Kylo Ren Voice Impression

[DarthDementous]

hey all,

 

thought you might like to hear the latest version of my Kylo Ren voice impression I did as practise for the SP conversion of Tavion that I'm planning with KefkaSFX (you can hear this in the other videos on my channel).

 

Voice acting done by me, voice effects done by the wonderfully talented sound designer @@Kefka.

 

[Sithani]

It's way too distorted imo ;/

[DarthDementous]

It's way too distorted imo ;/

really? it doesn't sound anymore distorted than the original:

[Sithani]

Yes it is. The original voice is not processed with guitar amps.

[DarthDementous]

Yes it is. The original voice is not processed with guitar amps.

mhmm, the best we can do is get an approximation to it seeing as how we don't have the same set-up as a hundred-million dollar budgeted movie.

[Sithani]

You don't need any expensive equipment to understand how a particular sound or effect works.

[DarthDementous]

You don't need any expensive equipment to understand how a particular sound or effect works.

you clearly have no idea how that effect was made. @@Kefka is using basic plug-ins, I'm unsure of the Software but some plugins can be as expensive as hundreds of dollars, never-mind the sound programs. not to mention the way they recorded the sound is incredibly hard to replicate, they had a pre-amp to boost the signal and had two mics set up, one in Kylo Ren's helmet and one outside so it sounds muffled and clear at the same time. I've scoured YouTube for other Kylo Ren voice impressions and as far as I know this has the most accurate voice effect, so unlike what you believe it isn't that simple to work out the exact process. oh and also, there's interviews that say the voice effects worked live on the mic and were altered on the fly while Adam Driver was speaking to give that unstable quality.

 

you're coming off as pretentious especially considering that @@Kefka is actually a professional sound designer who has done his research.

 

I'm willing to accept that you may be a sound designer as well, and if that's the case feel free to suggest a better method than what is shown. if you are not, then please understand why I'm getting annoyed.

Edited March 5, 2016 by DarthDementous

[Mand'alor]

One of my friends tried Kylo Ren https://soundcloud.com/weapon-419088521

 

Also I think my older post got deleted?

[DarthDementous]

One of my friends tried Kylo Ren https://soundcloud.com/weapon-419088521

 

Also I think my older post got deleted?

yeah, you're referring to the TFA Conversion thread right? that happened in the middle of the server going down so some posts were deleted. 

 

with your friend there's a big barrier of overcoming that natural accent and in terms of effect there needs to be more gravity, more of a bassy boom as well as slight muffling (but bass normally helps with that anyway). I'm guessing he doesn't have a proper mic in which case that'd be hard to do without one.

[Kefka]

While the final version will be a touch cleaner in spots, I'll admit it's been tempting to overdo the drive/gain in an attempt to further obscure the fact that my voice actor is clearly not Adam Driver lol. Feedback appreciated... sort of lol.

[Kefka]

Yes it is. The original voice is not processed with guitar amps.

 

 

You don't need any expensive equipment to understand how a particular sound or effect works.

... maybe a little too much distortion... well there's actually no "distortion" as an effect per say.. more likely you mean over compressed?... Though an unfortunate degree of compression, even a high degree of data compression has to occur in order for these files to be played at a seemingly loud enough level in the game, which is unfortunate when you're going for full range clarity :/ and poses an extra challenge when the bulk of your mix lives down below 3khz but you still need it to cut through in gameplay. Maybe you could shed some insight onto how to approach the issue?

[Sithani]

... maybe a little too much distortion... well there's actually no "distortion" as an effect per say.. more likely you mean over compressed?... Though an unfortunate degree of compression, even a high degree of data compression has to occur in order for these files to be played at a seemingly loud enough level in the game, which is unfortunate when you're going for full range clarity :/ and poses an extra challenge when the bulk of your mix lives down below 3khz but you still need it to cut through in gameplay. Maybe you could shed some insight onto how to approach the issue?

 

I held something in front of my mouth so it sounds like I'd be wearing a mask, it made the sound a bit softer(?), then compress it to hell, like 12:1 with attack and release at the minimum with threshold at like -15 so it gets distorted a bit already. I pitch shifted it just enough so I wouldn't sound weird. Now I just added some warm distortion and EQ'd the whole thing.

 

I tried a really quick replication of it to show how it may sound, if I'll find more time I'll try to work on it properly.

 

https://clyp.it/qg3n4yb1

 

I'm not saying you've done a bad job or you're not competent, I'm saying you may have a wrong idea as it definitely doesn't sound as distorted in the movie.

 

 

I'll admit it's been tempting to overdo the drive/gain in an attempt to further obscure the fact that my voice actor is clearly not Adam Driver

And I think that's the issue, the key is to make a close impression of his voice, I know the problem, cause I've been trying to process my voice actor's voice into Vader and I made the same mistake with putting too much into it instead of trying to record it in a different way

[DarthDementous]

I held something in front of my mouth so it sounds like I'd be wearing a mask, it made the sound a bit softer(?), then compress it to hell, like 12:1 with attack and release at the minimum with threshold at like -15 so it gets distorted a bit already. I pitch shifted it just enough so I wouldn't sound weird. Now I just added some warm distortion and EQ'd the whole thing.

 

I tried a really quick replication of it to show how it may sound, if I'll find more time I'll try to work on it properly.

 

https://clyp.it/qg3n4yb1

 

I'm not saying you've done a bad job or you're not competent, I'm saying you may have a wrong idea as it definitely doesn't sound as distorted in the movie.

 

And I think that's the issue, the key is to make a close impression of his voice, I know the problem, cause I've been trying to process my voice actor's voice into Vader and I made the same mistake with putting too much into it instead of trying to record it in a different way

that's a good start and that method of recording may be more accurate (what did you hold in front of your face and how close was the mic?) but there's a bit more to it than that. comparing the movie clip with our one I agree that there is too much distortion, but some of those effects present are very necessary in achieving the overall composition. I'm not a sound designer but from what @@Kefka told me Kylo Ren's voice is made up of being very close to the mic, projecting the voice to cut through the distortion and a lot of subtle distortion effects. that and a lot of bass. 

 

you should've just said this in the first place @@Sithani, I posted that hoping for constructive criticism from people who knew what they were talking about and you came off as being critical without any real advice.

 

P.S.: were those lines recored with a quality microphone? I can't hear much bass or dynamic range in that recording but that might be because of the compression.

[Sithani]

Yes they were, I removed too much of the lower frequencies and it was done really quickly just to show the point. Don't use voice clips from that video you posted as reference as they come from a bass-boosted CAMRip

 

 

you came off as being critical without any real advice.

I just told you it was too distorted, not that I didn't like it or something, how isn't that constructive?

[Kefka]

I held something in front of my mouth so it sounds like I'd be wearing a mask, it made the sound a bit softer(?), then compress it to hell, like 12:1 with attack and release at the minimum with threshold at like -15 so it gets distorted a bit already. I pitch shifted it just enough so I wouldn't sound weird. Now I just added some warm distortion and EQ'd the whole thing.

 

I tried a really quick replication of it to show how it may sound, if I'll find more time I'll try to work on it properly.

 

https://clyp.it/qg3n4yb1

 

I'm not saying you've done a bad job or you're not competent, I'm saying you may have a wrong idea as it definitely doesn't sound as distorted in the movie.

 

And I think that's the issue, the key is to make a close impression of his voice, I know the problem, cause I've been trying to process my voice actor's voice into Vader and I made the same mistake with putting too much into it instead of trying to record it in a different way

 

I applaud you for trying to get the sound right at the source. Sounds like you've got one layer close to figured out... now you've got to figure out and blend in the other four or five lol depending on how you do it.

[DarthDementous]

Yes they were, I removed too much of the lower frequencies and it was done really quickly just to show the point. Don't use voice clips from that video you posted as reference as they come from a bass-boosted CAMRip

 

I just told you it was too distorted, not that I didn't like it or something, how isn't that constructive?

well I mean compare and contrast your post where you demonstrated yourself what could be achieved to have a more accurate sound. the specifics were what I was looking for, especially @@Kefka since he has great knowledge of the subject. saying its 'too distorted' didn't help us much because there were many distortion effects applied. anyway I certainly don't hold anything against you.

 

yeah it sounded too high quality for a crappy mic so I was confused but the lack of lower frequencies makes sense. hmm, I have a slightly higher quality version (in terms of video) where the sound is much better and it still sounds like there's a bassy boom. I believe the bass of Adam Driver's voice was boosted to one of the mics that were recording with a pre-amp.

 

I would like to know what your recording set up was though. what did you hold in front of your face and how close was the microphone?