Sardine's Portfolio and Hardware Assistance

[Sardinky]

Hello Hello!

My name is Sardinky, and I've recently wanted to start contributing more to Newgrounds and the voice acting community as a whole, so I'm here to offer some assistance/advice for aspiring voice actors when it comes to hardware, and sharpening your skills.

I'll start by listing my Character Reel and Portfolio:

Sardine NG Portfolio

I'm still learning just like everyone else, but I am currently working full time in audio tech - working with rack gear and microphones specifically - and have had years of acting and improvisational experience, and would like to give back to (and learn alongside) the community I've gotten so much out of by offering some help to those who are looking to make sure they have their quality up to par for what they'd like to do the first time.

If you've got questions about what hardware to purchase, how to configure it, how to budget it, or how it works, I'd be happy to take PM's or other forms of communication so we can get you a' rollin'.

Hardware can also encompass plugins in software meant to emulate gear such as: parametric equalizers, pre-amps, compressors, etc.

If you're looking for feedback or criticisms on your performance, I do offer that as well in the form of serious sincerity. Truthful and critical feedback is important in the VA community these days, and you hardly see people wanting to get down to the nitty gritty anymore.

Hope this doesn't sound too bizarre, and hope I can get to know some new faces and friends so we can all become a bit more tightly knit to help eachother grow and work alongside eachother in the future!

[LuckyDee]

Holy tits, that's an amazing demo reel man! In fact, I'm putting that one on the frontpage despite the fact that it's already been sitting out there for quite a while. You obviously know what you're doing here, I'm going to keep my eye on you and maybe learn a thing or two.

So if you're willing to teach straight off the bat, I'd love to know how you process the vocals to get to this level of crispy...

[Sardinky]

At 2/5/22 10:17 AM, LuckyDee wrote: Holy tits, that's an amazing demo reel man! In fact, I'm putting that one on the frontpage despite the fact that it's already been sitting out there for quite a while. You obviously know what you're doing here, I'm going to keep my eye on you and maybe learn a thing or two.

So if you're willing to teach straight off the bat, I'd love to know how you process the vocals to get to this level of crispy...

Oh thank you!! Really means a lot.

Though I didn't mix or master my own reel. I would suggest that nobody does tbh, having somebody else do it will reallyyy reduce some of the bias you have to mix your own voice in new and.. 'personally pleasing' ways rather than having some kind of standard that'd fit what people listening to your reel are looking for.

[LuckyDee]

At 2/5/22 10:28 AM, Sardinky wrote:
Though I didn't mix or master my own reel. I would suggest that nobody does tbh, having somebody else do it will reallyyy reduce some of the bias you have to mix your own voice in new and.. 'personally pleasing' ways rather than having some kind of standard that'd fit what people listening to your reel are looking for.

I get what you mean, but that's a luxury a lot of the VA here likely don't have. And besides, I feel adding to your toolbox in terms of audio production is something each VA can benefit from regardless. If you manage to figure out what your engineer did to your recordings, I'd love to know.

[Sardinky]

At 2/5/22 10:32 AM, LuckyDee wrote:

At 2/5/22 10:28 AM, Sardinky wrote:
Though I didn't mix or master my own reel. I would suggest that nobody does tbh, having somebody else do it will reallyyy reduce some of the bias you have to mix your own voice in new and.. 'personally pleasing' ways rather than having some kind of standard that'd fit what people listening to your reel are looking for.

I get what you mean, but that's a luxury a lot of the VA here likely don't have. And besides, I feel adding to your toolbox in terms of audio production is something each VA can benefit from regardless. If you manage to figure out what your engineer did to your recordings, I'd love to know.

Oh yeah of course, I'm talking specifically demo reels really. And when it comes to reels in the first place, I think the timing really matters for when to get one. Lots of people cobble together reels with their own early engineering and acting practices, and I encourage that! It gets practice in on writing, engineering, acting, and improvisation.

Though I do see a lot of people get into reels way too early, because at a lot of points on "amateurish internet voice acting" don't need a demo reel. I got my first reel way too early because I thought I needed it, and really kinda suffered for it. I had no engineering or writing skills, and my acting was seriously sub par, and I still have it posted so I can use it as reference in the future.

Never a bad thing to wait as long as you'd need for a demo reel.

[LuckyDee]

At 2/5/22 10:43 AM, Sardinky wrote:
Oh yeah of course, I'm talking specifically demo reels really. And when it comes to reels in the first place, I think the timing really matters for when to get one. Lots of people cobble together reels with their own early engineering and acting practices, and I encourage that! It gets practice in on writing, engineering, acting, and improvisation.

Though I do see a lot of people get into reels way too early, because at a lot of points on "amateurish internet voice acting" don't need a demo reel. I got my first reel way too early because I thought I needed it, and really kinda suffered for it. I had no engineering or writing skills, and my acting was seriously sub par, and I still have it posted so I can use it as reference in the future.

Never a bad thing to wait as long as you'd need for a demo reel.

Aye, I can see the sense in that. I cobbled one together late last year just because I could, and it felt good. But it doesn't look like it's making a world of difference for me in terms of getting parts in.