Skyrim Audiobooks

[HadToRegister]

I originally posted this in the Beth Skyrim Forums, but I'll post it here again, to help with some recording tips...

 

Pro Tips to save a lot of time and to keep you from having to do voice parts all over again....

 

1. Record all your voice parts DRY! No effects, nothing!

 

2. Save all Dry Voice parts to a folder Voice Acting\Dry\ folder as WAV files, to avoid artifacts caused by compression.

 

3. Then you are free to open your voice files and add effects to them, but make sure to save the edited voice files to a folder like Voice Acting\Edited\

this way, if you mess up, or the modder doesn't like the effects, you still have the Dry Unedited voice files, so you don't have to spend hours re-recording everything.

 

4. Invest in a good microphone, USB Condensor Mics are pretty cheap now and they sound 10,000x better than you'll ever get out of a

crappy gaming headset, or a built in webcam mic etc.

 

5. If you have 60hz hum when you record, STOP recording and fix whatever is wrong, DO NOT continue recording, thinking that you can remove the hum later,

this just adds hours of work for you or someone else to do. If you can't get rid of the hum, then don't bother recording, because there's too much work involved

in removing the hum, and ends up being more work than it's worth. Sorry.

 

6. If pitch shifting your voice really low, you must speak very articulately and clearly, if you don't, when you pitch-shift your voice down, it will sound like mud and be unintelligible,

also, don't pitch-shift down more than 3 or 4 tones, pitching down an entire octave just sounds unintelligible and muddy.

Also, (because many people do this when they know they are speaking for a part that's going to be pitch shifted), speak in your NORMAL Voice, don't speak like your voice is pitch-shifted,

because speaking like your voice is pitch shifted, and then adding the actual pitch-shift effect to it, causes the part to become a muddy unintelligible mess as well.

 

7. Always take more than one take, leave the computer recording and say your lines several times until you you're happy with the line,

that way you can go back and listen to all the takes in one file, and just edit out the bad takes and keep the good take.

 

8. Shut off any background noises Air Conditioner, Stereo in the Background, TV in the background, the quieter the background is, the better and easier it is to edit the recording,

instead of wasting time applying noise filters etc to remove a barking dog, crying baby etc...

 

9. Make sure you are getting a nice loud, clear signal when recording, you want to see a lot of Green in the Level Meter when you record, because if your recording is too quiet,

then that's just a bunch more work for someone to bring up the levels, and it also brings up the level of any noise as well, so make sure you have very good levels.

 

I'll add more as I think of them.

 

Me Rambling off the top of my head about Clean Recording and S/N Ratios, with about 5% reverb. Just to show Volume and Noise Levels

 

A nonsense improvised demo showing some effects and showing why a good signal vs noise is important

 

 

Hope some of this helps! :)

[Emmarae]

You have no idea how much I fantasize about Leonard Nimoy reading to me the books of Skyrim.

 

 

Well put, lol.

[Mechanorm]

4. Invest in a good microphone, USB Condensor Mics are pretty cheap now and they sound 10,000x better than you'll ever get out of a

crappy gaming headset, or a built in webcam mic etc.

 

Hope some of this helps! :)

 

Good tips there, thanks. Just a couple of questions - I've had a quick look for a usb condenser mic and to me they're pretty expensive, in the £80-£120 range. When you say cheap, how much do you mean? Do you have any links to a couple of good ones? I'm based in the UK if that helps, cheers.

 

Edit: After doing a bit more searching, I'm assuming you'd recommend a popscreen as well? I've noticed on my recordings thus far I can get pops or clicks on P's and T's, so I'm guessing a screen would help get rid of them?

Edited December 8, 2011 by Mechanorm

[Blocky]

4. Invest in a good microphone, USB Condensor Mics are pretty cheap now and they sound 10,000x better than you'll ever get out of a

crappy gaming headset, or a built in webcam mic etc.

 

Hope some of this helps! :)

popscreen

 

Made one of these for another project with a wire hanger and someone's old nylon sock/hose. There are a few tutorials on youtube with the search keywords: DIY pop filter.

 

The cost total: 75 cents :thumbsup:

[Mechanorm]

Nice tip, thanks.

 

To those hoping for chapters 2 and 3 of The Real Barenziah today, apologies. I'll be holding off recording for a day or two. I'm not sure how I can spare the cash to get a condenser mic, but this one looks alright - here so I'll try to shuffle around funds to afford it.

 

Since everything I've recorded previously (aside from chapter 1...) is rather short, I'll be re-recording it all in WAV format as suggested. Better quality's better after all.

Edited December 8, 2011 by Mechanorm

[FireBug3]

Trailer for the mod:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yJEObaowi0

I dont like the idea of using spells to read books, that may sound good but it looks bad, better to have it as a hiddeen spell or just an options in settings.

 

 

Script plan so far:

 

You pick up a book and open it >>> audion start playing >>> to fast forward you can swith to next page in book and audio will start from there >>> close book to stop reading.

We can make an option so that player can keep hearing audio even after the book is closed till he drops this book somewhere.

[gengrimm]

You pick up a book and open it >>> audion start playing >>> to fast forward you can swith to next page in book and audio will start from there >>> close book to stop reading.

We can make an option so that player can keep hearing audio even after the book is closed till he drops this book somewhere.

 

Not bad ideas. Fast forwarding might be difficult to do if there is no events that detect page movement. It also requires a new level of editing that requires either A.) Each book be divided into multiple Wave Files for every two pages. B.) Every book needs a unique script/DB that holds the bookmark(Time Stamp) points for every two pages in the audiofile. Since having the fast-forward feature adds a number of extra tasks I think it would be best to label it as a desired end feature but not a primary requirement for Concept testing phases.

 

I think logisticly it would be cleaner to use a spell effect for the reading of the books. The reason being A.) Spells are a built in feature in which the UI is already designed to handle. Adding a Illusion spell that doesn't actualy do anything other than adding a generic magic effect called "Vocalize" or what have you. Would be easier to implement than having to alter UI windows in the options sections. The other reason I would recommend going with the spell route is simple due to the fact that then the books won't read themselves everytime they open a book but only when they have cast the spell beforehand.

 

Hmm Though we can also look into the possiblity of adding control keys to activate the readings. The main question will be how much of the input system is Hard coded and how much is/can be softcoded. Obviously the majority of these questions cannot be truely answered untill after we the modders get ahold of the SyCK.

 

In Summary our current Scripting Conceptial Development Notes/tasks:

 

Primary:

 

Investigate the functionality Skyrim Scripting.

Determine viability of both options/hotkey method and spell method.

Investigate the Hardcoded functions/methods tied to the playing of audio in the game.

 

Secondary:

Investigate the possiblity of a Fast-forwarding ability and it's logistical needs.

[FireBug3]

Hmm Though we can also look into the possiblity of adding control keys to activate the readings. The main question will be how much of the input system is Hard coded and how much is/can be softcoded. Obviously the majority of these questions cannot be truely answered untill after we the modders get ahold of the SyCK.

 

In Summary our current Scripting Conceptial Development Notes/tasks:

 

Primary:

 

Investigate the functionality Skyrim Scripting.

Determine viability of both options/hotkey method and spell method.

Investigate the Hardcoded functions/methods tied to the playing of audio in the game.

 

Secondary:

Investigate the possiblity of a Fast-forwarding ability and it's logistical needs.

 

I expect creation set to have all the functions of construction set.

 

that means that we can detect everything we need in inventory events and keypress events in gamemode (should be able to detect page flips too), its all softcode (if i understand it right :)), sound can be played using PlaySound command, however im not sure if it is passible to start playing it from a specific timestamp, as alternative we can would have to split audio for every 2 pages, but then we need to detect when to switch to next part.

 

Also yes, fast forward, can be done later, we could release shorter books first.

Edited December 8, 2011 by FireBug3

[HadToRegister]

4. Invest in a good microphone, USB Condensor Mics are pretty cheap now and they sound 10,000x better than you'll ever get out of a

crappy gaming headset, or a built in webcam mic etc.

 

Hope some of this helps! :)

 

Good tips there, thanks. Just a couple of questions - I've had a quick look for a usb condenser mic and to me they're pretty expensive, in the £80-£120 range. When you say cheap, how much do you mean? Do you have any links to a couple of good ones? I'm based in the UK if that helps, cheers.

 

Edit: After doing a bit more searching, I'm assuming you'd recommend a popscreen as well? I've noticed on my recordings thus far I can get pops or clicks on P's and T's, so I'm guessing a screen would help get rid of them?

 

80 to 120 is cheap, most pro condenser mics can go up to $2,000+

Although Behringer has one for $44 US, so about 29 pounds? Behringer C-1U Studio Condenser Microphone

Yea, definitely a pop screen will help with the P's and other 'plosives.

 

I like what you've done so far, I especially like the way you're reading the books as if you're hearing the author writing it, that's a nice touch.

[Darksun45230]

I was thinking about purchasing this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT2020-USB-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B001AS6OYC/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1323283662&sr=1-1

 

Damn expensive.