Nicholas Briggs – the actor that’s voiced Doctor Who’s Daleks for several decades – shared this video, taking an entertaining look at how he creates the iconic Dalek voice.
Briggs covers his process in detail, exterminating any doubt about how the iconic Dalek voice is done.
Briggs uses a Moog Moogerfooger MF-102 Ring Modulator to process his voice, but that only gets him halfway there. The unique sound of the Daleks isn’t just an effect, but the result of how Briggs acts while speaking through the ring modulator effect.
Briggs also recreates some of his favorite lines as a Dalek.
Check out the video and share your thoughts in the comments!
Fun but frustrating. I wish I could have seen all of the settings dialed in. That must have been a whole lot of fun to perform that voice.
Excellent bit of Hectoring Briggs!
WE ARE THE DALEK. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. THE FORCE IS STRONGER WITH US. EXTERMINATE!!!
I thought for a minute that all of his favorite lines were going to be simply be EXTERMINATE!
My favorite Dalek lines where when they fought the Cybermen.
“We have five million Cybermen, how many are you?”
“FOUR!”
“You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?”
“WE WOULD DESTROY THE CYBERMEN WITH ONE DALEK! YOU ARE SUPERIOR IN ONLY ONE RESPECT!”
“What is that?”
“YOU ARE BETTER AT DYING!”
I suppose that just about any ring modulator would do the trick, as it depends on how it’s used. I always thought the voice sounded a bit like single-sideband radio, when the signal is sketchy. Of course the whole superiority complex comes from the Dalek’s creation, where they were told by Davros that they were the super-evolved form of their race. And of course their job was to exterminate the enemy, so there you go.
He should test out some other ring module pedals and perform the voice. It would be interesting to hear the differences
That is really cool to listen to. I use to watch Doctor Who and thought it was more funny than serious because of the senses. The very first episode of the new Doctor Who when the manikins come alive was more hilarious than scary. I don’t mean to make fun of the show, it’s just how I viewed the show. I did find the recent season with the woman doctor to be going in a more serious direction. Again, really cool video.
I enjoyed that video. As a causal fan of the show, I thought the show was more funnier than serious. The first episode of the new Doctor Who where the manikins come alive just felt silly to me. The newest season I saw with the woman doctor seemed to go more towards the serious direction.
Has anyone got a photo of the various settings for the ml-102 for the different dalek sounds? Wasn’t an earlier commercial ring mod used before this ( any info?)