Ys IV Dubbing Project: Take 2

[Arjak]

I was just checking out the Ancient Land of Ys forum, and I discovered this:

http://voiceactingalliance.com/board/showthread.php?t=45645

I already posted this in the Translation thread I started, but I figured it deserved its own topic for extra visibility.

Casting is still open, so if you want to be a part of Ys translation history, I'd recommend clicking that link and following the audition instructions.

I'm trying out for the role of Duren.

P.S. From what I can tell, yes, Nightwolve knows about this.

[termis]

Had I the time, I'd volunteer for this one.  I'd love to see Ys 4 dub completed.

I'm on another translation project though -- I'll see how that one goes first, and if the folks are still on the dub project then, I might jump in.

[Necromancer]

Like I posted in the other thread, I hope this turns out well. 

[Arjak]

We need actors!

If anyone is willing and able, PLEASE audition!

[ParanoiaDragon]

I already did, I sent you a link to a collection of all the work my wife, friend Jessica, & myself did for the original Ys 4 dub, but it looks like you haven't downloaded yet, here's the link again:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/a0b0658/n/Ys_4_rar

[NightWolve]

P.S. From what I can tell, yes, Nightwolve knows about this.

Yeah, we're gonna work it out when I get a chance. Hopefully he'll manage to finish it. Too bad Justus couldn't do it, but oh well.

Really guys, it just needs a determined project manager to recruit the best voice actors, standardize instructions with recording software for each person, etc. and I can take it from there. All the hacking for extraction and insertion was done long time ago; I was just waiting on Justus to finish but he never did.

I already did, I sent you a link to a collection of all the work my wife, friend Jessica, & myself did for the original Ys 4 dub, but it looks like you haven't downloaded yet, here's the link again:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/a0b0658/n/Ys_4_rar

Hey alright, I might as well check that out. I never got that from Justus, of course, I remember him mentioning that he lost some files when I was asking him to give me whatever he had. What I got was the intro and almost all of Karna's clips plus a few other stuff, about 19 or so.

Incidentally, if you guys never saw the Karna stuff, I uploaded it here: http://www.ysutopia.net/downloads/ys4/KarnaAVI.rar

It's a shame, I liked her voice for that quite a bit.

This is all very interesting timing too BTW. I was in the process of wanting to create a "The Lost Ys IV Dubs" youtube video to showcase whatever great work Justus had done. It was just for the hell of it really and lamenting that the project was abandoned. I wanted folks to see what "could've" been possible basically. It turned out though, GeeMac32bit tried his luck with dubbing the intro and had already uploaded such a video which is how I ran into him.

[NightWolve]

Update: I have some bad news about this, but then some good news. GeeMac32bit is cancelling the project... I pasted his email to me from the other day below:

Just letting you that due to many factors especially the fact i'm having my internet cut at the end of next week, I am cancelling the project.

If you want to take the reins then go for it.

I wish you the best of luck and hope you succeed.

GeeMac32bit

I had been trying to organize things with him the past few weeks, but it didn't pan out. He had started recording dubs from people and did not have the original Japanese adpcm samples to work with, nor a needed cross-reference to know which English translation line applies to which sample so that the actor would know exactly how much time to spend saying their line in English. That is, if Goban says something in Japanese that is 2.5 seconds long, I cannot increase the length of that clip, so whatever is supposed to be said in English must be said in 2.5 seconds or less. It's even more preferable if the actor can match the points when the Japanese speaker cycles between pausing and speaking when it comes to the character portrait parts and you have moving lips so as to achieve lip syncing... As such, most of the samples that were recorded are likely a waste and have to be redone. That's if I can get anything from him. He's been hard to reach. (I did get a little frustrated with the time it was taking for him to get back to me.)

Anyway, I think I wanna see this project completed once and for all after having heard some of ParanoiaDragon's dubs in the link he pasted. I'm gonna try to organize a plan with him and/or whoever else would be willing and go from there. What I'm gonna need is the following:

1) All the samples that have been recorded so as to help pick who would be the best actor/actress for each part. Whatever samples have been recorded are good as auditions, but like I said, they'll likely have to be recorded again.

2) We need one person that can understand and listen to spoken Japanese in order to help me cross reference the original Japanese audio clips to the translations provided in Deuce's Ys IV Speech file. Some work was started by Deuce on this, but he actually cannot understand spoken Japanese; he's limited to textual abilities and even then requires the aid of services like WWWJDIC. What happened is he found another text file from a Japanese website that cross-referenced some things, but it was incomplete and the accuracy is unknown. So anyhow, we need somebody that's very proficient in Japanese as a speaker for this job!

3) Tips on recording software and the like. We need to have every actor using the same software, recording at the same volume level, etc. What's good freeware out there for this? Something better than the generic Windows included one.

Well, that's all I can think of off hand. This being the second time seeing this project fail has irritated me to a point where I'm willing to manage it myself and as things are going a little better for me in 2010, I'm willing to put a little time on an excursion like this. It can be done and it should, I say!

[sunteam_paul]

Audacity is good free recording software.

[NightWolve]

You know, I just played around with it and I think it has great potential. Very lightweight, quick install, and seems pretty easy to use. For the lip syncing parts, you can watch the waveform of the original in one application instance while you speak and record your English in another application instance thereby aiding you in getting them to match as closely as possible. Even after that, I can edit the recording and space parts out between pauses for improvement. Thanks! Definitely a good start.

I dunno what I'll have to do when it comes to clips with background music in them just yet, but most clips are just of the actor speaking, so I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Have to learn how to combine two separate audio streams.

[Arkhan]

the one thing you gotta remember with Audacity is to save often!   Sometimes the more fiddle-dicking you do with your project, the faster it crashes!

other then that, I like the program alot.

[ParanoiaDragon]

I believe almost all the music used during voice acting, is included on the Dawn of Ys Perfect Collection discs, with 1 exception, I think the VERY last track where old Lilia is reading a story to kids, is either missing entirely, or missing part of it.  That's what I recall from bitd.

[NightWolve]

Ah, I didn't think of that. Good. So there are clean sources of almost all of the background music. The question then is what's the better and/or easier method, a) the voice actor records his dub while playing the background music (recorded simulatenously), or b) the voice actor records his dub cleanly and the background music is combined afterwards with software (I'm guessing this can be done with Audacity)? The former is easier, but I'm betting the latter is the better method.

[ParanoiaDragon]

I'd say the latter is both easier & better.

[esteban]

... b) the voice actor records his dub cleanly and the background music is combined afterwards...

This is the only way it should be done

Good to see you around, by the way.

[NightWolve]

... b) the voice actor records his dub cleanly and the background music is combined afterwards...

This is the only way it should be done

Only problem being I dunno how do it, not yet anyway. I imagine it can't be that hard, though.

Good to see you around, by the way.

I had to retire/severely limit my message board visiting habits the last few years, but I did miss this board somewhat and now I have a little more time to spare.