Narrrators / Voice Actors

[Wormin8or]

I've been looking on the internet for free to download audiobooks to use for inspiration for my 3d work. However, the quality is shocking or the 'free' sites charge a huge fee.

Does anyone know of a good source of narrated stories online that are free to use? Alternatively, does anyone on the forums want to record themselves reading a passage?

With the wealth of nationalities here, and enough volunteers, we could create a huge resource of accents, languages and stories.

Any ideas?

[Ironbuket]

Ill help, but I dont know if my voice is any good or not. Sounds pretty crap when I listen to myself

[MonteCristo]

Actually, I'm really rather good at this. What did you have in mind?

[Wormin8or]

MonteCristo, I was hoping for any kind of response, so thanks for replying. I'm looking for a narrator that could perhaps perform a reading of some classic Greek stories, ie works from The Illyiad (sp?) and The Odyssey.

Ironbuket, I'm downloading your zip now. I'll post some comments later.

Thank you again for being so helpful.

[Wormin8or]

I've just listened to your attachment, Ironbuket, and it's not exactly what I'm looking for. To give you an idea of what I mean, please could you read the following passage.

This is actually the frst verse of a short nonsense poem written by Edward Lear (most famous for 'The Owl and the ***** Cat')

The Jumblies
Edward Lear

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And every one cried, `You'll all be drowned!'
They called aloud, `Our Sieve ain't big,
But we don't care a button! we don't care a fig!
In a Sieve we'll go to sea!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.



Sorry but the forum has automatically censored the title of the poem. You can probably guesss why.

[Ironbuket]

Sorry, its my inappropriate sense of humour again. That file is one of a few voice actor outtakes I have, its not actually me :D

If I can work out how to record my voice on this PC, ill make a real sample for you :)

[USED]

I have been told that I have a very good voice.. and should do radio.. at work I do all the telecom recordings.. and I also did a main message for Microsoft a few years ago..
this weekend I will make u something if u want.. Im american so I dont have an acent LOL at least to my ears..
how do u want the file?? MP3, Wav.. and it will be to large to post so do u have an email address that I could send it to??

[Ironbuket]

OK, if you want a good laugh you can listen to me reading that text Wormin8or posted (theres an .mp3 inside the zip)

Does my voice really sound that bad... :o

[USED]

hahhaahahha... love your british voice.. its cool.. you classy brits :D

[Wormin8or]

IronBuket, I've listened to your file but your voice doesn't have the grandeous (sp?) I'm looking for. (I'm an Essex boy so I'm in no real position to judge.)

USED - please send your recording as a *.wav file in a zip to Wormin8or@hotmail.com.

N.B. Files can be attached to your messages that are 102kb in size and so try that first if you can.

[MonteCristo]

Well, I'll see if I can't get this done for ya tonight. Not promising anything, but I do have a mic at home, not a great one, but should be enough.

[Wormin8or]

MonteCristo, I've checked my account and I have not received any emails from you with the sound file. Just checking to see if you have tried to send an email or not.

If your busy fixing 3DTotal.com I'll understand, of course, but if I could use your voie it owuld be a great help to me.

[the_solidshadow]

Originally posted by USED
hahhaahahha... love your british voice.. its cool.. you classy brits :D

lol, im british, but my voice is definitely NOT classy.

ironbuket- sorry to say it, but im 13 and my voice is deeper than yours :D:D:D:D :p

[Wormin8or]

Hey, try and keep the comments positive, the_solidshadow. It took a lot for Ironbuket to post himself on the net for everyone to hear. The reason I started this thread was to find someone more willing than me to narrate my story.

If you think you could do better, plz feeel free to post a *.wav in a zip file containing your sample of the verse submitted in an earlier post.

[MonteCristo]

Yeah, sorry Wormin8or, we mods seem to be having some pretty poor luck as it goes. My computer is f***ed so I need to get it fixed up before I can record anything for you. I'll see If I can get it done on my laptop instead. :)

[the_solidshadow]

lol, i wasn't trying to be negative, i was jokin about. sorry, IronBuket if i offended you in any way. no hard feelings, yeah?

[Wormin8or]

That's what I like to see, the_solidshadow, all the boys and girls playing nicely together.

MonteCristo - Please don't feel the need to work on your laptop to get the recording done for me. All I needed was to know that you were still going to record something for me. This will really help me, but you have a higher calling, ie restoring the 3DTotal website.

P.S. reallly hope that they arrest and prosecte the guys who decided to smash up your offices. 21st century ludites I guess...

[Wormin8or]

This is a copy of the full poem for Monte.


They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And every one cried, 'You'll all be drowned!'
They called aloud, 'Our Sieve ain't big,
But we don't care a button! we don't care a fig!
In a Sieve we'll go to sea!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they sailed so fast,
With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a riband by way of a sail,
To a small tobacco-pipe mast;
And every one said, who saw them go,
'O won't they be soon upset, you know!
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,
And happen what may, it's extremely wrong
In a Sieve to sail so fast!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

The water it soon came in, it did,
The water it soon came in;
So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet
In a pinky paper all folded neat,
And they fastened it down with a pin.
And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,
And each of them said, 'How wise we are!
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,
Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,
While round in our Sieve we spin!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

And all night long they sailed away;
And when the sun went down,
They whistled and warbled a moony song
To the echoing sound of a coppery gong,
In the shade of the mountains brown.
'O Timballo! How happy we are,
When we live in a Sieve and a crockery-jar,
And all night long in the moonlight pale,
We sail away with a pea-green sail,
In the shade of the mountains brown!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,
To a land all covered with trees,
And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,
And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,
And a hive of silvery Bees.
And they bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,
And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,
And no end of Stilton Cheese.
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

And in twenty years they all came back,
In twenty years or more,
And every one said, 'How tall they've grown!
For they've been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone,
And the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
And they drank their health, and gave them a feast
Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;
And every one said, 'If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve,---
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

[nahen]

For those interested in narration and voice acting, you may want to visit http://voice123.com/