You know that dialogue will bring life and emotion into your game and you're considering hiring voice actors. Do it! Well, check your budget first.
Calculate Costs:
Calculate how many minutes of dialogue you need to produce, and how many hours in the recording studio this will take. Kathy shows you how and provides a rough guide for converting this to costs.
Select recording studio and actors:
Choose the studio – so many pitfalls.
Choose the actors – get them to send you voice clips, and get them to make alterations. Kathy provides an example. Make sure you’re happy with the alterations you requested.
Contract with agents:
Deal with the agents – be prepared. Be very, very prepared. Kathy has a list.
Prepare the actors:
A pre-recording meeting is included in those very high acting fees! Tell the story of the game, give character sheets, give lines, find preferred lines format, give studio address and contact details, discuss time preferences, ask about special needs.
Make a recording schedule:
Start with the clearest cleanest voices. Allow time for settling in and equipment calibration. Calculate which line to get up to each quarter day so you can track progress.
Recording session:
-what to bring
-how to direct –a real live voice actor will help demonstrate
-demo clip etiquette
-credit takes
-ideas for thanking voice actors
Post processing and file naming:
– surprise! Kathy has a list.