I am not an audio pro and can't give you tricks to improve sounds, I will just give you my feeling.
I think that in your case, your intonation is the main cause.
You should try to be more dynamic, and to be in harmony with what you say excepted if you are supposed to be a bot without any feeling. You seem to just read the words without caring about the sense, it is not stimulating at all. For an example, for "I'm ready when you are", you should say it much more dynamicly if it is for a soldier, or for fight orders or anything relative to intensive action, as if the soldier only waits to fight and is ready and nervous, or could be the sleepy version of the human worker in Warcraft 3, just find yours according to your use, but don't just say words.
You are totally neutral in your intonations, so excepted the words, you don't send any message. Hear SC2 voices, each of them has a soul, a strong and theatrical personality.
You can listen to game voices to get ideas for intonations, for which message you want to send.
An other issue that I noticed is a low quality or something : your sounds are strange, seems there is 2 channels, one louder than the other, maybe with your pitch you have modified only one channel, no idea, but the result is not great in my opinion.
Drastic amounts of noise removal.
Audio normalization.
If you dont have alot of expensive equipment there is things you can do to still get a clean audio sound. The hiss and static of either your mic or your recording environment is awful.
If you want to get rid of the low quality sound because youre ambient sounds are echoing in your recording. Record your audio under a heavy blanket or into a box lined with soft foam padding. The idea is to have a reflection filter. You can even record in a closet with alot of clothes.
Less words (I'm ready when you are -> Ready when you are)
More excitement needed too, Sounds boring.
An expensive microphone and a decent quite room to record in. Most microphones are aimed at voice chat and other such tasks which do not require high quality audio. As such they suffer from bad frequency response and signal to noise, especially in the high frequency range. Although you can remove the noise to some extent you cannot recover high frequency information as that was never recorded. A decent microphone should also have a good cone of attenuation which you can aim at your face to cut out most background noise rather than sampling every sound in the room like an ear or video camera.
The idea is to have a reflection filter. You can even record in a closet with alot of clothes.
To expand on this -
The materials in your recording environment are extremely important. Even my most casual viewers noticed a huge difference when I moved in my mic quality, and it was entirely from the environment. In my previous environment, the closet beside me pronounced reverb due to the finish on it. There was a window in front of me with, at best, closed blinds. They're plastic, a very flat, reflective sort of surface. Behind me was a bathroom and a fairly open room. Like throwing a sausage into an empty water tank.
Although my new room is much larger, the carpet is thicker, the ceiling is using panels typical of an office setting which absorb echo to an extent, and there are thick, rolling cloth curtains behind me. I also disrupted the environment to either sides with soft, angular surfaces to "trap" audio waves and piled boxes in angles behind me to disrupt bouncing lard. I studied a bit of acoustic/studio stuff shortly before we moved, so I tried to place my desk in a manner which prohibited immediate audio bouncing and not just anywhere. I did not expect the difference to be that big, but it was. Same hardware, same settings, totally different quality. Especially when you use something like a compressor that tends to jack up those ambient reverb tails.
Nonetheless, for around $200 CAD, I was able to get a heavy duty stand and an isolation shield that could fit to my Blue Yeti. The results for those samples were extremely clear despite the entire setup only being about $420 or so CAD (blaze it).
Compressors with a very strong effect on low volumes can still pick up even trace reverb, as seen in this sample (though note it's a different mic than the other sample). This super-strong compressor is used for my video projects to level out the mic and game audio since I work with merged streams, which is a nightmare for balancing volumes. Background audio gets picked up really easily by it, and noise removal filters would dramatically impact overall quality, so the environment must be as noise-free as possible.
Back in Warcraft 3's youthful days, some of the bigger campaigns came to me for remastering. The kind of things they handed me were probably illegal in certain states. Audio quality that you could feel rotting your kidneys. I was actually pretty successful in cleaning them, but there's a few things you should understand about noise removal and the costs it has. That I got a workable result was a miracle, but "workable" was, in my eyes, "bearable to listen to" and no one should settle for that today. That it got to the stage it needed remastering meant it was doomed for mediocre results from the start, and that's no good m8. Noise removal impacts the sample because it targets information your voice also contains. Focus on environment, then posture, then worry about editing after you have an acceptable result to edit. And, of course, less is more. Take it easy on effects. Experiment with them as individuals and learn how they can contribute to each other before vomiting into a big heap.
I won't even get into the whole acting thing, I could be here for weeks if I do. All I can really summarize there is - acting makes most people, including the vast majority of people who post samples on this forum, uncomfortable. They may not even realize it, but their voice exudes it. I could go on about how to embrace your character and blah blah but you probably get all that. I could tell you "practice!!" but you probably get that. I think the most useful thing I could encourage you to do is first get accustomed to the sound of your own voice. Out of all of the people I've tutored probably 90% of them told me they don't like the sound of their own voice and this was their first roadblock to overcome. Following that, speak lengthy dialogue. Cite audiobook passages and then actual dialogue with inflection. Work on longer pieces so you understand the value of intonation in shorter pieces. Becoming a caster and reviewer tremendously improved my voice acting and at that point I already had over 15 years experience in it. Issue was I hated my voice and had zero social interaction outside of the internet, so my general voice was underdeveloped. Learning my voice, becoming comfortable with it, and then working with it allowed me to control it in ways I never thought possible previous.
I'm opposed to the expensive microphone idea. You can make do with a cheap lav mic but its gonna cost you time in processing after recording. But if you want to reduce time in processing, an expensive mic will do you well.
If you really wanna go all out on expensive mics get an AT2020 and a Focusrite interface. Focusrite being the cheapest, trusted, and durable interfaces in the market. AT2020 being one that sounds good, cheap, and durable in its own market.
If you're just doing it maybe earn a couple of extra bucks, a samson c01u should suit you well.
If you're just doing it for the heck of it, those 20 dollar usb mics from ebay is enough.
and more like they were recorded for a video game.
I was using my own voice, not trying to impersonate anyone else, and then I did a slight pitch change.
Another user playing one of my maps said my about custom voice ".... its a cheap voiceover"
Does anyone have a checklist of what and what not to do to make your recordings sound more professional?
Here's a sample of my current attempts: Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/download/yzfeexgfxbsqlh7/argent understood.ogg Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/download/hoc4ammc6a67udc/argent on my way.ogg http://www.mediafire.com/download/g9loc8wn6b6mk1z/argent+what's+up.ogg Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/download/5b3camv8hsleagg/argent ready when you are.ogg
I am not an audio pro and can't give you tricks to improve sounds, I will just give you my feeling.
I think that in your case, your intonation is the main cause. You should try to be more dynamic, and to be in harmony with what you say excepted if you are supposed to be a bot without any feeling. You seem to just read the words without caring about the sense, it is not stimulating at all. For an example, for "I'm ready when you are", you should say it much more dynamicly if it is for a soldier, or for fight orders or anything relative to intensive action, as if the soldier only waits to fight and is ready and nervous, or could be the sleepy version of the human worker in Warcraft 3, just find yours according to your use, but don't just say words.
You are totally neutral in your intonations, so excepted the words, you don't send any message. Hear SC2 voices, each of them has a soul, a strong and theatrical personality. You can listen to game voices to get ideas for intonations, for which message you want to send.
An other issue that I noticed is a low quality or something : your sounds are strange, seems there is 2 channels, one louder than the other, maybe with your pitch you have modified only one channel, no idea, but the result is not great in my opinion.
To be a voice actor is a whole job, good luck.
I re-recorded the following files and decided to drop the pitch change. Let me know if you think I've improved at all.
Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/download/e7dngz0lrr3p9rj/argent ready when you are.wav Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/download/xa4rb6j9rk47ago/argent on my way.wav http://www.mediafire.com/download/5cai94hwni9am10/argent+what's+up.wav Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/download/cfrf6ic51tzrhwb/argent got it.wav
I think it's clearly your mic and recording environment.
I know that with audacity, you can clear background noise.
Drastic amounts of noise removal.
Audio normalization.
If you dont have alot of expensive equipment there is things you can do to still get a clean audio sound. The hiss and static of either your mic or your recording environment is awful.
If you want to get rid of the low quality sound because youre ambient sounds are echoing in your recording. Record your audio under a heavy blanket or into a box lined with soft foam padding. The idea is to have a reflection filter. You can even record in a closet with alot of clothes.
Less words (I'm ready when you are -> Ready when you are)
More excitement needed too, Sounds boring.
I used to work in a recording studio
It turns out I had a microphone setting messed up. Thanks for your help everyone.
An expensive microphone and a decent quite room to record in. Most microphones are aimed at voice chat and other such tasks which do not require high quality audio. As such they suffer from bad frequency response and signal to noise, especially in the high frequency range. Although you can remove the noise to some extent you cannot recover high frequency information as that was never recorded. A decent microphone should also have a good cone of attenuation which you can aim at your face to cut out most background noise rather than sampling every sound in the room like an ear or video camera.
To expand on this -
The materials in your recording environment are extremely important. Even my most casual viewers noticed a huge difference when I moved in my mic quality, and it was entirely from the environment. In my previous environment, the closet beside me pronounced reverb due to the finish on it. There was a window in front of me with, at best, closed blinds. They're plastic, a very flat, reflective sort of surface. Behind me was a bathroom and a fairly open room. Like throwing a sausage into an empty water tank.
Although my new room is much larger, the carpet is thicker, the ceiling is using panels typical of an office setting which absorb echo to an extent, and there are thick, rolling cloth curtains behind me. I also disrupted the environment to either sides with soft, angular surfaces to "trap" audio waves and piled boxes in angles behind me to disrupt bouncing lard. I studied a bit of acoustic/studio stuff shortly before we moved, so I tried to place my desk in a manner which prohibited immediate audio bouncing and not just anywhere. I did not expect the difference to be that big, but it was. Same hardware, same settings, totally different quality. Especially when you use something like a compressor that tends to jack up those ambient reverb tails.
Nonetheless, for around $200 CAD, I was able to get a heavy duty stand and an isolation shield that could fit to my Blue Yeti. The results for those samples were extremely clear despite the entire setup only being about $420 or so CAD (blaze it).
Compressors with a very strong effect on low volumes can still pick up even trace reverb, as seen in this sample (though note it's a different mic than the other sample). This super-strong compressor is used for my video projects to level out the mic and game audio since I work with merged streams, which is a nightmare for balancing volumes. Background audio gets picked up really easily by it, and noise removal filters would dramatically impact overall quality, so the environment must be as noise-free as possible.
Back in Warcraft 3's youthful days, some of the bigger campaigns came to me for remastering. The kind of things they handed me were probably illegal in certain states. Audio quality that you could feel rotting your kidneys. I was actually pretty successful in cleaning them, but there's a few things you should understand about noise removal and the costs it has. That I got a workable result was a miracle, but "workable" was, in my eyes, "bearable to listen to" and no one should settle for that today. That it got to the stage it needed remastering meant it was doomed for mediocre results from the start, and that's no good m8. Noise removal impacts the sample because it targets information your voice also contains. Focus on environment, then posture, then worry about editing after you have an acceptable result to edit. And, of course, less is more. Take it easy on effects. Experiment with them as individuals and learn how they can contribute to each other before vomiting into a big heap.
I won't even get into the whole acting thing, I could be here for weeks if I do. All I can really summarize there is - acting makes most people, including the vast majority of people who post samples on this forum, uncomfortable. They may not even realize it, but their voice exudes it. I could go on about how to embrace your character and blah blah but you probably get all that. I could tell you "practice!!" but you probably get that. I think the most useful thing I could encourage you to do is first get accustomed to the sound of your own voice. Out of all of the people I've tutored probably 90% of them told me they don't like the sound of their own voice and this was their first roadblock to overcome. Following that, speak lengthy dialogue. Cite audiobook passages and then actual dialogue with inflection. Work on longer pieces so you understand the value of intonation in shorter pieces. Becoming a caster and reviewer tremendously improved my voice acting and at that point I already had over 15 years experience in it. Issue was I hated my voice and had zero social interaction outside of the internet, so my general voice was underdeveloped. Learning my voice, becoming comfortable with it, and then working with it allowed me to control it in ways I never thought possible previous.
Last, but not least, u gotta skate
I'm opposed to the expensive microphone idea. You can make do with a cheap lav mic but its gonna cost you time in processing after recording. But if you want to reduce time in processing, an expensive mic will do you well.
If you really wanna go all out on expensive mics get an AT2020 and a Focusrite interface. Focusrite being the cheapest, trusted, and durable interfaces in the market. AT2020 being one that sounds good, cheap, and durable in its own market.
If you're just doing it maybe earn a couple of extra bucks, a samson c01u should suit you well.
If you're just doing it for the heck of it, those 20 dollar usb mics from ebay is enough.
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