How to Do a Peter Griffin Impression?

Peter Griffin – the main character and father figure in the renowned Family Guy cartoons – is known for delivering a very nasal voice and a distinctively amusing laughter pattern. To make a Peter Griffin impression, these are the main aspects to watch out for:

Accent

Griffin presumably comes from a middle-class Irish-American background and, judging from his accent, he’s from somewhere between Boston and Rhode Island (the latter being where the show is supposed to take place). You may notice this by listening to the way he pronounces certain vowels and consonants

Bostonians are bent on pronouncing the r as the British do. Both these accents are known as “non-rhotic”, meaning that the “growling” sound associated with /r/ is not rendered. Here are some examples of how Peter would pronounce words with r:

  • “Car” = “cah“.
  • “Water” = “watah” (retaining the soft “t”)
  • “Forty” = “foahty” (again, with a soft “t”)
  • “Morning” = “moahning”

Whenever there’s a word with an “r” preceded by a vowel other than “a” (like the last two examples given above), Griffin – like most Bostonians – would make a soft inflection to the upside.

Meanwhile, the round o in New England accent has a mild aperture at the end, forming a diphthong, as in, blending two letters. Thus, instead of “oh”, Peter would say “ooah”, with the bulk of the sound concentrated on the mouth’s rear. Some illustrative examples include:

  • “Tofu” = “Tooahfu”
  • “Coffee” = “Cooahfee”
  • “From” = “Frooahm”

Griffin’s “ah’s” are peculiarly flat and nasal. Another word to accurately describe them is “lateral”. The focal point of delivery is at the front of the mouth near the lips. How Peter (and any Bostonian or Rhode Islander, for that matter) approaches these syllables is very akin to how Southerners would.

Finally, Peter is accustomed to skipping letters, especially the t in words such as:

  • Don’t = “doahn”
  • Wouldn’t = “woodn”

Voice

Peter’s voice could be said to be a mixture of Spongebob Squarepants and Squidward Tentacles. It’s not as high-pitched as that of Spongebob, but also not as low as that of Squidward. Moreover, while Squidward’s voice sounds more “chesty”, Peter’s voice is more fixed towards the head, nose, and back of his throat.

If you wish to speak like Peter Griffin, you ought to follow these guidelines:

  • Try projecting the chin forward and folding your tongue upwards to render the s as a soft sh.
  • Place special emphasis on your underbite.
  • Slant the jaw a bit sideways (optional)
  • Pay close attention to the vibration of your voice during delivery so that you can track the parts of your body that are being used as “channels” and always remember to avoid the chest as much as possible. Admittedly, there’s a relatively steep learning curve for beginners as it’s hard to be mindful of all the areas you should employ simultaneously.

Laughter

One of Peter Griffin’s most distinguishing traits (and the one that yielded him the most success) is the sound he makes when he laughs. You can find entire themes and sketches made with his laughter as the main thrust. Popular songs like “La Cucaracha”, Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F” (theme from Beverly Hills Cop), and Mozart’s “A Little Night Music” are prominently featured in-show using his laughter pitched at different notes.

What’s more, Peter’s laughter is a lot easier to emulate than his overall vocal profile, primarily when considering the lack of nuances in the tone and the flappy “mechanic” effects tied to it,

You’d want to focus on the throat more this time around, particularly on the epiglottis, which is the leaf-shaped flap that sits at the top. A great portion of the sound should remain located between the vocal cords, epiglottis, and the pharynx, with the epiglottis and vocal cords generating the pulsations and the pharynx serving as the “voice box”. The air ought to be projected more towards the nose and the back of the throat than the mouth.

In many instances, Peter would constantly fade his laughter in and out in a successive fashion, almost resembling the buzzing sound of a bumble bee or a mosquito. At other times, when he laughs out loud, he would let a little air off his diaphragm while maintaining roughly the same pitch. Finally, he might insert some inflections while excited or as a result of a mischievous action, comment, or thought.

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Which Microphones Have the Highest Max SPL?

Maximum SPL refers to the microphone’s capability to withstand high-volume sounds. This specification is rarely considered when buying a microphone as most of them have high SPL and you’ll rarely need to consider it if you plan to record in a home or studio environment. However, in some instances, it could be important if you were to record super high-volume sound sources. Such can be concerts, gunfire, fireworks or earthquakes among others.

Dynamic microphones seldom display their SPL as they can withstand any sound level unless it’s physically making the coil within the microphone hit a capsule or a magnet around it. Therefore, max SPL is never a concern for dynamic microphones and the list below consists of condenser microphones only.

Condenser microphones have more electronics than dynamic microphones and that causes them to be more sensitive to high-volume sounds. When the max SPL is exceeded, it may distort sound and also possibly harm the microphone.

Some of the highest max SPL condenser microphones are AT2050 with an SPL of 159dB followed by AT2035 and AKG Pro Audio C414 XLII with SPLs of 158dB. All of these microphones use padding to achieve such high max SPL. Both AKG and AT have lots of microphones with high SPL.

However, other big-name microphone brands also offer microphones with high max SPL of 150dB or more. Neumann KMS 105 and Neumann KMS 104 are condenser microphones designed for stage performance where the high SPL could be a benefit, these microphones can withstand up to 150dB. Rode NT2A has a default SPL of 147dB, however, the 10dB padding option boosts it up to 157dB. Sennheiser e 965 is another stage condenser microphone with a 10dB padding option and an impressive max SPL of 152dB.

Among the 48 higher-end condenser microphones we have on this list the average max SPL is 142dB which is above the 130dB pain threshold.

A list of condenser microphones and their Max SPL values:

Microphone Price ($)ConnectionMax SPL (dB)
AT2050 $                  250XLR159 (dB)
AT2035 $                  150XLR158 (dB)
AKG Pro Audio C414 XLII $               1,115XLR158 (dB)
Rode NT2A $                  377XLR157 (dB)
AKG Pro C214 $                  340XLR156 (dB)
AKG Pro Audio P220 $                  145XLR155 (dB)
AKG Pro Audio P420 $                  177XLR155 (dB)
AT4040 $                  300XLR155 (dB)
Neumann TLM 107 $               1,450XLR153 (dB)
Sennheiser e 965 $                  400XLR152 (dB)
AKG C636 $                  434XLR150 (dB)
AT4060 $               1,815XLR150 (dB)
Neumann KMS 105 $                  730XLR150 (dB)
Neumann KMS 104 $                  850XLR150 (dB)
AKG Pro Audio C7 $                  255XLR150 (dB)
AT4050 $                  700XLR149 (dB)
MXL V67N $                  110XLR148 (dB)
Shure PGA27 $                  230XLR145 (dB)
AKG P3s $                    60XLR144 (dB)
AT 2020 XLR $                  100XLR144 (dB)
Neumann TLM 102 $                  730XLR144 (dB)
Lewitt Reference-Class Tube/FET $               1,700XLR143 (dB)
LEWITT LCT 240 PRO $                  160XLR142 (dB)
AKG Pro Audio C5 $                  210XLR140 (dB)
LEWITT LCT 440 PURE $                  270XLR140 (dB)
Sennheiser Professional MK 4 $                  300XLR140 (dB)
Lewitt DGT 650 $                  420USB140 (dB)
Neumann TLM 193 $               1,595XLR140 (dB)
Rode NTG1 Shotgun $                  185XLR139 (dB)
Neumann KM 184 MT $                  850XLR138 (dB)
Neumann TLM 103 $               1,195XLR138 (dB)
Samson MTR101 $                    50USB137 (dB)
MXL 770 $                  100XLR137 (dB)
Rode NT1A $                  200XLR137 (dB)
Samson C01 $                    80USB136 (dB)
Blue Blackout Spark SL $                  200XLR136 (dB)
Lewitt LCT 540 Subzero $                  700XLR136 (dB)
AKG C 451 B $                  400XLR135 (dB)
Rode NT1 $                  228XLR132 (dB)
MXL 990 Blaze $                  100XLR130 (dB)
MXL 440 $                  100XLR130 (dB)
MXL V67G $                  100XLR130 (dB)
MXL 2006 $                  115XLR130 (dB)
Sennheiser MKH416 $               1,000XLR130 (dB)
MXL R144 HE $               130XLR130 (dB)
Neumann U 87 Ai $               3,600XLR127 (dB)
Blue Yeti X  $                  170USB122 (dB)
Rode NT-USB $                  160USB110 (dB)
Condenser microphones and their max SPL (including padding). The prices are as of September 2022.

Some condenser microphones, especially those at the top of the list have a pad option that reduces input sound volume by a certain amount. This increases their max SPL and the padding option is represented in the table above.

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