Working with vocalists

[MKN]

aw that's pretty bullshit tbh and really disrespectful
do you mind telling us what tracks you have done vocals for? (because there's probably some i haven't heard because they haven't put your name anywhere, if you get me lol)

Everything is in my discogs profile, but some that aren't included: Strength & Fury (vocal + lyric), Angel of the Sun (vocals only), Samara (vocals only)...

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Nikkita+Bradette

So all the tracks you did for Fusion really. That's quite bad of them if i'm honest

[nikkita]

aw that's pretty bullshit tbh and really disrespectful
do you mind telling us what tracks you have done vocals for? (because there's probably some i haven't heard because they haven't put your name anywhere, if you get me lol)

Everything is in my discogs profile, but some that aren't included: Strength & Fury (vocal + lyric), Angel of the Sun (vocals only), Samara (vocals only)...

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Nikkita+Bradette

So all the tracks you did for Fusion really. That's quite bad of them if i'm honest

Don't forget "Promises" lol

"Another Day In My Life", Michel was probably the most professional out of that bunch of people. He was polite, put my name everywhere possible, "please/thank you/sign some of these vinyl", etc. Pretty much working with him you feel like a person who has something to offer, not just a VST to speak on command.

Zatox is another fantastic producer to work with -- he's on time, he is precise in what he wants but still give you creative freedom. I guess people have learned I'm not one for party-style lyrics, I'm more of a deep person, so he and I have some battles over that sometimes, haha. However, he let's me have free reign over most stuff. It's nice to have a producer to work with to develop your ideas and show you how to do stuff along the way. On the flipside, it's nice to feel needed as well.

[nikkita]

Woops, sorry Shep, I didn't see your post either...

That's really weard. I don't understand how that's possible, and even legal, but maybe it's just me, i don't know...
But you can always ask an advanced payment, so you are at least out of debts? (I don't know if advanced payment is the correct word, but what i mean is that people should give you some money before you make vocals for them and the rest will come after that)

It's not weird, it's just business. A lot of people just aren't on time... yeah, advance payments are a good way around royalties. For example, as a studio vocalist I would take an advance payment instead of royalties -- because with royalties, you are only getting, say, 15% of not a whole lot... so you can either wait 5 years for 100 euro, or you can just take the 100 euro upfront lol.

And i got a friend who is an MC, but he only does stuff on gigs. His microphone broke down, so now he has to do it at home with a simple webcam microphone and i guess that you know better as anyone here, what the difference is between a good microphone and such a piece of **** like that.

Oh goodness Yes, I remember voice acting on a microphone I bought from the dollar store when I was very young... it was my first microphone ever, and I used my allowance to buy it for $5. I was 11 years old. I look back now and laugh my ass off at how shit the quality was hahaha.

& Those clips are awsome! If you showed them to me without saying that it was, i would have never guessed it. Although, the first one is pretty clear.
But in England/America there is less stuff to dub as in Europe ain't it? Because most of the good movies and clips are made in English-speaking countries.

Haha, thank you

Well, most of the high paying work is either union or commercial work. I am non-union, and 99% of anime dubs are actually non-union as well (which is nice because union dues are insanely crazy to meet sometimes). You get paid a good amount, and a nice progressive payrate.

A good thing as well is you can do cartoons, games, etc... Bioware is in my city, and with the advancement of technology, most studios are set up for ADR work -- so the main studio can be in Toronto, but it's possible to record from a satelitte studio in Vancouver, and it's really not uncommon to have 1 show being recorded in something like 3 or 4 different cities.

[Shepherd]

And what do you prefer? Dubbing movies or making vocals for music?

[nikkita]

Honestly? I love doing both but only in studio.

The only thing I don't enjoy doing is writing/recording by myself. When I'm with the producers in studio and there's that wicked "click", we can sit and write and record for hours. I remember one session, we ended up writing and recording 3 tracks.

With voice acting you don't really get an opportunity to express your creativity, unless a line is written too long and needs to be adjusted. However, if you've got that "personality" the director really likes, you guys can have a riot in the studio. We've fit in a lot of funny injokes in to the Pretty Cure dub, for example... and it's just so much fun, there's a lot of goofing off, and I usually leave the session with a huge smile on my face.

So they are both mutual, I think hehe.

[GolGotha]

Wow, I didn't realise that was you on those tracks - Love your voice

[nikkita]

Thank you

[Shepherd]

Honestly? I love doing both but only in studio.

The only thing I don't enjoy doing is writing/recording by myself. When I'm with the producers in studio and there's that wicked "click", we can sit and write and record for hours. I remember one session, we ended up writing and recording 3 tracks.

With voice acting you don't really get an opportunity to express your creativity, unless a line is written too long and needs to be adjusted. However, if you've got that "personality" the director really likes, you guys can have a riot in the studio. We've fit in a lot of funny injokes in to the Pretty Cure dub, for example... and it's just so much fun, there's a lot of goofing off, and I usually leave the session with a huge smile on my face.

So they are both mutual, I think hehe.

I think its so cool that you can do a job which you like. I can only hope that i can do something like that in the future... How long do you do this stuff? And is it something that you can do from birth or can you learn it?

[nikkita]

You can do anything in the world, if it's something you sincerely want to do -- just practise!

Some people seem to be more "natural" and can easily do this, while some other people may have to practise for a while and let go of their anxiety, get an understanding of character voices, commercial voices, techniques, etc... A lot of the reasons why I'm nervous recordig in front of people, is because when you're voice acting you almost have to "over-do" things. So you make a lot of stupid faces and expressions sometimes, and you think "Oh, I must really look like an idiot over here, maybe they're all laughing at me, if I choke and make a mistake, etc..."

I started doing sound/voice stuff at a very young age (in 1997/1998), and it started because I wanted to be Sailor Moon... some of those amateur projects are still available online.

I was alright at first, but I wasn't great or anything. However, I practised a lot by participating in various projects and improved myself over time.

[Shepherd]

Oh, i know that feeling. Normally i would have done the voice of charlie in the movie: charlie and the chocolatfactory (i had to cancel it because of circumstances) but when i did the audition, i was mumbling a bit, thinking that the director was laughing at me, ... But it was a fun thing to do.
I wish i had the voice of Don de la Fontaine, my life would be a whole lot cooler "This summer, Vincent goes to the grosserie store!" Haha

So did you do voice lessons? Or did you just learned it by doing voice overs and singing?