Ryan Drummond is a comedian, clown, singer, theatrical performer and mime artist — as well as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog. Debuting in Sonic Adventure, he provided the speedy gaming icon’s first video-game voice for six years thereafter. In an email interview with The Michigan Daily, Drummond discusses what it’s like to be such a major part of gaming history, as well as the rest of his extensive career.
This piece has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The Michigan Daily: Your work spans from TV to video games to theater and therefore reaches through to a lot of different fandoms. You’ve been very involved in the Sonic fandom (the Sonic and Tails R fan project comes especially to mind), so how would you compare the reception of fandoms like that of the Sonic franchise to that of other works you’ve been involved with?
Ryan Drummond: I guess I’m a little biased because I’ve been more thoroughly involved with the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise than I have with any other facet of the industry that I’ve been in, perhaps with the exception of live theatre. But since theatre is live, you don’t often get super dedicated fans unless you have some other sort of celebrity attached to your name. That said, I will admit that I have never in all my years seen a more dedicated and multifaceted fan base than Sonic the Hedgehog fans.
The second most frequent question I am asked is something along the lines of, “What’s the coolest thing about being the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog?” And I always say the same thing. It’s meeting the people who have a love for Sonic in common. I’ve met some of the most interesting and lovely people working with the Sonic franchise and the little blue hedgehog is the only thing we have in common! We never would’ve met if it wasn’t for that character. I think that’s pretty cool. I have friends all over the planet simply because I got to be the original video game voice of Sonic the Hedgehog.
TMD: In your Pachuka interview, you mention that you came up with the voice for modern Sonic when prompted with his design and it fit so well that they offered you the job 15 minutes later. If you can recall it, considering it was so long ago, what spoke to you about the design of Sonic or of his cultural aura that led you to using the voice you did? Were you influenced by past performances like the cartoons before?
RD: Was it 15 minutes later? I think it was more like a week. But maybe 15 minutes sounds better. I’m not really a believer in fate or karma or anything like that, but I will say that my voice choice for Sonic the Hedgehog was very, very lucky. When I was invited to audition for the original Sonic Adventure game, I certainly knew who the Hedgehog was, but I didn’t consider myself a “fan.” I didn’t own any of the video game consoles where you could play his games, I had never seen a Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, and I didn’t know anything about what was going on with Sonic in Japan or anything. So, that was kind of the cool thing about it. When I walked into that sound booth on that audition day, the engineer said to me, “You see that picture of Sonic the Hedgehog on the wall there? If you could imagine a voice coming out of him, what would it sound like? Line one. Ready? Go.”
He gave me about one and a half seconds to think about it — if that. So, I looked at that picture of Sonic, and I had no idea how he was “supposed to sound.” No idea at all. So, it happened very naturally! There was no decision to be made. There wasn’t time. I just said the first line on the script with what I thought would be an appropriate “speedy teenage hedgehog voice.” The first lines on the piece of paper in front of me were all dummy lines written for the audition. They never made it into any game that I know of. The first line was, “pick up all the gold rings and get a free life!” And I said it, and over the headphones the engineer said, “yeah, that’s good. Read the rest of the page like that.” And I did. And they thanked me and I left. And then it was either 15 minutes or a week later that the casting director called me and asked me if I wanted to be Sonic the Hedgehog. At the time, I thought it was for one game and it would be a few days of work. I had absolutely no idea that it was going to change the course of my life for the next 26 years and counting.
TMD: Speaking of performances, would you be able to share any thoughts on the current voice direction of Sonic as of Sonic Frontiers, namely, Roger Craig Smith’s much deeper, more mature intonation?
RD: You know, here’s the really cool thing about the fact that Sonic the Hedgehog has had a handful of different voice actors over the years. Each person kind of marks a different era of Sonic’s life. And I think that’s pretty cool, like James Bond. There’s been a handful of actors who’ve played James Bond over the years and whoever you grew up with, that’s your James Bond. Sonic is the same way. Whoever you grew up with, that’s your guy. Whether it’s me, Jason Griffith, Roger Craig Smith, Deven Mack, Ben Schwartz, whoever. If you’re a Sonic fan, one of us has burned our way into your brain as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog. And that’s like a tattoo. It’ll never change. And some people are fans of multiple eras! And some people stick to one. However, many people say that I’m the one and only voice for Sonic — here are just as many people who say the same thing to Jason, or Roger. And that’s cool! It almost all depends on what year you were born. That’s who “your Sonic” is. And I really like what each person has brought to the character. I don’t know too much about what direction they were given, or how much they relied on people before them, but I know that each person is a little bit different, and I like that. It marks all the stages in Sonic’s life.
TMD: Since video games have more complications than other media in communicating an actor’s performance — writing countless lines for each possible interaction, recording with or without proper context, directing or fellow actors to bounce off of, matching that performance up to the visual of a character who has to be programmed — video game voice acting has delivered some infamously damaged performances, especially in the earlier days when a studio’s budget could only stretch so far. Can you speak on any similar obstacles you ran into during your voice work and what the teams you worked with did to improve conditions?
RD: It really has to do with technology. Every aspect of the game wasn’t as good back then because the technology — or perhaps the budget — just wasn’t there. With a few outliers, of course, you can see the general trend of video game technology and voiceover improving as time goes on.
I remember that when we were working on the first Sonic Adventure game, we didn’t even have a script to work on. We merely had sheets of paper with lists of lines on them. No animation to look at either. Often, we would just say the lines having no idea what the context was, who we were talking to, how we felt about it, etc. And sometimes, it shows in the game. Tails might be right next to Sonic, and I’m yelling to him like he’s across a field or something. That was not uncommon. At least the advantage that the Sonic franchise had is that Sega always hired voice actors to do the voices. Some of those older games were voiced by the people who programmed them, or whoever was around the office, or maybe the programmer’s brother or something. It’s pretty obvious sometimes.
But as time progressed and the games progressed, we started getting scripts instead of lists, which was really helpful. We also got “scratch animation” to look at so we could see what the scene was going to look like. We also got programmers in the room who could tell us what the intention of a scene was. So, it just gets better as technology got better.
TMD: The game Dragon’s Lair is known for being the first video game to use voice acting, specifically in the context of telling its story. Its developers were the ones to record those lines due to budgetary constraints. If one could argue that you entered the world of video game voice acting when it was still maturing from those days into the industry it is now, how do you feel about your place in the historical narrative of the art of video game voice acting, beyond even being the first video game Sonic voice?
RD: It’s such an honor. I find it very cool to be in the generation that started with very primitive technology, or no technology, and then being able to see where we are today. I’ve been doing voiceover in the video game industry for 28 years now. I love seeing the technology expand. Microphone technology, sound editing software, filters, etc. There’s this newer program called the Dehumanizer, and all you have to do is talk into it and it turns you into a growling, blood-spurting demon. You don’t even have to figure out how to navigate that with your own voice if you don’t want to! Technology will do it for you. And by the way, I used to love Dragon’s Lair. It was difficult! I was a little kid when it came out, but I remember going to the arcade and watching the older kids play it. I remember my mind being blown that you could control a cartoon. That was so groundbreaking at the time.
TMD: It was reported in 2012 that you turned down an offer to voice Sonic again because Sega refused to offer a union contract. With rising concerns over Artificial Intelligence voice duplication and potential strikes to come in the video game voice-acting industry, would you be able to share your experiences with and thoughts on the importance of these unions?
RD: To be clear, that whole situation occurred because a union contract was offered with the invite to the audition. After the audition, when I got offered the role, the contract was taken back. That was the issue there. There were other things, too. But it was just not a good situation. My agent actually told me that he would “shoot me in the face” if I accepted the offer. So, that was the deal there.
And yes, now technology has gotten to the point where it can steal our jobs from us. I’m sure it’s happened already. And I am kind of on the fence about that. In one way, you just can’t stop the rolling boulder that is the advancement of technology. It’s going to go on without you whether you want to or not. So, you have to either embrace it or get left behind. But what does that look like when embracing it means that you lose work? I’m not really sure yet. But that’s what the union’s job is. To protect its workers and protect the work that we do. So, I will leave it in their hands, for better or for worse.
TMD: As we come to a close, I wanted to share what drove me to this interview in the first place. Whether it was in the Wii games I played, the shows I watched, and — crucially — the Sonic Adventure Let’s Plays and the countless other works of art your work has given genesis to, Sonic has formed a crucial foundation of my passion for video games, the digital world and all of art. You and Sonic are a large part of why I ever started on my own work in the arts and have the privilege to interview you now. The crazy thing is that the story I just told you isn’t unique at all; so how does it feel to have been able to play such an instrumental role in people’s lives? To know how much gratitude people hold for you?
RD: I never take that for granted. And it never gets less interesting to talk about. I make appearances at conventions all across the country, and so, several times a month, I get to meet people who were very affected by the video games and other things that I’ve worked on in the voiceover industry. It is always the highest honor when someone comes up to me and says that Sonic helped them through a rough time, or a rough family life, or maybe they were bullied at school and Sonic taught them to be brave, things like that. It blows my mind on a constant basis. And we all have those heroes from our childhood! I know I have mine. And if I ever met any of my childhood heroes, I would freak out too! So, the fact that I can be that for someone else is an honor of the highest caliber.
Daily Arts Writer Saarthak Johri can be reached at sjohri@umich.edu.
