Voice Acting!

[Thalraxal]

I'd like to do some voicing acting for an SC project I'm working on, and I'd like some advice on how to do this.

First up, sound recording software.  I've heard Goldweave and Audacity (?) mentioned as been good (and most importantly, free!) options.  What are the benefits of each program?  The downsides?

Secondly, I'd welcome advice on recording voices for Protoss (specifically: High Templar, Dark Templar and Archons) and Zerg Cerebrates.

[Anonymous]

Audacity is a horrible, horrible program. Stay far away from it if you want to keep your sanity.

Goldwave is a good place to start, though. Interface is a bit annoying at times but not nearly as infuriating as the aforementioned trainwreck's. It also flushes the toilet, unlike audacity, which you can easily end up eating 2gigs of pagefile even though you have nothing opened.

As for advice in recording, the biggest thing that affects a lot of the voice actors (ie 99%) in our community is the lack of the ability to become the character you are voicing. It is more than placing emphasis on words and more than speaking lines in a particular tone. Voice acting is indeed a very important aspect of acting, one even more difficult than visually acting. So, it will take a great deal of practice to get the voice right.

As for effects, to start you off - use reverse, reverb/echo/whatever, reverse to achieve a kind of psionic protossy effect. It will take experimentation to achieve the right feel, but you can explore that sequence and learn something along the way about how the settings for the programs work, although the settings across programs vary a lot. Audition 1.5 is the best sound editing program I've yet to come across, so that's what I personally use.

edit -

Also, general recording tips;

- Turn off any fans or anything you have going in the background. Although there are ways to remove background sound (of which I am unsure of how to accomplish in goldwave), they will distort what you keep.
- If you are serious about voice acting you will want to invest in a good microphone, preferably one with a breath shield of some kind.

[Milldawg]

If you find that your aspirated sounds (p, t, k) create annoying pops, try holding a tissue between your mouth and the microphone.  (Or get a fancy mic with a breath shield as Mesk mentioned).

[IskatuMesk]

I'd also suggest not speaking TO the mic. My mic is to the side, at the side of my monitor, pointed at my face, but not in the direct path of my breath.

[Legion]

Like Doc said, acting is the most important part of the job. The effects are nice and certainly define your character, but everything should not depend on effects alone.

For one single simple line, I usually do about 4/5 takes before I get it right. And even then I edit out, and re-record parts.