the anime theme/insert songs are usually performed by a popular music group.
In the case of the OST, the composition process begins when the series director and sound director meet and compile a list of different songs they will need in something called a music order sheet. This list is comprised of any number of requested songs ranging from emotions like “upbeat,” “pensive,” or “tense” to highly specific requests like “sad version of [anime character] theme for use in death scene,” as an example.
There are sometimes exceptions to this rule, usually in the form of anime movies. Composers like kensuke ushio even have influence on the direction of the whole anime series sometimes, like in the case of The Heike Story or Liz and the Blue Bird.
In the anime pre-production phase, the sound producer, sound director, and/or series director will have decided on a composer for the OST, and will have coordinated with whichever agency represents this composer. At this stage, the composer in question is given the music order sheet and begins writing the music. Eventually this music will be recorded by a team of studio musicians giving the anime its completed and final OST.
In my opinion, composers are some of the most under appreciated talents in the industry, so let’s take a look at some of the names behind our favorite soundtracks:
- Yasuharu Takanashi — Naruto, Fairy Tail, Log Horizon
- Yoko Kanno — Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy, Wolf’s Rain,
- kensuke ushio — Boogiepop and Others, Chainsaw Man, the Heike Story
Kessoku Band performing music that might be used as a theme or insert song in Bocchi the Rock!
The process for anime opening and ending themes and insert songs is quite different. Sometimes these songs will be written specifically for an anime series, but just as often they are licensed pre-existing songs. Nearly all songs in this category are singles written and recorded by popular artists represented by a record label that is most likely part of the production committee. An agreement is made between the record label and the rest of the committee, and then the songs are ready for use.
Anime Sound Effects
The Sound Director of KONOSUBA had to create the audio for each and every one of Megumin’s explosions!
The final aspect of sound we will cover is sound effects. Every anime, whether it’s the bombastic explosions and impact of Chainsaw Man, or the more subdued classroom noise of a series like My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, needs sound effects to round out its soundscape and make the world believable. The sound director is in charge of this step — sometimes they will oversee an internal or subcontracted sound effects specialist, sometimes they will record the sound effects themselves. Regardless, this step in the process is highly creative, depending on the sound director’s and the sound effects specialist’s ability to approximate a world of different sounds with on hand objects and recording equipment.
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We have now explored every step of the creative process in anime. With all of our audiovisual components in hand it’s time to move on to the final step in anime creation: post-production. Join us tomorrow to learn how the finishing touches are made for an anime before it’s shown to the world!
Glossary of terms we’ve learned about the audio production process of anime:
- Anime Sound Director (onkyo kantoku): The person who oversees all audio aspects of an anime series.
- Anime Voice Actor (seiyuu): An actor who records dialog for a character in an anime series. Most often represented by a talent agency.
- Anime Original Soundtrack (OST): The background music for an anime series. Written by a composer and recorded by studio musicians.
- Music Order Sheet: A form filled out by the Series Director and Sound Director listing out different music requests for the anime OST composer.
Sources:
- The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Blu-Ray Behind the Scenes Featurette — Distributed by Funimation
- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Blu-Ray Behind the Scenes Featurette — Distributed by Funimation
- Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions Limited Edition Blu-Ray Book — Distributed by Sentai Filmworks
- A Silent Voice Limited Edition Blu-Ray Behind the Scenes Featurettes — Distibuted by Eleven Arts and Nozomi Entertainment
- A Silent Voice Limited Edition Blu-Ray Behind the Scenes Featurettes — Distibuted by Pony Canyon
- INTERVIEW: Meet QUEEN BEE, the Rock Band Behind Chainsaw Man’s Episode 11 Ending Theme! — Crunchyroll News
- INTERVIEW: How the Composer of Liz and the Blue Bird Used Math Equations to Write a Soundtrack — Crunchyroll News
Currently available articles in this series:
Upcoming articles in this series:
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Cayla Coats is the Editorial Partnerships Manager at Crunchyroll. She tweets @ceicocat and you can watch her YouTube channel here.
