Morroblivion

Seems this project is finally going somewere. But the quality is uneven at best.

@Ashlander guy, wow you sound very good, impressive. I wish I could do a Dummer voice.

@Icelander, you recordings are uneven, if your using audacity you should use some of tools that reducde noise and even things out. Its amazing what you can do with cheap equipment using audacitys tools. Also as far as your acting goes perhaps relaxing more would help, some of your lines come off forced.

Kefka: By 'Iclander' are you refering to me, 'Iceburg'? Icelander does sound kind of cool.....

Ya, no kidding. I'm using audacity and use noise removal and a compresser on each file. Hashpat was a HUGE pain beccause even though I recorded over 90% of his lines at the same time in the same place, I had to reset my noise removal tool between almost every track. Even with that, noise removal was having a fit, making the sound electronic or undewater sounding. (Might have been what contributed to that 'forced' feel, because I had trouble with it altering some of my higher pithces.) None of the other characters have given me so much trouble. Fortunatly, you don't notice much sound variance when you talk to the characters in game, due to the game's ambient sounds.... I'm also running out of different, unique voices to do for new characters, which means after I've cleaned up Gilvas' lines and do Divayth Fry, I'll probably not be able to do any more characters for the main quest. (In which case I'll work on the bosmer voice, sense that's just one new voice with a lot of material, so I can continue contributing.)

This makes it all the more essential that people like you grab a character and put your unique voice into him/her. We could really use the help. :)

Robert: Sounds good; will do. :D

Well, I don't know how to help you. As you can see on this thread, I've constantly checked with Sot to make sure my voice files worked well, and I've gotten the green light. If you want to suggest some individual files I can look at them and possibly re-record them, but I'm not going to go back and re-record all my files/ characters again. I think they're quality works for the project, minus some annoyances with Hasphat. I've also worked to sound natural with my voice, and I like how it sounds. I quit Dram Bero because I felt like he was forced...

Sorry I can't help you more than that.

Iceburg

ps. If you want to give me any advice that isn't already written in this thread, then I wouldn't mind hearing it. ;) I'm open for improving myself, just not starting back at square 1.

Decent production is not hard to get, I have a $15 dollar mike and use audacity, ask Robert about the files I had sent to him(too lazy to look for them right now). Its basically an issue of consistency, you establish a baseline, for volume, how you physically hold and speak into the mike(closeness to month and whatnot),etc and then do that for every recording. I only did my first voice work this year and did not do much of it besides, but with a little research and a lot of experimenting I was able to get decent results.

What it sounds like with Iceburg and I am referring to Baculu and Cadulus stuff specifically is that your recording methods themselves change each time(or at least several times between the recordings). Input volume, mike position, use of filters,etc.

Did you for example get a baseline by playing original MW  voice files through Audacity and then trying to match there levels? Did you pick a position were you know the mike is at a similar spot in relation to your month each time you record? Etc,etc.

I am no expert here I just find it odd that I often hear some very poor results when it come to the quality of recordings I hear in mods. I use to think it must simply have been equipment, but trying myself with a $15 logitech desk mike and audacity I was able to get cleaner results(less noise,odd sounds,etc) than a lot of amateur voice work I have heard. Perhaps the mike just happens to be very good for the price and the room I record in just happens to be decent I acoustically, but I find that unlikely.

I am no expert those were just a few of the things I did, simply trying to use the exact same methods for each recording session, though its hard and I had to record some line a dozen or more times to get things reasonable. And watch those levels! Is easy to throw everything off by doing a different voice(you end up being louded or softer and adding s sounds that you don't want,etc). 

And make sure to turn off air conditioners,etc. Even stuff way in the background can add ambient noise. The noise tool is great but less noise to start with mean less aggersive use of the tool and that is a good thing, because heavy use of the tool can affect the overall quailty of the recording in odd ways.

Kefka, I've seen that striving for excellence as well. One of the wonderful things about this site is that we arn't assigned to any specific job, its all volunteer work. If your disatisfied with someone else's audio (mine, for instance), you can always submit your rendition of the character, and if everyone thinks yours is better, then they can use yours, because neither of us have been commissioned or paid. Of course, with such a shortage of voice actors, that would be rather foolish to compete with roles that are already done, but if you submited some really sweet audio (take ashlander for example) then people will be impressed and ask you for your advice on how to improve. You can't force us to change, but your excellence can improve us by letting us choose to follow you.

Huh, that's pretty good! :D Good sound quality and good inflections. I liked it.

Kefka, your real name isn't Bradly by any chance, is it? You sound like a guy that I took an english class with...

Thanks Robert!

Sure! Though it may take me a while. I'm working on testing through all of my voice stuff and cleaning some files, and I havn't made much progress as of yet. Once I do get done with that stuff though, I could run through this one too. ;)

I don't have the specific equipment and programs recommended in the first post, but I might be able to come in handy in some small way if I had some help.

When I used to work at a bookstore I did the closing messages each night over the loudspeaker and was individually approached by the entire staff and told that I sounded "professional enough to have been a recording" and that I should look into voice-over work. While the former was obviously a specific instance, the latter is something I admit to having been told a few times over the years.

I don't want to oversell myself though- it's all subjective; others could find me terrible. But I do know that I speak well and enjoy doing voices so if there's any way I could help the project in such a manner, feel free to let me know. As I said, I don't currently have the equipment or intricate familiarity with the CS or anything, but if you guys are still looking for some gaps to be filled and would be interested, I could look into making some samples or something.

I wonder though- does everyone agree on inflections and such? Would we be to speak the voices in a more natural style, or kind of a deliberate "actor-y" style such as, for example, the Nords of Oblivion?

Well the professional work was just sort of a fleeting "that would be nice" kind of dream; nothing I have any in-roads toward at the moment or have yet pursued. I just bring it up because, for whatever it's worth, others have told me that I'd be good at it and I DO find it to be fun. You're exactly right though- it would be an amazing way to begin a portfolio!

That's actually what I was kind of worried about- the enjoyment is there and the talent may or may not be as well (again; I know it's a subjective medium) but I'm just an average guy without an elaborate setup. And while I have basic familiarity with the CS and how some mods are made, the professionalism of the project and the inner workings of lip-syncing and managing files are things that I would be useless with. I guess what I mean is that I can potentially provide some voices, but the "modding" aspect of it is something with which I'm unfamiliar. At present I'd just be "a guy with a digital recorder".

But I mean if you're interested, I could at least give it a try and see if I can channel some Morrowind voices as a start and go from there. Do you have a preferred consistency as far as tone and rhythm? Kind of what I was saying earlier- is the goal for every character to sound somewhat unique to the game worlds while still retaining some of the "feel" of the official voices, or is the goal more akin to mimicry and emulation of them for a more uniform feel?

I don't know how I missed that voice over file; I'm giving it a look now.

I agree that random brogues shouldn't be added to the game. I love the series - I'm not nearly up on my lore like many of the rest of you are, but I'm sure that voices already specific to certain places on Earth would be a but much. I've been recording myself for a bit and listening back and I go back and forth between trying to emulate an Oblivion voice and doing one of my own, and I suppose I'm not yet sure where my groove is yet.

I've also tried a few different races, and for whatever reason Fargoth was one of the first to spring to mind. It felt pretty natural talking for him for some reason, and I was fairly pleased with the results, but then I noticed that Kefka already provided dialogue for him, lol.

Anyway I'm still putzing around a bit, trying some more voices. Like I said, I've just got the digital recorder but it makes it easy to send up some mp3s if anyone's interested. I could even send the Fargoth samples but I don't want to step on Kefka's toes. For some reason he just felt the most natural so far. While a famous character would be cool, I'd just be happy to help so if ultimately my voice can contribute to the project I don't care who I play.

Should there be concern for how deliberately paced the dialogue is, or do you prefer that it sounds more natural? Also, I noticed the pronunciation matter in ealier posts- that will be an interesting challenge as well (though not everyone pronounces everything the same in the real world, so my personal opinion is that "mis"-pronouncing a fantasy name would be okay).

Rock on Mike!

I talk a ton, so go for it. I find that talking helps me figure stuff out, so I think its a good thing, especially on a forum. :)

I'd love to hear some of your stuff, and I'm sure we can point you towards the right direction if you want to upload a couple variations. What we normally seem to do is to upload it to mediafire and then post a link here, as there is a pretty small file cap on the forum. Check out that first post to see which characters are open and which are assigned. We're trying to knock out the main quest first...

I work on making it sound as natural as I possibly can without adding or subtracting words, though I did notice that Oblivion voice actors will add an 'unscripted' laugh now and again....

Already I've pronounced names different than Sot :/ oh well. Ya it happens and at this point I think your right, maybe my character isn't educated well or something, or that's how they said it seyda neen....

Hope that helps. Keep the questions and enthusiasim coming!

:D

I got pretty busy last night but I managed to spend some time trying some characters. I tried some dialogue of several different races but my battery died and I was only able to get two saved to my desktop at the moment.

Here are some files of me taking a stab at Fargoth and Caius Cosades; chosen because they were easy to access quickly. Again, these are by no means any kind of official submission or anything- the sound is low and so was the recorder battery, so please don't judge too harshly- this was just a first step experiment in messing with a few voices.

http://www.mediafire.com/?cb33z7l4k4ybi3c

Thanks for the compliment!

I'm a bit bummed because yeah, I know those characters are taken but I was surpised at how fun I thought Imperials would be and that I'd had SUCH an easy time being annoying Fargoth. I started thinking I could totally do the Wood Elves, saw they were taken, then started thinking eh, maybe I could do the Imperials but then saw that they were taken too, lol. Unfortunately the characters I would have the easiest time with all appear to have been spoken for.

I'll fiddle with the beast races tonight and see if I come up with anything good, although I admit that they're the characters I'd have the hardest time with, primarily because the familiarity isn't there- I've never played through the game with them, the only ones besides High Elves to have not had a play-through. I wouldn't be opposed to the Dunmer but I don't think I could do all of them, being that they're the most prevalent race and I have probably the least amount of equipment, lol.

And yeah, I myself have always been in the habit of pronouncing it as "Huh-LAH-lu". Different strokes. Speaking of spoken dialogue, I just thought of something- can't the voice files from Morrowind itself be transferred over with the mod? Obviously there's many and I'm assuming that if the answer was yes it would have been done already, but I'm curious what prevents it so far.

Anyway thanks again for the compliment. If my unideal setup on my first attempt was met with such approval, then I have hope of maybe helping the project. Now to slip Sot or Kefka some cash so they give up their characters... XD

I kinda completely forgot about voice overs! It seems like I've deleted my Yagrum Bagarn recordings and I am not in the mood to record them again anytime sooner, so you can erase my name from him. About Dagoth Gares, could you please check out if I have successfully edited my recordings, I can't understand it myself.

http://www.mediafire.com/?522ndee2jxyioem

There are three files:

Original recording
The one I edited
And the one I added echo  to the edited as Gares is in a cave which may cause actual echo.

After you approve my recording is okay I can edit and send you the other recordings.

This is an awesome effort guys! Just heard Sot and iceburg in Balmore (Caius and Bacola respectively). Keep it up!

Bacola was done by a friend, and I need to clean up a couple of those files, but Thanks man!

I really need to get back to working on this voice stuff again.

It's exciting to see people renewing the enthusiasim of this thread. 

:D

Could you do Dram Bero?

I am sorry, I couldn't understand well, only putting mp3 files to the right directory with the correct name told to us, is enough? Do we have to do anytihng about lip synch?

I just got a new headset and the sound quality is pretty good. I may help in with this a little bit.

edit: I think i'd like to do hayleea.

Man that would be cool if you guys could team up to make even more realistic sounding voice files... Then we can overwrite what files have been voice acted with the actually acted files, and move ever closer to great, fully dialoged Morroblivion. :D

 It'd be awesome to have you help us out here! This thread's been 'dead' for a while, and I havn't seen Sot around, but basically check out the first post. Grab a character that hasn't already been claimed and see what  you can do with them. Then post a mediafire link here. Who knows how long it'll be till this gets revived, but you being here may do the trick.

At the moment the best I can point you to is checking out the very begeining of this thread and skimming it for a general idea. Depending on my schedule I may be able to answer you some specific questions from time to time.

I'm not sure if you *can* do voice recording without the set. The link shows you where the set is. It's free, so if you're willing you can grab that and get working. I'm not sure if there is another way to do it...

Best of luck!