Jax765 Posted October 12, 2022 Share Posted October 12, 2022 NPCs with questionable audio quality: DermotLenkKnightMcNamaraSterlingPolatliJacksonCachino There's more, but those are the ones that I can remember at the moment. Are there any considerations to remove stuff like Scrambler's added backstory? Changing up npc personalities/backstories seems beyond the scope of the mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dracomies Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 NPCs with questionable audio quality: DermotLenkKnightMcNamaraSterlingPolatliJacksonCachino Honestly I'm surprised to see Knight, Sterling and Polatli (Polatli in particular) and Jackson on here. They have very good audio. Polatli in particular I felt had spectacular audio imo along with superb acting. Could you specify what exactly was wrong with Polatli's audio? Honestly I thought he was really well done. Officer Lenk, Hermit did mention her. But there are.....conditions...which make it difficult/impossible to get a redo for the take for her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radioactivelad Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 (edited) I've been meaning to check out this mod for a while and in my quick preview test for the loadorder I'm building, yeah Knight's voice immediately stuck out to me. But I don't think it's the "quality" of the sound assets that are really the issue- it's the mixing. Or at least, some mixing work could seriously improve the audio. I made a video with some comparisons: Knight's audio immediately made me think of something like a Podcast or Radio host, which feels very unnatural for in-person dialogue, and clashes with vanilla voices. For that matter, there's also inconsistency between individual BNW npcs.I included a very quick and very rough mixing edit (in post) to try to make him sound a bit clearer but this kind of stuff is a very tedious process that takes a lot of time to do right, and in turn would help the mod *a lot*. Edited October 15, 2022 by Radioactivelad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dracomies Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 I've been meaning to check out this mod for a while and in my quick preview test for the loadorder I'm building, yeah Knight's voice immediately stuck out to me. But I don't think it's the "quality" of the sound assets that are really the issue- it's the mixing. Or at least, some mixing work could seriously improve the audio. I made a video with some comparisons: Knight's audio immediately made me think of something like a Podcast or Radio host, which feels very unnatural for in-person dialogue, and clashes with vanilla voices. For that matter, there's also inconsistency between individual BNW npcs.I included a very quick and very rough mixing edit (in post) to try to make him sound a bit clearer but this kind of stuff is a very tedious process that takes a lot of time to do right, and in turn would help the mod *a lot*. Oh ok. I got it. I know what you're saying. I actually understand what you're saying. I think it's because he's using a dynamic microphone. So a LDC microphone like the TLM 103 which most of the original cast was using is going to sound more transparent in audio. Whereas a dynamic microphone kind of has that radio sound to it, which would be appropriate for commercial work - but just doesn't quite work in character work. So I get what you're trying to say. But I do think it's something that would be incredibly difficult to redo. It would require the voiceactor to use an LDC microphone instead. But I thank you for clarifying. I actually get what you're trying to say. This is why audio engineers have difficulty with voiceactors that use a Shure SM7B when the entire cast is using TLM 103s as an example. So I get what you're saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHermit84 Posted October 15, 2022 Author Share Posted October 15, 2022 Appreciate the feedback. I was in charge of audio editing, mastering, but I didn't join until two years into the project. The main issue for me was that a lot of actors had been cast long before I joined. And at the time, Dracomies didn't have the ear to recognize the minimum standards of audio quality that he does now. If I had been there in the beginning, I could've given better counsel, but that's neither here nor there. Although I have a background in music education and performance, having played in a couple of successful bands, editing audio for a video game was quite a different kettle of fish, one with a bit of a learning curve, learning more about what worked and what didn't as I went along. And I'm certainly not naïve enough to think things sound perfect so I welcome constructive criticism. Very early on, my focus was on improving the audio quality in a vacuum. I wasn't focusing so much on having it consistent EQ-wise to the base game. The dB and RMS generally was, but not the mix. It wasn't until the last year of development that I realised the audio in BMW sounded much like podcast/audiobook mixing - bassy with louder frequencies in the low end. I tried to mitigate this in the final stages of development cutting most everything below 80Hz, but we risked losing a lot of the nice tones in certain Baritone voices if I went too crazy. Therefore, I didn't over do it. I would often mix male voices differently to higher range female voices, so I'm not sure Knight and Ghost is the best comparison. Incidentally, the vanilla audio, whilst it sounds good in-game and is consistent, isn't actually what I would consider superb audio quality. It sounds very thin and I'm certain the same EQ was slapped on for all vanilla NPCs. With that in mind, we didn't have the luxury of having everything recorded in the same studio, with the same equipment, acoustics, and quality control. This made things much more difficult and probably why every voice stands on its own and not part of the greater whole. It's just one of those things, and yes, often I felt like I was trying to polish a turd with some of the earlier audio we received. I agree with some of the mentions and I intend to revisit things at a later date. Sadly, I'm just one hermit and I'm busy with the SG2K remaster series at the moment. I'm much happier with the audio in the remasters than I was with BNW. Things are much more consistent and I have much more control over casting decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radioactivelad Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 whilst it sounds good in-game and is consistent, isn't actually what I would consider superb audio quality.It's best to treat the former as being far more valuable. If you look at something like Duke 3D World Tour where they had John St. John re-recorded all the original voice lines, the original, bit-crushed-to-hell audio actually creates a better experience because all the audio in the game was "low quality". Brains like patterns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHermit84 Posted October 15, 2022 Author Share Posted October 15, 2022 In hindsight, I agree. Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeg4k Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Mod manager download doesn't work for me? Manual works but I have no idea how to install that anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts