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As technology develops, so does the capacity to create new and exciting ways to entertain. Via the internet, people have found they are able to show their creativity via many outlets, such as art, music, and even film - now we have an entirely new approach to bringing a series to fans: fandubs and radio plays.
Basics of Amateur Voice Acting
Fandubs
A fandub (not to be confused with a fansub) is a film (usually animated) that has been dubbed over by amateur voice actors. Auditions and interest for a project are usually announced, and production starts when the necessary positions are filled. Fandubbing is a little more difficult than fansubbing (taking a foreign film, usually anime, and subtitling it). In addition to translation and timecoding, fandubbers must also consider the voice they have cast and the work necessary to include it in the production. Issues that must be accounted for include matching lip movement (called lipflap in the industry), choice of background music and sound effects, and sound mixing.Fandubs require a great deal time and attention, which is why fandubs often do not continue production past the audition or recording stages. Often, producers become overwhelmed with what once seemed like a good idea, or else simply lose interest.
Radio Plays/Audio Dramas
Often, the need to rely on visual imagery is unnecessary. In the amateur voice acting world, this results in an audio drama. These productions require a little extra work by the producer to ensure that the story is properly conveyed, without confusing the audience. Without the benefit of visuals, the producer must use creative thinking to properly create the scene and atmosphere of his or her story.Of key importance in this process is ambiance. The presence of just enough sound effects to accurately suggest the action without becoming slaves to pure realism. Producers of these audio dramas often take lessons from the works of the past, such as The Shadow. The proper usage of sound effects and music can make or break the quality of the production.
Radio plays/Audio dramas also require a fair bit of attention and time to mix. There is a good deal of tweaking that must be done. Often, making certain that volume levels of sound effects and music can take longer than the actual recording of the lines themselves. The advantage, however, is that there is more freedom to make changes "on the fly", by using software that allows for multitrack mixing.
See also: Radio dramas, Audio theatre
Equipment Used
Fandubs and radioplays do not require state-of-the-art technology to produce. A simple, inexpensive vocal microphone and a PC with some type of recording software are all that is actually required. The quality of work that one outputs can be dramatically increased by improving the microphone purchased, adding a mixer board, and some professional software, but these are not essential for functionality.At first, Windows Sound Recorder was the recording program of widest use for amateur voice acting. Since those days, however, programs such as Goldwave, Audacity, and Cool Edit have come into popular usage. Goldwave and Cool Edit (now known as Adobe Audition), are both pay-per-license software, much like any other that would be sold over the counter. Audacity, however, is released under the GNU General Public License, and is free for use. It includes many of the features of Cool Edit/Adobe Audition that are the most commonly used in amateur voice acting and in the mixing of radioplays, such as noise reduction and multitrack mixing.
Fandubs require a quality video editing software, which in the commercial world is not usually inexpensive for a package that includes the necessary features. A solution, VirtualDub, is available (and in wide use in the AVA community). VirtualDub is, like Audacity, released under the GNU General Public License and is open-source software.
History
The Beginning
Amateur voice acting started in a small corner of the internet in 1996. The community as we know it began in with the completion of Mark Sprague's Sailor Moon S fandub which received a mixed response from the Sailor Moon News Group. However, it was, overall, well received. Mark's fandub received a lot of attention from, primarily, Sailor Moon fans and prompted many others to begin producing fandubs themselves. However, due to equipment and modem limitation, many fandubs rarely made it past the audition phase.As a quick fix and inspired from the idea of anime audio drama CDs, the idea of a radio play was introduced. The radio play partially solved many issues fans had -- now, with basic equipment and a nice story or script, they could create their own "series" without the time consuming task of animating frame-by-frame.
Many fans flocked to the Anime Web Turnpike, which eventually formed a Fandub/Radio Play category.
The Voice Acting Resource Center
AVAs Michiru and Laura Vasillion formed the Voice Acting Resource Center (VARC) as a common gathering place for fans looking to break in to the AVA scene. The VARC was an excellent information resource from its origins on Xoom.com in 1998, until its final days on Redrival in 2001 when schedule conflicts prevented Laura and Michiru from updating and moderating the site on a regular basis.The VARC contained a constantly updated listing of radio plays and voice overs, as well as tips, tricks, rants, and even the foundations of VA etiquette.
Silent Dreams (SDUBB) and FLAVA
During the last few months of the VARC, another board with similar interests called "AVA no Yume" came about. This caused some quarrels, but was never intended to divide the AVAs. AVA no Yume did not last, and eventually shut down and/or became the Silent Dreams UBB (SDUBB)SDUBB was hosted on aitenshi.nu -- a collective site owned by established AVAs Tom Galang, Erin, Marcy Amel, and Mandy Clark. With a majority of SDUBB members already involved in the AVA community, a category was set up devoted just to AVAing (project advertising, auditions, etc...) -- however, the SDUBB was never intended to be a replacement for the VARC.
A second community/AVA web clique was later formed known as FLAVA (Fine Lookin' Amateur Voice Actors) on the website http://www.filette.net. Later, this site became a fully fledged community and eventually moved to the website: http://www.laflava.com. FLAVA was run by Christine Lee, an AVA from Canada. FLAVA primarily revolved around voice acting and provided a safe haven for the timid to interact with other AVAs and break into the AVA community.
Popularity loss of SDUBB and FLAVA
Around 2001 things seemed to change rapidly as the old guard of voice actors seemed to take a step back en masse. Aside from Tom Galang, the owners of SDUBB all decided to retire from the community. SDUBB attempted to reinvent itself a number of times under Tom's watchful eye as the VAMB and under other aliases, but it didn't stick. Eventually, aitenshi.nu died as did the SDUBB.Meanwhile, FLAVA was seemingly flourishing. The active member count was at an all time high, and productions were being completed left and right. However, Christine Lee had also stepped mostly away from the AVA community, and soon, FLAVA suffered from a nearly life-ending server crash in 2002. Over the next few months, members such as Matt Cruea and Sapphira would attempt a revival, but that wouldn't come for some time later.
Rise of the Voice Acting Alliance (VAA)
As FLAVA and SDUBB fell, the VAA rose. With the mass influx of members from the two newly dead forums, the VAA, which had been a smaller forum with few devotees, became larger and more powerful than it ever had been before. Moderators were needed, as well as a new administrator. Saphire Blue (TamTu Bui), a FLAVA mainstay, became an admin, bringing along other FLAVA members such as Tropicana Raurenu and Matt Cruea to serve as moderators. After moving to a new domain at voiceacting.co.uk, the VAA became above and beyond the number one amateur voice acting community on the web.The AVA Community Today
Eventually, Sapphira succeeded in resurrecting FLAVA with the help of Christine Lee. Now located at voiceacting.org, the new FLAVA (now known as VAorg) is beginning to make a comeback under the watchful eye of Tom Galang. Whether or not it will return to the levels of popularity it showed at the beginning of the new millennium is anyone's guess.The VAA is working on creating their website and maintaining as a major AVA resource.
Quite a few AVAs have gone on to do professional work, and the opposite is also true as a few professional voice actors have found times to visit the communities.
Other AVA Communities
Voice Acting Club
This AVA community was started by a popular VA off of the Newgounds Forum, Kagome (aka Haushinka on the VAA). It started as a club on the forum but then separated from Newgrounds and is now a popular forum for flash artists searching for voice over talents.IDPro Message Boards
IDPro Message Boards is a small AVA community mainly for Voice Actors that want to audition or are taking part in one of Identity Productions Fandubs. They also boast a very generous chatting community for their members and fans so they can talk about anime and realted things. They are run by some members and non-members of the VAA (Corey Maddox, Kei, Pai-chan, Taya, and Malika).External links
Resource Websites
Audio Drama Groups
Fandub Groups
"Amateur voice acting"