So I'm a Voice Actor...

[Elf_Lord]

Okay, before we begin, I will note that I am not a professional. I've been dabbling in voice acting since first or second grade and I'm an active stage actor with several accents and the like at my disposal, but I am by no means professional-grade and I will proudly say that I have made exactly $42.25 off my acting ability in the past. I'm actually posting this because I was disappointed in how few active threads there are for voice actors on this site, and I know how important voice acting is for me when I'm working on maps, especially campaigns and cinematics, which is mostly what I work on. So if you ever need something voice acted, I may or may not be your man (I will post some voice samples and other general notes below).

Another disclaimer is that I may be using this thread to look for voice actors myself at some point. I'm in the middle of building a campaign and I'm moving in two weeks, so there's a good chance I'm about to lose my entire base of local actors that I usually use for my projects.

So without any further ado, here's me:

Can do:
-Male voices (though I'll try female if you want me to )
-Young characters work better for old characters in most cases (I don't have enough gravel in my voice to portray Uther, for instance, much to my chagrin)
-American Midwestern accent
-American Southern accent
-Irish accent
-High/proper British accent
-Scottish accent
-Cockney accent
-German accent
-Russian accent
-French accent
-Jamaican accent (for trolls)
-Whatever the heck the WoW Draenei accent is...
-Bad impressions of Raj Koothrappali from Big Bang Theory
-Foreign language work (so if you ever want a character speaking Thalassian or Dwarvish or something, I have experience making gibberish words sound like natural conversation)
-Significant voice editing on my own, so I can hand you either a finished product or raw voice - up to you

Cannot/will not do:
I'm open to most everything, but there are at least some limits to the type of language I will use. If you're worried about it, don't be; just send me what you got and I'll let you know if I have problems and what I can do to make it work.

Some examples of previous work (some of these are pretty edited, I'm afraid; I've lost some of the raw files, but these demonstrate my range decently well):
Agent Galahad: GalahadCompilation.mp3 (from an old StarCraft campaign of mine - it's heavily edited but I love the personality)
Raven Lich: RavenLichCompilation.mp3 (another old project, this guy was an NPC in an RPG - added a slight reverb but otherwise unedited)
Ramsey: RamseyCompilation.mp3 (from a cinematic - there's a slight pitch drop but otherwise unedited)
German Pilot: German Pilot.mp3 (from an old school project - it is actually completely unedited; the voice effect was achieved by recording over the phone - for those of you who speak German, I apologize for my poor translation)
Gul'dan: GuldanEarly.mp3 (not my best work, but to be fair I recorded this five minutes ago from an old dialogue set I wrote just so I could post something more recent)
Lord Garithos: Galvar Equals Garithos.mp3 (I have no idea why anyone would want Lord Garithos in a campaign or anything, but while working on a character for my campaign I apparently stumbled upon how to do an impression of Garithos... thought it was kinda cool, so...)

If you want me to "audition" for a role, that's fine. Just post something for me to try and I will record a sample so you can see if I'm good for a role. I will not be insulted if you go another way. If you do decide to use me, I will make it my goal to get you what you need within a week of receiving the script.

Anyhow, here's to hoping to see more voice acted campaigns and the like in the future!

UPDATE: I caved and bought a better mic. That "metallic" sound that Rui referenced seems to no longer be an issue, in case this was worrying anyone.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Very cool. I agree, we don't have enough voice actors here (my waifu aside). One thought; I'd really like to know who gave you $0.25 for voice acting. xD

I didn't see "Jamaican" on your list; how comfortable do you feel with Jungle Trolls?

 

[Elf_Lord]

I saw your wife's profile and I very nearly asked her to try a character for my campaign, but then I remembered that I'm not done writing the characters yet and I prefer to get everything done in one take if possible. As for the trolls, I've done voice work for them before; it's just been awhile, so I hadn't thought about it. I'm willing to give it a shot!

And the money wasn't for voice acting. I was an extra in an independent film once. Closest I ever came to making money as an actor (there's not a lot of big-time acting opportunities where I live).

 

[Roland]

Hey can you try screaming like you were tortured brutally? I need that sound effects fresh from you for my Horror project I've been working, Buddy. Can ya?

 

[Elf_Lord]

Don't know why, but for whatever reason I can't tell if you're being serious or not. Either way, I'm totally willing to try it, but not tonight. It's late and if I start screaming like I'm being brutally tortured right now, I may legitimately start getting brutally tortured.

EDIT: Erm... I just want to make a disclaimer that I'm not sure how good this will turn out sound quality-wise. My mic is pretty decent as it goes, but if I get too loud on it it can get a little funky, so I might have to record at a really low volume and amplify it (which can also sound kinda crappy). Again, I will try it, but I will not guarantee good results on this one.

 

[Naze]

Hey nice to know about this. You're right, there aren't many around here, I was in need of a voice actor some years agor but I didn't find any (and I can't voice act myself as I'm not a native english-speaker and I don't trust my pronounciation). About the brutally tortured thing, I suggest you trying to record a bit farther than normal from the microphone, as this seem to be the common recording way for this kind of loud-scream thing. Good luck with it!

 

[Roland]

@Elf_Lord: How about you try testing your screams on day time? It would be the best idea to scream and Find sometime if there's none in the house except you.

 

[Elf_Lord]

Okay, so I've managed to get the recording to come out okay. Screaming is not my area of expertise, so I'm not entirely pleased with my performance, but this is a workable preview at least. I tried a few different things (and made the unfortunate discovery that crying hysterically sounds almost like deranged giggling, but hey, maybe that's good for something), so hopefully there's at least something good in there for you. If you like one type of scream or something in particular, I can do more of it; I just ran out of interesting stuff to experiment with. Just let me know!

 

[Roland]

It's just perfect! I love the squeals and the intense squirm of your voice on your microphone! Keep up the good work my friend! And oh, Is it okay to Add some... Guy gargling from death? Like this..

(FILE FROM STRONGHOLD CRUSADER)

 

[deepstrasz]

To me the Raven Lich and Gul'dan seem the best.

And about that screaming, well it mostly sounds like a mentally deranged person not a tortured one.

 

[Roland]

@deepstrasz & @Elf_Lord

True, he sounds like a man having intense schizophrenia on a padded cell. But, I like the outcome of his screams, I just need more Pain-sound content for him, But hey, keep up the great work my friend!

 

[Elf_Lord]

@Roland I'll give it another shot with that in mind. Like I said, screaming is a new one for me, so I appreciate the feedback!
@deepstrasz I'm exceptionally proud of the Raven Lich. I mostly chose some of the others to demonstrate some different types of characters I've done. I have a ton of sets of voices for creepy villain-esque characters like the Raven Lich, so I thought showing some more diversity might be useful.

EDIT: Right, so here's something. I put together a bunch of death sounds (which I tried to make as gurgle-y as possible, but there are some that are not as well) as well as some pained screams/yelling. The one at 0:44 was really bad and I nearly deleted it but who knows, maybe you need someone breaking down in a coughing fit that sounds vaguely like the boar aggro from WoW. Anyhow, just keep the feedback coming and I'll keep doing new takes until you have what you need.

 

[Gottfried]

To me the Raven Lich and Gul'dan seem the best.

This two voice seems pretty decent. However I can not tell that the Galahad or Ramsey sound are same in quality.

 

[deepstrasz]

To joke further and write that the latest screaming impressions sound like illness and pain shouting. You need to find and see/listen to people actually dying in various ways.
I hope you don't have too many neighbours as family can be understanding.

 

[Elf_Lord]

@Gottfried I've been really struggling to find particularly good recordings of mine that aren't crazy edited (except for Galahad, who's pretty edited anyhow). I'm not particularly pleased with Galahad myself but he demonstrated a different type of voice work that I'd done, as typically I do a lot more fantasy stuff, and I couldn't find any other recent sci-fi stuff that I'd done. Although if I'm not pleased with Galahad either, maybe I shouldn't have his voice on my page...
I'm still rather fond of Ramsey, but the entire basis for doing him the way I did was to try to make him sound as gross and unpleasant as possible while making his voice different from the half dozen other characters I voiced in the same cinematic. There are only so many ways I can do characters with the same basic accent to make them sound different.
@deepstrasz Eh. So far the only thing that has seemed remotely concerned about the screaming and stuff is my dog. He seems to find the noises rather disturbing. I wasn't quite sure what to do with "death gurgles," so I thought mostly of some of the more grisly-sounding WoW death sound effects and tried to go that route. After a while, though, you start running out of ideas again, and I don't have access to a lot of dying people to imitate.

 

[Rui]

Sounds decent enough, but I feel there's a sort of "metal", I can't describe it exactly, into the voices. Galahad would be an example. It's probably the quality of the equipment, but I feel as if the voice could be clearer on both sound and wording.

 

[Elf_Lord]

Galahad's was deliberately exaggerated, but yes, I am aware of the problem. My mic isn't the best; to get it to come out good, I have to work at a very precise volume. If I get too loud, it can't handle it and starts almost ringing, so I typically record at a lower recording sensitivity if possible to make sure I don't encounter that problem, but if I get too quiet and have to amplify it much, it starts to take on that vaguely tinny/metal quality. I've been meaning to get a new mic but I don't feel comfortable spending a bunch of money on one right now. If I happen to stumble on one that's cheap, though, I'll totally go for it, and that will hopefully fix the problem.

If the wording itself isn't crisp, that's just my bad. I'd like to think my diction is typically pretty good, but I do slip up, obviously.

 

[Roland]

@Elf_Lord Well, That's some nice outcome! I really loved it! So as the last minute of the Sound clip, Well, I just hope you the best of your voice acting works and You should be conservative on your voice, Maybe your Larynx (The Voice box) might overwork or will occur damage to it, But hey, You're an awesome voice actor as always ^^

 

[Elf_Lord]

@Roland Thank you very much! I'm glad I could be of service! And I will try to make sure that my throat does not suffer too much for this.

 

[Elf_Lord]

My early attempt at a Rock Golem for @Gottfried. I've made a couple different variants. Hopefully this is what you're looking for!

 

[Gottfried]

This is acceptable, what can else I said? Really... really thank you!

 

[Elf_Lord]

No problem! Just let me know if you need anything else!

 

[Gottfried]

Thanks! I will, hope so! I promise I will not pester you per diem.

 

[deepstrasz]

Strange golem. I mean if they're not supposed to talk, the noises come from their movement?

 

[Gottfried]

Ammmmm.... well, golems really not talk, but some of them can able to make some grumbling sound, as I saw in Witcher (All three games), Warcraft and Dungeon Siege, also in a version of the old European legends, the golem complaining about, that it not able to read. (far as I planned, that it builder able to translate the noises for other people. I will accept every suggestion, criticism and improvement ideas)

 

[deepstrasz]

also in a version of the old European legends, the golem

I really know the golem belongs to Semite mythology.

 

[Gottfried]

True! Also a rabbi made the iconic golem in the 16th century maybe as I read, I used it for an inspiration as well as the Witcher series (which is a revolutionary hard-fantasy in my point of view. Why? When you read all notes, books and other things like that, a well documented world appears before the player.

Anyway (just for know): I will accept every suggestion, criticism and improvement ideas. Write me anywhere and I see it.

 

[Elf_Lord]

@Gottfried Here are some pieces in my possession that are under 1 MB in size. I actually have been able to find quite a few excellent pieces between 1 and 1.5 MB, if that interests you.

DISCLAIMER: None of these were composed by myself. They all come from the excellent folks at Newgrounds and are all completely free amateur pieces created for video games and the like; most of the songs have their creator's name attached to the song so you know who to credit, but if not you should be able to just search the Newgrounds audio section to find these particular pieces.

I also recommend looking up Heart of Storms. It's an old (and I believe dead) campaign project here on the Hive and it has an entirely original soundtrack featuring several songs of fairly low filesize, including a few under 500 kB.

 

[Gottfried]

Thank you, I will see this page.

 

[Elf_Lord]

@darwin Alright, here are some early takes. Ignore the paper rustling; I'm in a bit of a rush so I was using an old piece of notebook paper as a pop screen (which is not the greatest solution). I tried to embody both youth and the imperious nature of a highly-regarded commander; some of these drift more in one direction than the other. The first four use a touch of my "fantasy" accent, which is vaguely British I suppose, while I deliberately toned it down for takes 5 & 6. Just tell me which is closest to what you're looking for (if any) and I will do more takes using the same general idea of the character. Also, some sort of backstory for the character might be useful now that I think about it, so I can be a little more on top of his motivations (or at least his given circumstances).

UPDATE: Alright, here is a reaaaally rough draft. I will be doing more takes; I made this mostly to make sure I had a baseline voice and so you could review it and make sure I was capturing the emotion you want (not to mention pronouncing everything right). I will record some more polished variants this weekend.

 

[Elf_Lord]

Alright, I just wanted to share this one, as I'm particularly proud of it. This is my portrayal of Viithas Deeptyde, a Naga warlord left behind by Illidan in Northrend after the events of the Frozen Throne. He's a minor antagonist/boss from my campaign project Chasing the Dawn, but with my schedule I'm uncertain if I'll get to his part in the campaign anytime soon, so I've decided to post it here. Enjoy? I guess?

 

[deepstrasz]

Enjoy? I guess?

Well.... I like it. So... cold...

 

[LordDz]

This is some good content. I like.

 

[Roland]

Alright here's my new request.

I want you to portray your voice into a Schizophrenic patient 10x times more scary and insane.. Much like Gollum talking to himself and some Insane laughs and some Rage shouts of a insane patient.

 

[Elf_Lord]

Is there anything in particular you want said or anything? Context would be very good for making sure what the patient is saying is appropriate. (For instance, he shouldn't be talking about his car if it's medieval, etc.)

I also might have some stock files that might interest you in this regard. I was working on a psychological thriller/horror map a year or so ago called Corruption (another one of my endless unfinished projects), and I had recorded some test files for it. If any of them sound like they might fit what you're doing, I'll upload them.

 

[Roland]

I needed it as a horror project I've been personally making for the past 7 months, I've been compiling all horrifying/petrifying sounds of people as an ambiance.

 

[NightStalker]

Lord Garithos is the style for what I'd like to hear in one of my highborn characters in my campaign :3 I will contact you when time comes

 

[Elf_Lord]

General advisory: I'm sorry for any inconvenience, but I will not be able to do recordings until Tuesday or Wednesday. My schedule has been completely packed all week. I will get any recordings you need to you as soon as possible.

@NightStalker06698 I always loved the Highborne! Let me know when you need me!
@Roland Okay. If it's just background noise, I'll improv it and we'll see what happens. I have no idea if this will be useful to you, by the way, but the attached file is this a random improvised thing I did for Corruption. I haven't listened to the whole thing in a while (I think it's like five minutes) but it's basically just me saying creepy nihilistic stuff in a pathetic/discordant voice. It's weird and probably useless, but just thought I'd offer it up.

 

[deepstrasz]

Muterrer is kind of monotone and, well, sounds edited: reverb and all those types of fx.

 

[Roland]

@Elf_Lord Damn, I love the filter you've done from the audio, but could you make it a bit a Violent mood like screams, Rages and something like that? I want the portrayer to have a Violent manner of his voice anyway, Great job.

 

[Elf_Lord]

I am aware that the Mutterer isn't what you were going for (and that it sounds edited). I haven't done a recording for you yet; this was just an old file I had sitting around that I thought might be useful.

 

[Roland]

@Elf_Lord Dude, You did the right thing and I'm proud of it! Now i'm requesting a Variation of a mutterer but much more violent manner.

 

[Elf_Lord]

@NightStalker06698 Alrighty then, here's my test run. First two are completely unedited. Roman dude got pitch-dropped a little bit for effect but otherwise untouched (also, he says a lot of redundant stuff, I've noticed... just found it kinda funny). When it's less late and I'm less tired, I can probably get a more imperious-sounding guy out of the centurion dude.
@darwin Way too little and way too late, perhaps, but here's a random retake of Arkonitus's line. I'm not sure how well it fits into the rest of the line (for the life of me I could not find the original take of that line in the recording). If it doesn't fit let me know and I'll redo it.
@Sclammerz The Gate Keeper sounds pretty good, I think. Czecharia... well, I tried, and she doesn't sound completely awful. That being said, Herrya is not happening. I cannot provide a strong enough feminine voice to do hers properly, and I apologize. Both the Gate Keeper and Czecharia can easily have their effects increased, decreased, changed, or removed entirely, depending on your needs.

@Roland, I will get to yours shortly. My roommate is already super ticked off at me for doing all this stuff and I'm not sure he'd like me screaming and raving like a lunatic at midnight.

EDIT: Oh, and I apologize for the weird crumply sound that happens on a couple harder consonants, particularly in Czecharia. I had the wonderful idea to use a plastic bag as a pop screen and then did not manage to get a remotely decent take of her after I stopped.

 

[Roland]

@Elf_Lord Lol, It's okay, but find some time that no one's at your location and you can do your Portrayal of a insane patient, I'll give you some time.

 

[NightStalker]

Ahahaha just saw them from phone theyre all awesome. I loved the scottish accent soap was very well done btw in ways of uding your voice as well the roman guy was very good too

I forgot to tell you that the fisherman was a bit old but apart from it his accent is awesome again ill surely write to you when the time comes mate ^^

 

[darwin]

@darwin Way too little and way too late, perhaps, but here's a random retake of Arkonitus's line. I'm not sure how well it fits into the rest of the line (for the life of me I could not find the original take of that line in the recording). If it doesn't fit let me know and I'll redo it.

It's not too late at all, thanks so much! I'll splice it in.

 

[Elf_Lord]

I have become very fond of this voice effect. Anyway, @Sclammerz, here is the Gate Keeper. I will do Czecharia (and by extension Roland's mad patient) tomorrow when there are less people around to be disturbed by it.

 

[Elf_Lord]

@Sclammerz Here's Czecharia. Still not my greatest work, I fear, but at least it doesn't suffer from that rustling the last version did.

 

[Elf_Lord]

Roland, I apologize for delays. I did a few takes of your schizophrenic patient but they didn't come out well, and I've been having massive computer troubles the past week in addition to holiday stuff so I've gotten way behind on some projects of mine that I need to work on. I have not forgotten you and will get this done as soon as I can.

 

[Roland]

Roland, I apologize for delays. I did a few takes of your schizophrenic patient but they didn't come out well, and I've been having massive computer troubles the past week in addition to holiday stuff so I've gotten way behind on some projects of mine that I need to work on. I have not forgotten you and will get this done as soon as I can.

Nah. Take your time and enjoy the holidays
But I'm expecting that the request will be done on January 25, 2017.