Pagan Vocals

[Dragofer]

From what I read in the 1 month old "TDM Vocals" thread, I gathered that TDM currently has both an unrigged pagan warrior and pagan vocals in the works. The pagan warrior will be rigged upon completion of the vocals script.

 

I'd like to know about the progress with the script. If it is still a way off from completion, as it may well be due to the Wench Project, I'd be very glad to speed the process and try my hand at coming up with additional lines and researching the style (I believe it's Gaellic/Teutonic non-silly ordinary folk). I do realize that these scripts are very long, but I also possess a large amount of free time at the moment.

 

I do have a German/ic accent (German + Danish), yet I'd have to see if my mike is up to it.

 

To sum up, I'd be happy to lend assistance if I can.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Dragofer

[Springheel]

From what I read in the 1 month old "TDM Vocals" thread, I gathered that TDM currently has both an unrigged pagan warrior and pagan vocals in the works. The pagan warrior will be rigged upon completion of the vocals script.

 

Not exactly. I gave out a female pagan script a few months ago, but haven't heard anything back. I don't have a male pagan script.

 

I'd be very glad to speed the process and try my hand at coming up with additional lines and researching the style (I believe it's Gaellic/Teutonic non-silly ordinary folk). I do realize that these scripts are very long, but I also possess a large amount of free time at the moment.

 

Sure, that would be great.

[Xarg]

Anything happen with this? I have a friend who offered to do pagan vocals (warning, we're New Zealanders, beware the accent!). If not, I could see if he's willing to contribute/work on textures/models/sounds etc.

Edited October 8, 2010 by Xarg

[Springheel]

I haven't heard anything since August.

[Dragofer]

Sorry, I had an involuntary break from TDM since then. In any case, I've managed to get roughly 70% of the lines done back then so completing them within a matter of days should be simple enough.

[Dragofer]

So with fresh vigour I finished off what was already much closer to finishing than I thought, meaning I was able to tweak what was already there. I've added a few samples of what I've come up with, and I would also appreciate some feedback. Some of them have shaman tags, which was probably a result of me enjoying this.

 

Idles

 

Idle_1 "Where could that old crone of a washerwoman be lurking now…"

Idle_2 "I should have taken it with me. No reason not to."

Idle_3 "By his own hand. Ha. An embarrassment, to him and to his clan."

Idle_4 "The air is rarely this thick. I wonder what it means to tell us."

Idle_5 "When we next cross paths I'll put an end to it. For good."

Idle_6 "Tomorrow will be a long day. I hope the others are prepared as well."

Idle_7 "I did not see her in a long time. I can't complain."

Idle_8 "The raven disturbed me. It seemed anxious about something, but what?"

Idle_9 "The earth must have trembled when he said that."

Idle_10 "They won't be so smug when their land freezes over again."

Idle_shaman_1 "Fire is a mysterious being; it warms our bodies and it burns our dwellings."

Idle_shaman_2 "Will the dark lady heed my pleas? Even she seems to avoid this troubled corner."

Idle_shaman_3 "He who only relies on cold metal and dead rock to make his home will freeze to his death in winter."

Idle_shaman_4 "How often do I have a calm moment to myself these days? They all need something (sigh)."

Idle_shaman_5 "Another star has faded from the sky this night. Soon we will all be groping in the dark."

Idle_shaman_6 "The possum takes the hawk's chick and the hawk, mad with rage, takes the possum. That is the way"

 

 

Lost Player after Pursuit: You were chasing the intruder when suddenly he disappeared. He can't be far.

 

 

lost_player_1 "Only shade spawn can disappear like that!"

lost_player_2 "He can't be far."

lost_player_3 "Witchcraft!"

 

 

Refuse to relight Torch: You notice that a flame is out. Refuse to relight it.

 

 

light_refuse_1 "Relighting this is women's work."

light_refuse_2 "It will go out by itself again if I relight it."

light_refuse_3 "I can't relight every light the moment it goes out."

light_refuse_4 "It's not my turn to relight that."

light_refuse_5 "Why should *I* relight this?"

 

 

Spotted the Player, noncombatant: You're not prepared for a fight. You see the player and are preparing to flee.

 

 

spotted_civilian_1 "He is here, and armed!"

spotted_civilian_2 "The raiders are here!"

spotted_civilian_3 "By Tarlin, he's armed!" ----> Tarlin being a deity of some kind. The lore has to come from somewhere

spotted_civilian_4 "Your feud is not with me!"

spotted_civilian_5 "Leave me be!"

 

 

Notice Blood on Floor: There is blood on the floor. Obviously something serious is going on.

 

 

notice_blood_1 "Blood?"

notice_blood_2 "What vile ritual took place here?"

notice_blood_3 "This won't be the last blood to be spilled."

 

 

Greeting, Superior: You spot someone who is high on the social ladder and greet them.

 

 

greeting_xnobleman_1 "May your sons be many and strong."

greeting_xnoblewoman_1 "The stars shine in your eyes."

greeting_xpriest_1 "Do the stars bode well?"

 

[Springheel]

Generally these look good. There are a couple that stand out to me as questionable:

 

"Where could that old crone of a washerwoman be lurking now…" -- this is a little specific, and sounds more like someone used to giving orders

 

"Only shade spawn can disappear like that!" -- "shade spawn" sounds very fantasy-like. Perhaps replace with something more folk-talesy.

 

"Witchcraft!" -- pagans probably wouldn't use that term

 

"By Tarlin, he's armed!" -- something generic (By the Horned One!), or a name taken from celtic/norse mythology (By Woden) might be better.

 

"What vile ritual took place here?" -- pagans are used to blood rituals, and probably wouldn't use the term "vile".

 

greeting_xnobleman_1 "May your sons be many and strong."

greeting_xnoblewoman_1 "The stars shine in your eyes."

greeting_xpriest_1 "Do the stars bode well?"

 

In general, pagans would not boldly greet nobles or Builder priests. Pagans are at the bottom of the social ladder, so if they are going to greet them at all, it would be with something very deferential.

[DeTeEff]

Thread necromancy but my promise to Springheel reeks of rotten corpses by now...

 

Here are a few of my GF:s recordings.

 

http://www.MegaShare.com/3413583

 

I believe this is the best we can achieve with our equipment. If these are good enough, we'll record the rest ASAP.

 

 

This time I really mean it!

 

[Springheel]

Hmm, the link just goes to a generic megashare page for me.

[DeTeEff]

hmm, try this then

 

http://www.MegaShare.com/3413590

[DeTeEff]

Not meant to be patronizing, but just scroll down and select download in the Free column and then wait some time and enter the code word written (to control spam bots and stuff) and download...

[Tels]

Here is a mirror: http://bloodgate.com/tmp/PaganVocals.zip

[Sotha]

Thread necromancy but my promise to Springheel reeks of rotten corpses by now...

 

Here are a few of my GF:s recordings.

 

http://www.MegaShare.com/3413583

 

I believe this is the best we can achieve with our equipment. If these are good enough, we'll record the rest ASAP.

 

 

This time I really mean it!

 

 

Nice and atmospheric voice. I awaited some delicious swedish accent, but it is relatively mild and I think it will work and fit for a pagan character. Audio quality does seem okay to me but I'm not an expert.

 

The only problem was that some of the lines sounded like reciting from paper, or maybe reading a poem for an audience. There was not very high emotional content and I could not pick up the emotion side of the acting. Like there was no personal attachment to the things she says.

 

I think the emotion side is most likely the most challenging part in these tasks.

 

Anyways, if she could squeeze a little more emotion (without overacting, which is easy too), those would be very nice. She could actually also portray a female mage too.. she has this esoteric/arcane/dreamer vibe to her voice.

[DeTeEff]

Nice and atmospheric voice. I awaited some delicious swedish accent, but it is relatively mild and I think it will work and fit for a pagan character. Audio quality does seem okay to me but I'm not an expert.

 

The only problem was that some of the lines sounded like reciting from paper, or maybe reading a poem for an audience. There was not very high emotional content and I could not pick up the emotion side of the acting. Like there was no personal attachment to the things she says.

 

I think the emotion side is most likely the most challenging part in these tasks.

 

Anyways, if she could squeeze a little more emotion (without overacting, which is easy too), those would be very nice. She could actually also portray a female mage too.. she has this esoteric/arcane/dreamer vibe to her voice.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

 

She agrees that the lines feels a bit "read from paper" and shall try to achieve a better expression in the voice.

 

But the most important part is if more people find the quality good enough...

[Springheel]

The accent and voice itself are great. The quality is also quite good, with just the occasional "puff" on a P or B. Some of the lines are great in terms of emotion, like the "I told her" one, but many are a bit stiff as Sotha mentioned. Remember that idle lines in particular are talking to oneself, and so they should be somewhat mumbled and not delivered so crisply.

 

Pass on the suggestion to imagine herself as a bored peasant woman who has been standing on her feet all day, and adopt some of that feeling into the lines...that might keep them from sounding forced.

 

Thanks!

[Mortem Desino]

A suggestion for reducing explosive plosives ("P" "B" and "T"): If you don't have a pop filter, you can make one by stretching pantyhose over a wire coathanger. Put it in front of the microphone and angle it slightly, to deflect the puffs of air away from the microphone element.

[DeTeEff]

A suggestion for reducing explosive plosives ("P" "B" and "T"): If you don't have a pop filter, you can make one by stretching pantyhose over a wire coathanger. Put it in front of the microphone and angle it slightly, to deflect the puffs of air away from the microphone element.

 

Hahaha. Funny you mention this menthod because it's exactly how we did it before purchasing a real pop filter We built an armature out of sticks and fixed a nylon stocking over it. The whole contraption was fixed to the mic with duct tape

 

Ahh, so you mean it shouldn't be put 90 degrees in front of the mic...Is there any "right" distance the filter should be from the mic?

[Mortem Desino]

Pop filters are pretty forgiving no matter how you use it. I use a pop filter and also do the "pencil trick". (Puffs of air split apart at the pencil and move safely around the diaphragm)

 

I don't know if you're using a large diaphragm condenser, so the pencil trick might not apply. If there are still some plosives sticking through, usually a high-pass filter rolling off below 100 db will take care of it.

[DeTeEff]

I use an akg C1000S and don't know if the pencil trick is apliable there because I guess that my mic is meant to be aimed towards the mouth and yours is meant to be talked in "from the side" (Damn, I'm bad at this )

 

BTW, do you use a professional studio? In my case I just plant my GF in the wardrobe to use the clothes as dampeners and give her the script...

[Tels]

BTW, do you use a professional studio? In my case I just plant my GF in the wardrobe to use the clothes as dampeners and give her the script...

 

Just make sure you don't forget her in the wardrobe after you are finished

[DeTeEff]

Just make sure you don't forget her in the wardrobe after you are finished

 

After last time's recording session she remarked that it would be better if I left the room, leaving her to concentrate

[Mortem Desino]

A wardrobe or walk-in-closet is one of the best choices for in-home recording. They're usually rectangular (squares are the hardest room shape to tame, acoustically). And clothes don't suck away the highs and high-mids like carpeting-on-the-wall does.

 

Whatever you're doing seems okay to my ear. If it sounds good, it is good.

[DeTeEff]

Okay, If MD thinks it's good, it is good Then I shall throw her into the closet again for some more recording, hopefully with more emotional results...

[Mortem Desino]

Then I shall throw her into the closet again for some more recording, hopefully with more emotional results...

 

Sounds kind of macabre.

[DeTeEff]

Well...more recordings have been done. This is about 20-25% of the script in one single file with several versions of the lines.

 

The only editing I've done is removal of the second channel and I've made it mono. Then removed some silence and unrelated mutterings...Should one add normalization? I use Audacity, free and easy beginners tool but I leave the major editing to the pros (if it's even possible to enhance things in post)...

 

I feel my GF is improving voice acting vise but I want to hear some feedback before continuing. I want the audio to be as crisp as possible but it feels difficult without a studio and real time filters and a sound guy checking signals and levels in real time...

 

 

http://www.MegaShare.com/3462625