I'm the dude from this thread: I've been working on the mod, and it's coming along quite nicely. I thought you guys might want an update on some stuff going on.
Firstly, I'm about 40 or so files in, and if you want to listen while I upload them daily, you can do so here: clyp.it/user/sl44wfyz
Secondly, because you guys are AMAZING, I was contacted by a few folks for a couple incredible opportunities, none of which could have been possible without you guys. I can't say much yet because nothing's set in stone, but the words "Adult Swim" have been used in a conversation. Seriously, I can't thank you guys enough.
Thirdly, I've been considering doing a livestream of my (boring) recording process. Let me know if you're interested!
So what I wanted to do as sort of a thank you post is try to pass along some of the goodwill! To any aspiring voice actors, ask me any questions you like! If there's some nugget of wisdom my useless, stupid brain contains that might help someone, I'll gladly share it with you!
Here's my basics.
I use a Behringer x1204 4 Channel interface. It's the perfect board to use, in my opinion. They're around a hundred bucks online in some places, and they have an onboard compressor and effects rack, which really helps maximize the incoming signal.
My microphone is an AKG Perception 120, a standard condenser mic. It's frequency range is pretty close to my own voice, and for the price (Again, around a hundred), it really can't be beat.
I also use a shielded XLR cable. Shielded is generally the way to go, because without getting too audio-jargony, it helps eliminate a possible source of noise.
I keep the onboard compressor cranked up pretty high, and I add just a LITTLE bit of Early Reflections 'verb to the track on the inbound. It's like, MINISCULE, but it helps define the vocals a little better.
Let me know if you have any questions, and I'll answer them as best I can!
Also, I don't know if anyone else is getting the handshake error, but I managed to fix it kinda by using Incognito Mode!
Josiah Lopez
Welcome back. I'm happy to hear life is going your way and I look forward to seeing the set completed.
Michael Hughes
>Secondly, because you guys are AMAZING, I was contacted by a few folks for a couple incredible opportunities >the words "Adult Swim" have been used in a conversation That's pretty good. Has someone reposted your work on Twitter and that's how they got wind of it, or did they find your stuff directly from here? Yeah the posting's been acting fuckey for the past couple of hours
Henry Thomas
Why the fuck did you choose Cred Forums out of all places to show off your voice work?
Mason Butler
My current living situation has me unable to make a makeshift soundroom, what would you recommend?
Asher King
Kill yourself nigger, we don't care about shitty voice acting work
Anthony Thompson
Trying to post! Can't get one through! Will be ironic if this one does though!
Eli Wood
Good for you man, your work is top notch, I hope things continue looking up for you. I've considered doing some voice acting before, I was wondering how you started developing your voice and how you practice (depth, characterisation, just anything and everything)
Blake Thompson
Are we alive again?
It's anonymous, really high traffic and video game related, so asking for opinions on a silly mod for a video game fits rather well, even if its intended purpose is chiefly portfolio filler.
Jaxon Evans
>tfw you weren't born with a super deep voice perfect for voice acting and will never make money based on your natural born talents.
why even live brehs?
Gavin Johnson
Sound dampening doesn't have to be perfect. A really cheap and easy way of doing it is to get a bin sort of like this one, cut a hole in the back, and glue a mattress topper around the inside. Put the microphone in through the hole, stabilize the whole setup, and it'll give you a pretty decent sound dampening effect for how ugly it is!
Jacob Lee
You're one lucky bastard, voice acting is my one and only dream. I'm proud
My main advice would be to attempt impersonations of anyone you come across with an interesting voice. Not necessarily celebrities, though it's a good place to start, but anything that catches your ear and makes you think "Wow, that sounds kinda cool." I mentioned in the last thread, I'll be honest, I just sort of talk and monologue to myself in the bathroom or in the car. I probably seem like a crazy, but it really helps you to find a place in your vocal range that's comfortable, as well as effective!
My very first few demos were impersonations of Kain and Raziel, and those are kind of my warmups too. One is ragged and harsh, and one is smooth and deep, so it's a good contrast!
My original intent was just to look for critique and feedback. Since Cred Forums has historically been known to have a few types, I figured there was nowhere better to get feedback than a place that would have every reason to tear my douchey recordings to shreds, ha!
Sebastian Murphy
Simon Templeman is one of my FAVORITE voice actors of all time! See the post right below yours, ha!
SImon Templeman, Michael Bell, and Tony Jay are my trifecta. I'm also a ravenous fan of Jim Cummings, Justin Roiland, and a few other cartoon voices!
It's folks like you that are the reason I'm lucky, if we're all being honest!
Honestly, deep voices like mine are a dime a dozen. It's not about your voice, it's entirely about your comfort with your own voice! I don't entirely believe most people get to where they are on talent alone. I think a lot of it is practice, technique, luck, and at the root of it, talent. I certainly have my fair share of TERRIBLE demos.
Luis King
Do you have any credited parts yet or are you just getting started?
Justin Clark
I have a few projects under my belt, but nothing truly noteworthy. The one part I have now is a lead part voice acting for Fallout Cascadia, a total conversion mod, but besides that, I am indeed just starting out, really!
Bentley Sullivan
Appreciate the insight, I've thought of doing just that but like you said it feels a bit odd, but it's good to get confirmation about the method from someone. What do you do when you feel a certain voice type is beyond your reach? Do you try to force it, or give up on it, or something else?
Andrew Diaz
There really is no forcing it, really. There are some voice types I can never do and can never have, so I try to maximize the things that I can. There are things you can control, like accent, inflection, etcetera, but things like pitch and hue are things you're born with. But you can work with any voice type to make it stand out!
Colton Clark
If you've ever played MGS2, Ocelot has a really good voice in that game. I can match it perfectly, but it's really all I can do. Wish I had more range
Bentley Butler
That's a perfect place to start!
Jace James
>I can match it perfectly Care to post some lines?
Jayden Sanchez
What's the best way about getting an agent? Did you get an agent before you got to where you are?
I have a very specific character in my who I want to voice, who is Okuyasu in the dub of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. I've pretty much accepted that there's no way of getting that role unless I magically get an agent tomorrow, but how do you get an agent? They seem to want experience, but you can't get experience without an agent or friends who happen to be working on games or animations.
I lurk on /vg/'s agdg sometimes, but they never need voices.
Jackson Ortiz
I would but I'm not home, if I get home and the threads still alive I'll hook you up famalam
Evan Kelly
I should also mention that I already have a professional voice demo. I just feel like every application for agencies also asks for resumes and previous experience, sometimes even making them mandatory fields before being able to send in your application.
Cameron Hughes
This mod seems like a top tier idea, in every game I play that has optional text files (books, long notes etc) I always collect as many as I can and think to myself that I'll definitely read it all some day, but never do Are you gonna do every single book and note? Are you considering getting more people to help you voice this shit if only for the sake of variety? Keep up the good work, this might just get me to replay skyrim
Jace Reyes
Oh, I'm not anywhere, my friend! I am amateur in all senses of the word!
I wish I knew where to get an agent as well, ha!
From what I can tell, you get yourself a good portfolio of work you've done, do some oddjob freelance work (There are a couple of sitesl like UpWork that can help there) and go from there!
Biggest thing I ever accomplished was an audition for Funimation, but that never went anywhere and I never got a callback.
Michael Mitchell
I am hiring about 3 females to do all of the female ones, and I am thinking about the possibility of having guests do a book here and there, but I haven't planned it out 100% yet. I want to stretch as far as my range can take me, and after that, I might try to get some surprise guests!
Aiden Martinez
How do you get deals and auditions with places like Funimation and Adult Swim without an agent, then? I was under the impression that it was poor etiquette to contact companies like that directly.
Robert Barnes
I bought myself a bunch of fancy audio equipment a while back and set up a ghetto ass recording studio in my closet. The sound quality is good, and I like to think I'm a decent actor (I've only taken 1 acting class), but I just don't know where to go to get work. I live in northern Texas, Funimation is right in my backyard so I was thinking of auditioning for them, but first I'd need something to put on a resume. Any idea where I could find anything?
Ethan Morales
It very much is, and I'm sure that had something to do with my lack of hiring, ha! I managed to contact a representative through an ad they'd placed, and they had me send in my demo stuff. I luckily lived only about twenty minutes from where they were having the auditions in Flower Mound, and so somehow talked myself into an actual audition. It was only about five minutes, and very breif and short.
From what I've heard, it's best to build it up. Take as much freelance as you can, paid if possible (UpWork is pretty decent in that regard), and make an extensive portfolio. All of that goes towards a resume beautifully!
Luke Carter
Bump of interest
Dominic Butler
>Take as much freelance as you can, paid if possible I've actually got a lead role in some dude's animation (it's probably never going to be finished, though). I used behindthevoiceactors.com.
Aiden Martinez
My voice isn't bad, but I've learned bad habits.
How can I break these habits so that I can annunciate properly?
Lastly, how can I find a good character voice? Doing stuff like Roger from American Dad makes my throat hurt within a few lines.
Jose Green
I've not used that! I'll definitely look into that.
One of the avenues I'm pursuing is other YouTubers, since I do that shit too. It opens a lot of good contacts, and a lot of other animators on youtube are fairly open to having guest voices. Every business is about building a network, I think.
Are there any clips of the animation with your voice in it on the web? I'd love to watch/hear!
Daniel Russell
As for my gear, Behringer Xenyx Q1202. I also have an 802 somewhere around here..
I use an AT2035. I have some other microphone I forgot it's name..some 80 dollar shit stick. Also have a Blue Snowball because it was my starter.
Microphones are fun.
Brody Parker
>Are there any clips of the animation with your voice in it on the web? Nah, like I said the animation is probably never going to be finished. I'd be happy to record something right now if you'd like to hear me.
So prepare for some fairly cliche and boring sounding advice, but I SWEAR it works!
For accentuation, what I do is I'll find a line that is difficult to say, and I'll try recording it about five or six different ways. The most common mistake people make is trying to speak the sentence too fast, so a sentence that should be
"Through my studies, simple nordfolk"
Turns into
"Through my studiesimple nordfolk."
For example. By enunciating that s on Studies, and having a tiny pause, the whole sentence flows better. Avoid glottal stops (BAT-man, instead of ba--man, how we usually say it), and mess around with different ways to speak. What's most comfortable, and what's paced a little slower than normal speaking is usually the sweet spot!
Finding a good character voice is difficult, but practicing characters often is one of the best ways to get better (I know, I'm dropping some arcane wisdom there!) Warming up is also tantamount; stay away from sweet beverages and don't eat before recording, and use an apple to keep your mouth moist without increasing a lot of saliva buildup. Apples make a voice much crisper, it's a fun little trade secret.
Take a small bite, do a vocal warmup like a difficult sentence or a monologue, take a bite, and start recording!
Jordan Edwards
Please do!!
Dude! That allstate one was AMAZING! You have some natural afinity, man!
Justin Peterson
Thanks for the advice. I notice the really god voice actors practiced for so long that they completely changed their voice to be insanely clear. Seth is a good example because you know that's not how he used to talk, but he can't help it now. >Apples make a voice much crisper, it's a fun little trade secret. Awesome, never knew this. I wonder why that works?
Adam Clark
Aw thanks man! You're better tho. I'm hoping I can get into a commercial
Luke Brooks
It has something to do with the way an apple lubricates your mouth. For some reason, it keeps you from oversalivating, and it keeps your mouth lubed up, but not dry. I heard it years ago, and there are always apples around my studio!
Levi Lee
How long have you been in this field?
Daniel Bell
>Please do!! o-okay pls no bully seriously i have a really goofy high pitched voice
>clyp.it/ysggvmjj Dude, USE that! Higher range voices are in high demand, and with a little technique in your speaking and in your engineering... You've got some potential. Don't sell yourself short!
I have been trying to get voice acting off the ground for probably the last 5 years or so. I have been very fervently pursuing it this last few months, because I noticed a LOT of my views came from my voice acting videos, and not nearly as much on my other ones. It was a good excuse to get myself out there, no holds barred.
Ryder Walker
t-thanks user. My school isn't doing any more acting classes for a few semesters, hopefully I'll be able to get into the next one.
What do you think of the audio quality? It sounds pretty good to me, but I'm not exactly a pro. I've got an AT2020, ART USB Dual Pre interface, and a cheap $10 pop-filter. I'm in a small closet with some bedding stapled to the wall to absorb echos.
Nathaniel Brooks
Yo dude, post a script. I need cold read practice. You have a site with all those Elder Scrolls books?
Cooper Lewis
That's a good place to start. A lot of the game is studio engineering, drown yourself in that!
