PDA

View Full Version : Information about recording additional spotter sounds



mr_belowski
24-07-2017, 08:06
We recently requested some help from the community to add some alternative spotter voices to CC (just the spotter component). We're asking for this because the spotter tends to be a different person, away from the pits (high up in a cherry-picker or whatever, looking down over the track). We've had a few volunteers already but if anyone wants to add their voice to the app there might still be time.

These instructions look complicated but they're really not - I just want to ensure it's as clear as possible.


First off, I'd like to use these sounds in the donation-ware open-source PC app *and* the closed-source Android version of the app, which costs 2 quid. So you need to be OK with that.


The recordings should be clear and not too bassy. I'll apply the radio sound filters myself so I need sound files that haven't been altered. They don't need to be broadcast quality or anywhere near because they get massively fuzzed up anyway. If possible, I want them in 22050Hz mono PCM wav file format (I can convert them but it's a chunk of extra work).


I need 15 sound sets, each with a few variations. Here are the sound sets, with a few example phrases:


still_there: "still there", "hold your line"
in_the_middle: "you're in the middle, three wide", "3 wide, you're in the middle", "you're in the middle"
car_left: "car left", "left side", "on your left"
car_right: "car right", "left right", "on your right"
car_inside: "car inside", "car low", etc
car_outside: "car outside", "car high", etc
clear_left: "clear left", "clear on the left"
clear_right: "clear right", "clear on the right"
clear_inside: "clear inside", "clear low", etc
clear_outside: "clear outside", "clear high"
clear_all_round: "clear all round"
three_wide_on_right: "three wide, you're on the right", "you're on the right, three wide"
three_wide_on_left: "three wide, you're on the left", "you're on the left, three wide"
three_wide_on_inside: "three wide, you're on the inside", "you're on the bottom, three wide"
three_wide_on_outside: "three wide, you're on the outside", "you're up high, three wide"


And 3 additional sound sets:
radio_check: "spotter radio check"
enable_spotter: "OK, I'll spot" / "OK, I'll give those calls"
disable_spotter: "OK, no more spotter calls" / "OK, no spotter calls"



For each sound set I need between 5 and 10 variations (this is especially important for the still_there sound). The variations can be different phrasing (although in some cases there are only 1 or 2 ways to phrase the message), slightly different inflexions (the same thing said in a slightly different tone), or just the natural variation of saying the same thing multiple times. The goal with the variations is to make the app sound natural - it may repeat "still there" a few times so there needs to be a bit of variety. Please don't read from a script - it's really obvious. Shut your eyes and imagine yourself in a cherry-picker giving critical information to a busy and stressed driver ;)


I think the easiest way to do this is to record each set as a single sound file with all the variations, and a 1 to 2 second pause between each one. So just record yourself saying "car left" .... "on your left" .... "left side" .... "car left" .... "on your left" ... "left side" etc. And put the resulting big sound file in a folder called "car_left". And repeat for the others so we have several folders, each with a single long sound file. Then zip it up.


I'll take care of splitting the sounds into the individual phrases and filtering them.

Tnadz
09-11-2017, 19:51
Hi, Mr. Belowski. I only just stumbled onto your wonderful program after I saw Studio 397s mention and subsequent searches about The Crew Chief. I'd love to offer some work for the spotter packs if you're still looking. My wife also offered to provide some vocal work for a female spotter. Please let us know if there's interest. Thank you and please keep up the great work.

mr_belowski
09-11-2017, 20:28
Yeah, sure, more spotter voices would be cool - send the sounds as I've described above and I'll out them in the next sound pack update.

Glad you like it :)

Scraping Micha
12-11-2017, 14:50
...
The recordings should be clear and not too bassy. I'll apply the radio sound filters myself so I need sound files that haven't been altered. They don't need to be broadcast quality or anywhere near because they get massively fuzzed up anyway. If possible, I want them in 22050Hz mono PCM wav file format ...

what bit depth do you need? 8, 16,24 bit??

Scraping Micha
12-11-2017, 16:59
so,

i just recorded some and put it into a zip.
maybe you can use it, otherwise, no matter, if not. :) wavs are 22.050hz, 16 bit, mono.8bit was too noisy. didnt normalize, but did a little compression. lowcut at 100hz.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ur3d7luapuledy6/CrewChief-Spotter-Soundpack_Micha.zip?dl=0

greetings,

micha

Tnadz
15-11-2017, 01:12
so,

i just recorded some and put it into a zip.
micha

Micha, these are pretty good. You're accent adds a nice flare to the mix and your annunciation is quite good. The only thing I'd say is please add more lines with different inflections for variety. I'd say maybe 3 more or so for each one at least.

I hope to get mine completed here soon too.

mr_belowski
15-11-2017, 09:30
Micha,

Here's the processed and packaged spotter files

http://crewchief.isnais.de/spotter_Micha.zip


To use this, unzip this into your C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\CrewChiefV4\sounds\voice\

folder, so you're adding new 'spotter_Micha' and 'radio_check_Micha' folders to the existing voice folder, and new 'spotterDisabled_Micha' and 'spotterEnabled_Micha' folders to the voice/acknowledge folder.


If you're happy with how it sounds I can add it to the next sound pack update so everyone else can use it



[edit]

Tnadz - did you create some sounds too?

Scraping Micha
15-11-2017, 15:33
Ahoy,


Micha, these are pretty good. You're accent adds a nice flare to the mix and your annunciation is quite good. The only thing I'd say is please add more lines with different inflections for variety. I'd say maybe 3 more or so for each one at least.

I hope to get mine completed here soon too.

ok, cool, THX! :) i try more variety in the next days.



Micha,

Here's the processed and packaged spotter files

http://crewchief.isnais.de/spotter_Micha.zip


To use this, unzip this into your C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\CrewChiefV4\sounds\voice\

folder, so you're adding new 'spotter_Micha' and 'radio_check_Micha' folders to the existing voice folder, and new 'spotterDisabled_Micha' and 'spotterEnabled_Micha' folders to the voice/acknowledge folder.


If you're happy with how it sounds I can add it to the next sound pack update so everyone else can use it


[edit]

Tnadz - did you create some sounds too?

Wow!
Its strange to hear myself telling me what to do...hehehe.

the "spotter" sounds like "potter"... and some are cut in the middle of a word. :)

i could cut the files (reaper arrangement) up in your given order, even process them and send that you that whole pack, if you like. :)

THX for that fast user service here! :)


Greetings

Micha

Tnadz
15-11-2017, 22:42
Tnadz - did you create some sounds too?

I have but I didn't like the first pass. I went back and got some different inspiration. I just need to re-record and I'll upload. I hope you will be entertained...

mr_belowski
16-11-2017, 09:06
Micha - don't worry about the processing. It only takes 20 minutes to convert what you sent into a working spotter pack. If you want to re-do some of the messages, just give me a shout when you're done. I don't release your spotter till you're happy with it

Scraping Micha
17-11-2017, 13:30
hi,

i made them all new, used another mic, made them all louder and cut them in pieces into the right folders. so they work, but maybe you want to process them further. :)
please dont mind, that i did pre processing, but a cant just send my voice out, without doing that...hehehe ;)

in some folders are more than 10 snippets, so maybe you sort some out.

here the link to the soundpack: https://www.dropbox.com/s/86mnbcyuebmbnam/spotter_Micha.zip?dl=0


greetings

micha

Tnadz
18-11-2017, 17:46
Tnadz - did you create some sounds too?

OK, got some distractions out of the way. Here is the link to the files. If you don't use them all, I completely understand. :D

https://www.mediafire.com/file/3885iu561b87n7q/Ross%20Spotter.zip

mr_belowski
23-11-2017, 07:33
Sorry for the late response, I only just spotted this.will check them out today

Tnadz
06-02-2018, 16:38
Sorry for the late response, I only just spotted this.will check them out today

I only just recently noticed that you went through and added my spotter. I'm very tickled. Thank you for including that. It's actually made me some friends over on SimRacing-GP.net. I have to tell you, this bit of software impresses the hell out of me everytime I use it. Your dedication and attention to detail are amazing. Especially the sweary parts. I'll be budgeting some dosh to send your way. You absolutely deserve it.

Tnadz
27-04-2018, 11:49
I'd be delighted! If Mr. B will include of course.

mr_belowski
27-04-2018, 12:26
yeah, i'm happy to add more stuff, just give me a yell when you've recorded them :)

Tnadz
30-04-2018, 03:07
OK, here you go.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/rxy7pqbrlz4ojb9/Spotter_ver2.zip

Ensi Ferrum
06-05-2018, 14:57
Can we please have a "Boogety, Boogety,Boogety, let's go racing'" like Darrel Waltrip used to say at race start?

Florian Springmann
26-06-2018, 10:55
Hey Mr. Belowski!

I read that we are allowed to send you our cracking voices, so I made a pack myself. My mic picks up a "bit" of background noise, but you said that quality isn't the highest priority, since you'll put your filter over it anyway.
I tried to repeat the examples from your opening post 5 times each and added some here and there. If you like it, feel free to use it for your tool. If there's stuff that needs to be changed, just tell me and I'll try.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qzpkxrf7gb3wf1u/Florian_Springmann_Spotter_Pack.zip?dl=1

Edit: I hope the German accent didn't come through. I didn't want it to sound like SIS IS SE SPOTTER PACK SAT EVERYWAN WEITET FOHR

RolandTJ
30-08-2018, 04:14
Here's one I made. Hope it's on par with your standards.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1u4Jip18hEnp2248Byxi6zQqHqXrcDDaj?usp=sharing
Use as you see fit.

mixmage
22-11-2018, 00:59
Are you going to be interested in incorporating any alternative crew cheif voices? I would be interested in recording.

Florian Springmann
22-11-2018, 20:44
Are you going to be interested in incorporating any alternative crew cheif voices? I would be interested in recording.

Same from my side. I'd love to do that. I know he said that it's an unbelievable amount of voicelines though. But I have all the time in the world right now.

The Iron Wolf
18-12-2018, 21:37
Are you going to be interested in incorporating any alternative crew cheif voices? I would be interested in recording.
This is already possible, you can record and distribute your packs yourself, but CC supports drop in packs, see here:


http://thecrewchief.org/showthread.php?825-Authoring-alternative-Crew-Chief-voice-packs

If anyone does this task, it would be great to capture phrases in a .csv file, so that other tools (SimHub for example) could display subtitles for what CC says. If someone is _serious_ about doing that, I could send machine generated file your way as a starting point (it has ~5%-7% phrases done right, but the key is to give you idea of the scale of work). However, last time I sent it to someone I received back green frog meme, and person ran away.

Mr_Cypher
05-04-2019, 12:37
We recently requested some help from the community to add some alternative spotter voices to CC (just the spotter component). We're asking for this because the spotter tends to be a different person, away from the pits (high up in a cherry-picker or whatever, looking down over the track). We've had a few volunteers already but if anyone wants to add their voice to the app there might still be time.


Is this still a thing? If so i'm willing to give it a go with recording spotter calls and see if it's up to CC standards.

Sparten
06-04-2019, 07:47
Sure is.

Mr_Cypher
18-09-2019, 14:42
Just increasing my post-count as i wasn't allowed to post links :rolleyes:

Mr_Cypher
18-09-2019, 14:43
After forgetting about this i made a recording and then i forgot that i had...:confused:
But now i'm finally uploaded it. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1s0DjG65EcUnH-D8ojcVee0esz3iuVZ-m I'd be happy to record it again if needed, otherwise use as you see fit.

ripper253
06-08-2020, 13:54
Are you guys/girls still looking for more spotter audio? I'll be able to contribute if you're still looking!

Toduslapept
18-01-2024, 19:43
Are you still open to accepting additional spotter audio contributions, and what's the process for recording and submitting them for consideration?

Gwakkle
26-01-2024, 13:21
Hi CC team,

I am in the process of recording a voice pack for my sim crew but would really love to do a complete package and not just the basic spotter VOs. I am working on converting the extensive list of subtitle csv files into some sort of complete list of lines so I can work through them in a few sessions, but that's quite a process.

Do you have a complete list (current to any recent point, not fussed if it's missing some) that could help me save a bucket of time?

Thanks for putting together such a useful platform that should be the no.1 install for anyone playing online sims!