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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Sept 15, 2018 15:22:05 GMT -8
Here is my submission for this week's challenge! The accent I picked is General American. Until today I've always used my western Canadian accent, which up until this point, I realized that I've been using both pronunciations interchangeably throughout my life without thinking about it (maybe because I live so close to the border?) Because the differences in both accents can be subtle, I recorded the entry twice - the first time in my natural accent, the second time solely in a General American accent for comparison. I've also included the script I typed up that included the most common keywords - which turned out to be kind of morbid, haha. VAC Weekly Challenge 3 - General American - Original Submission
Script:"Don't go to the old pasta factory tomorrow night, Nolan! Stay in your house or somewhere far away from there. There's rumors about a mad man who uses intestines as a secret ingredient!"
Suggestion for a future challenge, mix & match! Pick a line, a character, and an audience. Examples (courtesy of Luca Schuneman): Line:"Twinkies are amazing. I don't care what you say. You're not gonna change my mind." "I'm gonna clean your clock, understand me?" "I'm calm. I'm calm. I'm calm. I'm calm. I'm clam. I'm calm. I'm not calm." "Forces of the universe: aid me! Special Attack! Yellow Fire Storm!" Character:Young Child Wizard Barbarian Mother/Father/Guardian Audience:Inanimate object 8th grade classroom Evil warlord A crowd of 1000 people
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Sept 3, 2018 16:13:42 GMT -8
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on May 16, 2018 8:38:51 GMT -8
Both, but having a permanent physical space for recording is the most pressing issue that I have (especially when it comes to short deadlines or anything short notice. There is a lot of things I had to pass up on because I'm unable to slip in behind a mic, record quickly, and then slip out to proceed with the rest of the day). The people I live with aren't exactly supportive of what I do and I've tried negotiating with them before, but it doesn't work out well. Which is why it would be better if I could find a place where I'd be out of everybody's way and be able to record more often.
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on May 14, 2018 15:26:05 GMT -8
The height is about 5 feet. Unfortunately there is not enough room to pass as the width you see in the picture is the width of the entire room in between the furniture (the chair is pressing up against the dresser,the monitor against the bed, and the far blanket against a book shelf).
I have no problems with the actual set up itself, it works well. My biggest issue that I can't leave it up, which is why I'm trying to think of another place I could set it up and leave it there permanently (the length and difficulty of setting up and taking it down everyday is taking it's toll).
I realize this is a difficult question to find an answer for. Thank you Benedict and Bean for providing some suggestions.
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on May 14, 2018 13:57:03 GMT -8
Hey Benedict/Tom!
Sound proofing would be nice, but I think that just being distant enough away from other sounds would work out as well.
To give some more detail, my recording area is set up by PVC piping and covered by layers upon layers of blankets.http://instagr.am/p/BS2DE_nAdNa It's constructed in a cube form that covers a four foot by four foot space. It is literally the only space in the room, pressed up against pieces of furniture and leaving no place to walk around. Hence why it cannot stay up permanently.
I live in a pretty small city. Unfortunately there are no studios. The closest one is a three hour drive away.
I was looking into the local university, as they have a music building, but I am worried that they would say no, especially since I am no longer a student and my set up isn't very mobile. :/Brittany
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on May 14, 2018 8:45:42 GMT -8
Hey VAC community,
I was wondering if anyone might have some suggestions for alternative places to record.
In my current living situation, I live in a residence with paper thin walls. It is shared with seven other people, including bedrooms. I am only able to record auditions once a week or two at best. My goal is to record on a daily occurence, which means that I need to find a place to have a permanent set up where I won't bother anyone else. Unfortunately I do not have a garage or a vehicle to use.
After racking my mind over it for several weeks and researching with no answers, I thought to ask here. Has anyone else had this problem where they are unable to record at home and found a way to solve it?
Brittany
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Feb 21, 2018 19:44:00 GMT -8
Wow, there so many I look up to that it would take a very long time to read them all as I believe there is something admirable about everyone who pursues voice acting. If I had to narrow it down, it would be (in no particular order):
Males: Crispin Freeman Steve Blum Todd Haberkorn Vic Mignogna Bryce Papenbrook Justin Briner J. Michael Tatum
Females: Jodi Benson Kira Buckland Laura Bailey Colleen Clinkenbeard Cherami Leigh Jeannie Tirado Caitlin Glass
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Feb 20, 2018 12:28:25 GMT -8
Really everything that has already been mentioned.
Another one I'll add is if the audition lines are too vaguely written to have a real sense of what the possible scenarios the characters are involved in ("Hello, how are you?" for example).
I've also run across too many casting calls where a creator says that these audition lines are "so bad but they not a part of the actual script in any way/these lines are just random sample lines."
I understand not wanting to risk having a project leaked before it is released to the public, but why write poor/vague audition lines?
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Feb 12, 2018 10:53:27 GMT -8
Hi thephantompunk046!
I really liked the range of emotions you displayed in this demo. I can definitely feel the passion you had put behind each spot (especially the laughing and shouting, kudos to you for that!)
I think you could raise the bar even higher if you decide to play with different types of voices. Throughout the demo while you displayed different personalities it seemed that you stuck with one voice type (if that makes sense)? It's not necessary, just a thought.
You have fantastic potential and I look forward to hearing more of your work.
Brittany
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Feb 12, 2018 9:48:31 GMT -8
Thank you for the feedback everyone! All of your points are quite valid. I will go back to the drawing board.
Brittany
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Feb 11, 2018 18:28:40 GMT -8
Hello all! It's a new year and I recently acquired new recording equipment, so I thought it would be best to work on new online demo reels that would be an accurate representation of my audio quality and voice acting skills/improvement. This is where I need your feedback! I have recorded a test character demo and a commercial demo. Both can be listened to here (they are both dry, with no music or special effects): Character DemoCommercial DemoDo not hesitate to brutally honest/blunt. If something is not working (or if the entire demos are not working), by all means, let me know and I will go back to the drawing board. One example is that the EQ-ing definitely needs to be worked on (any tips would be greatly appreciated). Stay awesome everyone! Brittany Ann Phillips
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Feb 1, 2018 18:03:55 GMT -8
Any sentences that contain several "of's" and "if's." For some reason my brain just does not compute when there so many of them so "f" ends up almost completely silent. Then I over enunciate to try and make up for it and it sounds like "ovv" or "ivv."
Sometimes sentences that flow so elegantly in your head as reader do not flow so well when you say them out loud. *shrug*
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Jan 30, 2018 20:06:33 GMT -8
Just finished a live script reading with Brendan Hunter. At the start of the reading there were technical issues with my mic being stuck on mute and was almost replaced on the live stream.
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Jan 19, 2018 15:58:16 GMT -8
You just switched to an AT4040, right? I'm going out on a limb, but I'm guessing you started noticing this after you made the switch. The AT4040 has a pretty broad peak in its frequency response out around 6500Hz. I can't remember what you were using before, but my guess is its presence peak was weaker, or peaked somewhere else. This ties back to what Kira said about maybe being hyper-aware of your mouth noise. My guess is the mouth noise has been there since day one, but with the new mic and interface you're just now noticing it. And now that you've noticed it it's hard to forget it's there. This is not a bad thing, mind you. I remember some time last year you were having issues matching your sound to another actor's, and it came down to their using a microphone with more presence and clarity. The AT4040 provides both. Welco here.me to presence and clarity! Just for grins, listen to "Lullaby" by Shawn Mullins and enjoy all the mouth sounds he put in his vocals. (They're still playing that song on the radio twenty years after he first released it!) It won't help you solve the mouth noise issue, but it might make you smile while you work on a remedy. Do you have a sample you could post in the clips and critiques? Might help to get another set of ears on it. Hi Benedict! I actually noticed this with the previous microphone I had as well (M-Audio Producer USB), but not until about a year ago (I guess my hearing became more sensitive to it?) As for the presence problem that I was working on, that has been solved (I hope, at least. Now it's just a matter of keeping it consistent). I have two samples that I can show you. The first is the most common that I run into here. The second one is much shorter, but it contains what I can best describe as a "squeaky door?" sound here.
Hi BeauVO! I don't really feel nervous when it comes to recording (after about 8 years it doesn't bother me). In regards to the warm up question, I do vocal warm ups every day for about 30 minutes. I actually follow everybody's contributions that was put on this thread. Followed by some more singing as well. I'm naturally soft-spoken so projection is always something that I am working on, especially when it comes to getting angry.
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Post by Brittany Ann Phillips on Jan 18, 2018 16:10:36 GMT -8
There's also the possibility that you may be hyper-aware of it at this point and it's not as noticeable to others as you may think. I know I get really self conscious about mine because of how much I've been called on it in-studio, but sometimes I'll think it's noticeable in a take only to find out it wasn't to others and they took it anyway. Being nervous and conscious about it actually makes it worse in my experience (Also keep in mind that unless it's REALLY bad, chances are your clients probably won't notice/care. I don't think I've ever had a client complain about it on my end or for anything I've done from home, but in-studio engineers complain about it because it's their job to make sure that everything sounds utterly perfect in terms of technical quality regardless.) That's a really good point. It's very possible that I am stressing about it way too much and as a result making it worse. It hadn't really been brought to my attention until about a year ago. It seems to occur in nearly every take, even when I find one that I think will work well, during the post-production and the volume is increased appropriately all of a sudden there it is. :/ I record anywhere between 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM daily, depending on the amount of recording but lately it seems like it takes an entire day to just get one done. :/ I have heard of programs and plug-ins that might help - maybe not this one due to the cost - but thank you for the tip! I'll also have to check out that FB group. That's actually a really good idea. Thank you for the tip!
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