The DMFA Radio Project

[Goatmon]

BTW, Rabid, I loved your rendition of Devin.  Just thought I'd share that. 

[rabid_fox]

Ah, cheers man! I'm really going to push to get a sound-quality-improved version up by tomorrow evening...though if I don't, I'm going to go down to the music department in the school and ask them for a microphone that I can take home and call a friend for a night. They got NICE stuff down there.

I might actually take a shot at that Abel thing you recorded. Except aiming a bit more for the Leonard Cohen than the Chris Calbin (think of that as a serious compliment, I love Calbin's readings).

[superluser]

I might actually take a shot at that Abel thing you recorded. Except aiming a bit more for the Leonard Cohen than the Chris Calbin (think of that as a serious compliment, I love Calbin's readings).

Leonard Cohen writes great stuff, but I'm imagining Abel doing the monologue to the tune of ``Bird on the Wire.''

I think I may have to record a rendition of that.

Like a birrrrrd/on a wirrrre
I used tooooo/have a sitterrrr

[Goatmon]

Actually, After hearing your versoin of Devin, I find it hard to be content with my own accent for the part.  I'm probably going to end up adding a scottish accent to it, even though I don't personally know anyone who has it, so I'm terribly confident I could do it and sound genuine.  But, I'll see how it turns out.  ^^

[Tapewolf]

Actually, After hearing your versoin of Devin, I find it hard to be content with my own accent for the part.  I'm probably going to end up adding a scottish accent to it, even though I don't personally know anyone who has it, so I'm terribly confident I could do it and sound genuine.  But, I'll see how it turns out.  ^^

Remember that whatever accent we have for Devin, his mother should ideally have the same accent.  Does anyone know of someone who'd fit the bill for Devin's mother if we go with Rabid's version?

[rabid_fox]

You know, my sister is a big DMFA fan and a wonderful public speaker. I could ask her about that. I'm sure she'd be up for it.

[Tapewolf]

You know, my sister is a big DMFA fan and a wonderful public speaker. I could ask her about that. I'm sure she'd be up for it.

Do you think you could?  That would be fantastic.

[rabid_fox]

Ayuh. I'll give her a ring tonight. That said too, though. There's a chance that the mother having a different accent to Devin would really hammer home that he spent the formative years of his life without her, in the care of the aunt and uncle. So even if the sister doesn't fancy it, there's a very nice alterantive to the representations.

[Tapewolf]

There's a chance that the mother having a different accent to Devin would really hammer home that he spent the formative years of his life without her, in the care of the aunt and uncle.

I'm not convinced.  I've often been marked as having a London accent, even though I moved away from there when I was about 1.5.  My brother was born in Swindon when I was 2 and he took the local accent - I didn't leave Swindon until about 5 years ago and I never really picked up the accent.
That said, my step-brother moved from Dursley to Kansas.  It's quite fascinating to hear him gradually segue between Gloucestershire and American accents.

So I guess it might work, and if she can't, I guess we won't have much choice.  But see what you can do anyway...

[rabid_fox]

My logic is that she'll jump at the chance. I can see what you mean, mind you, for sure. It'd be fantastic to have accent-matchup between the parents and children, since it's the parents you're most likely to pick your accent up from. Here's hoping, cause I know she'll be bloody good at it if she takes it. Especially the angry bits.

[Tapewolf]

Here's a quick rendition of Aniz I did, with him totally round the twist.  It seems the reason for the crystalline distortion sounds in my Abel stand-in were because the new soundcard can only record at 48khz.

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/aniz_jm.wav.mp3

[rabid_fox]

Heh, a little too "Campy Monty Python" but I do like the rather bored British accent when it's not too giggly. That could be the voice of Aniz there with a little alteration to the serious side. Not much, though, there are some lines that you absolutely nail down with a six inch tent peg. It's definitely more Aniz than what I was imagining, so that's a top job.

[Tapewolf]

Heh, a little too "Campy Monty Python" but I do like the rather bored British accent when it's not too giggly. That could be the voice of Aniz there with a little alteration to the serious side. Not much, though, there are some lines that you absolutely nail down with a six inch tent peg. It's definitely more Aniz than what I was imagining, so that's a top job.

The most difficult part of that was trying to prevent him turning into Merlitz, which does happen at around 0:38.  It goes into distortion here and there as well, but it was just a test.  The voice was originally based on my Dr. Ink voice (not Tezkat's version which we're using) but more excitable.
If I can stop myself playing Morrowind until 2am again I'll try to assemble some dialogue between Abel, Devin and Oleg's version of Xander.

[rabid_fox]

I'm actually holding off on re-recording until I get into school and ask to borrow a proper microphone off the music department now. I've got a feeling that my £4.99 microphone from Tescos ain't going to cut the quality issue no matter how many of the tricks I try...and believe me I've been trying. I'm fascinated to see how they'd all link together. It took me a few run throughs of the dialogue to target my speech as actually...you know...talking TO another character.

[Tapewolf]

I'm actually holding off on re-recording until I get into school and ask to borrow a proper microphone off the music department now. I've got a feeling that my £4.99 microphone from Tescos ain't going to cut the quality issue no matter how many of the tricks I try...and believe me I've been trying.

What kind of mic would it be, an SM57 or some other dynamic mic?
In case you're not aware many semi-pro microphones use a three-pin XLR connector and require a 48v supply to drive them, so take care you will be able to make it work when you get it home
A dynamic mic should just work (assuming it's not XLR, or you have an XLR->jack convertor) but a condenser mic will require a preamp with phantom power.

[rabid_fox]

You know what? I'm going to write these things down...

[Fuyudenki]

Here's a quick rendition of Aniz I did, with him totally round the twist.  It seems the reason for the crystalline distortion sounds in my Abel stand-in were because the new soundcard can only record at 48khz.

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/aniz_jm.wav.mp3

Like you said, Aniz sometimes drifts into Merlitz, but other than that, that's rockin'!

Also, I mentally pronounce it "Ā`y­­­­-nĭz,"(hey look, Character mapper!  Hope I got the symbology right.) with emphasis on the A, but local accents probably have a lot to do with that kind of thing, and I'm starting to feel silly about nitpicking all of the pronunciations.

At very least, I think I've finally adapted to the new pronunciation for "Wildy."

[superluser]

Here's a quick rendition of Aniz I did, with him totally round the twist.  It seems the reason for the crystalline distortion sounds in my Abel stand-in were because the new soundcard can only record at 48khz.

Not bad, but the excited voice sounds too close to...of all people, Wallace (but not Gromit).  I don't know how you manage to do that without a Yorkshire accent, but the pitch and attack are just right.

By the way, I never heard what you thought of my preliminary takes, and I'm curious to hear what you thought.

[Tapewolf]

Not bad, but the excited voice sounds too close to...of all people, Wallace.  I don't know how you manage to do that without a Yorkshire accent, but the pitch and attack are just right.
By the way, I never heard what you thought of my preliminary takes, and I'm curious to hear what you thought.

The voice is okay, but I thought he should sound a bit more manic.  He should sound like he's having more fun doing this.  That was one of the main reasons I did my recording, by the way - I was wondering if you could copy the style.

[Tezkat]

Hmm... lots of interesting takes on Aniz. I personally don't think he should be quite as manic as Tapewolf's take or superluser's second version. I hear him being a bit closer to rabid_fox's delivery, albeit slightly more animated.

There's a chance that the mother having a different accent to Devin would really hammer home that he spent the formative years of his life without her, in the care of the aunt and uncle.

I'm not convinced.  I've often been marked as having a London accent, even though I moved away from there when I was about 1.5.  My brother was born in Swindon when I was 2 and he took the local accent - I didn't leave Swindon until about 5 years ago and I never really picked up the accent.
That said, my step-brother moved from Dursley to Kansas.  It's quite fascinating to hear him gradually segue between Gloucestershire and American accents.

Most of the research in developmental linguistics points to people picking up accents from their childhood peer groups, not their parents or caregivers (at least not once they reach school age). In particular, accents tend to become fixed around middle school or early high school. In small towns with minimal outside contact, that's rarely an issue since everyone has the same accent anyway. (These days, you tend to see a flattening of accents due to mass media exposure, however.) Children of immigrants often have very different accents from their parents unless they live in heavily ghettoized communities. There are exceptions, of course. Some kids do learn multiple accents and switch depending on the situation, even locally (e.g. kids learning RP English at home or for theatre who don't want to get beat up on the playground).

So... we'd expect both Abel and Hennya to have Zinvth accents regardless of how their parents speak. Devin and Xander would probably have similar accents. Ditto for Dan or Jyrras and their respective sisters. I think it's less important to match parents than childhood friends and siblings.

[rabid_fox]

That makes my Devin a bit of a maverick, though, doesn't it? Random Irish accent coming out of nowhere. Lets just pretend Zinvth is really rather multicultural.

Though...hold up a tick. Didn't Abel move to Zinvth? Devin doesn't live there. He lives in...ah...(after a quick flick I can't find the name of the town where Devin and Abel shared the very early part of their childhood) but it's what...at least about ten miles away by my reckoning. Enough for an accent alteration (christ, where I live, we talk about Derrytrasna accents, and that's a mile down the road).

[Tezkat]

Zinvth is the Demon-controlled city where Abel and Hennya grew up. We're not sure how far it is from the town in which Abel and Devin lived when they were little. (It's possibly running distance for a terrified Cubi. ) The latter may have been a bit multicultural, as well, however, though they certainly didn't display very cosmopolitan attitudes. We know that it had at least large enough ports to support a viable ship-building industry.

Also, Devin's aunt and uncle looked rather better off financially than "Cid" and May. We could use class distinctions as an excuse for discrepancies in accent.

[rabid_fox]

Tee hee. I'm posh ^^ I just got done recording some more of Devin's dialogue, putting the quality aside to practice pitch, tone and delivery before I get the good microphone. Went from the "Aaaarrrgh, I don't want to be sodomised" bit to where the arrow got Devin, and left it there because I was reading off the comic (god bless Amber and her gloriously expressive faces).

Like I say in the recording, a few bits need smoothing over, but overall, I think that's how I'd approach delivering those lines. Some tricky parts in there where Devin's wrestling with his emotional state, I'm not sure how I've carried the effect of those over (hard to tell with your own voice).

After that thing about class marking, I'm going to add a quick posh-Devin snippet for giggles.

http://rapidshare.com/files/30066329/devinmoreii.mp3.html Devin from "Sodomise" to "I *arrow*" - 2nd attempt at those lines. Sorry if you heard the first, they were DEAD.

http://rapidshare.com/files/30062661/devinposh.mp3.html It's the upper-middle class social climber Devin!

(( edit: Fixed the link. Hope you don't mind -- llearch))

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

... since it's the parents you're most likely to pick your accent up from.

Not necessarily. My accent, and the accent of my wife, are both -definitively- not london. My son, on the other hand...

Note also that his nannies have been, for the most part, NZ or Australian, so it's not -them- he's picking it up off. Dead cute, though. :-]


BTW, you may want to ask some local tech about the hardware you borrow from the music dept. They're likely to have more idea what they've got on hand, and what you can plug it into...

[rabid_fox]

I moved around a lot as a kid so as a result, I think I picked up much more from my parents than from the schools I went to. Thank god, because the accent I'd have forged otherwise would've sounded like someone trying to force a toad down their nose.

[Fuyudenki]

just got to your "Gosh and Golly, Abel, in all this time we've been walking together, I never realized you've got huge wings growing out of your back!  so amaaaazing!"  I know it's on purpose, but that still seems a bit stiff.  I'm used to people over-animating sarcasm.  Do you think you could give that a try?

Also, the whole "consoling Abel" part doesn't sound like Devin's in the middle of a battlefield.  It sounds like he's... consoling Abel... in a calm room.  I think it might sound good with a bit of panic added in.  Actually, near the end of that first one, most of the lines are sounding tired.  Perhaps another take on the later stuff.

But then, I don't seem to have any sort of active part in the Radio Project, so don't go bending backwards just for me.

Other than that, your Devin rocks!

[edit]Just listened to the second file.  It sounds so wrong!  I can't help laughing![/edit]

[superluser]

The voice is okay, but I thought he should sound a bit more manic.  He should sound like he's having more fun doing this.  That was one of the main reasons I did my recording, by the way - I was wondering if you could copy the style.

I'll look into it, but I don't think that he's gloating or being smarmy.  Note that in 85, panel 5, his mouth is closed, suggesting that he's saying this matter-of-factly.  That's actually telling me a lot about his character.

Hmm... lots of interesting takes on Aniz. I personally don't think he should be quite as manic as Tapewolf's take or superluser's second version. I hear him being a bit closer to rabid_fox's delivery, albeit slightly more animated.

Once I get a bead on the character, I think I can dial him back a notch or two, but he definitely reads like he's slightly crazed.  The depth perception line reads like Aniz is muttering to himself, and not something that he intended to say, so that's how I'm reading it.

Budget's a little tight near the first of the month, but I'll see if I can't find a clip of that Burgess Meredith character to show you how I'm seeing it.

As to which reading is right... (well, it's actually whichever one TW uses, since he's the boss)

just got to your "Gosh and Golly, Abel, in all this time we've been walking together, I never realized you've got huge wings growing out of your back!  so amaaaazing!"  I know it's on purpose, but that still seems a bit stiff.  I'm used to people over-animating sarcasm.  Do you think you could give that a try?

It's worth a shot.  I think Rabid's version of that line suffers from a sort of s**t or get off the pot syndrome.  It's odd for me to hear someone with a whimsical Irish accent doing stilted speech.  Maybe if you tried flattening your accent for those lines.  Try Received, or go all the way and don't do it stilted at all.  I'm not sure if those would be improvements, but it would be interesting to try.

Also, the whole "consoling Abel" part doesn't sound like Devin's in the middle of a battlefield.  It sounds like he's... consoling Abel... in a calm room.  I think it might sound good with a bit of panic added in.

Panic or urgency.  Short, clipped words, like he's spitting them out.  Remember--he's not trying to console Abel, he's trying to get him to do what he wants; he wants Abel to be useful in this battle.

Also, you'd need the other lines to time this, but you should keep breathing in the background over 45 and environs.

[rabid_fox]

Ok, I'll give those lines a re-do. I wasn't sure how other people were perceiving the Abel-Devin situation towards the end of Devin's part (life) in the comic, I ended up reading it as, yeah, consoling, thinking along the lines that he'd be duly upset enough by Xander's death to lose his battle-self (which is shown when he stands up). A bit more urgency would be suitable, definitely.

The "Gosh and golly Abel" bit - what am I aiming for there? I'm not sure what's been suggested, cause RP and me just don't mix, heh.

Though cheers for the feedback and suggestions, that's what it's all about.

[Fuyudenki]

It's interesting that you should actually ask for that, because I just recorded the way I hear it, on the off-shoot that someone would ask for it.  Not trying to intrude on anyone's territory here, this is just something like how that particular line sounds in my head.

I'm not 100% satisfied with the tonality.  Might be better if I actually dared shouting here, but I don't want to draw attention from anyone else who might be in earshot.  Quality's lousy, but it's not supposed to be professional, just an example.

Also, when I think about accents, I tend to accidentally develop them, and they sound horrible, so if there's a nasty, fake-sounding Scottish/Irish/British accent in there... well, it's explained at the start of the file.

Giant wings!

[edit]broken code

[rabid_fox]

Aha. Yes, I'm going to have a shot at that. I see what you're meaning now. I went for stilting it, but that's much more lively...much more Devin.