One of the selling points of our projects is the golden tonsils of our talented voice actor Mike Holmes.  We get a lot of comments/questions regarding how great the characters sound in our games, so I’ve asked Mike if he wouldn’t mind writing a quick blog post about his process/workflow (for the SQIII remake in particular), and he kindly obliged. 

Here’s a few of the lines he recorded for the current project.  Feel free to listen to/download these at your leisure:

• Arnoid:      I am not Impressed!
• Elmo:          Nukem Dukem Robots
• GFA:           Kick his robotic butt Wilco!
• Clerk:         No money no food, dude!
• Narrator: Welcome to Monolith Burger!

If you want to hear more of Magic Mike just mosey on over to the Mercury Blue Steam page and download our free-to-play demo.  

If you would like to reach out to Mike for any project work, check out his profile here: https://www.voices.com/profile/michaelholmesvo.

Over to you Mike!

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When I began working with Turbo Chimp on the Space Quest III remake I couldn't wait to get started.  Over the years we've fallen into a really fun way of working together that never fails to bring out the crazy!

Early on I'm sent the script for an initial read-through, as well as links to any reference material for the project such as YouTube videos documenting the original title.  The Space Quest Historian was particularly helpful in this regard!  

Once I have a basic feel for the project I do my initial read of the script. Right away the voices cannot help but begin to pop into my head for the characters.

After maybe, the third or fourth read, some of the voices drop away and others stick. The ones that remain are recorded as samples in my vocal booth to be sent for feedback. 

By this point I'm quite familiar with the story and usually begin colour-coding each character’s text in the script, followed by copying all of their dialogue onto separate documents.  This helps later on when I come to record all of their lines in one session.

 I record all my audio in a homemade vocal booth that consists of producer quality sound absorption sheets which are hung around the walls and roof rafters to form a pretty big box.  This blocks out any sounds that might creep in during a recording session. It also stops my voice from bouncing off the walls and making it sound like I'm shouting at myself...

I use a Shure SM57 mic to block out even more sound which leads into a Scarlett Solo and a DBX 286s Preamp/Processor, all ending up in Adobe Audition where I edit and label all of the audio before I send it for review. 

When it finally comes time to record the characters, I am asked to give three recordings of each line with a little variation on each and the freedom to improvise on the third take with some funny additional dialogue.  

This gives us plenty to choose from and given that this is a remake the improvised lines give older fans something new to look forward to. 

 At the end of a recording session, I'm pretty tired and this is because I'm a very physical performer. After many years of acting on stage I prefer to move while delivering the voices. 

I feel that moving/standing as the character would allow me to feel them more and bring an authenticity to their voices which I hope comes through in the final game.

Mike