How to Voice Act

[Kwaliti]

How to voice act
~by l0w_kwaliti

Introduction
First and foremost, many of you needed voice actors for your maps/campaigns and you were hanging around the forums with some random responses. Mostly, the sounds come out poor. Here, I'm gonna lend you in a few tricks of my own.


Tools:
-A Microphone worth a while
-Perfect Sound Recorder (an excellent recorder I found recently) [NOT FREE, Trial] (Audacity is a nice freeware recording tool also)
-Blaze Audio Voice Cloak (if you hate your voice) [NOT FREE, Trial]
-Practice


Step 1: PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!

Practice makes perfect, and practicing diction is the key! All actors must practice diction, otherwise, their performance might be too quiet or unable to understand.
Wikipedia on diction:

Diction is the art of speaking clearly so that each word is clearly heard and understood to its fullest complexity and extremity.

Diction practices are simple; Pick a vocal or a consonant, then make a sentence that has lots of your chosen letter. Then speak it in normal tone and speed, and with each repeat increase the volume and speed of your voice significantly. Try and repeat it 5 times, and with skill, you can even raise it higher! Most actors do 10.


Step 2: How to speak on a microphone?

Ok, you may know how to speak on a microphone. Most people do the moronic type of speaking (right in front of the microphone, and blowing into it), but in voice acting, you must know how to speak properly if your mic is crap. Position yourself in front of your mic, about an inch away. Now, move your head to the right or left about an inch and a half, so when you exhale the mic doesn't record the buzz. Placing a paper handkerchief on the mic might help. Speak with a clear, loud voice, and be ready for scenes when you'll have to scream


Step 3: Recording

Alright, I think you've already downloaded Perfect Sound Recorder (or Audacity) and Blaze Audio Voice Cloak
You can find various tutorials on how to use them. Just hit record and speak!
If you're going to use the Voice Cloak (for robotic voices and crap), be sure to turn it on BEFORE recording, and remember to turn off the Monitoring.

I think this is all, if it appears to be useful, I'll redo the whole tut and make it more detailed. Below are samples made in Blaze Audio Voice Cloak Plus and in Perfect Sound Recorder.

~l0w_kwaliti

 

[Wolverabid]

It's a decent start, l0w_kwaliti.

Could you also link to an alternative free tool? Attaching some example .wav files would also be helpful.

The document is going to need some editing for grammar, punctuation and spelling: I'll try to get it done later this week.

 

[Kwaliti]

Update!

stupidmessagelimit

 

[Gausslander]

It's okay. It has lots of flaws, for instance, it's not the sound recorder that matters, not at all. It's all in the microphone. Not only that but you have no links to converters, and people might not want to download these unnecessary recording tools either. Some people want to just use Sound Recorder (I don't, but still), and that makes them (if I can remember) automatically into a custom file type that must be converted to be a WAV file. You lose...

 

[Kwaliti]

Actually, no, these sound recorders can make either .mp3 or .wav files. And I've had much trouble with Microsoft Sound Recorder, so I recommended these recorders, plus my mic is a $1 crap and I still can make nice sounds. And I never said that the sound quality is all about the recorders.

 

[ragingspeedhorn]

Overall a decent tutorial, but it could include some more content. It is basicly just explaining what tools to use and that you shouldn't breathe into the microphone.

Explain a bit about how to work with your voice, how to improve quality of poor recordings with different sound editing programs. Good programs for putting different effects on your sounds. A few good general tips and tricks. Such things.

 

[Kwaliti]

Yes, as I said, if people like it, it will receive a major update. I might update it today or in the days ahead.

 

[nathanman]

DONT download Mega Sound Recorder, it is SPYWARE, AND WILL SEND A TROJAN TO COMPUTER
Audacity is a free program that is PROMISED to workl

 

[Kwaliti]

Really?

Didn't know.

~Removed Mega Sound Recorder and added Audacity

 

[nathanman]

you still have one more link to it