Would There Ever Be a Possibility...?

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

Tolkien based Quenya in part on the Finnish language. I don't know what a Finnish accent sounds like, but I would laugh if we decided to cast the Finns as Elves.

Okay, maybe I just have to record my speech a little then. In short, Finnish accent sounds flat and silly. If any of you watches F1 you must have noticed how Häkkinen and Räikkönen speak... But I daresay I and Nogrod sound much less horrible.

And as to composing and Elvish voices, I, Agan and Greenie toyed with the idea that we could compose and perform the A Elbereth Gilthoniel -song, if others think that would be cool.

edit: xed with Agan - too funny

[Gwathagor]

That news channel has cool theme music.

Ok, interesting accent.

[Eönwë]

I've been away for the week, but there, I've returned.

Yes, I'll be willing to do this (If my microphone doesn't die on me).



PS. What would Tom Bombadil's voice sound like? Young or Old, Tired or lively, etc?

edit: I would probably say quite childish, but strong

[Azaelia of Willowbottom]

I'm just officially putting myself out there as an option for a voice. I'm a student actress, so I know a bit about using my voice and creating a character and so on. However, I sound extremely young, so if you need yet another young-sounding female voice (this time with a general, nondescript American accent--nothing noticeably identifiable to a single area).

I won't be able to send in a sample until I get home for the summer (a little over a month away). I hope that won't be too late.

[MatthewM]

This is awesome to see so many people now on board! I knew we would catch some fire here. Anybody that you think can and will help us out is welcome.

Thinlómien- all your ideas sound great, keep them coming. Does this Nogrod character know how to record? Because Mac, Rikae, and myself have not the slightest clue on the technical part of things.

I have some acting experience and I am banking on voicing Boromir. I will, of course, give a sample through whatever medium we choose to go with. I'm just waiting for nose to heal fully as I had my deviated septum corrected two weeks ago.

With the narration thing- it does seem like we can figure this out once the writing starts. I'm sure with dedication this will flow.

Accents- I see no big deal in differing accents as long as they aren't hard to decipher. Finnish accents are fine! I also could see a certain accent, such as Finnish, working well with the Elves. At least one of the strongholds- Rivendell or Lorien. I'm American, so I don't really know how to describe my voice in terms of a distinct heritage like Europeans can. You'll see in the near future.

Oh and...what is LJ?

[Gwathagor]

LJ = LiveJournal

[MatthewM]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

LJ = LiveJournal

Thank you Sir Gwathagor

[Gwathagor]

Sir Gwathagor..... Heh heh. Yeah, that's right. I'm SIR Gwathagor.

[MatthewM]

Hey now, I was just being friendly, I take the Sir back! How about ... peasant?

Ok off topic, that was the last time.

[Gwathagor]

I liked it. "Sir Gwathagor" had a good ring to it.


Gwathagor has a fair amount of acting experience as well, but his voice sounds weird on tape. Good luck finding a part for him...of course, if he plays everyone, than nobody will notice that he sounds different. Maybe we should all record ourselves reading bits from the Book and post links to the recordings up here?


Anyway.

We have to figure out what format we'll use and how it'll work - whether Skype or something else. I think this should happen first, because the whole project depends on this, and on whether it's feasible.

Then we need to choose a passage to record - this might depend on what actors we have, or we might be able to recruit. Then we'll adapt it, write out a script.

And then choose the actors.

Then we actually have to make it happen. Hard part.

A lot of these things could happen simultaneously, but I thought it would be useful just to review our various objectives, to give us a general sense of order and direction.

-SIR

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by MatthewM

Does this Nogrod character know how to record? Because Mac, Rikae, and myself have not the slightest clue on the technical part of things.

I'm no professional but I do know a thing or a two as I do recordings here at my home with an audio software program - mainly music but we have experimented with other stuff as well (with Lommy and Greenie that is).

And I don't think skype is the answer to our problem.

Something I think we might try out first.

Let's decide on a short scene or a part of a scene - let's say one page or two - where we have several characters speaking and some narration and then deal the roles. Then everyone involved records her/his part with any audio device which creates a digital recording ie. one that can be sent via e-mail. You should not worry about the "silences" between what your character says, just record the lines your character has one after another. I will then combine the audio files in the mixer unit of my sofware, cut them and organise them to follow each other in the way they should be.

I can then do some limited number of tricks with the tracks (yes, I'm going to make every one person's lines into one track in the final composition) like use an equalisator to add more bass or treble to the voice, add echo or pan the tracks coming from left, right or center etc.

One thing we might also consider would be testing with different settings for voices. If you send me a clip of your voice reading a part of the text I could make a few different-sounding versions of it so that you could then decide yourself which sounds the best (even if my software has limited possibilities to handle voices they still are varied enough to produce quite different sounding voices). This might also be one way of dealing with the problem of there being comparatively more females participating in this than there are female roles in the book.

So that's the first idea that comes to my mind. What do you think?

[Rikae]

I fear that wouldn't work from an acting standpoint - none of us are professional actors, and even they don't attempt to read their lines in total isolation. There will be no sense of the tone of the other characters' readings at all.

[Macalaure]

From the acting standpoint it might be a problem, but it is very good to know that we are getting somewhere in the technical department. You recorded music, Nogrod? That's very good!

Here's a (perhaps silly) suggestion: Would it be possible to combine Nogrod's approach with Skype? The actors could connect via Skype and hear each other play, being able to interact, but each could record his own voice by himself and send it to Noggie, who pastes them together again. This sounds kind of complicated, but, under the assumption that Skype and the used recording program function together, it could maybe work.

[Rikae]

Originally Posted by Macalaure

Here's a (perhaps silly) suggestion: Would it be possible to combine Nogrod's approach with Skype? The actors could connect via Skype and hear each other play, being able to interact, but each could record his own voice by himself and send it to Noggie, who pastes them together again. This sounds kind of complicated, but, under the assumption that Skype and the used recording program function together, it could maybe work.

It seems worth a try to me. The one problem I can foresee is that the other actors' voices from Skype might bleed through onto the individual track, but that can probably be minimized by fiddling with various settings and using good quality headphones, and perhaps Nogrod can cover up any that remains? It sounds pretty close to what's done to create the voice tracks for cartoons or record music in a studio, actually, as far as I know. Perhaps we should start looking for appropriate recording software, and have a trial run? Free software would be ideal, since quite a few (the majority?) of us are starving students...

[MatthewM]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Let's decide on a short scene or a part of a scene - let's say one page or two - where we have several characters speaking and some narration and then deal the roles. Then everyone involved records her/his part with any audio device which creates a digital recording ie. one that can be sent via e-mail. You should not worry about the "silences" between what your character says, just record the lines your character has one after another. I will then combine the audio files in the mixer unit of my sofware, cut them and organise them to follow each other in the way they should be.

So that's the first idea that comes to my mind. What do you think?

Nogrod- I really like this idea. I'm willing to do either a joint session or indiviual sessions. I do understand what the others are saying though, so I'm up for giving both methods a try.

Is an MP3 completely out of the question? Because I have a program, Music Maker 2004, and it records audio sounds but the only way to send them is if I convert them to MP3. I would like to send you a sample Nogrod, so you get an idea of my voice.

May I suggest a page to read from? I'm going to be recording myself as Boromir and I will be reading from page 289, during the chapter The Ring Goes South. Almost every member of the Company speaks here, as it is the debate on whether or not to go into Moria. Maybe this would be a good scene to practice on the program we choose?

Nogrod- what e-mail address shall I send this to?

[MatthewM]

Correction! I can send it as a wave, I believe.

[MatthewM]

Rikae and Mac, I have sent you an e-mail with samples. Incase you hadn't checked your mail before coming to the post.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by MatthewM

Nogrod- what e-mail address shall I send this to?

Do not use my email given in the user CP as it has really limited space and seems to be always full - and audiofiles are big.

You should use my gmail account instead. I will PM it to those who have actively discussed matters here lately starting now with Matthew, Rikae, Mac, Oddwen and Legate...

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

If any of you watches F1 you must have noticed how Häkkinen and Räikkönen speak... But I daresay I and Nogrod sound much less horrible.

I take your Hakkinen and raise it with Nigel Mansell..... actually I am always impressed by the English skills of sportsmen and wonder how many of our lot would cope away from their native tongue... which is already seemingly a struggle for so many. .

But to save this being totally OT, due ot my lack of time and technical competence I will un-bag galadriel ( from the last time this was suggested) so you will miss out on my Cate Blanchett/ Charlotte Green impersonation... but bon chance

[MatthewM]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

But to save this being totally OT, due ot my lack of time and technical competence I will un-bag galadriel ( from the last time this was suggested) so you will miss out on my Cate Blanchett/ Charlotte Green impersonation... but bon chance

Come on... imagine it... "The Lord of the Rings - The Ring Goes South" by the Barrow-Downs community- renowned Tolkien enthuisiasts!

Alright or something of that sort. Anyway if you reconsider, let us know.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by MatthewM

Anyway if you reconsider, let us know.

Well I was being noble since there are a glut of women who seem better qualified and who have the technology... *sighs*

[Oddwen]

A recording program I've found and used is Audacity - it works for Mac and Windows, and it's freeeeeee!

It requires a separate download if you want to export as mp3, but I guess .wav is the more common format anyway.

[Nogrod]

There are pro's and con's in both ways of doing it. If everyone records her/his stuff alone one can make as many re-recordings one wishes and then send me only the "perfect takes" but it surely is harder to act without feedback. Although that only applies to dialogue-intensive scenes. With scenes including lots of narration or lengthy monologues it's a different thing of course.

Though there should be a fun of it's own in reading out aloud with others! And that should be a factor to remember... more fun!

So I do think Mac's idea could be worth trying. Still everyone should produce her/his own recording of the joint session as I can then handle the "tracks" separately adding possible effects or manipulate the frequencies individually (adding more bottom to the male voices fex.) and to pan the speakers around the audiospace.

I'm not too worried about other voices coming through from others speaking as I can dim them down (cut them silent altogether) everytime the one whose track it is doesn't speak. Also there should be no "compatibility problem" between skype and my audio studio program either if you can just record your part of the session and send them to me in a normal audiofile format.

Originally Posted by Oddwen

It requires a separate download if you want to export as mp3, but I guess .wav is the more common format anyway.

It would be better if we can use unpacked audiofiles (for example .wav -files) and not pack or transform them into any mp3 or atrac -formats because they also reduce the quality of the recording - and because we need to combine different recordings then the better the quality of the originals are the more flexibility we have at the later stages. My colleague has a program with which one can cut those low- and hihg pitch hums and hisses and I could lend it from him to level the recordings as people will have different microphones and different backround noises anyway.

It is most obvious but let it be said still. When you do a recording try to minimise any background noise (one thing people easily forget is to shut out the air conditioning and stuff like that - we don't normally pay attention to that noise but when recorded it really will be heard). Also I'd suggest that you send me only the "raw material" even if you happened to have some software with which you could enhance the eq or add some echo. The end result is better when all the effects are applied and all mixing is done with one device. Also adding "effects" tends to increase all the humming and hissing which we wish to avoid.

But this looks interesting inded! I'm all in!