In G1 Soundwave's voice was modified with a vocoder. In the films it was kept fairly unaltered - which is alright since it's Frank Welker and it would be a disgrace to modify his voice. But still, this link makes the vocoder voice sound far better: TF2 Soundwave Vocoded by Digital Domain - YouTube
You know, that really, really works. Un-vocoded Soundwave just sounds like some generic growly bad guy.
It does indeed work well. Would have been nice had they even vocoded his voice just a tiny little bit, like in this.
I am going to have start the minority here and say that I don't really like that way that sounds. I personally loved his voice in ROTF and DOTM just the way it was.
Un-vocoded Soundwave is literally just Dr. Claw. I was also surprised they didn't vocode it in ROTF, but that was their call, I guess. I can understand the idea of paying for a specific VA and then not wanting to run his voice through something that makes it sound completely different. He had more voice manipulation in DOTM though, or at least that's how it sounded.
Well, Welker didn't like the vocoder effect anyway back when he was doing it in 1984 even. For all we know he begged Bay not to do it. Plus, as fans, we know what too look for in this effect. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the general audience wouldn't pick up on the lines if they were processed this way. It is a step in the right direction though.
Yeah, I remember when I heard DD's vocoded version on their showreel. It was so awesome, yet didn't completely drown out Welker like a more heavily vocoded G1-esque version would've. I do wish they did that in the movies. It would've added something more to him than just "another generic growly bad guy". But hey, what's done is done.
That was cool but also a little harder to make out what he's saying. I think the effect would have to be 'hardened' a bit so it sounds clearer.
In retrospect, while I wish Soundwave’s voice had been vocoded I’m okay with how it turned out. Most of the speaking Transformers (sorry to Bee, Blackout, Topspin, Devcon etc) have their voices sound fairly organic, like they came from vocal organs rather than vocal processors. Even Megatron’s voice, while it was digitally altered, sounded like a proper voice and not flat and computerized; and Soundwave’s voice was fairly original to the G1 cartoon (it was Frank Welker, just unaltered), so that’s okay. However, Soundwave’s voice has the distinction of being vocoded to be a metallic monotone, chill and emotionless. That quality should have been utilized in the film, at least a little bit to make it a little more inhuman.
I liked Soundwave's vocader voice! I didn't see a reason to make him into Dr. Claw for nostalgia's sake.
That's how Soundwave's gotta sound in the Prime. As for the voice in a reboot, it does not matter since I'd perfer the mute voice but if he were to talk have him with a Sovereign like voice or Jeff Bennett in his TFA voice.
I wouldn't mind hearing a Soundwave voice that uses modulation/voice manipulation other than vocoding. Make him sound like modem noise, or make his voice sound scrambled like kidnappers over the phones in movies. Or make him sound like really filthy dubstep. Something that shows we've sort of moved forward in audio technology since the 80s, but that still has an artificial, altered, cold, non-human feel to it.
