audio e-mail's

[DiDiT]

awhile ago, I whipped out my copy of Alpha Centauri, the great turn-based game, and I realised that one of its coolest features was whenever you researched something, you got a really cool sound file of some random person telling you about it. there is nothing quite like having some random old dude tell you about synthetic oil, now is there?

now, I was thinking, if we can gather enough voice actors to a record a file for each research proposal and result in UFO, respectively, It would massively boost the games atmosphere. finding voice actors for each of scientists and such would be kind of difficult, not to mention trying to find a full cast for each of the different languages games available in but, the overall result would be a much deeper feel the game which draws the player in and keeps them hooked. I think, if we could spare the time and the resources, this should definitely be on TODO list.

I would volunteer my voice, but, due to the fact only sixteen, I doubt my voice is very suitable, but I'm sure we can find some people to fill the jobs.

_{then again, I could always just lower the pitch, that seems to work quite well... but, no one's interested in hearing me speak, are they?}

[Destructavator]

We looked into something similar to this before - voice acting for soldiers and units on the battlescape - but in the end it didn't happen.  We couldn't find enough people with access to the right recording equipment for the over-a-dozen-and-a-half languages and both genders.

Myself I am also a musician and have some pro-audio gear capable of making professional voice recordings, but I can really only speak English - If I were to try and "fake it" with pronunciation guides and translators it would still have an American accent and in the end wouldn't come out very good.

There just aren't enough voice actors available with the right gear, as I said we've tried before.

Edit:  If you happen to have access to good recording gear we could probably use non-language specific cries of pain or terror, etc. that don't have actual words.  If your voice really shows your age, that would actually be good, because we could use that for young civilians on the battlescape.

[DiDiT]

I know of a few voice acting sites that contain many different people of many different races. if you want I can have a look around and see if they could do some samples, perhaps the good luck e-mail from the beginning of the game would be good?

also I've happily do some voice acting, I'm a English speaker of British accent, so i hope that okay. my microphone isn't necessarily the best in the world, so I will most likely edit the sound a little afterwards. silly simple things like noise removal and pitch lowering, you know?. but if you are cool with that, I'll see what I can do. Wordless pain sounds, right?

[Destructavator]

also I've happily do some voice acting, I'm a English speaker of British accent, so i hope that okay. my microphone isn't necessarily the best in the world, so I will most likely edit the sound a little afterwards. silly simple things like noise removal and pitch lowering, you know?. but if you are cool with that, I'll see what I can do. Wordless pain sounds, right?

Sure, we could certainly try this - the more audio clips we have available for the game the better.

If you can clean the samples up a little with editing that's great, although if you don't have anything high-end or don't really have a serious DAW I could clean them up for you, I've done plenty of audio engineering work.

Please remember to choose an open-source or CC license that would work with our game, for your samples.

[DiDiT]

well, i gather from your site you've got quite some skill, so while i will do a little cleaning of the audio, you may want to make a few changes. so, hows sharp breathing, grunting and the such? would that do?

as for the licence... yeah... creative commons? 

[Destructavator]

Actually my website is several *years* out-of-date with regards to the HTML pages, I have much better gear since then and I don't even remember half of what's on there.  But this reminds me I really need to update it - thank you!

I'd say start with a few simple sounds, whatever you'd feel comfortable to begin with, and we can take a look at how they come out with your microphone and such, then work from there.  If they end up good enough, even after editing, we can look into discussing a list of sounds for you to try, and I would then get Winter's input as well (Winter is in charge of artwork, sound design, etc. for UFO: AI).

Yes, Creative Commons would be great, specifically the least restrictive one you feel comfortable with, as well as "un-ported" or non-nation specific.

[DiDiT]

right... well... wish me luck... here goes nothing...

I'v added my first example file as a attachment here, tell me what you think? even i think they are kinda poor, but i was kinda rambling...  

also, I'm gonna take a stab at reading a research Proposal out, and see how that goes. might be a little easier for me since I work better with a script.  

still, what do you think of this horrific first try?

oh, and I'm stuck on what CC to pick. I don't really care what happens to it, so long as i get a little mention in the credits somewhere, I'm good to go, so what one do i pick?

edit: OH, bear in mind, i DO have access to a better mic, just not right now, so im using the mic in my laptop screen... yeah... explains the crappy-ness a bit, no?

[Destructavator]

OK, if some of these were recorded with better hardware, I think a few of these might have potential, although it's a bit hard to tell with the audio encoded at a low-quality 128 bit rate.

You also seem to have the confidence that some people lack - Others who have tried recording samples have "chickened out" in the past and ended up not really contributing any audio, so I think that's a plus, the fact that you're bold enough.

I'd be interested in seeing what you can come up with when you get your hands on the better mic you mentioned, as well as recording at better quality - I'd start with un-compressed WAV files, which are easy to work with (for editing) and can then be compressed into the OGGs we use and still sound decent.  128-bit MP3 files just don't sound that good IMO.

[MCR]

Hey didit !
These samples really sound good for the first try, I wonder what you can do with a good microphone...
The click between the samples @ the beginning somehow reminds me of a professional production however, how did you make the click between the samples ?

Please check out this section, there are lots of samples needed:
http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php?board=9.0

The hurt- & deathsamples should go here:
http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php?topic=1527.0

[DiDiT]

yeah, well, Destructavator _{(mind if I call you Dave?)} , thanks. I didn't think i was being bold, just making some recordings for fun is all.  

So, I tried again with my slightly less crappy mic, and here goes.
http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=534890
it's not as bad as the first one, I might say, but still, I'm not saying its the best sounding clip ever.


oh, and MCR. thank you. the click was a accident, im not really sure what it was but it sounded good so I copied it between the sounds at the start to see if it worked...

[Destructavator]

These do sound sound better.

I'm going to try editing them in my DAW (audio engineering) software and see what I can turn them into.

BTW, what other microphones do you have access to?

(mind if I call you Dave?)

Sure, if that makes it easier, go ahead.   
(Quite a few people have trouble with my screen name actually, trying to remember how it is spelled and then posting something directed at me.)

[DiDiT]

okay Dave. thanks, hope its all good. cant wait to see what you do with it

yeah, I have a crappy screen based microphone, a nice but cheep hand-held microphone (the one I used) and a really bad one on a headset I use for dictation software. why do you ask?