Bret Iwan has been the American voice of Mickey Mouse since 2009. He is the 4th official voice of the most famous mouse, succeeding Wayne Allwine. So, to preserve his vocal cords, he imposes particularly strict rules on himself.
Do you know who is really behind the voice of Mickey Mouse ? In the United States, Bret Iwan has been dubbing the famous big-eared mouse since 2009. A date which changed his life, and which allowed him to succeed Wayne Allwine, thus becoming the fourth official American voice of Mickey. “One day, a friend of mine sent me an email that described the current audition process. They were looking for someone to dub the voice of Mickey Mouse. His name is Wayne Allwine. He’s been doing the voice for 32 years, but he was starting to have a little trouble doing it, so they decided to look for someone to help him.” Bret Iwan tells us, during a visit to London last October, on the occasion of Disney’s 100th anniversary.
Because this very high voice, probably one of the best known throughout the world, cannot allow the slightest fault in tone to be heard. Moreover, Bret Iwan is well aware that his particular voice is the key to his success. “I never thought about being the voice of Mickey Mouse. So it’s a dream come true that I didn’t even know existed. I really have one of the best jobs in the company: as the voice of Mickey Mouse, I get to work on everything from theme parks and TV shows to video games and toys. The list is long. I have the benefit of seeing so many amazing things the company does and I am forever grateful.” he tells us. So, to maintain this place of choice, the one who brings the emblematic Disney character to life imposes very strict rules on himself in order to preserve his vocal cords.
“I do everything to limit the exhaustion of my voice”
To protect his voice, Bret Iwan deprives himself of certain things on a daily basis. “I avoid noisy situations as much as possible. When I know I have a lot of recordings coming up, I tend to stay at home and not go out too much because the weather can affect me sometimes. Sometimes you just have to go out to dinner with friends to find yourself in a noisy restaurant.” he tells us. Bret Iwan, for example, avoids going to concerts or sports matches that are too noisy, so as not to be tempted to shout too much. “But everything else is just common sense. It’s just about taking care of your voice like you would any other day.” adds Mickey’s voice.
Besides, how does he imitate Mickey’s voice to perfection? During this interview, Bret Iwan let us in on his little secret: “Mickey is a falsetto and Wayne Allwine, my predecessor, summed it up perfectly by saying that Mickey is an average falsetto. If you go too high or too Low isn’t Mickey. So people often make the mistake of going as high as possible. But if you find the average falsetto, you’re likely to find the Mickey sound.” To your imitations!