Voice acting in mods

[kirby2112]

I've recently noticed something slightly saddening in some very high end, well made mods. The voice acting is painful. I have on a few occasions simply not finished due to the horrible voice acting. What's the deal with this?

(If anyone needs one, I'll do it.)

[Major Banter]

The 'deal' is that not all of us have access to a studio or high-tier talent. It's that simple.

I've noted your multiple posts regarding voice acting - all well and good, but where's the showreel?

[kirby2112]

The 'deal' is that not all of us have access to a studio or high-tier talent. It's that simple.

I've noted your multiple posts regarding voice acting - all well and good, but where's the showreel?

Well, I've been told by others that my range of voices is quite large... I don't really have a "Showreel", but I've been told that it's all I would be good at if I wanted to join a mod team or something... Plus, it would behard for me tomake a showreel if I didn't have someone telling me what kind of voice/noise or whatever to make...

[Saxon]

Most games have bad voice acting. Do you really expect a project with 0 budget to have good voice actors?

There are other problems too like crafting believable scenes with appropriate expressions / body language to match tone of voice, no mod team has the time for that sort of thing and it just isn't in their interest to bother doing so.

[Stormy]

Can you do a forty-something year old Spanish voice, with a strong sense of self adoration bordering on megalomania and a strong sexual and sensual innuendo to every sentence? Believe it or not I am actually keeping an eye out for such voice talent. I'm thinking of asking Frank Chavez.

[kirby2112]

Can you do a forty-something year old Spanish voice, with a strong sense of self adoration bordering on megalomania and a strong sexual and sensual innuendo to every sentence? Believe it or not I am actually keeping an eye out for such voice talent. I'm thinking of asking Frank Chavez.

If I knew what that sounded like, yes.

[Stormy]

youtube fernando martinez

[kirby2112]

youtube fernando martinez

Yeah, I could probably do that... I don't know where that voice would be necessary...

[Gambini]

I speak native spanish and can mimic some voices quite well. We can trade it for a few models black stormy!

[pk_hunter]

Voice actors need to invest in some decent equipment for me to even consider them for my projects. We get a surprisingly large number of requests from people wanting to be in The Core (even after we take down our casting calls when character positions are filled) and I always link them to my own setup if they are lacking in quality. It's under £100 now (I paid £120 a year and a half ago) and the quality is fantastic.

I'm also surprised nobody has asked kirby2112 what his recording setup is, especially when the original post is about mods with terrible voice acting. They can be the best actor in the world but it's no use if they're using a cheapo headset to record.
Investing in a studio is a ridiculous proposition for a no-budget mod. I say make the mod good enough to attract talented people with their own recording solutions.

Can't claim to have any authority in what I'm saying until Orion: Prelude is released, though. Then I can say my voice talent appears in a commercial game :3

[Gambini]

Well, the only solution I have in mind for my voice actors needs is a text to speech site that spits some great speechs (for text to speech standards, that´s it). So, i guess any decent voice acting i´d get would be fine. Also, sound experts can convert a lame record in a perfectly clean record by applying some filters, noice reductions and equalizations. Besides a few speechs I took borrowed from movies, everything else has to be custom recorded. I hate this fact of being "pushed" to make such things to meet the quality standards. I hate to waste time in faceposer lipsync-ing sounds, but i really need some NPCs to say something in order to introduce the player in my mod´s story.

[pk_hunter]

It's not so much about the noise and distortion of poor microphones which can, to an extent, be cleared up with filters. It's the dynamic range (or lack thereof) that is really noticeable. A tinny, flat sounding voice is one of the biggest immersion killers for me in mods and believe me - people do notice. You can work on the dynamics of a sound file 'til the cows come home, but if it was recorded on something sub-par then you're never going to get it good enough.

I also implore you not to look at it as being "pushed" to include quality sound with your project. It's a massive part of the player's experience and can be an incredibly satisfying thing to work on!

[fraggyver]

@Stormy. Ask Soulfather about that, he is a pretty neat voice actor. Not sure if he is capable of that special accent but worth a try. We could meet at TS3 somewhen at the weekend. Ill try to stay up late, to catch up with your timezone ;P

[Stormy]

I speak native spanish and can mimic some voices quite well. We can trade it for a few models black stormy!

@Stormy. Ask Soulfather about that, he is a pretty neat voice actor.

I may have to get some samples... but I won't be needing it for a while yet, my game is still in concept stages. That's why I'm just "keeping an eye out".

We could meet at TS3 somewhen at the weekend. Ill try to stay up late, to catch up with your timezone ;P

I would, but I'm at work this week and my laptop is buggered so I have no PC until wednesday. But next weekend I'm back home. Damn I've got some work to do though.

[fraggyver]

No Problem mate, im going to buy Diablo 3 today so i wont be too productive either next week