We’ve all done it, so there is no use hiding in shame anymore. We’ve all spent time on our own doing this dirty deed, knowing that if anyone could see us, they would be utterly shocked and appalled. I am, of course, talking about loudly and incompetently acting out the voices of characters when playing games that have written dialogue, but no voiced parts. Or, even funnier, voiced parts that are so difficult to bear with that you switch them off, determined to make a better job yourself. You can feign indignation all you like; I know you turn her narration off. However, what we philistines might fail to realise is that voice acting is genuinely hard work. You have to make everyone believe you are this character, with a very limited toolbox at your disposal. Maybe you have to do so without any clear direction from a third party. Maybe you have to do so when your roommates aren’t home, so they don’t think you’re having a stroke. To uncover the challenges of what makes a good voice acting performance, we sat down with the talented voice actor Rebecca McCarthy, whose voice you might have heard in games such as AGDI’s King’s Quest II remake, and, more recently, Stasis. Not to mention that she’s one of the organisers of AdventureX, and that Gareth made her ask the question “Where’s my lighter?” roughly 1500 times for the talkie edition Late Last Nite, partly of our own produce. And when the Thespian finally asks the Scribe politely IRL, he has no flipping clue where her lighter is. With Rebecca’s aid, we reflect on said challenges of voice acting, try to identify potential pitfalls, name our favourite and least favourite examples of game voice acting, and there are even a few useful tips from Rebecca in there to aspiring voice actors! And a plea to consider paying her for commercial work. Come on, she’s earned as much, and “exposure” doesn’t pay the bills. Listen to her latest demo reel, and consider hiring her if you can live up to those simple house rules. She’s really good! And if you do feel so inclined, listen to the episode here or below the post: We’ll be back with yet another wonderful guest in a week’s time, so keep your ear canals unclogged!
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