TDM Vocals

[OrbWeaver]

It's highly unlikely that the type of mic is responsible for hiss, unless it is a particularly cheap and crappy mic that is not designed for professional recording (e.g. a VOIP headset or something). More likely it is a noisy recording environment, the quality or setup of the sound card, or inappropriate gain staging at some point in the signal chain.

[aidakeeley]

So it's either a crappy mic; or a crappy and unprofessional mic; or a noisy environment; or a badly configured soundcard; or a cheap soundcard; or a badly configured cheap soundcard; or the levels are wrong... and she doesn't sound aristocratic enough to be an aristocrat.

 

 

Or possibly a cheap and crappy and amateurish mic plugged into a somewhat professional but mis-twiddled laptop soundcard traveling on a subway system in a car full of ruffians and pensioners where the atmosphere might be cut with a knife... at any moment.

 

This is gonna be fun.

[OrbWeaver]

So it's either a crappy mic; or a crappy and unprofessional mic; or a noisy environment; or a badly configured soundcard; or a cheap soundcard; or a badly configured cheap soundcard; or the levels are wrong...

 

Recording is fun, isn't it?

 

and she doesn't sound aristocratic enough to be an aristocrat.

 

Maybe not, but she sounds fine for the regular servant girls or peasant women which featured in the original games, so I wouldn't rule her out myself.

[Melan]

I'd actually like to see some regular servant girl/commoner type women more than aristocrats, so that's not bad at all.

[Springheel]

Interesting choice of voice, she almost sounds from the U.S. Midwest to me.

 

Yes, aside from the hiss issue, the voice (while a nice tone) sounds quite modern. Most of our existing vocals have at least a trace of a british accent, and I'd like to keep that convention throughout.

[SneaksieDave]

Also, though it's early and these were just preliminary tests, might as well put it out there: Rather than just read through the lines one by one in succession, my suggestion would be that she consider each line separately, and really try to "get into character" with the line before she recites it, then do several takes. Right now, there's a bit too much "reading a script" in it (which even Thief suffered from in places).

 

Yes this is probably obvious, but I just wanted to put it out there as a general statement.

[Tch]

Well, quite a few suggestions in this time, but there's no need to worry about the hiss. I have access to several studios, and can record the final takes there.

 

But this is all moot if she needs to put on an accent, which this actress cannot do. The description Springheel gave in the script was "Dialogue should be generally modern, North American English, but with a slight renaissance flavour. The more educated the character, the more renaissance-speak is appropriate." That was why I pictured this voice as the servant type, like the servant female voice from Thief 2 (the one who talks to Benny about the mead on the rug, and others like Viktoria), or the existing city watch and servant voices in the Dark Mod.

 

@SneaksieDave: What you're hearing is an edited session. I edited out all the pauses, fumbles, consideration, and any alternate takes of the lines that I didn't think were usable.

 

At any rate, what I'll probably do is record a few full sets of lines with various actresses at the local sound studio where I used to work, and put them up for download for Springheel or any FM-makers who want to incorporate them.

 

Hoping to hear efforts from some other users here, as well.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Tch

[Springheel]

or the existing city watch and servant voices in the Dark Mod.

 

Our default servant voice is our very own Bikerdude, who is *quite* British.

 

It doesn't have to be a full-on accent, however.

[demagogue]

I've been having luck recruiting voice-work from YouTube vlogs.

The advantages are (1) it's easy to find them & "shop around", (2) you can hear their voice in advance and get what you want, (3) you know they have sufficient recording equipment, (4) they're already predisposed to recording themselves for public consumption and usually leap at the chance, and (5) they tend to be thespian in personality and aptitude, so tend to read lines well.

[OrbWeaver]

I possibly have a candidate lined up for the noblewoman/pagan vocal sets, but it's very speculative at this stage (friend of a friend, who is reported to be very busy).

[Tch]

Must have been mistaken about the servant or beggar. Perhaps I was thinking of the earnest younger-sounding Builder, or Farrell. Anyway, I'll see if I can get either a natural English speaker or coax an affected dialect out of someone.

 

Speaking of the pagans, is there a guide for their dialect? Is it similar to the Thief pagan Gollum-like grammar?

Edited June 4, 2010 by Tch

[Springheel]

Speaking of the pagans, is there a guide for their dialect? Is it similar to the Thief pagan Gollum-like grammar?

 

No and no.

 

I have a single pagan script written, but I'm not totally happy with it. The problem is that TDM pagans represent a wide range of peoples, and the only thing that distinguishes them from regular people is a rural environment and the worship of old gods.

[aidakeeley]

I speak for the pagans.

And speak I forsooth!

They speak, so they tell me,

In the manner of Seuss!

[Tch]

Ah, right, I forgot. Gauls, and such.

[Tch]

Here's a second actress, a Brit, possibility for the noblewoman. I asked her to do a sampling of lines to see what you think. No hiss on this mic, though I notice on the louder lines there's a bit of room noise as if she's too far away from the mic.

 

http://www.sendspace.com/file/dyr8i4

[Bikerdude]

Here's a second actress, a Brit, possibility for the noblewoman. I asked her to do a sampling of lines to see what you think. No hiss on this mic,

She sounds spot on, very pretty. Serps/Springs what do you guys think? ( I cant remember who I gave my lines to...)

Edited June 6, 2010 by Bikerdude

[Serpentine]

Deffo Spring

[Midnight]

No offence to the actress, but I'd say they'd need to work on this a bit more. The accent is okay, but it's clear she's attempting a more 'upper class' accent which comes across as more than a little forced at times. It would be interesting to see what it would sound like in a normal accent without trying to sound like a noble-woman (you're not going to tell me she's the Queen, right? ).

 

@Springheel: Thanks for uploading that vocal set example to the Wiki, this should prove helpful as a fairly generic template for someone wanting to add a new character for their FM. You mentioned the process of introducing a vocal set might be more involved with the soundshader requirements etc., would it be possible to get a tutorial up at some point, unless it's easy and just a case of using an existing soundshader?

 

 

 

[Neb]

No offence to the actress, but I'd say they'd need to work on this a bit more. The accent is okay, but it's clear she's attempting a more 'upper class' accent which comes across as more than a little forced at times.

 

I agree that it could do with a little work, but I played Clive Barker's Undying recently, and man, those fake Irish accents are amazingly bad.

 

Generally, I like her voice.

 

 

[Neb]

Actually, now that I listen again, has she used some of the other vocal sets as a reference to practise against? It sounds like she's trying to replicate them.

[Tch]

No, I offered to unpack some of the existing sets for her to use as reference, but she did these without reference. I'll have her do some more after everyone's had their say about the current ones.

[Melan]

The accent is okay, but it's clear she's attempting a more 'upper class' accent which comes across as more than a little forced at times.

 

My impression as well. BTW, the last contributor's voice is also pretty good (minus the mic static), so we may have the beginnings of something.

[Tch]

the last contributor's voice is also pretty good (minus the mic static), so we may have the beginnings of something.

I can get her to the recording studio to record on non-hissy equipment as long as people find it worth the trouble. The only script I have is "noblewoman", which is why her lines were read from that even though I didn't intend to present her as that particular role. But I can just have her perform more or less the same lines as the male counterparts for the non-noble characters (again, assuming it's not just a waste of our time).

[OrbWeaver]

Does she really have a native British accent? To me it sounds almost like she's Swedish or German or something, putting on a British accent for the recording.

 

Perhaps if you have her record some lines just in her native accent, it would be easier to suggest what role she would be suited for. I have to agree with others that this particular voice doesn't work very well for the noblewoman.

[aidakeeley]

Me? Honestly?

 

I think both ladies sound absolutely fine.

 

Accent, schmackzent... it's more important to get inflection and reading correct.

 

When the wrong word is emphasized, that is what bothers me; or, say, a pause misplaced, that, too, is a problem.

 

If, you know, what I, mean.