Voiceover production for games is fun. You get to meet actors, hear them bring your characters to life, and putting those audio files into the engine adds another dimension to your game. But it can be tempting to rush the process. So, let’s go over some basics of what should be done before you head into a recording session.
What is voice production?
Voice production for games is the casting and recording of actors to create the edited sound files that can be put into your game’s engine, giving voice to your characters. These characters can be a straight-forward quiz master or narrator guiding players through the game, a fast-talking duo throwing quips as they battle bosses, or a full cast of characters in cinematic and in-game scenes.
While the casting of actors and hitting record in the studio are the more obvious parts of the process, the production side of things is the hidden engine that keeps things on time and on budget.
How is it done?
You can either record actors remotely (from their home studios) or record in a professional studio, often with a production company attached. Budget and bandwidth are going to be the two major factors when it comes to choosing location.
Recording actors remotely can be cost effective if your cast and dialogue needs are small. Not all home setups are equal, however, so you may want to use a professional audio engineer to vet the home studios to ensure the audio will be usable in-game. Mic choice, insulation, and broadband speed can make a big difference. Post production support can also help bring consistency across your final audio files, but it can’t fix everything.
If you have a larger cast, want known games actors, or have more than a few hundred lines to record, it’s probably worth looking into a recording studio or production company that specialises in game voiceover (VO) to achieve efficient, high-quality recording sessions. There’s also the production support value to consider, which can affect both budget and time.
Because you’ll also need to think about your bandwidth: consider how much you or your busy team is going to be able to handle yourselves when it comes to voiceover. Casting sounds like fun but do you have time to assess multitudes of actor voice reels when other development deadlines are looming? Once those actors have been selected, do you have the time to figure out the terms for the actors’ contracts? A production company can provide support with actor contracting, as well as script formatting, session management, recording, and post production.
However you plan to record your VO, good preparation and use of established processes and template documents can help keep your budget under control and make the best use of your time. If you’re not using a production company, there are resources available online. Alternatively, specialists like me can provide customised versions based on your project’s specific needs.
When do we start?
When setting your VO timeline, include the time required for:
- Casting & auditions
- Actor selection, contracting, scheduling
- Asset prep (script, videos)
- Recording, including pickups
- Post production
You can either start from when your script and casting assets will be ready and add all the elements mentioned above to figure out when to expect final audio files, or start from your ratings submission deadline and work backwards.
Some parts of the process will be calculated in days or even weeks. For example, if you need a very specific type of actor, casting will take longer. Then once you start scheduling the recording sessions, you’re thinking in hours: the actor, studio, and director are all billed by the hour*. You want your calculations to be as accurate as possible, as those hours can be expensive!
*This is in the UK. The US tends to work in 4-hour sessions.
Who is going to star?
Once you have a timeline, you can start the casting process. You’ll need to figure out how many actors are required to voice your characters. This character-to-actor ratio will depend on your character breakdown, including gender, ethnicity, accent, and age. To make the most of your budget, you can often reduce your actor count by having the cast cover more than one character. But you’ll want to ensure they aren’t one) inappropriately covering ethnicities that they should not, or two) end up speaking to themselves in scenes.
While casting may be weeks away from the recording sessions, it still needs its own assets: character briefs and audition scripts at a minimum; ideally a game story summary and preliminary artwork for the casting director and performance director.
Once the casting assets are ready, how do you find the actors? If you’re casting your project yourself, you can send out a casting call – a summary of the game, character biographies, and details on the project (e.g. fees, when and where it’ll be recorded). This can be done on an online casting platform, sent directly to specific agents, or put online via socials or the job listing page on your website. Ensure it’s detailed enough to get the right actors to submit. But be ready, you could be inundated with hundreds of options, so as mentioned before, plan on time to assess them all.
If your budget allows for a casting director, you’ll save on time and effort, as they’ll take care of the initial search and provide you with a shortlist of actors from which to select from. Remember, they do this every day, so they work efficiently, drawing on their knowledge and experience running searches. They can also help ensure your casting assets are up to scratch.
Once your cast has been selected, they’ll need to be contracted. At a minimum, you should cover the basics: confidentiality, fees to be paid, and signing of rights to the recordings over to you. These days, you’ll also be asked to provide assurances against the creation of synthetic voices from their recordings. If you do have plans for generative AI or the such, then be prepared to provide more details including a compensation schedule. While some actors won’t participate in projects using AI to create additional audio content, others are open to it if there are informed consent and proper compensation. Once contracted, you’re getting ready for the recording sessions.
Where do we go from here?
Regardless of where you’re recording, don’t start scheduling until you know how the script is looking. Your script doesn’t have to be fully locked until a few days before the recording sessions, but you do need to have an idea of when that’ll be before you start scheduling studio and actors. You’ll also need estimated line counts for each character, so you can start planning how much time you need with each actor. Otherwise, you risk scheduling inefficient recording sessions and could incur extra costs.
While of course a script’s main job is to tell the game’s story through the characters’ dialogue, what else does a script need to be ready for the studio? The basics are:
- unique filenames
- consistent character names
- dialogue
- context
- direction
Ideally, the script will be in a spreadsheet format as it’s the easiest way for the audio engineer to follow. It’s also the most efficient format for tracking the recording progress in-session as well as QA during post production.
If there are any video reference files (e.g. to show an actor how their character swings a sword or what’s happening in the spacecraft dog fight) these need to be provided in a consistent format and should be labelled the same way they are listed in the script. Someone needs to prep these assets, so ensure your timeline includes this prep time for both your team and your external partners.
If you’re using a performance director, they’ll also need to prep. Ideally, you’ll provide them with a brief on the game, a story summary, a rough draft of the script, and character bios. Any character or environmental art that’s available is also really useful. Have a call with them before the recording session – it’s amazing what a quick chat can clear up in terms of questions and will help set the tone for the sessions.
Why are we here?
In the recording session, we have the audio engineer, actor, and someone providing performance direction. You’re welcome to attend sessions – be it online or in-studio, but keep in mind recording sessions are not for entertainment so the people attending should be there to provide additional context, to help set tone and character voices, and potentially track the session. Try to avoid extraneous attendees. This is especially important if you have high profile talent. No one wants to feel like a performing monkey.
Speaking of tracking, who is tracking what lines have been recorded and any line changes that are made to the script? Sometimes this is done by the performance director but in other cases it’s one of the dev team. Some production companies now have bespoke software that can take care of a lot of this for you, so do ask if you’re considering using an external service provider.
That’s a wrap.
Once the recordings are done, the audio files need to go through post production. If you’ve recorded remotely, the actors will send you the raw files and your audio team member, or a post production freelancer, will tidy them up, ensure levels are consistent, and check all the script has been recorded properly. If using a studio or production company, their post team can take care of this for you. Finally, the files are implemented into your game engine. Again, external support is available for this if your team doesn’t have the expertise or bandwidth to do it. There are also freelance sound designers to create all the non-verbal sound effects and build the game’s audio environment, which can really raise the quality of the player’s experience.
And that’s it! In future posts I’ll go into more specifics about casting asset prep, script prep, the value a performance director can add, and what can slow things way down in session.
