355 replies to this topic

[Chishiokage]

Yeah, sorry, verrrry overloaded right now. Last exams are next week. One of them is a patient diagnostic so I'm going to have my nose to the grindstone for the better part of the next two weeks.

I can promise that all of my voices will be done within a week from exams, have no fear about that. I'll see if I can get Khulan done this weekend.

[Fnorkus]

Okay, so I'm just about ready to try out some more voices again, but I figured I should wait until I have that changed script, so that I don't have to re-record anything.

Is it available yet? Can I have it?

[LaserWerewolf]

@Fnorkus: to be honest, you took away some wind from my sails last time, but Im working on it again. But Im also dependent on my correctors, since I want it to be good once for all. Also I need to debate smth more with Mup. I think its very possible that I will be able to unleash reworked Jo'ran (you see, even name is reworked) in your direction today evening (euro time). I think it would be very cool if you would be able to give him a bit of Master Yoda Argonian should stay same, to Kame'l I can just add some lines regarding his speech. Who else you wanted to do? Maybe Deepclaw and Pahmar guys? I quess I can have them very soon as well, I think I allready did Deepclaws lines. So possibly today too. Not promissing, its not all in my hands. Patience with me, please.

[Fnorkus]

Right.
Again, I'm going to prioritise new lines over reworked ones.
I really kinda want to try out most to all characters that have not already been taken, but more specifically, I've been meaning to try Yura for quite some time, and I think Deepclaw would be interesting as well, so those are probably going first.

And before you start critisising my potential again, please wait until you've actually heard it. =P

[LaserWerewolf]

@Fnorkus: I didnt criticised you potential, don't be so touchy please. Im just trying to be constructive here, and I believe both of us want to help this mod to be even better than actually is. I heard your Ameir many times and she is done very good, but I cant help myself, there are balls in it. Clan Mother shouldnt have balls, if you ask me, so I would preffer if someone else tried her. With Argonian its all ok with me, its amhibian-reptile probably able to change sex, I would hardly imagine her voiced better, I think you have done her just right ,)

[Fnorkus]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come of as touchy. A bit of improper phrasing there.

But I really don't get where you're coming from with Ameir, yes, I did a rather deep voice, to denote maturity, but I really do not think it sounds male in the least. Neither have I seen anyone else criticise it, so it is possible we just have a difference in opinion.

I don't know about you, but personally, I've known plenty of female people with very deep voices.

[Chishiokage]

@LaserWerewolf: I'm a college student majoring in Speech/Language Pathology so believe me when I tell you this, Fnorkus has the right idea when it comes to Ameir, and to be honest, all of the Khajiit in this mod. Given their size, the length of the chest to jaw, and the thickness of their necks, unless they were 90% blubber there is no way they'd have a high or even medium tone voice by our standards. Their vocal chords would be elongated and the overall size of their larynges would be more than likely double that of a human, which would produce a much lower voice band (standard vocal frequency.) Male or female, they are going to have deep voices. Anything above deep would really disconnect the voicework from the game as much as would a low quality recording. What we perceive as the male voice is just a lower pitch due to males having larger larynges than females.

It's not our mod, so of course we defer to the producers. But you have to understand that voice actors are VERY picky about their work. These are our voices people are going to be hearing, our work, and it represents us, our commitment to what we do, and our reputations. I guarantee you Fnorkus didn't just sit down and decide that's how he was going to do the voice. Before you record, you look at the character, read the dialogue, discern a personality, in essence you get into their head. It might sound a bit over the top, but that is what makes the difference between just reading lines and delivering a performance. In order for the player to believe the character, to find them realistic, the artist needs to have gone the extra mile and connected with the character. Trust me, I wasn't a fan of having to use pitch correction on Khulan, but my voice just cannot go that low without losing the respiness that Khajiit are known for, let alone the fact that I was already straining my voice in the first place which is why I'm considering a rerecord.

The other thing to consider is that you don't want us to do some lines now and the rest later when you write them. You want them all at once and there's a simple explanation for why that is. We are developing these voices for characters in a one-shot performance, not mastering a voice that we plan on reusing for a long time. If we do one set now, and another in a month, there is a VERY good chance that we are going to lose the magic that we found with the initial recording. Watch the first season of an animated TV show, then watch the latest season, you'll ALWAYS notice a huge discrepancy between the voices (Simpsons is a great example) and it's because the artist evolves along with the voice until it becomes second nature. Since this mod is a one-off, we don't have that luxury. We have to keep a consistent voice for a single character throughout the entire story, which means we need to hit the ground running and knock all of the lines out at one time for one character.

It took me something like 40 takes before I settled on Khulan's voice. To match it a month later would take ten times that and it would probably still never be perfect. I already let enough time go by between the first session and the upcoming one so I'm going to probably have to rerecord all of Khulan's lines for one reason or another, and I'm fine with that because my schedule got in the way of finishing it.

I'm not criticizing, please don't think I am. Just trying to help you see it from our side. Just as serious as MP is about the quality of his mod, so am I (and I'm sure Fnorkus as well) about the quality of the voice and the believability of the characters I play. I want people sucked into every word a character says, not batting an eye when they notice a discrepancy between lines.

[LaserWerewolf]

@Chishiokage: I appreaciate your effort given into this looong comment. No time and power to write proper reply now. But I will, later.

[muppetpuppet]

I would like to add only, that you guys are really digging into this quite proffesionaly. My compliments and immense thanks for that..

I'm a visual artist myself, with too little patience and skill for the vocal medium (and the english language).. But great appreciation for those that do have this enviable skill and talent..

So my stance on any and all voice discussions is that you guys are offering your services and should decide yourselves what you feel is the best voice or dialogue that fits your style and insights into the character..
I think Laserwerewolf's khajitising is a great idea, but it needs to be carried by everyone involved..

also elementxstyle has posted a sample of his Jóran here

and i must say i like it,, perhaps you could find a place for him amongst yourselves..
cheers
tomas

[elementxstyle]

Hi guys, I was going to follow muppet's suggestion and post here, but it seems he beat me to it. Thank you for any consideration and as well as critiques you may have for the voice. I went over several pitches and accents, ultimately deciding that clarity was more important than achieving a perfect tongue roll or accent. The more the player can listen, instead of read (subtitles) the more engaged they are in the dialogue.

Link:

Again, thanks for the consideration and any feedback you can give me regarding voice work in general.