Community Event / Creation ATC voiceover demo

bitsixteen

B
Hi all,

It's been a while since I posted a demo on the forum as I've been unusually busy this year, working days, nights and weekends in the studio. But here, finally, is the second of the three demos I said I was working on.

What's the demo about?
This is just to demonstrate how voiceover audio might sound in Elite if ATC was incorporated, as it was in Microsoft's Flight Simulator. So you hear the demo from the point of view of someone eavesdropping using an 'air band' ;-) radio. So you will only hear sound when ATC or pilots speak as I'm simulating a squelch here, which otherwise mutes background noise. I have also added unique background noise to each VO's speech to give a sense that there are different sounds coming from their environments. If you ever listen to real ATC, you will often hear engine noise or background sounds when the pilots are speaking.

How was it recorded?
I wrote the script earlier in the year and the language is a *******isation of real ATC lingo, with some fictitious elements added. I have used my own made-up callsigns to suggest there are freight companies operating in the world of Elite. Once the script was in place, I commissioned five of my best VOs to take part and I recorded the sessions from June to August this year. The read was quite difficult as actors are used to acting or dramatising, which is great. But I wanted to 'simulate' ATC. I wanted this to sound as real as possible. So I played some real ATC to the VOs before each recording, just so they could immerse themselves in that field and get a sense of how controllers and pilots speak. It's a surprisngly casual and relaxed affair, with no one getting too excited. Each VO, in my opinion, nailed it and I'm very pleased with what they did. We often recorded about 4 takes of the script and in editing, I picked out the best ones, omitting any I deemed too dramatic. Then it was a case of bringing it all together in one long conversation to give the impression of a busy approach to Lave's coriolis. I layered five effects to obtain the tinny radio sound you hear with each voice. Then I sought out and found some great sound effects on the Internet for the background noise and alarm and applied these accordingly.

OK, you're rambling now, so where's the goddamned link?
Sorry, yes! Here it is:
https://soundcloud.com/bitsixteen/e...in=bitsixteen/sets/video-game-demos-1/s-2MLg1

Be delighted to hear any opinions on this. Hope to have the next and final of my Elite demos in the next few weeks, workload permitting!

Thanks,
Paul
 

Arbanax

Arbanax
Nicely done very atmospheric. When they talk about a sound hud in the game, this is what I think of. I love the idea that com's traffic just gets noisy as you approach a system. Since most of what we do is in a craft (until such a time as we get to walk around and interact with others) this just adds an element of humanity just hearing human voices and human interaction.

Ab
 

G.T

G.T
I like the idea, I think it's great for the atmospherics and overall feel. Some suggestions:

- You're not going to have a Flight Level in space

- All American actors' voices, no thanks

- In order that it does not repeat itself, I would imagine you are best inputting a (large) number of voice mappings that can say a number of varied phrases, I think this has been mentioned elsewhere using the example that it has been used in the music industry. These can varied in pitch and tone to create infinite voices. This would also enable it to be pitched to the player uniquely every time to provide guidance for docking.

Thanks for kickstarting the discussion and a good starter for ten.
 

Kerrash

Kerrash
Very nice, it sure beats imagining all that background noise, like we used to have to do... :rolleyes: damn I feel old now. :p
 

kilvenny

kilvenny
Like a lot, it makes you feel you aren't landing on an empty space station. Variability of voices and varying the length of transmission depending on how busy the system is would help too.
 

bitsixteen

B
Thanks, Arbanax, Gavthomas and Kerrash!

@Arbanax, yes I would love to hear more stuff like this in the actual game. Maybe not in V1, but in a subsequent version. I remember when MS introduced it to Flight Sim, it made a big difference. You could park your plane short of a runway and just listen to the chatter between ATC and virtual traffic and it immersed you in that world. Nerdy, but I'm a nerd, so I loved it. :)

@Gavthomas, actually the Flight Level is something I thought about before I recorded the demo. The idea was that in order to vector hundreds (maybe thousands) of ships per day into a docking bay, you'd need some sense of spacial relativity. So the idea would be that either there's an agreed universal axis in space for all navigation, or that each coriolis generates its own virtual axis which serves as a kind of 'artifical horizon'. With that in mind, you could have negative alts, e.g. 'Flight level negative five five'. So you'd be five thousand five hundred feet below the virtual axis and would be vectored to climb for docking. I actually intended to include negative alts in the script, but it just ended up being what it is.
As for American VOs, this came up with my last demo, which just used two VOs, both of whom are American. I fully appreciate the fact that Elite is as English as Dr Who, but surely the world upon which Elite is based is culturally diverse and that the least we could expect are English and American characters in any given scene? In this demo, by the way, there are two English VOs: one from Reading and the other from somewhere in Buckinghamshire. The other three are American. If I hadn't already recorded all the voice parts for the next demo, I'd be including French, German and just about any other nationality you can think of, so long as I could find good enough actors. But I don't think it takes away from the fact that Elite is a very English product.
Lastly, yes, I agree, you could record parts for this in the way the speaking clock works (if it still exists) or the way any IVR system works ('Press 1 for Sales, Press 2 for Accounts, etc.), or indeed, the way Flight Sim worked. For those who don't know, your own inputs weren't voiced. You just made your navigation selections from a hierarchy of progressive menus and the virtual controller spoke back, but you could hear other virtual pilots making choices and responding to commands as well. So this demo is just to provide a flavour of how it might sound.

@Kerrash, I think a lot of things are appearing in games that we used to have to imagine. :) I started on the Spectrum in 1986, so practically everything was imagined, but it was still superb. Maybe it's good that we come from an era that gives us a great appreciation of just how good games are now. Had I seen Frontier's Damocles clip back in 1986 I'd have passed out. Hopefully some sort of ATC element can one day become part of Elite Dangerous. I definitely think it would greatly improve the immersion into Elite's world.

Thanks for the comments everyone.
Paul
 

bitsixteen

B
Thanks kilvenny. This demo is about 5 mins long and I worried it might be too long for some people (as a lot of it is just instruction), but for me it was all about settling the listener into that world so I let it run on a bit. But I kept each transmission short enough, kind of based on what I was hearing in real ATC reports for approach traffic. I didn't initially intend having any drama, by the way, that was an afterthought when I was writing the script. Glad it's prompted a little discussion on the matter anyway. Thanks a mill.
Paul
 

bitsixteen

B
Not a massive response to this, so I imagine I'm probably one of a very small few who get a bit excited at the thoughts of having ATC in Elite. Oh well, just thought I'd throw it out there. :-D

Thanks to anyone who listened.
Paul
 

bitsixteen

B
Nice one, Jenner! Support from a real pilot — even better! ;)

I have sent this same demo to two friends of mine; one is a high-alt controller at Shannon Airport here in Ireland and the other is a retired Aer Lingus pilot (ex 747 and A330). That said, they might just wet themselves laughing at this. :)

Still, I would LOVE this feature to be included in ED, if not in the first edition, then in a later iteration.

Thanks again!
Paul
 

bitsixteen

B
Thanks, Styggron. I'm delighted a few people would like to see this feature implemented. I thought I was just really nerding out on this one. I had to explain to the voiceover artists how this might be worth demo'ing for a game. The lack of a response here had me fearing the VOs' bewilderment might have been justified. :D Sometimes you just have to trust your judgement, no matter how delusional you might seem. ;)
 

Mobius

Mobius
I had made a request to FD for ambient traffic comms when approaching a station back when the the Kick starter had completed, this is pretty much what I expected to hear. very well put together. would love to add the sound to the Docking Wallpaper

Mobius said:
DOCKING SEQUENCE

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE​
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Mobius said:
Docking

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
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bitsixteen

B
Mobius, that's great to hear. I wanted this to sound as close to real ATC as possible as I think it would be very immersive. Imagine approaching a distant Coriolis and hearing all this buzz, then being vectored in for approach. I think it would add so much to the atmos and — as I say — the sense of immersion in the game.
Thanks a mill,
Paul
 

bitsixteen

B
Sorry Mobius, only seeing the images now. They look great. You have my blessing if you want to use the audio for something ED related. :)
 

Mobius

Mobius
bitsixteen said:
Sorry Mobius, only seeing the images now. They look great. You have my blessing if you want to use the audio for something ED related. :)
Click to expand...

the Voice over inspired an interesting image, Ill be posting this on my wallpaper thread and will credit you for the inspiration aswell as including the Voice over.

LOTHIAN 181

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