Up next in 10
Voice actor Ray Hurd (Dragon Ball Super, One Piece, My Hero Academia, and more) joins Tales From The Collection to talk about his career, fan-favorite quotes, and advice for aspiring voice actors.
In this interview, Ray shares:
The most requested autograph quotes, including Toppo’s iconic “Speed is weight. Observe.”
His first exposure to Dragon Ball Z as a fan in the ’90s
Whether he feels pressure voicing iconic characters in Dragon Ball and One Piece
How he keeps his voice strong during long recording sessions and battle scenes
The advice he’d give his younger self about patience and persistence in voice acting
Ray’s passion and experience shine through in this fun conversation for anime fans everywhere.
For more celebrity interviews, autograph stories, and convention coverage, follow Tales From The Collection.
⏱️ Chapters
0:00 Intro
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0:00
Hey, how you doing guys? I'm Ray here,
0:02
voice actor here with my man Tim. And uh
0:04
he's got some questions for me. He wants
0:06
me to to answer. And so I don't know if
0:09
it's a chokeold I'm in quite, you know,
0:11
we'll see. And I'm of course I'm I'm
0:13
pretty good at breaking out of these
0:14
things. So we'll find out what Tim's
0:15
really got for me.
0:18
When signing autographs, what quotes or
0:21
what quote do fans ask for the most? the
0:23
quotes that fans ask for the most and
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and Kizeru being you know the uh the
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primary well I say one of the one of my
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primary uh uh fan favorites uh they
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usually ask for the speed is weight
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quote which I have a double uh uh two
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ways to say it. I thought I was saying
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it the wrong way for a long time and it
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wasn't. It was uh I think the uh uh the
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manga I believe says it with a question
0:49
um and it speed is weight. Observe. Have
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you ever been kicked at the speed of
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light? And then of course you have the
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uh the the way I say it in the show,
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which is speed is weight. Observe. This
1:01
is what it feels like to be kicked at
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the speed of light. So there they go.
1:05
What was your exposure to Dragon Ball
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before you were cast as top in Dragon
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Ball Super? Oh man, I had the full
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exposure. I had um
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I was a big Dragon Ball Z fan growing up
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and uh it was huge huge huge huge huge
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and uh then I was one of the unfortunate
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uh few that uh saw it when it first hit
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America and uh in English and afterwards
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and when I say unfortunate I mean not
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that it came but that it came it was so
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cool and then suddenly disappeared. So,
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we get through the Saiyan saga, then all
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of a sudden if he's fighting Frieza,
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it's just like it was skipping episodes
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and stuff. I didn't know what was going
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on. And then
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suddenly we're uh no longer watching the
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show. It's off TV. And so I'm we're you
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know, I had to watch unfortunately for
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me and those like me at that time, we
2:01
had to get imports. Well, I was, you
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know, uh able to find a way to get
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imports from Japan. Had those imports
2:08
come in. They were all in subtitles
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which were really bad and you know it
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was just you know so that whole
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subtitles are the best way to go thing
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like I get it for people who are trying
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to watch ahead or trying to see stuff
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and and see what's going on and and
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don't want to wait you know or tired of
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waiting for the dub stuff. I get that
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cuz that's what I went through. Um, but
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then I always watch it in dub as soon as
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it comes out simply because
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a lot of the subtitles were really bad
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and even now they don't always
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translate. I mean, even with the
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professionalism that's put into it,
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which I respect, but a a lot of it
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doesn't really translate properly
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because uh uh or culturally in a way
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that we can receive culturally better.
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So anyway, long answer. Yeah, that's uh
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yes, I was a big Dragon Ball Super uh Z
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rather way before. So, uh, like from
3:00
maybe 1994 up. So, yeah. Yeah. And
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that's when it landed in America first.
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So, then we had to wait 5 years for
3:06
Tsunami to catch up.
3:10
So, on to the next one. Is there more
3:12
pressure recording lines for your
3:14
characters in popular franchises like
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Dragon Ball and One Piece? More
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pressure? No. Because once the voice is
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established and uh and I know what I'm
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doing,
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uh generally if I for some reason I'm
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doing something else that took me away
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from the character or understanding or
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remembering how I played the character,
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you know, particularly uh once I get
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that uh they have what's called a vocal
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reference that they'll play for us so we
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can always ask for and uh some directors
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just know to do it and uh they'll play
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it and then I'm back in the game, you
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know. And then uh once I start doing the
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voice again, I'm I'm already familiar
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with the character and know the
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character. Like for Kizaroo, for
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example, I've been playing it for 12
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going on 13 years. I'm very familiar
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with the character. So yeah, and Top, I
4:01
use Top's voice often in conventions and
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things of that nature. So yeah, it's
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never a problem. So you guys are getting
4:07
long answers and I'm I'm I'm hopefully
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not bad on that. How do you keep your
4:13
voice strong and consistent during long
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recording sessions or intense battle
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scenes?
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Um, this the the way I found is best for
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me is to uh do the uh uh do the talking
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lines first. if you have any screaming
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or yelling lines that you're going to
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have to do, the the talking lines are
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the the best. And then afterwards, uh
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save your screaming and whatnot for
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later, for the the end of the session if
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if you can next session. Uh that way you
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can get through all of the lines that
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you need to without creating any damage
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to your voice at all, which when you get
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really good at this and do this for a
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while, excuse me. Um you can u you can
4:53
avoid damaging your voice altogether in
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most cases. Uh there are some cases
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where it's kind of it's unavoidable it's
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unavoidable to strain your voice but
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honestly you should never leave a voice
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session uh where you have damaged your
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voice. Uh in the old days of this
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business that was a bad you considered
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that like a badge of honor you know to
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come out completely horse but that was
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before we knew better. So since then,
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we've had to be more like pro athletes,
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you know, where we uh take inventory,
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you know, of making sure that we're
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doing everything we can to preserve our
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voices because what if you have another
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session that day or you're doing, you
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know, three or four other jobs that day
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like, you know, and you've destroyed
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your voice in this one session, you know
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what I mean? So that's important to be
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be careful on. What's one thing you wish
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you would have known before starting
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voice acting? really I was really really
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blessed and fortunate to have had some
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really good teachers. Um
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uh my journey was long and arduous. Uh
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but I guess
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if I were to step out of time and step
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back and be able to tell myself anything
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is just don't give up. Don't not that I
6:03
did but just you know be patient. Be
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patient. You know don't get too hasty.
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You know be patient. And that was the
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one thing that I didn't have a lot of
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and this journey made me it forced me to
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have more patience. So, you know, that's
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the that was the upside to it that I did
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learn patience as a result. Um, but
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yeah, just just be patient. It'll good
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things come with time. It's like waiting
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on good food. You know, it takes it
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takes time for good food to be made, but
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if you want something fast and, you
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know, and not so good for you, yeah,
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rush into it. So, anyway, those are my
6:39
questions and uh this has been fun.
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Thanks Tim for letting me come on and be
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a part of the show. And I hope to see
6:45
you guys in the future.