Need yet another voice actor?

For collaboration between the different artists creating music and sound for vegastrike.
Maxaxle
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Need yet another voice actor?

Post by Maxaxle »

Just poke me and I'll do a few lines.
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

Actually, you should feel free to pick a voiceless faction and record some of its comm messages. I think there are some guidelines on the wiki.
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Maxaxle
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by Maxaxle »

klauss wrote:I think there are some guidelines on the wiki.
What, really? Thanks!
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

Maxaxle wrote:
klauss wrote:I think there are some guidelines on the wiki.
What, really? Thanks!
Yep, here

If you can upload .flac masters, great. If not (ie: you don't have the bandwidth or where to put big files for download), make sure they're high-quality ogg files. We can recode later, but we need good-quality masters.
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Maxaxle
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by Maxaxle »

I'll just leave this here...
http://www.mediafire.com/?nvbtj4rtzcu8cyn
Unedited, with the exception of one where I had to amplify it somewhat. Constructive criticism would be appreciated. Also: I haven't tweaked my audio settings or done any special audio-quality-enhancing things to the room I recorded in, but suggestions on reducing echo, etc. would be nice.
Confed:
Folder 1: Rent-a-cops, lightly-armed security forces, etc.
Folder 2: Somewhat more formal security, armed with decent ships (think Robins, possibly milspec)
Folder 3: Larger ships.
For "confed_legally.flac" I put the mic around my throat as opposed to in front of my mouth. Remind me to use that technique more often, as the results are generally better.
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

Cool, I'll take a look at it shortly :)

Thanks
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

Nice. Don't worry about the background noise, it won't be a problem (ie: I can get rid of it with some noise reduction, or just leave as if it were background ship noise).

A few lines, though, are a bit emotionless when they shouldn't:
  • type 3/confed_offer-job
  • type 3/confed_legally (should be a bit faster, angry)
  • type 3/confed_subordinates
  • type 3/confed_vaporize
  • type 3/confed_hazardous (it's alright, but it would be better if it sounded still calm, but a bit more threatening)
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Maxaxle
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by Maxaxle »

I'll do what I can. For the moment, though, I'm kinda busy, so I'll edit this post when necessary.
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

Don't edit, edits go unnoticed (there's no notification for edited posts). Write up a new post.

Anyway, I'll see about putting the ones you uploaded in-game in the meanwhile. Updating them will take no time.

Also, if by any chance you get the time, please record some silence to use as a reference sample for noise reduction.
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by CLoneWolf »

Maxaxle wrote:I haven't tweaked my audio settings or done any special audio-quality-enhancing things to the room I recorded in, but suggestions on reducing echo, etc. would be nice.
If you compare "confed_alright-punk.flac" to "confed_legally.flac", you'll notice that the echo is practically gone; all you need to do to minimize echo without rearranging your room is to keep the mic as close as you can, while keeping it out of the airflow of your mouth and nose.
Another common spot for that is eye level, safer against the nose airflow.
So, don't just use that technique more often, do it always :wink:

This, and klauss's advice about recording some leading silence to help noise removal, are the main zero cost things that help enough; the further post production steps reduce the quality on purpose to make it sound radio-like, so you can get away with the cheapest mic.

Just make sure you keep the recording level below the distorsion threshold, because if your recording has clippings, that's almost unrecoverable damage.
This is just a general advice as I don't think there's any in your current files; to quickly check for clipping, you can load your files in Audacity and look for vertical red lines along the waveform; if you saw any, they'd indicate spots where clipping happened.

Thanks a lot for contributing! :)
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

Well, I managed to clean it up pretty well (I found a nice silence period in one of the files, and it worked out quite well).

I'm gonna commit the results soonish. Thanks tons :)

PS: this reminded me I have to rewrite my audio restoration kit in python and make it multiplatform. I had to use it with wine, and though it works, half of the features don't.
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

I noticed none of the lines match the dialogues in game. Will have to prepare a new chatterbot for the confed with these lines.

I like your lines, but that's just an accident: future contributions should be careful to match existing text, or at least propose the new text before recording ;)
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

I committed them - and also noticed there's no room in the state machine for some of the friendly messages (will have to look into how they work and make room). And there's also no speech for the built-in ones (which are the most common, might I add).

@maxaxle: Is there a chance you could record them too? (see data/communications/confed.xml)
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Maxaxle
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by Maxaxle »

klauss wrote:@maxaxle: Is there a chance you could record them too? (see data/communications/confed.xml)
Sure.
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

Maxaxle wrote:
klauss wrote:@maxaxle: Is there a chance you could record them too? (see data/communications/confed.xml)
Sure.
Great :)

Don't forget the few seconds of noise sample.
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Maxaxle
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by Maxaxle »

About halfway through the ones on the .xml and improved the earlier ones. Will finish and upload this week
EDIT: To quote the Spy, "I did all I could!", except I mean it in a more positive way.
http://www.mediafire.com/?mpxuatu4or98m9g
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by Maxaxle »

Please excuse the double post, but I made some more recordings a few days ago, and I'm not sure if anyone noticed.
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

Wow... you're right.

See? That's what happens when you edit :p

IOW: double posting is OK if they're more than a few hours apart
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Maxaxle
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by Maxaxle »

klauss wrote:Wow... you're right.

See? That's what happens when you edit :p

IOW: double posting is OK if they're more than a few hours apart
'k; I try not to, though (because if nobody's commenting on a thing you think is so interesting, obviously it's not going anywhere).
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

This thread is now like a ticket. You're posting your contributions, and I put them into the engine - that's why it's so silent, most of it happens outside the forum, there's not much to talk about.

That's why I think tickets are better for this - but doesn't matter, both work.

As a side note, I downloaded the zip already and have been taking a look at it. I noticed there's no silence sample and most files don't have much silence in them - I guess I'll have to hunt for a big enough silence patch like the last time :( - note that each recording session needs its own silence sample, because background noise varies from session to session.

Anyway, I'm thinking I might need new features for the chatbot to make full use of it. There are too many variations for the current chatbot. I like variations, so it's the chatbot I don't like ;)

Hence the silence - it will take a little bit more time than last time. That and the ton of deadlines that are approaching are keeping me busy outside of VS stuff.
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Maxaxle
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by Maxaxle »

I'll see what I can do about the silence samples next time around, I'm thinking Forsaken...
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

Maxaxle wrote:I'll see what I can do about the silence samples next time around, I'm thinking Forsaken...
If you can recruit a woman to do the lines you've done with a female voice, that'd be nice for variety (and because the engine has support for gender-specific speech files)
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Maxaxle
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by Maxaxle »

klauss wrote:If you can recruit a woman to do the lines you've done with a female voice, that'd be nice for variety (and because the engine has support for gender-specific speech files)
Blargh! Charisma was my dump stat!
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

We'll find someone.
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Re: Need yet another voice actor?

Post by klauss »

@maxaxle: alright, got many of the new lines in place, found a way to add variations so we could use all lines even though the state machine isn't big enough, and now it's looking good.

But I'm sill short a few lines - the builtin ones.

We need lines for (you change the text a bit, just keep the overall idea):
  • Docking operation complete. You're free of the docking clamps.
  • You are not in docking clamps. Move into one of the green guide boxes and try to dock again.
  • Docking operation begun; press 0 to step into our starship.
  • You are not authorized to land here!
  • Clearance code acknowledged; move into landing pattern and dock at the white indicators.
  • Unable to comply.
  • Acknowledged.
  • Maintain speed and course for contraband search!
  • No contraband detected, you may proceed.
  • Contraband detected, target offender and fire at will! (Might use the "Opening fire" one...)
  • Your course is deviating. Maintain course!
  • Request Clearance To Land.
  • Bueller! Bueller! Where the hell is my backup, I'm sucking void here!
    Mayday! Mayday! Aww, heck, I think I needed those parts...
Variations for these are also welcome.
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