Mattiewagg Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 (edited) VOICE ACTING TIPS - For Prospective and Veteran Voice Actors The other day I was reading through some old tutorials for Oblivion about voice acting, when I realized that most of them still apply to Skyrim. While the ones regarding the creation of .lip files, or getting the files into the CS (Oblivion's mod creation tool) are obviously no longer applicable, I've compiled a list of the "Workshops" for Oblivion that still work for Skyrim, as well as a bunch of other resources. Provided is a link for each, as well as a short description. If they are marked with a red asterisk, then I consider them very important resources for all voice actors that you should read no matter what - and probably more than once. If they're marked with a blue asterisk, you should probably read them. The list is ordered from most useful (top) to least useful (bottom). However, all of them are at least somewhat useful, or I wouldn't post them here. If you think a certain post is more useful than the other and that the order is wrong, then tell me and I'll see if I agree. If I do, I'll change it. So here's the list: Workshop 04: Mics, Signal to Noise Ratio, Recording & Ac* This article/tutorial talks about what makes recordings bad,and how to fix some of the problems. It also notes a good selection of mics to buy, and some tips on acting. Workshop 05: Acting Guide*Written by the same author as the Workshop 04, this onegoes into more detail about how to act and improve yourvoice acting to be more convincing. Cleaning up sound files with Audacity*You need to read this. It teaches you how to clean your sound files with Audacity. This can helpturn your recording quality from crapto decent quality, or from good qualityto fantastic quality. Read it.For noise removal, be sure to selectwhat you want to be removed - notyour voice, but the static noise.Example:UncleanedCleaned Old Link Pronunciation guide*Really important. This can helpget rid of a lot of commonpronunciation issues. You'd be surprised at how big a differencegood diction and pronunciationcan make.You can ignore the notes on someof the Elven names, since the authornotes the proper pronunciation, not the common one. The Dwemer noteis important though.Use method acting here. If you're a beggar, you might not use the properpronunciation of Bosmer, or even thecommon one. If you're a scholar, youmight use the uber-proper pronunciation. Working with Audio File Tip - Saving Time and Organization*Gives tips on how to organize your files well and minimizeretakes. Also helps modders if you give them nice, organizedfiles. I Want to be a VAAmazing resource. So much information from a professional VA. Some is geared towards professional VAs but most is applicable everywhere. He also has some great resources. Techniques - Techniques I've learned and decided to shareThis thread lists some great tips on how to improve yourrecording quality. If you have your own tips to share thataren't already listed on this thread, you should definitelyadd them. Workshop 01: Introduction to AudacityGives a nice introduction to Audacity, as wellas a few good tips on using it. Includes the settingsyou should have for both Oblivion and Skyrim whilemaking an Audacity project. (If you don't have the correct settings set, you won't be able to import yourrecording to Skyrim.) Workshop 02: Working with AudacityGives a good walkthrough on usingAudacity, some good techniques andtips. A good start for new Audacity users to familiarize themselves. Ifyou are new, you should read Workshop 01 first. Equalization with AudacityEqualization can make some of yourvoice files sound a whole lot better. Thisis a great video tutorial on how to useequalization properly. Hathor's Voice Acting Guide for BeginnersNot strictly related to Skyrim or video games,but it does provide some good tips and tricksfor preparation and voice acting. Possible Advice for better voice actingA few more tips on how to voice act better.A few of the tips are already included inthe Techniques thread. Need Voice Actors for Your Mod - Skyrim BlogAside from talking about getting voice actorsfor your mod, this post does include some useful information on delivering higher qualityvoice acting. OLD HUB - Skywind Development Voice ActingHas a bunch of useful recording tips on compression, conversion, and homemade popfilters.Scroll down to Recording Tips and Tricks tofind the tips and tricks. If you've got some more threads to share that I should add to the list, post the link below and I'll take a look at them. I'm also writing a Comprehensive Guide to Voice Acting - From Start to Finish on my website right now, and I'll share it with you as soon as I'm done. Edited January 11, 2015 by Matthiaswagg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinnytecboy Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Good Idea to place so many useful resources together. :blush: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattiewagg Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 Good Idea to place so many useful resources together. :blush: Yeah. When you're trying to learn how to voice act it can be difficult to sift through dozens if not hundreds of old posts. Besides, not a lot of people have referenced those Workshops and they work quite well, since the actual "acting" parts of voice acting tend to carry over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amireindi Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 (edited) Wish condenser mics were less expensive. I love to voice act and I've done it many times at my school for my friends (non-professional, and I don't know how good I was at actually doing the job) but they all had me use their mics. I only have headset mics with poor quality (meant only for live chats).Anyways, great article! I had fun reading it. Edited June 30, 2014 by Amireindi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattiewagg Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Condenser mics are definitely better but I managed to get a recording using my computers built-in mic to sound pretty decent using the audacity cleaning guide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattiewagg Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Added Workshop 01 and 02 to the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattiewagg Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 Added Hathor's Voice Acting Guide and Need Voice Actors for Your Mod to the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattiewagg Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 Added the Skywind recording tips and tricks link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattiewagg Posted July 5, 2014 Author Share Posted July 5, 2014 Reordered some stuff a bit. Does anyone have anything helpful to add to the list? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattiewagg Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 Okay. Fixed up the order a bit and changed some of the descriptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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