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Ok, thanks. I'll go over it again, I've got over a week before the first bit is due so I'll be able to rerecord it.
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Jan 7, 2014 13:59
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It turns out I make a bad Ric Flair!
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Jan 8, 2014 06:13
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It's been a while, but for the naysayers against the AT2020 USB version, it is certainly possible to get lag-less recording with ASIO4All and Adobe Audition. The USB version is just the XLR version with an audio interface integrated into it.
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Jan 9, 2014 06:37
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I attended an event with a top NYC voiceover agent the other night, and he specifically mentioned one casting office in particular that is currently developing a few new voiceover accounts. It happens to be the office at which the guest I'm bringing in to teach a commercial voiceover class with me on Sunday is the managing director of casting. Talk about good timing! Also can one have a crush on an agency? Because I think I do. I love everyone I've met from this particular office so far. I wanna bake them cookies and leave notes in their lockers 
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Jan 10, 2014 18:33
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Hey, voice acting thread! I am here to POST A JOB. I'm coordinating voice work for the popular FreeSpace 2 mod Blue Planet. We shipped the game in 2010, and while it looked pretty great, our script was so enormous that we actually launched without any voice acting. People liked us a lot, and after a lot of fan harassment we're back to tackle the voice work. Our project blurb  quote:Blue Planet is a dark psychological drama set against the backdrop of an interstellar war. In spite of its science fiction trappings, it’s more Hurt Locker or Band of Brothers than it is Star Wars - our characters wrestle with the psychological cost of killing and the ambiguities of a war with no clear moral high ground. When it comes to voice acting, we look for underplayed, believable, naturalistic performances. We’d rather have underacting than overacting. Because this is a freeware game developed by volunteers, I don't think we can afford to pay for anything except the very largest role (Lorna Simms). I totally understand if this is a turn-off, but there are a lot of little roles in the one-to-ten line range that we could still use help cleaning up. Right now we're in dire need of good female voices. If you want to get involved, please just click through to this master script and grab a role from the list at the top. Record a few lines and send them my way, and I'll reply by email. We're working hard to get context directions added to every line, but due to our manpower limitations we've got to prioritize the major roles, so if you have any questions on pronunciation or context feel free to ask via email. Instructions on how and where to submit, what kind of file formats we'd prefer, and how to label your audition files can all be found right on the first page of the script. Please yell at me if I screwed up anything in this post. I'm also up for advice - aside from Voice Acting Alliance and Voice Acting Club, do you guys have a sense of where I should be hunting for good female VAs?
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Jan 16, 2014 19:46
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General Battuta posted:Please yell at me if I screwed up anything in this post. I'm also up for advice - aside from Voice Acting Alliance and Voice Acting Club, do you guys have a sense of where I should be hunting for good female VAs? I cast VO projects and teach VO classes (and am a female VO actress myself)! Sending you an email now.
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Jan 16, 2014 22:04
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I've being offered the chance to narrate an indie game that is planned for multiple platforms, including PC, iOS & Android, and potentially consoles in the future. This is an excerpt from the latest email I received. Does $2000 sound about right for a project like this? quote:Googling around, I see a thing that says video game voice actors tend to charge $100 / minute of audio they record. No idea if you feel you want to charge that rate or more or less. The sample you sent me, for reference, was 1:15 long. I believe this price includes some iteration on the audio as well (whether in a studio or via back-and-forth). So doing some rough math, looks like you recorded audio for approximately 2 levels, and that took you 1:15. So, 30 levels would be around 19 minutes of audio. We could round it up to 20 minutes of audio and say the final fee is around $2000. As I mentioned, I can only pay you $600 before the game comes out. The remaining $1400 could be converted to some percentage of game profits, or can be paid over time, or whatever works for you. It seems about right to me, but because of the potential multiple platforms, it makes me wonder if I should ask for a larger percentage of the possible profits. Of course, that would entirely depend on if the game ended up being successful enough. If anyone has some advice, I'd appreciate it. I've never been offered something on such a big scale like this before.
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Jan 18, 2014 00:37
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WITNESS THE POWER! posted:I've being offered the chance to narrate an indie game that is planned for multiple platforms, including PC, iOS & Android, and potentially consoles in the future. Take the money and move on to the next project. I speak from personal experience. Also write a contract detailing the $2k and make him sign it prior to starting work. EDIT: See if he's willing to offer an extra $500 flat for each additionally planned platform. $2000 + $500/platform is a very decent payout for the amount of work you're presumably doing (20mins) on a small-scale indiegame. Take the money and run. The Joe Man fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Jan 18, 2014 |
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Jan 18, 2014 00:47
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Jan 19, 2014 08:26
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WITNESS THE POWER! posted:I've being offered the chance to narrate an indie game that is planned for multiple platforms, including PC, iOS & Android, and potentially consoles in the future. I just sent you a PM, but if you haven't yet proceeded with this, and even if you have, please stop everything right now and draw up a solid contract. For something on this scale, a lawyer to create or modify said contract is a very, very wise investment. You need to be VERY specific about payment time frames and methods, and specifically stipulate terms of usage of your work. All of these are absolutely necessities for any contract, even for those of you doing unpaid work. ESPECIALLY for anyone doing unpaid work--even a one-line contract stating that your recording is only for x project for x weeks/months/years will ensure that your unpaid recording for a spec commercial to "help out a friend" doesn't suddenly appear on local/regional/national radio/Internet/TV advertising without your knowledge and/or appropriate conversation. There's a reason I'm saying all of this, and it's not that it doesn't happen. This applies to EVERYONE IN HERE, whether you're being paid for a project or not. On a related note--can anyone in here recommend an entertainment lawyer? I was just offered a contract that I would like someone to look at, and would ideally like to form a relationship with someone with whom I can work on a regular basis on such things in the future.
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Jan 21, 2014 20:37
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blinkeve1826 posted:
I've had to look for lawyers for unrelated things before, and in my experience your best bet is to find a lawyer you trust and ask them for a recommendation. Most divorce lawyers will tell you to where to find a good criminal defense attorney and vice versa.
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Jan 22, 2014 02:17
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seaborgium posted:I've had to look for lawyers for unrelated things before, and in my experience your best bet is to find a lawyer you trust and ask them for a recommendation. Most divorce lawyers will tell you to where to find a good criminal defense attorney and vice versa. It turns out one of my agent's other clients is a lawyer-turned-actress and she helped me with pretty much the whole thing. Thanks for the advice though--I did get in touch with someone else with whom I may want to work in the future as well.
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Jan 22, 2014 04:27
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Anyone in this thread from the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN area? I'm curious as to whether there are any great VO coaches, and the general state of VO work around here.
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Jan 27, 2014 07:22
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MockingQuantum posted:Anyone in this thread from the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN area? I'm curious as to whether there are any great VO coaches, and the general state of VO work around here. Hi neighbor. Pay absolutely no one around here for "coaching" if you value your money (unless it's me). You can sign up to a local acting newsletter but the VO jobs are few and far between and rarely pay: http://www.samaritancasting.com/. On-camera acting is "the thing" in the Twin Cities but it's consistently the same actors on every project (working for free no less). You'll most likely need to find your own work online (out-of-state/international). The links in the OP are a good start. Otherwise we could grab some beers and start a business! 
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Jan 27, 2014 08:26
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ACX is okay if you wanna practice. I personally bailed out of it due to A) Not being American and thus unable to grab cash B) Constantly being asked to read homosexual erotica.
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Jan 27, 2014 11:44
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The Joe Man posted:Otherwise we could grab some beers and start a business! Well, I can surely buy a beer as well as the next guy, but I'm a total newb when it comes to VO. I did get a degree in acting that I haven't used for a year though, for what that matters.
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Jan 31, 2014 05:27
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So I picked up a yeti to mess around with on audacity. Boot up the program, select the yeti mic and start recording. 10 or 15 minutes in, and the yeti mic stops picking up any sound. I click record and nothing gets recorded. My onboard mic will record sound when I switch to that, so it's not the software. Yes, I made sure it was off mute. Anyone else have this problem with the yeti?
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Feb 4, 2014 03:59
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Kingtheninja posted:So I picked up a yeti to mess around with on audacity. Boot up the program, select the yeti mic and start recording. 10 or 15 minutes in, and the yeti mic stops picking up any sound. I click record and nothing gets recorded. My onboard mic will record sound when I switch to that, so it's not the software. Yes, I made sure it was off mute. Anyone else have this problem with the yeti? I have a Yeti Pro and I've had to return it 2x for weird issues (static on the recordings, volume knobs not working). They are good about returns if it does in fact need to be returned. I have never had a problem with my Blue Snowball, though.
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Feb 4, 2014 19:32
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I have inherited a Rode NT-1 with some kind of converter box with knobs that allows for USB output. What I need is a shockmount, does anyone have advice?
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Feb 4, 2014 20:17
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King Lou posted:I have a Yeti Pro and I've had to return it 2x for weird issues (static on the recordings, volume knobs not working). They are good about returns if it does in fact need to be returned. I have never had a problem with my Blue Snowball, though. If I bought it off Amazon, am I able to deal with Yeti directly? Or do I need to go through the return process with Amazon?
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Feb 4, 2014 21:25
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Kingtheninja posted:If I bought it off Amazon, am I able to deal with Yeti directly? Or do I need to go through the return process with Amazon? If you bought it recently then I'd say just return via Amazon. Mine was a receipt-less gift so I had to go through Blue. They are very good about fixing quick and returning. But they are bad at communicating. They would often tell me that once I sent them my UPS tracking code they would put a replacement in the mail. I would give it to them and then they'd say "Well... we need to make sure you really sent it..." So it would end up taking a week +.
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Feb 5, 2014 03:10
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Hey guys, I did a thing! This is my very first audition on ACX. I'm sure it is stunningly amateur, but I uploaded it anyway! I figure that this is a good way to get feedback by an author; he can tell me how and why I suck, and then on the next audition I will try not to suck in those specific ways, so I can then find new and exciting ways in which I suck! **Tindeck link removed due to corrupted file. See below for alternate download option.** Everyone please give it a listen, and then you too can enjoy telling me the specific ways that I have managed to suck! One thing I am particularly interested to know is: Does this recording sound professional as far as noise and voice leveling? I think it sounds pretty good on the signal-to-noise ratio and all, but maybe you guys can crank it higher and hear lovely background nonsense. Thanks as always for listening! Zorblack fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Feb 9, 2014 |
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Feb 8, 2014 20:15
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Zorblack posted:Hey guys, I did a thing! File is corrupt. EDIT: In other news... 
The Joe Man fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Feb 9, 2014 |
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Feb 8, 2014 22:57
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I don't know why tindeck doesn't like the file. I tried downloading it myself, found out it was corrupt, re-uploaded and got the same results. Instead, I uploaded it to my box storage account: link for download. Sorry about that! I just tested it, and it is working through box. You won't need an account for downloading it either. Does anyone know what could have happened to tindeck?
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Feb 9, 2014 02:33
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Zorblack posted:I don't know why tindeck doesn't like the file. I tried downloading it myself, found out it was corrupt, re-uploaded and got the same results. Instead, I uploaded it to my box storage account: link for download. Sorry about that! Thoughts (currently listening): Way too quiet. My acoustics are kinda weird in here but I had to turn my speakers to maximum and it still wasn't terribly loud. It's pretty unnatural sounding. HOWEVER, I can tell that you start to hesitantly dip your toes into a rhythm near the middle. When that happens (you're basically getting warmed up), go back and scrap the beginning or better yet, the entire thing. Redo it. You might need to do this a couple more times. One thing I reaffirm to myself when recording a spot is that even if the last take or whatever was decent; you can always do it better. When starting out fresh, finally doing a quality read can take forever. It gets easier as time goes on because your voice becomes stronger through practice and new projects start resembling the old ones (which you can then say, "hey, I know how to read this, I've done it before"). Get more comfortable with the script and sound looser & conversational. Speed up a little when you're comfortable. The book can be boring but your job is to make it NOT boring yet still relay the important information clearly. Keep working at it! ----------------------------- EDIT: If anyone who's had success with ACX wouldn't mind writing up a tiny review, I'll throw it in the OP. The Joe Man fucked around with this message at 13:17 on Feb 10, 2014 |
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Feb 10, 2014 13:01
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The Joe Man posted:EDIT: In other news... I appreciate the 6-pack of Smithwick's in the background.
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Feb 11, 2014 05:05
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MockingQuantum posted:I appreciate the 6-pack of Smithwick's in the background. It's all part of the process.
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Feb 11, 2014 09:08
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I'm feeling rather lovely right now, but I figure I'm gonna pop in and post about this anyways because I've kind of hovered around this thread every now and again. Depression's a bitch when you're trying to enter into the creative trade because every little setback feels like the whole world's kicking you in the groin. At any rate, I popped into the studio with a guy I met via doing a commercial for the haunted house I've worked at the last five years and did two demos: one for commercial-type work, one for more cartoony stuff. I was rather proud of what came out of them. The thing is, though, I'm in Michigan. Despite them attempting to boost the entertainment industry here a few years back, it basically seems like a land without opportunities. I'm living with my parents because of some terrible poo poo that happened to me in college some years back, and I lost my regular job back in November, so I'm penniless. Yet now, after sending out a few inquiries to various places about voice acting, the only one I heard back from informs me they're only looking for people local to their area. In Dallas. What are my chances of being able to do anything worthwhile from the place I'm stuck at right now? Be brutally honest. I already feel like poo poo right now so it's not gonna kill me to hear that I'm pretty much hosed. Oh, and I guess here are my demos. You guys can tell me if I wasted the $25 of studio time on those, too. Commercial VA Demo Cartoon VA Demo
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Feb 15, 2014 08:13
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Chinese Tony Danza posted:What are my chances of being able to do anything worthwhile from the place I'm stuck at right now? Be brutally honest. I already feel like poo poo right now so it's not gonna kill me to hear that I'm pretty much hosed. Chances are fine. Where the hell do you think I find most of my work? Read the OP for a sampling of websites to check out.
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Feb 15, 2014 08:30
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The Joe Man posted:Chances are fine. Where the hell do you think I find most of my work? I already went over the OP, and it looked to me like the only one I could do (being that I have no money to spend) was oDesk, which I've already signed up for. Sorry if I sound like a whiny baby or whatever; I'm really stressed out right now and it probably wasn't in my best interest to post. While you're around, are my demos at least any good? I'd really appreciate a second opinion more professional than my girlfriend's.
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Feb 15, 2014 08:46
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Chinese Tony Danza posted:I already went over the OP, and it looked to me like the only one I could do (being that I have no money to spend) was oDesk, which I've already signed up for. Sorry if I sound like a whiny baby or whatever; I'm really stressed out right now and it probably wasn't in my best interest to post. Cartoon demo is much better than Commercial. Commercial would be better but you have a problem with holding solidity in your voice. Listen to the word "organization" near the beginning to hear the shaky downward migration. Charlie-horse ended weak because you didn't plan ahead on where/how to end it (also listen to "landlord" to hear the same degradation heard earlier). Swiss Miss has odd rhythm & inflections. Cartoon demo is decent aside from a couple bits ("smoking"). My advice is to reach out to animation students or independent game developers. The only thing that will chisel-in a natural, strong speaking voice is a shitload of practice. It's difficult but you have some foundation. If you were terrible I'd tell you straight up. You're not. You just need some practice.
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Feb 15, 2014 09:04
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After hearing that my last posted sample is a little on the quiet side, I tried normalizing my audio and boosting the gain on my mic (separately, using two tries). It turns out my room is not nearly as acoustically clean as I had hoped. Now I'm hoping if I talk louder and get just a little closer to the mic (not quite proximity effect closeness), I can get reasonable volume without open gray noise.
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Feb 17, 2014 19:10
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My old casting director friend just posted this on Facebook. http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/speak-easy/so-you-want-be-voice-actor/ I guess its a new VO focused column in Backstage. In other news I went from being the #1 choice for an Ink Master promo piece to out of the running in the span of 5 minutes, yesterday. Hooray!
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Feb 21, 2014 07:39
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King Lou posted:My old casting director friend just posted this on Facebook. Wow that title & first paragraph seem kinda familiar.
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Feb 21, 2014 07:48
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You want to be a voice actor? Yes. Can you voice act? Probably. Can you be a good voice actor? Heh. You want to voice on My Little Pony? You need professional help, not a facebook column.
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Feb 21, 2014 15:18
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The Joe Man posted:Wow that title & first paragraph seem kinda familiar. I wonder where I've seen it before...?
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Feb 21, 2014 19:51
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Name: Kizeesh Specialties: Pompous, jocular, reassuring, authoritative, powerful, soft, relaxing, chilling, I can do quite a lot. Various male accents and voice styles. UK and US, as well as various European. I have a wide range of pitch and depth. Can do a variety of celebrity impressions, as I have a good ear for picking up individual traits. I also specialize in adding depth, feeling and inflection. Equip I use my Sennheiser U320 headset and mic, as it's superclean and records really well. I edit on Audacity. Tindeck: http://tindeck.com/users/The_reviewist IMDB/Portfolio: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6187553/ Contact: PM me or email me at Kizeesh at hotmail dot com. Payment: I've got Paypal. I've recently moved into taking acting from being a hobby to a more lucrative career. I've acted on stage and screen for small projects, as well as behind the camera. I have always been good at voice work, and contributed to some indie video game projects. Keen to really get more into the Voice Acting scene. I've done several variations on the Somerset Hills ad, as seems to be the thing. In a generic American accent:  In my natural voice and accent  and for shits and giggles, as a quick and dirty Patrick Stewart Impression  I also did a version of the voice work from this old PS2 Commercial, to give an example of range: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bqq38WZctA  Most of these are quite quick and dirty, proper work would be a lot cleaner If anyone wants to give me some crit, even on just that short workload I'll be very keen to get criticism and advice. kizeesh fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Feb 24, 2014 |
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Feb 24, 2014 14:46
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I should stop being pretty inactive and set up a tindeck already and make some samples, all I do is showboat in BF4 mumble. But between school and work at night I feel pretty beat to take the step towards more VA work.
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Feb 25, 2014 11:05
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I listen to people say things a lot and say a lot of things myself. I'd like to get better at saying things (not to a professional level, just able to put together basic readings), but I'm almost neurotically shy of hearing my own voice. Is this something I'm going to just have to get over at some point? I assume everyone's somewhat self-conscious of their voice, but it's kind of a tough thing for me to deal with. I kind of prefer not knowing how dorky I sound to finding out just how dorky I sound, but if I want to get better, I have to know where I stand now, don't I? For reference, this is me, recorded on my laptop's mic: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1U4mVnXFlWG
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Mar 3, 2014 01:50
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| # ? May 9, 2024 17:20 |
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Djeser posted:I listen to people say things a lot and say a lot of things myself. I'd like to get better at saying things (not to a professional level, just able to put together basic readings), but I'm almost neurotically shy of hearing my own voice. Is this something I'm going to just have to get over at some point? I assume everyone's somewhat self-conscious of their voice, but it's kind of a tough thing for me to deal with. I kind of prefer not knowing how dorky I sound to finding out just how dorky I sound, but if I want to get better, I have to know where I stand now, don't I? It took me several years to fully get over my voice, and to be honest I don't think there are people out who "like" their own voice. One important thing to know, is there's always going to be someone out there who likes your voice, and someone who hates it. I've had people in my life tell me that I'm no good and I have a voice that's bad for public speaking. I've had several other people tell me that I should be in radio, and that they love my voice. There is no "wrong" voice, just different ways of speaking. Only when there's a failure to communicate, is there a problem, and there's speech therapy for that. Unless there's something wrong with your ability to communicate, don't look to others for validation on how good you sound. That said, a laptop mic is hardly a good reference point for what a voice sounds like, and even then, not having the proper monitoring affects perception too. You are also going to sound different depending on what microphone you use and what your placement is, and if the room is acoustically treated or not. There's so many factors involved, that it's not worth stressing out about it. Hopefully that helps you get over it a bit! Fact of the matter is, being shy will make you perform worse, and it shows in that recording you shared. You won't be able to successfully perform until you get rid of fear, and replace it with confidence instead. I don't think it's as easy as turning off a switch, but it's something everyone has to accept and get better at, if they want to get anywhere. Practice is really the way to success, smart practice is even better. Not everyone is good at smart practice, and that's why teachers are beneficial to a lot of people. Vocal coaches, singing coaches, acting classes, improv classes, these are all excellent ways to build confidence and learn to develop under some guidance of professionals (providing you get the right people to work with). So hopefully that helps!
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Mar 3, 2014 08:01
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