Vega Strike Forums

Ok so I began planning on ISO speech comms acting. I have some little issues, though. First of all, in Turbo's voice acting tutorial I see the waveform is big, but in my Audacity the waveform appears very little. I would like to know if there is something wrong with my mic, my software, or if there's anything wrong at all .
Turbo's

Mine

Second, I do not know what quality I have to set for OGG files (0-10)

And third, I do not know how to output the name of this line: I mean, there are two texts: text and text1. Would those be two files or something?

Oh also, how do I know how many words there be in the file name? ie. for the line "Cut me some slack, will you?" would it be: iso_cut-me.ogg or iso_cut-me-some.ogg or iso_cut-me-some-slack.ogg. I checked some xml files with audio implemented already, so based on that I assume it would be up to me, as long as the name makes sense and it doesn't have more than four words (without counting the faction name, iso). Thanks in advance.

PS. Once I am done with these issues, I will post some examples with my crappy desktop mic (unless the wave issue I mentioned is because of the mic) to receive some feedback. Then, if people like my voice for the faction, I will buy and finish the job with a slightly better headset mic (they're much easier to record with).

MC707 wrote:Ok so I began planning on ISO speech comms acting. I have some little issues, though. First of all, in Turbo's voice acting tutorial I see the waveform is big, but in my Audacity the waveform appears very little. I would like to know if there is something wrong with my mic, my software, or if there's anything wrong at all .

I'd suggest you to check the extended settings in your mixer; for simplicity's sake, Ubuntu doesn't show all the available mixer settings by default; make sure you see an option named Mic Boost +20dB or something like that, and activate it; if you have such an option, max mic volume will probably be too high, a few test recordings will help you find the best level.

MC707 wrote:Second, I do not know what quality I have to set for OGG files (0-10)

Mine are sampled at 22KHz (after all they're radio messages) and mono, so I tried quality 10 and they're still fairly small.

MC707 wrote:And third, I do not know how to output the name of this line:

Code: Select all

- <node text="Help! Help! I'm being oppressed." text1="How can you attack a member of the party?" relationship="-.0625">

I mean, there are two texts: text and text1. Would those be two files or something?

Yes, in our previous cases we recorded both texts and added both file references in the xml; tho I seem to remember that when a ship answered me with text1, I heard no audio.

MC707 wrote:Oh also, how do I know how many words there be in the file name? ie. for the line "Cut me some slack, will you?" would it be: iso_cut-me.ogg or iso_cut-me-some.ogg or iso_cut-me-some-slack.ogg. I checked some xml files with audio implemented already, so based on that I assume it would be up to me, as long as the name makes sense and it doesn't have more than four words (without counting the faction name, iso). Thanks in advance.

Yes, be as short as you can, as long as there's no ambiguity; you might just want to conform to the filenames for the standard comms like contraband and docking, but you're basically free on that issue.

MC707 wrote:PS. Once I am done with these issues, I will post some examples with my crappy desktop mic (unless the wave issue I mentioned is because of the mic) to receive some feedback. Then, if people like my voice for the faction, I will buy and finish the job with a slightly better headset mic (they're much easier to record with).

Good plan!

Thanks for the help CLone! BTW im doing these recordings in my Vista machine, since my Ubuntu's network is still f#%&$d up.

Don't worry about text1--the code only listens to text, relationship and file. I think the "text1" some backup (the corresponding conversion point of a neutral or terran player?) that they kept around while writing the communication nodes.

ace123 wrote:Don't worry about text1--the code only listens to text, relationship and file. I think the "text1" some backup (the corresponding conversion point of a neutral or terran player?) that they kept around while writing the communication nodes.

I see, but since variety is good and we already recorded all the text1 lines for previous voices, and those text1 actually appear in the game, could we turn em into separate nodes? As long as the edge elements map is fixed accordingly, it should work, right? Or maybe not, as I see always a maximum of 4 edges...

CLoneWolf wrote:I see, but since variety is good and we already recorded all the text1 lines for previous voices, and those text1 actually appear in the game, could we turn em into separate nodes? As long as the edge elements map is fixed accordingly, it should work, right? Or maybe not, as I see always a maximum of 4 edges...

That sounds reasonable. I am going to record my text1 lines, too, just in case.

MC707 wrote:And third, I do not know how to output the name of this line:

Code: Select all

- <node text="Help! Help! I'm being oppressed." text1="How can you attack a member of the party?" relationship="-.0625">

I mean, there are two texts: text and text1. Would those be two files or something?

Oh also, how do I know how many words there be in the file name? ie. for the line "Cut me some slack, will you?" would it be: iso_cut-me.ogg or iso_cut-me-some.ogg or iso_cut-me-some-slack.ogg. I checked some xml files with audio implemented already, so based on that I assume it would be up to me, as long as the name makes sense and it doesn't have more than four words (without counting the faction name, iso). Thanks in advance.

The answer to both questions is "yes." The two lines for your third question would be (for example) iso_help-help.ogg and iso_how-can-you.ogg. The exact file name is yours to determine, just include enough words from the line so that it is unique and can be recognized. Of course, if you are also updating the XML, you will be able to input the sound file= tag with the file name yourself. Details of the sound file tag are in the wiki
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/media ... Voice_List

Thanks for lending your voice!

Thanks for the response! I am done with some draft audio files, but I am having problems making my website (that's where I will upload my audio files for you to hear)

Any luck/progress? I have web space if that's the delay, PM me and we'll work something out.

sorry for the absence! at the beginning of the semester everything was cool, but it turned out everything became gradually difficult. I've been extremely busy these last months, so I hadn't had time to even visit the VS forums. hopefully I will take my exams successfully and be done in a week or so. though I might get my wisdom tooth taken out, thus more absence... not to mention I am working too nevertheless, when I finish all this college stuff I will post my recordings. sorry again!

No problem, we all have real life from time to time. I'm moving to a new job soon. I pack up my computer tomorrow and my car on Friday, and both are going by cargo ship so it will be a while before I'm able to do much.

thanks for understanding. hopefully my cheeks will shrink soon from my wisdom teeth operation

MC707 wrote:thanks for understanding. hopefully my cheeks will shrink soon from my wisdom teeth operation

Before they shrink, you might sound appropriate for Klk'k

CLoneWolf wrote:Before they shrink, you might sound appropriate for Klk'k

ROFL I might do the klk'k if you want, my cheeks haven't shrunk quite yet xD

MC707 wrote:ROFL I might do the klk'k if you want, my cheeks haven't shrunk quite yet xD

Feel free to give it a try After all, unlike other alien races, they like to speak human directly, only using sound devices to compensate for some single human sounds they can't reproduce; so we really need a voice actor for them, unlike the translated alien speech.

hmmm do you know where I could get an image or any reference of the klk'k? I need to know more or less how they are physically so I can more or less emulate them. cuz the name "klk'k" really doesn't give me an idea... the first time I saw that name I thought it was a human faction

MC707 wrote:hmmm do you know where I could get an image or any reference of the klk'k? I need to know more or less how they are physically so I can more or less emulate them. cuz the name "klk'k" really doesn't give me an idea... the first time I saw that name I thought it was a human faction

You can find a proposed sketch here
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... &start=135
which, later on in the thread, got some correction proposals, so check the rest of the thread too.

thanks for the info

Rather than creating another thread about the same subject, I figured adding to this one would be more efficient. I hope this is the right place to post this, if not, please let me know, I'm new.

Like MC707, I'm also doing ISO comm recordings, but I just started. Tonight I managed only a few recordings, and I'd like someone to take a look and give me a little feedback. I lack a unique website for uploads, so I just made a gmail where I'll be depositing my work for now.

Website, user name, and password:

www.gmail.com
VS.SO.UD@gmail.com
shadow343

You would be better off uploading them to Imageshack or something like that... its not the best idea to create an account and give password and stuff. I bet someone will go and change the password sooner or later

Hmm, I'll look into that then! Anyway.. I guess I'll lock it up and look into this some other day... On second thought, I'll do that in the morning.

OK team...I did not realize web space could be an issue for some. I will set up an FTP site for voice actors to post content for peer review, and you can PM me to get the ID and password. Since the voice work I did is already in SVN, I can free up space on my site by taking the old stuff down.

Alright, VS.SO.UD@gmail.com is no longer accessible. I'll get on that, thanks Turbo.

You may also PM me if there is a need for the ID and password if Turbo is unavailable for what ever reason.

Enjoy the Choice

The site is ready. For uploads, PM me for the password. For downloads, the URL for uploaded files is http://www.willadsenfamily.org/VSvoice