How would you do voice overs?

[JaySpark9 14]

I've been wondering this for the past week or so. I'm not all that familiar with mine-imator just yet. But when i become good enough, i'd want to make a series of my own. Which then involves voice-acting. 

1. What are the various equipment you need for voice-acting for mine-imator?

2. How do you go about finding the voice-actors?

[Emaniplex 6.3k]

For equipment you would need a decent microphone and a software to record with it. I suppose Audacity would do: it's free and you can learn how to use it via tutorials online. As for the microphone, the Blue Snowball is an all-time favorite among aspiring YouTubers with a budget. I'd highly recommend that one.  

In regard to voice actors, there are special websites where you can request a few roles to be filled by people lending their voices over the internet. I'd recommend becoming pretty adept at using the animation software before requesting that help, but I'm sure there are people out there that don't mind the quality of the piece their voices are featured in.

Still, I'd suggest having a friend or sibling help out with anything voice-related to start off with. A few people here may even be willing to help.  

Edited November 30, 2016 by Emaniplex

[SquareToDare 658]

Well I'm a Voice Actor...if that helps..i'm just gonna wait over here

[Emerald_SWAGGER 394]

I think the Blue-Yeti is the most popular mic huh? I don't have a microphone, that's why I don't animate as much as I would like.

and I think you can Request voice actors here!

http://www.mineimatorforums.com/index.php?/forum/33-mine-imator-team-requests/

[Zeno 2.9k]

Oh boy, you just asked a question about audio equipment.

 

Well, there are a few ways to go about recording voices, each one will produce higher quality than the last.

First of all, you can use the integrated microphone in your laptop or webcam, if you have one. This won't give you the greatest quality, but it's enough to get by if you really can't afford anything better.

 

Secondly, you can use a USB mic, like the Blue Yeti, or Snowball. These are super common, and you can probably pick up a used one for not much money. I have a snowball that I used to use, and it served me well for several years. The quality will be just fine for the most part, and you can pick them up for around $50. It's also a condenser mic, which is a huge plus for vocal recording, and can be switched between cardioid and omni-directional patterns, depending on how you want to record.

This one is just the microphone, for $69.99.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/413696-REG/Blue_SNOWBALL_BUNDLE_TW_Snowball_USB_Condenser_Microphone.html

This one comes with a pop filter and a pair of what look to be Tascam TH-02 headphones, which are great as a beginner set of headphones for monitoring. They give a surprisingly flat frequency response for the price, but aren't exactly the sturdiest of headphones. If you take good care of them, they'll last you a while, though.
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowball-Microphone-Headphones/dp/B003LRXXVM

This one comes with Studio One Artist, which is what I use for voice-overs and general audio recording. The Artist version doesn't allow you to use third-party plugins or video tracks, but it's a solid starting point for audio recording that I'd seriously consider using over Ableton Live 7 for music if I could justify the extra cost of the Pro version.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SnowballStu

 

The third option, and also the most expensive, is to use a professional condenser microphone with a dedicated DAC(Digital Audio Converter) interface. There are a multitude of options if you decide to go this route, but this is my current setup:

Studio Projects C1 condenser mic(This requires extra power to be fed to the mic through what's called Phantom Power)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/C1Mic

PreSonus Audiobox USB(This also comes with Studio One Artist!)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AudioBoxUSB

An added bonus of using a DAC+Condenser setup is it also serves as a way to monitor your audio recording with much lower latency using the built-in headphone jack. With this particular one, you can also use it as an isolated headphone+speaker output to remove the noise you can sometimes get when using the outputs on your computer.

 

As for getting voice actors, the most important thing to remember is presentation. Take a paragraph or two to explain your project and what you're looking for in actors. Watch the grammar, use a spell-check, and you'll be taken much more seriously than if you just wrote something down in the span of 5 minutes.

Plus, if you're looking for actors, I'm usually available.(Though, every now and then, I'll be super busy with FSP management as we try to finish up a project)

Here's the last video I voice-acted on, if you're curious: