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Click the Pic to get the details.

Dont' miss out on this fabulously fun and ongoing machinima project.

SimEve has created a fantastic series of Fog Emitter tutorials, perhaps better described as visual lists of the various fog emitter outcomes. You'll love the things you can do with this! This is one of the examples, but visit her on YouTube to see the first introduction tutorial on how to use the fog emitter first. Enjoy!

(ug - the video feature is glitchy today)

HERE is the link to her YouTube channel for now.

I'll add the video to our video page for now.

Voice Recording Basics

step one

We are finally seeing people's voice over machinima's come to life with an encouraging increase in

responses to voice acting auditions. This is very exciting! 

Introduction:

   More and more Sims3 machinima makers are trying out voice overs or voice acting. Perhaps you've considered it too but you are not sure where to start. This lession is about how to get started on basic voice recording. Future lessons will provide more advanced tips for mixing and editing.

    Your voice overs can make or break an otherwise great machinima creation so we hope this helps you get started on the right track. We are  in no way intending to be mean. On the contrary, we want nothing more than to help each of you improve in any way that we can help. Rather than offer individual feedback which we have not been asked for,  we thought that posting this might help any of you auditioning for voice roles.  If you ever want any feedback on this, or any project, please feel free to contact Minraed or any of the moderators that you are comfortable with and we will be happy to help you along.

Part I - Preparing for Your Recording

• Use a decent quality microphone - A microphone / headset is also a great way to monitor the sound as you record.
• Limit background noise - don't record while you have music playing or other loud or distracting sounds.
  
• Chair check - make sure you are not sitting on a squeaky chair that will be recorded every time you move a little.
• Privacy and comfort - you are not likely to record a good voice over if you are whispering or otherwise trying to avoid other people hearing you. Choose a time and place where you have the privacy that you need so that you will feel comfortable and relaxed
• Get comfortable - make sure you are not shuffling around trying to get comfortable
• Avoid rooms that are "hard" like rooms that have a lot of hard wood, metal, glass - "soft" rooms that have plenty of carpet and soft furniture will absorb sound better and reduce unwanted reflective sounds or echos - hard rooms will make your recording sound like you are in a tin can, this is really bad
  

Part II - Tips for Recording

• Record music and sound effects separately from your voice
• Don't inahale the microphone - be sure to have your mic a good few inches away from your mouth to allow you to speak normally and to avoid capturing distracting breath sounds - too much puff and pops from your breath as you speak is bad (see next point)
  
• Set the mic a bit off to the side rather than right in front of your mouth to avoid "plosives" - the poppings sounds from hard letters like b and p
• Don't just talk like you would in real life - get into character, think like the character who the script is written for - think and speak like an actor
• Posture and body language - good posture allows your voice to project more powerfully and will help you avoid distraction and shuffling around while body language, gestures, smiling or grimacing etc. will reflect in your voice - don't be afraid to play out the role a little as you read (another reason you may want that privacy)
• Don't rush - leave spaces between sentences and bits of speech so that you can break them down in editing later - if you are speaking too quickly and running it all together it will be very difficult to edit out what you don't need later.

Part III - Audio Files Basics

• In the Windows world quality audio is saved as .wav files
• In the Macintosh world quality audio is saved as .aiff
  
• Audio files can be converted to the universal .mp3 compressed file format but the quality will be reduced somewhat

Audio Recording Software

  Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ; or click HERE

       A free download - it takes some getting used to, but there are some very good tutorial and help files.

Discussion

   Drop in to ask questions, share tips or discuss this topic HERE

SITE REVAMP UPDATES  

 I've started taking another step towards making the site easier to use.  In the end we hope to have a newly organized tabbed menu system in place, a swanky new banner and better ways of promoting your creations and making them easier to find when people drop by here.  I know it takes a while to get used to changes so I'll keep you informed along the way so that you can check out the new things and give me some feedback along the way.

    Since we now have drop down menus available it allows us to connect items of similar interest. I've started with Machinima.  Hover over the Machinima button on the menu bar and you will find YouTube, Videos, Series, Machinima School. On the machinima home page there will be a set of easy links directing the machinima makers and fans to various important places on our site that might be of interest. Watch for those updates and tell me what you think. 

Got a Machinima Series to Promote?   

If you have a Machinima Series I recommend that you do two things - Start up a forum thread where you can provide updates to your fans when new episodes come out etc. Message Minraed directing her to your forum thread and your YouTube page and she will add your links to the Machinima Series directory.

    Your dedicated hostess - Minraed