Here are the .WAV files for Beatrice.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ke5i2t61u00p2dn

I tried playing around with it, but killing the breath noises also made her voice sound too tinny. Maybe you'll have better luck. I'm sorry about the audio quality on some of the characters, and I've tried to be as discerning as possible, as quality has always been the number 1 thing, but on occasion I'll go by a sample or hear some amazing acting or just not listen closely enough, and then have to slap myself afterward for jumping the gun. So I'm considering purchasing a high quality mic and having the VAs ship it to each other on my dime, but I'm not sure if it's the mic or the room.

After doing a survey, it seems some VAs have purchased $150 mics and the quality isn't as crisp as a $70 one. Marcy(Jolene's VA) and Kelly(Olivia) each use a Shure PG42, which does sound amazing, and I don't mind forking over $200 if it means the entire mod is that level of quality. But it doesn't seem like price = quality, as Brian Wood has great audio at $70(APEX 440 USB Studio Microphone on sale at FrontEndAudio) and as Viridiane said, she uses a blue snowball which seems to be a similar price. Others have had a lot worse luck with $100 setups(Blue yetis and audio technica AT2020). So as I'm not particularly knowledgeable on this, and by that I mean not knowledgeable at all, some input would be appreciated. There's also the chance if I did purchase a mic for everyone, that someone could pretend to be a VA and steal it, so there's that concern as well, although I suppose having an address would help mitigate that.

I'll have a look at the files as soon as I get the chance. If you've already tried and the sound is still too tinny then maybe a compromise would be best, or manually removing the worst of the breaths and replacing with ambience the (very) slow and meticulous way. Another option is once you've removed the other sounds and she ends up tinny, you could try saving that tinny file - and once the extraneous sounds have been removed they won't be in the waveform any more and you can then try equalising to add bass back in - no guarantees that it'll work though!

The main issue as I mentioned before is microphone popping (known as "plosives") whilst recording - you can use a relatively cheap mic and use some tights/pantyhose stretched over a bent clothes-hanger or similar and you'll get arguably better results than an expensive mic without a pop filter. If you really can't mock up a pop filter, recording at an angle to the microphone also reduces pop - put the mic at the side of your face rather than directly in front, so when you breathe out you're not breathing directly into the mic.

And I think you're right, the room also makes a huge difference - computer sounds (fans, disk drives etc.), electric hum from pc/lights/fridge, ambient sound from outside the room (traffic rumble, birds, the occasional plane) and general actor movement (rustling of script, leaning on desk, moving on chair, etc.) The human ear is great at filtering out sounds in reality, but a mic isn't as discerning and picks up everything.

When recording, it's best to record in as small a place as possible - and as far from those noises as possible - maybe enclose the mic in a small box (cardboard box, shoebox or similar) and pin a shirt or a towel to the inside of it and use it as a mini recording booth).
If your mic is plugged to your pc, see if you can block off the area where the sounds are coming from (put a blanket over the pc temporarily with a airing space and AVOID OVERHEATING - and turn down the fan speed if your desktop has fan speed control.
I once worked with a professional voiceover artist on a big corporate job who recorded in the cupboard under his stairs with a load of sheets stuck to the walls to deaden the sound (Harry Potter could have made a decent living as a v/o artist had he stayed at home!)

EDIT: for a good guide on voiceover recording, see http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Improve_Your_Recording

EDIT 2: Nope, there's not a lot I could do with the file without it sounding tinny - http://www.mediafire.com/?1ire39p8xzsol9h (from the original file http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?3jeeg12n3gm9mn3) Having said that, on my speakers the version without the popping despite the tinniness is a lot less offensive to the ears than having all the popping.

EDIT 3: Here's the best I could get as a preset without lots of individual tweaking (each time the words pop you can select just that popping sound and manually reduce the gain or use high-pass filter just on that part of the recording, but that's likely to take a ridiculous amount of time with the amount of pops on each recording and the number of recordings you have) - http://www.mediafire.com/?4iw5bi2tlm7m56d. If you're interested, here's the EQ settings exported from Audacity - http://www.mediafire.com/view/?lvibf6071bm827t - you can import this into Audacity in the EQ box if you'd like to use it as a preset for Beatrice. No offense taken if you don't like it!

Version 1.61

• Added NPCs Griffith, Morrigan, and Two-Tails
  
• Added voices to Al'Hassan(Brian Wood) and Carmella(jezdamayel) and Beatrice(Arisen1)
  
• Miscellaneous audio fixes to Glathriel and Dar'Rakki

Hey, I wanted to let you know that I now have a microphone and pop filter in my possesion and would love to do some voice acting for the mod. If you could PM me with some lines, I'd be more than happy to send you back a sample. I'm in the process of making a little video for my blog that will also feature my voice with the new mic. Thanks for your time, and it's great to see more and more progress here!

Hi Matthew, there's a script http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=54714 on the Nexus. You'd need to check with Roarian or Kris to see which voices are still needed but I think at this stage they're just looking to get an idea of your overall voice skill and technical quality so any voice will do!

What Jack said, yes. I await your message. ^^

Seems that a few more people found about this mod over the last few days, wonder from where?

Sent! Let me know what characters you think I'd be best for.

Probably already known, but I want to report it before I forget. There is some immersion breaking in player responses for at least one NPC. The unvoiced, dark elf vampire in Windfall

My character has never come in contact with a vampire in the game, and they've never been to Morthal.... yet, they correctly identify the ailment as vamperism, and tell the person to go to a specific named NPC in Morthal. The vampire bit is pretty obvious, but knowing that there is a cure, the town where to get it, and the exact person to ask seems very odd considering my character's lack of knoqledge, experience, and relative newness to Skyrim.

Version 1.67v

Added Callen and Viranya to Voiced Only Version

Version 1.67

Added NPCs Peragorn, Dravos, Batheru, Morviah, Eldawyn, and Haakon Iron-Fist
Scripts added to Gwyvane and Orenius so dialogue with them unlocks hidden dialogue in counterpart NPCs
Added voices to Viranya and Callen(pre-quest only as quest not functional)
Removed bandits from Rift Watchtower to make room for NPCs

Videos :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KhWCX2FyDc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTUUVL86qt0http://
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXEWRohkI74
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTnw4KN39HQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4X5-Bjsfck

Map with current NPC locations (Large) :

http://i.imgur.com/wbQAd.jpg

Thanks to all involved in this great project! Will everything work fine I make my own BSA archive? I simply prefer it since there's soooo many files in the archive. Just figured I'd ask since there's some scripts in there that I don't know if they'll be correctly read if I make a BSA version. Then again I suppose I could make everything that isn't in the scripts-folder into a BSA and be without risk...

There is already a BSA version available under downloads, for those who prefer it.

Not sure how I missed that... Thanks.

Live to serve. ^^

hey jackstarr, finally got a chance to test out your eq settings on beatrice. i think i'm going to use it even if she sounds tinnier, because honestly it really just sounds like a voice change, but not necessarily a bad one.

but like you said, the eq change alone isn't enough. i think i'm going to also go into each and every file and use a more drastic EQ setting and tweak every single plosive and fricative. combined with the EQ change on the non-popped dialogue, the few i've done so far sound much smoother.

it'll take me forever, but it's worth it. also, turns out the actor was using a pop filter but her voice is particularly breathy. anyways, thanks.

EDIT: http://www.mediafire.com/?apniaipj13bt61x

Very Nice, really, the only thing I miss are "normal" or typical Skyrim peoples, it's a bit strange to talk with almost everyone about philosophic questions or curiosities.

Of course sutch things are nice, but if there are to many NPCs that are so, it get a bit strange. Just to intelligent?

No probs, glad to help if I can. The tweaked file does sound much better - and once in-game, the background sound will help to hide most of the remaining issues.

Maybe the VA (and pop filter) was just too close to the mic when recording - it helps to be close, but not too close.


Many of them are certainly more poetic in their dialogue than the vanilla NPCs - but this introspection helps make them more 3D. Some of the Interesting NPCs are not quite as philosophic as others. Kris has a certain style with his dialogue, and that's definitely not a bad thing - there's certainly plenty of less intelligent dialogue from the vanilla NPCs to even things out!

Having said that - There's been a couple of times when playing that I've done a double-take on a particular NPC - I've been fooled into thinking an Interesting NPC was vanilla at first - but also vice versa on occasion!

If you think you can do better, why not write up some interesting dialogue yourself? Roarian and Aranas also contributed dialogue as well - maybe the guys will be open to review and consider dialogue for new characters if you're particularly good as a writer.

I love this mod. It really helps with the immersion and interest in each new place I go. I enjoy having my character hang around the taverns at night and soak the ambiance and this adds to it immensely.

I'd love to hear what characters got that reaction - there are indeed NPCs in vanilla that actually have something to say, and some of the iNPCs voice actors are ridiculously awesome (I <3 Qa'Dojo for example.)


I'm looking forward to a couple of actual songs being added so that there's a bit more musical vareity in the pubs too. ^^

yesss, this is the mod that i was looking for,, i think the worst thing in skyrim is the dialogues and the options to dialogue... and with audio??
Im in work so when y come back to my home i will try this!

Thanks a lot!

Well, would be a bit different for me, as english isn't my nativ language, but could give it a try.



Well, this would be fanatstic, in Skyrim there simply aren't enough Bardsongs .

This mod makes me go all fuzzy inside. Very impressive and a huge thank you to all involved. Really good voice acting all over and I'm simply amazed you managed to dig so many quality VA's out of the woodwork.

Honestly, I think there's only a handful of NPCs with philosophical things to say. Maybe just 2. Zarlak and Qa'Dojo. The other 65 not so much. Now, as Jackstarr points out, almost all are introspective, but to me it's those discussions that let you really get to know the character, especially given the constraints on the player side(80 characters per question). For example, shy characters like Rinori were meant to have almost all the talking initiated by the player, but as the player can't really go on a monologue, compromises had to be made. I also agree that the vanilla characters help by being mostly boring, as the juxtaposition helps the mod's NPCs stand out as opposed to having a village full of interesting people. In fact, if we do take it off world and make a new city, I plan on throwing in a bunch of NPCs with a handful of lines to create that very effect.

As for songs, they're done. Just waiting for the VA. Fironet's VA is still in the lab, while Asteria's has sort of been filled but I'm waiting for the VA to send an audition to confirm the role, which could be a while. Basically, Kelly has expressed interest in Asteria, but I've told her to concentrate on getting Olivia done first as she's the quest's central NPC.

Fironet's song as composed and sung by Jay33721, melody is basically taken from "Remember O'Thou Man."
http://www.mediafire.com/?d13o69cyknuzkcy

"Dusk on Anvil Harbor" by Arisen1, who took my jumble of off-beat lyrics and composed an original song out of it. That's her on the vocals as well.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16892419/lutewithvoice.mp3

Version 1.70v

• Added S'vashni to Voiced Only Version

Version 1.70

• Added NPCs Gilsi, Gerrod, and Averna
  
• Added full audio to Henrietta, Morrigan, and S'vashni
  
• Various decibel level tweaks on loud NPCs

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=8429

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiYmMmkbRlk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0fEGHj4tRk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxXhZbDwDF4

Hey Roarian,

I know it's outside the scope of this particular mod, but would you and Kris give some thought to maybe re-doing some of the guild questlines once work on Interesting NPCs starts to die down? The vanilla guild questlines are so bland, short, and linear, they really could use the sort of treatment you folks have been doing with this mod.

Crikey, your young girl's voice sounds just like the vanilla child voice!