How the monster sound is made

The speech model is asked for a low growl. Your browser then slows the clip by about a third, which drops the pitch a long way, boosts the bass, and adds soft distortion with a waveshaper. Distortion is what gives it the torn, throaty edge.

The result is a rough creature voice, not a realistic animal sound. Words stay understandable because the distortion is kept mild.

Writing lines that work

Monsters talk in short, blunt sentences and care about food: "Who has been sleeping in my cave? And who ate my pizza?" Use simple words, avoid long vowels you cannot pronounce at low speed, and let a joke carry the line. A gruff voice saying something polite is funnier than a gruff voice saying something gruff.

Keep it to one or two sentences. A very low voice becomes tiring to listen to after about fifteen seconds.

Where people use it

Tabletop game bosses, a troll under a bridge in a school play, a creature in a short animation, a funny voicemail greeting, a pet-voice skit, and game-chat pranks.

What it will not do

It does not imitate any named creature, film monster or video-game boss, and prompts that name one are refused. It cannot roar or make animal noises; for a calmer low voice, use the deep voice.

Example lines to try

These lines were written for this style and tend to sound right straight away:

"Me hungry. Me polite. Me would like soup."
"You shall not cross my bridge without a very good joke."
"I am not under the bed. I am simply near it."
"Who left the lights on? Monsters need sleep too."

Quick fixes if it sounds wrong

If the words blur, use shorter words and shorter lines. If the distortion bothers you, try the deep voice, which has the same low weight without the grit.

Growls sit best on short, heavy words such as "food", "cave" or "mine". If you want a growl voiced, spell it out, for example "Grrr, who is there?" Keep the whole line under about fifteen words: this style slows speech down a lot, so a long line turns into a long clip that is hard to fit into a video.

Using the clip in your project

The download is a WAV file that works in any editor. For a game boss or tabletop session, cut one clip per line and play the right one at the right moment from a soundboard. For an animation, line up the clip with a slow jaw movement; the slow pace of this voice makes it easy to animate by hand. Keep a few seconds of silence around each clip so the low rumble does not clash with the next sound.

Monster Voice Generator