Hi everyone
Today I went to the studio to record the first section of lines for a new video game called Aquaria and I am voicing the lead character. As this is my first major paid role I thought I would write a little about the experience of recording in a studio as perhaps it will lessen the learning curve for any of you who end up in one!
I must admit I was a little nervous before hand, I had been sent the final version of the script about half an hour before I had to leave for the studio so there was not a huge amount of time to rehearse the lines. The script actually changed beyond all recognition to the first one I read from, which is something you need to be able to adapt to when VAing I guess. A lot of the process is out of your control and certainly with a game, your recording is just one tiny part of the process (even though to the player it seems a pretty crucial component.) But luckily the makers of the game have got their priorities right and wanted to invest some money in voice acting (as lets face it, a lot of VAing in games totally sucks). The difficulty for me was that they had tried various other actresses and had been a little disappointed with their acting and delivery. Many of them were overplaying the lines as if she was a cartoon character. This wasn’t going to work for this game as the character is dark and mysterious and most of the lines are her reflecting back on a memory. I did feel a certain amount of pressure to do a good job for these guys as they had a deadline to meet for the Independent Games Festival (http://www.igf.com/index.html).
Anyway I got to the studio and met the sound engineer who ironically was called Mr Fish so I knew it was fate that I ended up with him. He talked me through the set up and explained to me a bit about pro tools, the equipment and the pre amp. A lot of it went over my head but I did register the fact that the monitor controller was called ‘Big Knob’. Mr Fish said he liked it because “it was the only way he would ever get to have a big knob”. He then set me up on a nice Neumann microphone complete with pop screen. I decided I’d record standing up as… well I dunno why It seemed more comfortable. I was in a separate room from the sound engineer which was good as it felt like I was on my own and was less nerve wracking than having someone looking at you whilst you record.
The first few minutes were awkward as he was setting up and I was sorta alone in this big padded room with this ? mic in front of me, wondering what the hell I was doing there. But as soon as I started taking some deep breaths and doing some practice readings I knew I could do a good job. Well not doing a good job wasn’t really an option, I had people relying on me! We did some test recordings as I was curious as to how I sounded on a professional mic. The set up they had at this studio made my USB mic and speakers look totally lame. The sound quality was amazing, it was a very rich and warm sound and it took a bit of getting used to! It made even takes I thought were crap sound great and there was obviously no background noise to have to edit out!
I started working my way through the script at my own pace, re-doing lines I wasn’t happy with on the spot. Then after one read through of the script I went back into the mixing room and got to listen to the takes. We edited out the pauses, the ‘oh that was crap can I do it again?’ and the nervous laughter and ended up with massive wave file of lines. Mr Fish ran the lines through a de-esser which for those of you who don’t know makes s’s sound less ssy. Apparently women tend to have more of an Ssss sound to their voices so it helps tone that down a bit. When we had chosen the best takes it was time to check in with the game’s producers. The track was converted to MP3 and sent to their ftp server and the producers gave it a listen and gave me feedback over MSN. Thankfully they only wanted 2 lines done differently so it was back in the ‘padded room’ to do those again.
The worst lines I had to do were ‘dying sounds’. These had to be a kind of gasp of breath and exhale sound which… well me and Mr Fish had a bit of a laugh because some of them sounded rather…sexual. Apparently it is a fine line between orgasm and death. In fact I have not laughed so much in my life and had to get him to stop playing them on the speakers. I said to him, “Well if I ever become famous at least you can say you had me here first and you have the audio to prove it!”
Anyway the whole experience was new, nerve wracking, surreal but exciting. It is very hard to get in character and forget there is a mic there and someone listening in the next room. You can’t help but wonder ‘well what if they think I suck’ or ‘are they actually sitting at the mixing desk in a fit of laughter’. But I think, as I said earlier, that is part of the learning curve and you get used to being in that environment. I do think the process has given me more confidence in my ability as a voice actress and that next time I record, I can relax a little more. I think the major difference is knowing someone else was listening to me record. I have always been quite secretive and shy about my VAing and even my parents didn’t know what I had been in, they have not even heard my demo. I don’t know why I have never told them. I guess I worried they would think it was immature or just a bit of fun and that it could never be a career. Maybe now it is time to share with them what I have achieved. It has definitely re-kindled the passion I felt for VAing back when I was a newbie 6 years ago. I was ready to take things to a higher level and ready for a new challenge. I am not sure what the future holds for me and VAing. I mean I have spent 4 years training to be a Psychologist so I have some important decisions to make. I have always taken quite a pragmatic view of the acting industry… few people succeed and you have to cope with a lot of disappointment but somehow I think it is worth it just for the buzz of being on stage/performing. Now I have made those studio contacts I am considering going back to record a new demo, although I’ll always be attached to my current one as it took me about 4 years to actually get off my ass and mix one. There is also so much more I would like to learn about sound engineering. Mr Fish assures me it is all very easy but it didn’t look easy to me.
Anyway thanks for reading my little studio diary. I hope it was slightly interesting or useful to you. I thought it was apt to leave you with this sound clip from the game. Not because it was my best line but because it seems appropriate after today’s ‘adventure’.