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seiferalmasy63 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 18	Posted - Tue Jul 29, 2003 6:25 am  I'm recording a voice over for a games commercial and I want it to be really powerful so I'm going to make the voice really grand. I'm wondering how I would go about getting the voice effect you used to hear on UPN (in just about ever commercial) or in most cinematic trailers. Thanks for any help. _________________ Shion wa sekushi desu
SteveG Location: United Kingdom Posts: 6695	Posted - Tue Jul 29, 2003 9:38 am  It's quite easy really - first you need somebody with a really first-rate voice, then you need a sympathetic acoustic environment, and a really good condensor mic, and preamp. And a PC with a soundcard that's not made by Creative Labs - something like a Mia, or an Audiophile 2496. And then you need CEP, and preferrably a decent pair of monitors. Then all you need to do is coax a great performance out of your talent... Basically, it's not really an 'effect' you're after - it's a performance. You might compress it a bit to reduce the dynamics slightly, but if you get the right performance, you shouldn't have to do too much to it at all. THe moment you start processing the human voice, it shows - human ears are pretty attuned to the sound of it! If you've got a product that's worth it, then it's also worth promoting it properly. And unless you have the kit, and you know exactly what you are doing, it's not going to sound 'the business', IMHO. Now, this might sound a bit harsh, and people might tell you all sorts of other things to try, but ultimately, you have to ask yourself - why do the pros do it like this if there's no need? As they say in Yorkshire, 'You don't get owt for nowt'. So, what kit have you got? _________________
Craig Jackman Location: Canada Posts: 909	Posted - Tue Jul 29, 2003 1:22 pm  ... and the guy that voices most cinematic trailers makes millions and MILLIONS of dollars a year doing it. The human voice is an instrument. If you can't play your instrument, no amount of tweaking and digital poking is going to make it sound like you can. It's there or it isn't. You want to sound like the movie guy? Smoke 2 or 3 packs a day for 15 or twenty years, unfiltered preferably ... take acting lessons all the time ... learn to be a good writer, then go away and become a great writer ... all this will help you develop an emotional connection to your listener and sympathy and understanding for what you're talking about. Don't want to do that? That's OK, hire a talent agency to find you someone who has. _________________ Craig Jackman Production Supervisor CHEZ/CKBY/CIOX/CJET/CIWW Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
seiferalmasy63 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 18	Posted - Thu Jul 31, 2003 6:08 am  Wow, I can't belive people can make that kinda low basy almost humming noise with their voice. The thing is I'm on a very tight budget, I'm being paid after all I've got is the digiBeta footage and my Mac to di it on. Anyway thanks, I guess my performance will have to do. _________________ Shion wa sekushi desu
SteveG Location: United Kingdom Posts: 6695	Posted - Thu Jul 31, 2003 8:08 am  seiferalmasy63 wrote: Wow, I can't belive people can make that kinda low basy almost humming noise with their voice. The thing is I'm on a very tight budget, I'm being paid after all I've got is the digiBeta footage and my Mac to di it on. Anyway thanks, I guess my performance will have to do. A Mac? HAHAHAHA! Seriously, the first four items on my list are essential if you want the sort of result you are talking about. But how come you can afford a digiBeta shoot and edit, and no pro V/O? Was this just a budget c o c k-up? _________________
seiferalmasy63 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 18	Posted - Fri Aug 01, 2003 4:59 am  You forget this is a commercial for a video game, not shoot needed. Have you ever used a mac? Have you experienced the bliss of crash-free unix based performance? Yeah Macs were annoying until OSX. I have my own DVCAM and DigiBeta equiptment because I have my own on-line editing facilities. Anyway thanks, I'll get the stuff I don't have hired out. I've got pretty good and doing that kinda voice effect and if I blow out the bass frequencies it sounds even better so I'll give it a go and see if they like it. Thanks again! _________________ Shion wa sekushi desu
SteveG Location: United Kingdom Posts: 6695	Posted - Fri Aug 01, 2003 8:07 am  seiferalmasy63 wrote: You forget this is a commercial for a video game, not shoot needed. Have you ever used a mac? Yes, quite a bit, which is precisely why I don't like them... Quote: Have you experienced the bliss of crash-free unix based performance? Never on a Mac, but I did on a Sun workstation for a while. Quote: Yeah Macs were annoying until OSX. Whadda you mean were??? Quote: Anyway thanks, I'll get the stuff I don't have hired out. I've got pretty good and doing that kinda voice effect and if I blow out the bass frequencies it sounds even better so I'll give it a go and see if they like it. Thanks again! If it's a one-off, that's not a bad idea. And I'm an irredeemable, died-in-the-wool Mac-hater, so please don't take any of this personally. If you look around the forum, you'll find somewhere a long list of reasons for why a number of us dislike them intensely. The words over-priced, under-specified, unmodifiable spring to mind, and that's just the hardware... and we all know that OSX has had all sorts of problems with audio. The whole system just doesn't cut it unless you add some very expensive boxes - just like ProTools and Avid have had to do. A mac is basically little more than an under-powered shell. But hey, if you're happy... _________________
twright Location: USA Posts: 230	Posted - Fri Aug 01, 2003 10:37 am  i haven't used an apple computer since the IIe when i was in elementary school....LOL! and yes, i agree, macs are too damned expensive!
MusicConductor Location: USA Posts: 1524	Posted - Fri Aug 01, 2003 10:51 am  Is there any reason for us to be impressed with the new G5, "the world's most powerful personal computer?"
VoodooRadio Location: USA Posts: 3971	Posted - Fri Aug 01, 2003 4:20 pm  Quote: twright Posted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- i haven't used an apple computer since the IIe when i was in elementary school.... Well for some of us there wasn't even computers in Elementary school (or middle school for that fact)! _________________ I said Good Day! Voodoo
seiferalmasy63 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 18	Posted - Fri Aug 01, 2003 5:10 pm  Quote: And I'm an irredeemable, died-in-the-wool Mac-hater, so please don't take any of this personally. If you look around the forum, you'll find somewhere a long list of reasons for why a number of us dislike them intensely. The words over-priced, under-specified, unmodifiable spring to mind, and that's just the hardware... and we all know that OSX has had all sorts of problems with audio. The whole system just doesn't cut it unless you add some very expensive boxes - just like ProTools and Avid have had to do. A mac is basically little more than an under-powered shell. The G5 processor totally and utterly beats the crap out of the Pentium 4, but to be honest I agree they're massivley overpriced but until a little while ago I was wokring on Windows 2000 and I nearly lost a very big budget programme I'd directed and had been editing for weeks. When I have to do stuff in a propper post production house (usually when I've done something on film or need some specilist tools) I have to use Macs anyway so I've gotten used to them. Just as Windows finished itself for me OSX came out and did away with all the old idiocies of Macs that made them stupid difficult things to use like 1 button mice. That's fair enought if you hate macs but I just don't have that luxury, I have to work on everything (even Windows sometimes) like when I launch CoolEdit. For what I do a Mac is much better than a PC but it doesn't work that way for everyone, my PC was a 2GHZ Athlon XP and it was taking about 3 or 4 hours to do 3 seconds of video on full anti-alaising with Lightwave. On my PowerBook it takes about one and a half hours and on my G5 it takes about 50 minutes. Anyway I've got a bit off-topic but I'll do what you said, thanks! _________________ Shion wa sekushi desu
William Rose Location: USA Posts: 467	Posted - Sat Aug 02, 2003 2:43 am  Ah...the Apple IIc. I remember spending around four hours "programming" the thing to get it to play "Turkey In The Straw". It was beautiful. By programmming, of course, I mean typing in pages of code that appeared in various magazines. Nice paper they were printed on. If you allowed your fingers to remain in contact with the paper for too long, the code would come completely off the page and onto your thumb, so you carefully transferred the lifted portion onto another piece of ........ I also remember that by taking a chunk out of the corner of the floppys, you could make them "double sided". Effing Secret Agent Man.
VoodooRadio Location: USA Posts: 3971	Posted - Sat Aug 02, 2003 6:03 am  We used to walk all the way to school, barefoot, in the snow, in the mountains, ...... _________________ I said Good Day! Voodoo
SteveG Location: United Kingdom Posts: 6695	Posted - Sat Aug 02, 2003 8:46 am  seiferalmasy63 wrote: The G5 processor totally and utterly beats the crap out of the Pentium 4, but to be honest I agree they're massivley overpriced but until a little while ago I was wokring on Windows 2000 and I nearly lost a very big budget programme I'd directed and had been editing for weeks. If you want to believe the Apple hype, yes. OTOH, if you look at the objective NASA comparison, you'll see that the difference between a G5 and a P4 isn't so great at all - and that's comparing a 64-bit processor with a 32-bit one. And let's face it - P4's aren't the quickest things around, either. By the time that AMD have finished, the G5 will be where it belongs - desperately playing expensive, restricted architecture catch-up in a world that's (thankfully) passing Apple by... And I've never personally lost an anything-budget, high or low, job from a PC. And I know people who've had awful trouble with lost work on Macs. But neither case really proves a thing - this usually has far more to do with HDD manufacturers than it does with who's box you've got. But when it comes to ultimate data security systems, you can build PC systems that are far more robust than Mac ones - because you have the architecture flexibility that Apple denies you in order to make a vast profit. Suppliers who are not second-sourced are invariably going to make you more vulnerable. I'd rather sleep at night... _________________
post78 Location: USA Posts: 2887	Posted - Sat Aug 02, 2003 2:07 pm  VoodooRadio wrote: We used to walk all the way to school, barefoot, in the snow, in the mountains, ...... ...up hill both ways... _________________ Answer = 1. Probably.
VoodooRadio Location: USA Posts: 3971	Posted - Sat Aug 02, 2003 2:29 pm  Quote: post78 Posted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ...up hill both ways... Yea.. that's right. I'd forgotten about that part! _________________ I said Good Day! Voodoo
seiferalmasy63 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 18	Posted - Sun Aug 03, 2003 12:35 pm  Quote: a world that's (thankfully) passing Apple by... That really depends on who you are and what you're doing. I've never had a crash on OSX apart from time on someone else's computer. When it crashed a box came up and said 'what do you want to do? restart the app, end it, or wait?' I said restart and it reloaded my app with all the data I lost. Anyway like I said it depends on who you are and what you're doing, the motion picture industry (what I'm in) uses almost nothing but apple stuff because Windows is far, far, far to prone to crash if you streach it which we do all the time. The only other computer we use is some kind of hyper-modern Amiga for Lightwave. I have no idea what it is really because I don't use it. Anyway I say death to microsoft...bring on linux then we can all have a propper reliable operating system at a propper price on hardwear that doesn't require a second mortguage to aquire. _________________ Shion wa sekushi desu
SteveG Location: United Kingdom Posts: 6695	Posted - Sun Aug 03, 2003 2:07 pm  seiferalmasy63 wrote: Anyway I say death to microsoft...bring on linux then we can all have a propper reliable operating system at a propper price on hardwear that doesn't require a second mortguage to aquire. I've got a couple of dedicated Linux apps running which are remarkably stable - but I don't use it for regular computing. I'm not particularly a big fan of Microshaft either - but it's still a lot cheaper to use than Macware, and in many instances the available program S/W comfortably outperforms anything available to Mac users. Check out the SOS review of CEP2, for instance... _________________
Shawnm Location: USA Posts: 6	Posted - Mon Aug 04, 2003 10:36 am  Quote: Originally posted by seiferalmasy63 When it crashed a box came up and said 'what do you want to do? restart the app, end it, or wait?' I said restart and it reloaded my app with all the data I lost. Just like CEP, Vegas and a host of other windows based apps - simply amazing. I'm glad your camp is finally enjoying the benefits of preemptive multitasking (took long enough).;) Quote: Windows is far, far, far to prone to crash if you streach it which we do all the time. Yeah, the NASDAQ and amazon.com don't stretch Windows at all. The truth is that Windows can be VERY stable in a production environment, IF properly configured and maintained. Quote: Anyway I say death to microsoft...bring on linux Yes, and Apple would go out of business overnight. It's a kooky world when Microsoft Office is the most popular software on the Mac platform and when Microsoft input devices are the peripherals of choice for OSX. If only we could get Adobe to stop supporting Apple altogether. Just kidding, no hard feelings. :D Shawn
seiferalmasy63 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 18	Posted - Wed Aug 06, 2003 6:23 pm  Ok fair enough but you're talking about individual applications this is the operating system itself that's able to do this. Anyway there are so many products out there totally and completley compatible with office that do the job just as well. I work in an industry where the people know their job, technicians are the best. They know their stuff and what they're doing, Windows is far, far, far too bogged down and too unreliable trust me its been tried. Apple's not going anywhere, in your line of work they're nothing but in my line of work there's almost nothing but Apple. They're not infalable and their hardwear is expensive but at the moment a lot of the smartest people in the word rely on it for power consuming processor intensive applications they need to run stable. Anyway enough of this, this isn't what I created this thread for. I did the voice over and it was pretty good, not perfect but perfectly good enough thanks! _________________ Shion wa sekushi desu
Shawnm Location: USA Posts: 6	Posted - Fri Aug 08, 2003 11:13 am  seiferalmasy63 wrote: Ok fair enough but you're talking about individual applications this is the operating system itself that's able to do this. Yes, it's because of preemptive multitasking - it's been on the Wintel platform for years - Apple used cooperative multitasking before, that's why you didn't get this ability until OSX.x Quote: I work in an industry where the people know their job, technicians are the best. They know their stuff and what they're doing, Windows is far,, far too bogged down and too unreliable trust me its been tried. Oddly enough, I also work in an industry where technicians know their job. The real point I've been trying to make is that, Windows can be extremely stable, when maintained correctly, you say it's unreliable...fine, where's your evidence? I've seen Windows in large enterprises (tens of thousands of users and millions of transactions a day) where servers are up for months at a time without a hiccup. Quote: Apple's not going anywhere, in your line of work they're nothing but in my line of work there's almost nothing but Apple. Funny I don't recall saying anything about my occupation (BTW, I'm a video editor). I don't know about the UK, but here in the USA, Apple is steadily losing ground to Windows in the media content creation space, mostly because small and medium sized (audio/video/post)production houses are finding that PC's are fast and relatively inexpensive - businesses are also finding that the reports of Windows being unstable are VASTLY overstated (I'm running two machines at home, a dual Celeron 533 and a Dual 1GHz PIII, that have crashed a total of three times in the past two years). Quote: They're not infalable and their hardwear is expensive but at the moment a lot of the smartest people in the word rely on it for power consuming processor intensive applications they need to run stable. Come on, this is CLEARLY a statement derived from Apple marketing (Mac users are smarter, here are the Nielsen/NetNielsen studies that prove it). For every one of these "smart people" that uses a Mac because it's fast and stable, I'll show you TEN "smart people" (scientists, engineers, physicists) using Windows for the same reason. Quote: Anyway enough of this, this isn't what I created this thread for. I did the voice over and it was pretty good, not perfect but perfectly good enough thanks! Ah, I'm glad your voice-over worked out. Good luck with future project. Thanks, Shawn
seiferalmasy63 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 18	Posted - Sat Aug 09, 2003 4:52 am  Ok well I have a PC at home for editing running Windows 2000 and all it does is crash. It waits until I'm working away then it crashes because Windows can't resist interfering with something it has no business doing. I tried putting XP on and it wouldn't stop going to the disk even when I wasn't doing anything the light was constantly flickering. Microsoft now have evil product activation thats something I will not have. I'm a video editor too and I don't live or work in the UK any more. My industry is just starting to broadcast in HD propperly and there's no Windows solution for this because if you streach Windows it crashes. Our big broadcast computer is a Mac and I challenge you to find one that isn't. All the technicians that I know all have advanced degrees in computer enginering and C++ and all of them tell me this... Have you ever seen Monty Pithon? Well Windows is Mr. Creasote (I spelled it wrong) its fat, bloated, rude, unrelaiable, difficult to work, crashes all the time. I worked in a place where we had 2 top-of-the range computers with Windows XP and Adobe Premire 6.5, fantastic video editing software. We had the same application running on the rest of the OSX macs and it never crashed, it was relaible but how it performed on Windows was a joke. The thing is we've obviously had different experiences of different hardwear and I honestly can't say Apple is going anywhere. Especially if you think about the graphics industry like how they make Final Fantasy (movie) Finding Nemo and stuff like that. I'm not just spouting over-hyped apple marketing I've had to use a mac for a while now and I didn't like the transition. I'm not blowing the Windows crashing thing out of proportion I have seriously had nothing but trouble with Windows right from 95 and its never got any better. Anyway I'll let you have the final word on this before it gets locked for going off-topic, anyway thanks for the enthralling argument I really enjoyed it! _________________ Shion wa sekushi desu
seiferalmasy63 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 18	Posted - Mon Aug 11, 2003 2:25 am  Yeah it is a bit stupid really, and I don't want to make my voice sound like god. I'm actually doing a commercial I'm trying to get the best result. I already did it and it was pretty good. _________________ Shion wa sekushi desu
Shawnm Location: USA Posts: 6	Posted - Mon Aug 11, 2003 11:23 am  seiferalmasy63 wrote: Ok well I have a PC at home for editing running Windows 2000 and all it does is crash. It waits until I'm working away then it crashes because Windows can't resist interfering with something it has no business doing. The cause of your crashes is more likely due to a configuration issue of some kind. 85% of crashes on the Windows platform are due to driver and IRQ conflicts. Is this a machine you bought from someone, or did you build it yourself? My main editing machine is a dual boot Win2K/WinXP box. I sometimes leave this machine running for weeks without a problem. I also routinely leave this computer to render out two hour FX heavy videos for 13-15 hours at a time. Quote: I tried putting XP on and it wouldn't stop going to the disk even when I wasn't doing anything the light was constantly flickering. How do you know that was Windows? Have you got QuickTime or the Real Player installed on that machine? McAfee, Norton anti-virus software? Lots of applications do things in the background when you think they're not doing anything. Did you try turning off the Windows services you don't need? Quote: I'm a video editor too and I don't live or work in the UK any more. Sorry, that's what I saw in your profile. Quote: My industry is just starting to broadcast in HD propperly and there's no Windows solution for this because if you streach Windows it crashes. Sadly, you've been misinformed. http://www.hdboxx.com/index.asp?rd=bws Quote: Our big broadcast computer is a Mac and I challenge you to find one that isn't. Challenge accepted. Do I get anything? http://www.hdboxx.com/cproj.asp?page=cproj&DocGroupID=3 http://www.pinnaclesys.com/BPSD_Home.asp?Langue_ID=7 http://matrox.com/video/products/infonettv/home.cfm http://matrox.com/video/products/dsmax/home.cfm http://www.media100.com/844x.asp Quote: All the technicians that I know all have advanced degrees in computer enginering and C++ and all of them tell me this... Well, perhaps it's because I live in one of the biggest technology centers in the world, or the fact that I work mostly with software companies that I know so many software developers (and I know quite a few)... but, roughly 9 out of ten of the software developers I've met (they also have "advanced degrees in computer engineering" and "know C++" among other languages) all use PC's at home and work AND don't complain about stability issues. Could it be that your experiences with crashing machines are mostly related to user issues? :O Quote: I worked in a place where we had 2 top-of-the range computers with Windows XP and Adobe Premier 6.5, fantastic video editing software. We had the same application running on the rest of the OSX macs and it never crashed, it was relaible but how it performed on Windows was a joke. The last editing job I had (about three weeks ago), involved me taping and editing about 35 hours of content and turning them into 33 multimedia presentations. I used a Dual 2.0 GHz Xeon with 4 GB of ram from DELL. You know what? I didn't have one crash the whole time! Quote: The thing is we've obviously had different experiences of different hardwear... It's probably because I build my own machines and work with companies that know how to properly configure Windows for media production. I'm not saying that Windows CAN'T crash... I'm just saying that people who have unstable machines (regardless of platform) generally don't find out enough about that platform to get past these stability issues. Windows isn't perfect, but it's certainly not the trash heap some make it out to be. Quote: and I honestly can't say Apple is going anywhere. I didn't say they were. As long as MS keeps writing Office for the Mac, it will stay in business. Quote: Especially if you think about the graphics industry like how they make Final Fantasy (movie) Finding Nemo and stuff like that. 80% of ALL 3D animation is done on PCs. On the higher end, animation houses mostly use IRIX and Linux (although you will find that slightly less than 50% of these places use 3DS Max and Softimage on Windows), however, in medium to small animation studios - Windows based PCs pretty much have the market (That's why 3DS Max is still a Windows only application). Quote: Anyway I'll let you have the final word on this before it gets locked for going off-topic, anyway thanks for the enthralling argument I really enjoyed it! Okay, I'll end by saying this. Macs are good and so are PCs, these are just the tools we use to create our art. Some of us do it for a living, others as a hobby. In the end though, the only real important thing is that we keep creating.. all of us. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a logo to create using Illustrator and Photoshop on Windows - and a music video to capture (which I shot yesterday on a Canon GL2 and Lowell lighting kit - 11 hours... 50 shots) so I can edit in Vegas Pro4. BTW, the song was Written in Cakewalk 3.0 (yes...3.0), tracked and pre-mastered in CEP 2.0 (using CEP 2.0 FX and iZotope plugins) and mixed in Vegas. How's that for bringing it back on topic?:) Peace, Shawn
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