Chrono Compendium
Kajar Laboratories - Fan Works and Submissions => Kajar Laboratories => Topic started by: ZaichikArky on April 10, 2009, 04:45:48 am
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Hey guys. I'm keeping track of this really cool fandub for FF6 found here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQYZA_zO5D4&feature=PlayList&p=477F27AC26C31A5D&index=1 . And I thought "Why not make one for Chrono Trigger?" Except one catch... I want it all in Japanese. I'd be doing it with the translation patch done by KWhazit and the group.
I really want voice actors who can pronounce things in Japanese... especially males. I'd really like it if people could help me. Though I know it'll be much harder to get people to volunteer who can speak Japanese, it's what I want to do. Does anyone want to participate? I'd really appreciate it!
~Liza
EDIT: Short example of introduction found right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT-22LbRNCM&feature=channel_page
Though I haven't edited it into the clip yet, credit to the translation is due to KWHAZIT and CHRONO COMPENDIUM
Edit 2: Ok, so I'm going to start discussing which characters need voices(all of them pretty much >_>) and then list all the lines . I uploaded screen shots of the characters here - http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v326/MajesticArcanine/CT%20Project/ For this first update, I just need people who want to participate and send me lines! I will NOT be taking main characters yet. The only main character who needs a voice in this first update is Melchoir(called Bosch in this version). This encompasses talking to people in Truce village and the Millenial Fair. There are over 10 minor characters who have lines, so this should be enough for now. Please feel free to send lines for more than one character.
Edit 3: Ok, well even though I haven't given up on the Japanese idea, that is going kind of slowly right now, so I thought I'd start up an English version too. We would be using Woolsey's translation (his work of art!). So I'm bolding the characters I need right now. FOr now, it's first come, first serve. Just get your lines to me at lzakharo AT gmail.com. I prefer wav format, but if you must send something else, that's ok too. You can just pause between the lines, but if you do more than one character, please send seperate files. Don't worry about your mic sucking, I have a program that can amplify among other things : ) Thanks for the help and please don't be shy and send me the files so I can make a video!
[Crono's Mom]
Crono...
Crono!
Good morning, Crono!
MOM: Come on, sleepy head!
Get up!
MOM: Ah, Leene's Bell makes such
beautiful music!
MOM: You were so excited about the
Millennial Fair that you didn't sleep
well, did you...?
I want you to behave yourself today!
MOM: Let's get moving, now!
MOM: Finally!
By the way, that inventor friend of
yours...
Uh...you know...!
Oh, dear, I've forgotten her name!
MOM: That's right, Lucca!
Don't forget that she invited you to
see her new invention!
MOM: Run along now, and be back
before dinner.
MOM: Oh, I almost forgot!
Here's your allowance, dear!
Have fun at the fair!
[truce Residence, 1000 A.D.]
[Young Woman]
Hard to believe Guardia is now 1000
years old, and our King is the XXXIII
descendant to the throne!
But how can he rule a kingdom when
he can't even control his own
daughter?!
[Young Man]-
That brat, Lucca, says she's made
the discovery of a lifetime.
[Young Woman]
I'm so happy I could scream!
[truce Inn, 1000 A.D.]
[Waitress]
Come on in!
Take your bloody time...!
I'd rather serve you than go to the
fair, anyway...
[Young Man]
Been to the fair yet?
Well get going, then!!
You'll have to wait a thousand years
for another Millennial Fair!
Alright, that's it for now! I hope you guys send me lines!
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You might record a sample video, then provide a script or add subtitles with the romanized Japanese dialog for people to record themselves reading. Whenever people show interest, encourage them to give it a try themselves, even if they don't think they'd do the part well.
For now though, definitely post some of the Japanese dialog you want recorded and the English dialog to show its meaning. Then you can hold tryouts here and encourage people to post their attempts in either language. That way, you can gauge the size and quality of the talent pool available at the Compendium. You might also look up the actors from the Chrono Cross Audio Drama (http://www.chronocompendium.com/Stories/43).
After you get the recordings, the important thing is that you mix the recorded voices together so they actually feel like they fit into the game and it sounds like the characters are in the same place talking to each other. If you need help with this, let me know.
Helpfulness aside, however, unless you recruit some Japanese fans to help, you'd probably have better luck finding passable or even decent English voice actors. If you can't find enough people who can pronounce Japanese and speak the lines well, try putting together a guide on how to pronounce Japanese effectively, since the vowels should be easy enough and the consonants aren't too complex. Still, there's bound to be a few gotcha's that'll throw off a lot of people (like the "r" sound used in Japanese and Korean -- took me months to start pronouncing properly), so I hope you have a good ear for catching and correcting mistakes. You might also put together some speech samples to demonstrate stress, rhythm, and intonation.
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Ok, thanks for your recommendations, Ramsus! I was planning to get a sample up soon. The first one being the first scene with Chrono's mom and then another being the first encounter with Marle. Since I can probably really only voice female characters, I can't provide samples with male characters.
I realize that finding people who can accurately pronounce Japanese is difficult, so maybe I'm better off trying to do this for Woolsey's version, but this is a good opportunity for me to practice my Japanese.
Just to let any potential participants know, I'm not Japanese myself, even though I've been learning the language for about 8 years now. I don't expect perfect pronunciation. As long as you sound like you know some Japanese(maybe even if you don't?) I'd really like help! It's a good way to practice your Japanese skills too.
Right now I'm kind of trying to figure out how to make this work with windows movie maker and for some reason, my embedded mic doesn't record very loudly.
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Yeah, I've done a bit of narration/voice-over work for videos, and I can tell you that the easiest way around supposedly bad mics is to use a camcorder and rip the audio. And embedded mics are notoriously troublesome, since they're, well, embedded...they don't pick up sound all that well and you might have to get right up close to 'em to get any effect.
Now, I'm not all that great at pretending I know Japanese (I've heard it from random anime/video-games, but I most certainly can't speak it) but I'd love to help in any way I can.
Good luck.
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Indeed. I'd love to help, but I think you have the girl voices covered. Plus, the mic I borrowed from school for a project doesn't seem to like my computer. Then again, what does? I think I'll crawl behind the compie and see if I can find a working jack there.
I can do the vowels and consonants well, but again you have the girl voices, my mic hates me, and I don't really know if I'm doing it right.
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Oh yay more help!
You see, my embedded mic doesn't seem to have trouble when used on a program like skype. In any case, I'm going to have my dad bring me his headset so I can try using that.
I'm working on the Jina intro right now and I should have that up at some point... though it will be quiet.
And even though I do need guys more than girls(only because I can provide female characters' voices), it would kind of suck if I have to provide ALL the female characters' voices, so I do need girls to help me too! I'll put some quote(with romanji) up soon for some minor characters. Major characters like Marle and Lucca would be fine too. I don't really care who I voice.
Thanks for the interest! I'll keep everyone updated.
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I would like to help, if only I had a mic I could...
Wait a minute, I have my cellphone, I don't need a mic.
However, of what I know of Japanese only helps me in reading the words (not everything though, unless they are in romanji). I could still try.
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Wow this sounds nice :)
I have a mic but can't speak Japanese :S I would love to see where this goes though,I also saw the FF6 fandub that was surprising good .
If in the end you can only find English voice actors count me in please .
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I have one as well but I'm not very good at Japanese and I think my mic is kinda..fuzzy.
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Why don't you try with some easy dialog from the Woolsey translation? Major scenes with the major characters--that way you can quickly decide who would voice which character. Personally, I've thought about a voice-over for CT many times over, so I'd be willing to try a whole number of voices. Take as many voice actors of each gender too--adding up the playable characters, major NPCs, other NPCs, and side characters quickly shows that there are way too many people to be voiced, unless you have a handful of people who can do multiple voices.
This has potential to be quite cool.
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Except one catch... I want it all in Japanese. I'd be doing it with the translation patch done by KWhazit and the group.
I'm not sure I understand what you want. Do you want to do a dub in Japanese, but with the re-translation text, or speak in English, but with a Japanese accent?
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^ I'm sorry. Maybe I wasn't very clear?
I want to have it be entirely in Japanese. I am using SNES9x to record a play through of the retranslation of CT (the Kwhazit version). I'll have an example up soon(in a couple hours I hope) so you can see for yourself. It's taking me a while first because windows movie maker doesn't have a lot of options and also because my mic is too quiet and now I'm switching to my cellphone as Acacia Sgt suggested. That was a good idea BTW , I didn't even think of that. It is much clearer than my mic even though I can't really hook my cellphone up to my computer... I should have a different mic on Monday.
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Ok, so I uploaded a short example, one that I'm working on right now. It's edited into my first post in this thread. I'll finish that one up, but it's to let people know what I'm working on now. As you can probably tell, I have an accent when I speak Japanese, but I don't think my accent is very strong and I'm able to pronounce words accurately enough , so I don't expect perfection.
Also, I understand that there is more interest in doing this in English since most people can't speak Japanese, understandably, so if the Japanese thing doesn't work out, I'll try to organize an English version.
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I've actually noticed a lot of problems getting the recording volume loud enough with a lot of microphones and today's integrated sound cards, especially with Windows Vista (not to mention Linux), which will no doubt complicate things. If you don't have a decent sound card, you may be better off with a cheap USB mic/headset.
For recording audio, if you want some extra flexibility, use Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) and keep everything uncompressed. Record a few seconds of silence with each recording so you have enough background noise to use Audacity's noise removal filter and clean things up a little (which is confusing to use -- let me know if you need help), and watch the video as you record to get the length of each line right. You can also find and use audio filters for some effects.
Then export every line separately from Audacity as individual WAV files (I suggest numbering the lines in the script, so people know what's what and what to name their audio). If you have multiple lines in the same Audacity project, just select the part of the audio with the line and use Export Selection to save just the part that's selected.
Once you have all the lines, import and sync them up using your video editor.
As for people sending their audio to you, try to get them to use FLAC (a lossless audio format) if possible, so the audio isn't huge and there's no quality loss. That way the audio isn't re-encoded into five different compressed formats before it shows up on YouTube, morphing people's voices along the way.
If you want to get even better results though, you'll need more control. A multi-track video editor that let's you carefully adjust the volume levels of each audio track and provides a decent array of mixing and equalizer options would be really useful in that case. Even a relatively cheap copy of Adobe Premiere Elements (which sometimes comes with video cameras) should do the job. You might also have friends or family with some other good Adobe, Avid, or Ulead video-editing software sitting around.
If that's not an option, you can always fall back on mixing all the audio in Audacity and syncing it up in your video editor, but that involves a lot of painful back and forth.
Except one catch... I want it all in Japanese. I'd be doing it with the translation patch done by KWhazit and the group.
I'm not sure I understand what you want. Do you want to do a dub in Japanese, but with the re-translation text, or speak in English, but with a Japanese accent?
Basically, the in-game text dialog would be like the English subtitles with the voice acting done in Japanese.
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Ok, thanks for the tips. When I get that headset that works better, I will try using it with Audacity.
So what program do you recommend most for video editing? One that is free, preferably. I'm just using windows movie maker right now. The plus side is that it's really easy to use. The down side is that it is overly simple and can't edit sound like I want it to.
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Sorry, the cheapest video editing software for Windows or Mac that I can think of that isn't horrible is about $100. The best open source stuff is all free, but all of those applications run on Linux, sometimes Mac, with no foreseeable ports to Windows anytime soon. If you ask around though, someone might have an old copy of something they don't use sitting around.
If I could choose anything, I'd probably go with Adobe Premiere Pro. I used the CS2 version once for a video project. Unfortunately, it's $800 more than you can probably spend on a small project like this, although with a student discount it's $350.
Premiere Elements has the needed multi-track editing functionality for a little under $100, but the dumbed-down user interface actually gets in the way. I get the feeling they may have dumbed it down even more since I bought a copy of version 4.0, so I wouldn't buy it without first downloading and trying the 30-day trial to make sure it's usable.
You might just have to export the audio from the game footage into Audacity, mix the voices in there, and then import it into Windows Movie Maker. That way, you get more control over the sound, but getting everything sync'd with the video becomes harder.
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Oh dear that is kind of expensive... I'll try to see if there are "other means" of getting better programs.
Well here's what I have. I spent all day working on the intro XD. It's so much work. I really don't think the quality is so bad, but I really don't mind if it's not perfect. The first couple lines are too quiet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN1kEbqcqpw
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Ok, I put up lines for the characters I need so far. I edited the original post. I'd appreciate any help. Thanks~
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People often say, "I don't want to offend you, but..." before they say offensive things. I actually don't want to offend you, but I'm still going to be blunt; you may be offended in the process.
You want to record people reciting the dialogue of a near-15 year old game in its original Japanese, presumably so other people who can understand Japanese can listen to it. I can see where your intentions are coming from, but this reminds me too much of when the people in Anime Club would constantly go on about, "I want to do this... IN JAPANESE." Is there some sort of inherent advantage that Japanese confers onto this project? Why do you want it in Japanese? You're not only hugely limiting your potential audience, you're also limiting your talent pool. Your audience has to be someone who really likes Chrono Trigger, can understand Japanese, and does not mind what might end up being a heavily accented reading (I don't know who's doing it, so I can't say for sure).
Everyone here can understand English and would appreciate your project in English. A smaller subset will nod their heads as they play it and follow along with subtitles.
I'm sorry. I just... I don't see the point of it being in Japanese.
:P Why not make a radio drama? (Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?)
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Eh, I think today's crowd is too lost to take radio dramas to heart--I'm a big fan, m'self, but it seems like people can only standing hearing something if they can watch something too...
Although I gotta admit, I do kinda agree with what Rama just mentioned, regarding the Japanese stuff...But this is isn't my project, so whatever. Once I find my mic, I'd be happy to send ya a sample of how I'd do the Young Man lines...although it'd be the English version--I'll do the Japanese one too if you can provide a transliteration.
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My two cents, since Talah already broke the ice.
I also don't see why you only want it in Japanese. If you're saying you want to help some people practice Japanese, that's fine, but that would still be alienating half the fanbase (myself included).
Now, if you said you wanted it in Japanese in order to send a copy to SE so they might take more interest in the Chrono series, then I personally wouldn't mind at all.
But if I could be so bold as to suggest a compromise, perhaps you could make two versions; one Japanese and one English.
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Yeah, I get what you mean by wanting to do an English one, but that's kind of what I want to do if the original idea doesn't work out. I don't think I'd be alienating the fan base per say, just the ones who might want to participate since most don't really know the language.
There are a couple reasons I want to do it in Japanese. It isn't some kind of weeaboo thing of mine. I've studied Japanese for many years and spent one and a half years over there teaching English. It's a way for me to keep up on my Japanese skills. Also, I think it would be more unique to do it this way rather than an English version using Woolsey's translation.
Anyway, I understand why doing it in English would involve more people, but it takes a huge amount of time to coordinate this thing with two languages, and for now I'm trying to do it with one.
I actually posted this at a Japanese community and I seem to have a lot of interest, though it's interest. It's not like people committed to anything yet, so we'll see where that goes.
In the mean time, if anyone is still interested in helping out here, I would be grateful and maybe if people like it, I'll continue to update about its progress : ).
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I recorded the Young Man(s) lines in English, just so you could get a taste of how I'd do a younger sounding voice. Now, how exactly do I send this to ya?
I might re-record them, but either way let me know how you want them sent and maybe this ball will start rolling.
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eep I don't understand why you crossed that out. Will you still send me something? I would appreciate it soooo much!!
You can e-mail it to me here- lzakharo AT gmail.com.
Thank you!!
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Blah, I was trying to distinguish that I did the lines for the Young Man even though those might be different young men.
Anyhow, I sent it. I think I did terribly. :>
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No, I think you did a great job! In English anyway. I'll have to redo this post soon so I can try to see if more people will want to submit voices in English.
If I were to do an English version, which version do you think I should use? Woolsey's or Kwhazit's retranslation? It's kind of hard to say because Woolsey's version is more nostalgic and relatable, and I think funnier, while the retranslation is much more accurate and isn't missing a ton of text.
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Right, the re-translation is more accurate, but it's a lot less fun, and sometimes the sentence structure kinda throws me off, like this sentence:
The festival's since this year is the 1000th year
since this kingdom was formed.
I stumbled on it like 5 times when I was speaking it...Now, I can't say the regular translation is perfect, but it's a little more fun and I think it'd resonate with people more...
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Yeah, I think I have a preference for Woolsey's version too. Although that would mean you'd have to re-record your lines! Eep. I hope you don't mind that..
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Hah, no problem. So, is it definite that you want to stick with Woolsey translation and dialog? If so, I think the others that mentioned interest should record something too. Even if this isn't all set in stone, having a variety of voice actors will be great.
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So, Woolsey's? If so, I'm going to record right now.
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I can do Woosley. However, I can't do anything till I get a mic. I'll send you something when I have a mic that works. Maybe a sample of Marle and/or Lucca. Or maybe even Ayla or some other girl.
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Ok, I've redone my original post again. Please check it out and then work on recording lines so we can get moving. Thanks a lot, guys!!
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Alright, I'll do the re-recordings soon, are there are any others you need yet?
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Just that one small line by the inkeeper: "Lodging is 10G". Thanks!
I guess I just need female voices right now(till the next scene). I guess I should find a place to advertise this for more help.
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Well, why not get a couple of the guys (I believe some other guys were interested too) to record those lines as samples? You don't have to implement anything yet, but maybe now's the time to find out how everyone sounds. In my opinion this project really only needs 4-6 males and 4-6 females, assuming a couple of those people could do a small range of voices.
But yeah, there's a dire need for more people (especially girls) to get involved here...
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Again, I'll get some sample lines up when I have a functioning microphone. Until then, you'll have to wait for my girly girly voice.
HyperNerd has access to a microphone. He may be interested in helping out with this.
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I have a mic but don't know how to record xD
So Hints and Tips Welcomed xD
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I just went ahead and recorded mine on Sound Recorder (for Windows). It saved the files as .wma and I don't think that was a problem.
So if you have any sound recording program (even an extremely basic one) just go ahead and read the lines into the mic. If you're doing multiple lines you can record 'em in one session and save the file. I listened to mine a couple times to make sure I wasn't too loud, that I didn't breathe into the mic, and that there wasn't any crazy background noise, and once I liked how it sounded I went ahead and emailed it to ZaichikArky. I'd recommend leaving two or three seconds or so at the beginning and end of each recording so that it won't be hard to cut apart and implement into video.
Good luck, have fun with it, and don't worry; none of us are professionals.
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Also, if you're having trouble finding a program to record in, use Audacity. It's a free program that is very good for recording and editing sound. Just ask Tea, she lives in Audactiy.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
I can't find a microphone, but I think I have one somewhere. If I can find one, and if you still need people, I'll apply.
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Yeah, you can just use sound recorder if you don't want to download a program. It's VERY basic and impossible not to understand : ). I really could use more voices so yeah, don't be shy and send them over!
BTW, Mav, actually it's not necessary to do the inn keeper. I think I'll just leave that part out.
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So, still accepting male voices for this part? Or does mav's will take all of them?
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Hey, I say record 'em anyway--I haven't been able to re-record 'em yet, so go for it man.
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Yeah ditto : ). If you gets yours in before Mav, we can work something out so I use half and half or something like that. Also, that's just the first scene, next is the millennial fair, so there are plenty of male voices for that too! Or if you want, you can even be Crono XD. Just provide a bunch of grunts like this guy- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBUgDcx1AXw lol. There are actually some dubs in English that are being "worked on" and then there was a guy who dubbed some random scenes. That's part of the reason I wanted it in Japanese. I wonder if the auditions guy is going ahead and do something.
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If you need any more male voices for the English version I could probably help. It didn't look like much was left based on the first post, but if you have something for me I'd be glad to send you a sample.
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Well no one has really sent me anything yet, other than Mav(but he sent me something from a different script) so if you have anything, send it away : ).
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Oi, I left mine unrecorded, hoping you'd get some more people sending stuff. I'll get my recordings to ya by tomorrow.
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Yeah, it's easy to find people interested, but hard to get them to submit something :p. I look forward to getting your clip!
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Well, I'll gladly send you a clip, but who would you like me to voice/what would you like me to say?
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check the very first post in this. I have all the lines and characters I need so far written there. You can send anyone you want : ). I designated voices that Mav was going to do, but he said he wants others to participate too, so you can send me any character you want.
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Dammit, I'm doing something simalar to this with Mother 3.
What I'm doing is Using a program called Skype, having a conference call, emailing everyone the script, using Audacity to record it, then finally putting it over the Gameplay video, recorded earlier.
Annnd I thought I was being semi-original. Oh well.
Anyways, maybe that will help, or not...
I reallllly need to read closer. I can't help, as I don't know Japanese!! If I was doing CT, I would probably have Crono ask his mom why the hell she's speaking in Japanese.
AND I NEED TO READ CLOSER ONCE MORE
If you do the English one, I'll help. Just give me someone to be.
EDIT ONCE MORE:
Damn, why did I even post before reading carefully?
I'll send you the Innkeeper lines after I get home.
If my voice is sufficient, I'd like to be Frog.
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check the very first post in this. I have all the lines and characters I need so far written there. You can send anyone you want : ). I designated voices that Mav was going to do, but he said he wants others to participate too, so you can send me any character you want.
I did check the first post. Since there were only 3 males posted, and they'd mostly been spoken for, I thought there might be more that hadn't been posted yet. I guess I'll be trying out my best "young man".
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Shit, sorry, I had no power in my apartment throughout the day, so I couldn't get to it. I'll try and send you the re-dos tomorrow.
Again, all apologies.
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I got my mic working.
Yay.
Guess who totally did not read the first post?
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I'm gonna do the meeting Marle lines for my thing. That's the segment when you knock into Marle until she decides to make you take her with you. I'll see if I can make it loud for you.
Cool I'm happy that you got your mic to work! It would be nice to receive lines from Marle(as I think she'll be the next scene), but it would be more helpful to get lines for Chrono's mom, or one of the young women since I'm doing the first scene right now. Thanks!
I did check the first post. Since there were only 3 males posted, and they'd mostly been spoken for, I thought there might be more that hadn't been posted yet. I guess I'll be trying out my best "young man".
Yeah, sorry, I guess that was confusing. I changed it now. I originally wanted Mav to do it because he already recorded lines, but he said that others are free to do it as well, and since I haven't received any lines for THIS version of the script, it's still anyone's game. I changed it in the first post anyway. So feel free to send me lines : ).
Damn, why did I even post before reading carefully?
I'll send you the Innkeeper lines after I get home.
If my voice is sufficient, I'd like to be Frog.
Actually, I decided to cut the inn keeper out >_>. Would you mind doing one of the young men instead? As for the Japanese version, I still am interested in doing that, so if you need any help with romanji or pronunciation, let me know and I can help you!
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Okay, I'll do some of Crono's mom's lines. I forgot to reread the first page... I'll do Crono's mom's lines now.
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I recorded, but I sound AWFUL!
But I wanna help a lot...
I dunno....
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Me too (recorded), with all the (male) ones you needed, but I wasn't satisfied with the results like, twice.
Maybe with some other NPC's further in the game, but for now, I'll pass on those.
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Maybe you guys are too perfectionist. I'm sure they don't sound awful : ).
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lmao, it's tougher than it sounds, I guess. Even if you think they sound bad, just send 'em--as long as you clearly said the lines, that's all that really matters. Plus, most of these are one-time NPCs, so no one should mind...Once we get to the PCs, you can try and perfect yourselves.
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Alright, I sent mine in.
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Shit, lots of computer trouble on my part--I don't know when I'll have time to get these recordings done.
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That's ok. Cald sent me his lines, and they're really great so I can use them for this scene. I just need one girl to help me with the female lines. Teaflower, can you do that sometime please?? : ).
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Sorry... I've been swamped lately. I need to do the young woman lines, yes? Should I also do Crono's mom's lines?
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You can do either one of those. Either the young women's lines, or Crono's mom, or both. Whatever you don't do, I will do : ). Thanks!
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Oi, now I'm losing my voice. Fate doesn't want me working on this project.
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Eep. I hope you feel better!