ABSTRACT
In the world of dialogue production, we are relying mainly on outside talent known as voiceover (VO) artists, to play the parts of a game’s characters and/or narrator. Types of dialogue include character voices, narration, “Walla” (unintelligible background chatter), and dialogue-based sound effects (quick emotes or exclamations). With VO artists, there are many factors to consider including their cost, reliability, experience, and versatility, to name a few. We must also consider whether or not the artists will be represented by a union, are independent (non-union), or part of a financial core (exclusively through the Screen Actors Guild), in which the artist can choose to be either union or non-union. Once a recording studio is chosen (either your studio, the artists, or an external facility), and most important – when the final scripts are ready to go – the session begins. When recording, ideally there are two people involved with the voice artist: the voice director (or dialogue coordinator) listening for the correct aesthetic delivery of each take, and a recording engineer, ensuring recording quality (such as maintaining proper volume levels, avoiding clipping, and making notes of any noise) and marking the individual takes. Postproduction techniques are also covered, including mixing, editing, effects processing, localization, and testing. The chapter ends with an interview from DB Cooper, Voice Talent, Casting, and Director for Games.
