The Legend of Xanadu Dub Project - Auditions Wanted

SamIAm · 04/07/2017, 10:45 AM

At last, the time has come. As of today, we are officially taking auditions for the Legend of Xanadu dub, as a part of the larger Legend of Xanadu fan-translation project.

If you've been following the main project thread, you probably don't need much of an introduction and can head right to the character-list page. You'll find everything you need to know to audition there. For some background on the games, we put together a quick little blurb that you might enjoy reading here.

If you are interested in playing a part, fire away. As far as we're concerned, the more auditions, the merrier, so please don't hesitate to try out for anything you think you might be able to handle.

The initial casting period will end May 19th.

Even if you're absolutely certain that you can't play a part yourself, you can still do us an enormous favor by passing on the word to anyone in your community who seems like they could. There are literally dozens of roles to fill, and we're going to have to cast our net as widely as possible in order to get good actors in all of them.

We even made this dorky little intro aimed at non-gamers to help you rope in your friends and family who otherwise would just be confused about what the heck this project is.

The fate of the translation is now in YOUR hands. Let's make this something incredible!

In the meantime, here are some pretty screenshots. and youtube videos of all of the voiced bits in Xanadu 1 and Xanadu 2.

elmer · 04/07/2017, 10:54 AM

Woohoo, we're live!

jtucci31 · 04/07/2017, 12:06 PM

Oh my god this is amazing!! I have a friend that does recording shit so I think I may try out for a part or two, that would be amazing. I'm so excited for this shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NecroPhile · 04/07/2017, 12:15 PM

CAW for Lykos!

I've no acting skills or recording equipment worth a poop, but I'm excited y'all are getting so close to a completion (happy ending?). Good luck to everyone with their auditions!

Michirin9801 · 04/07/2017, 12:23 PM

Quote from: guest on 04/07/2017, 12:15 PMCAW for Lykos!

I've no acting skills or recording equipment worth a poop, but I'm excited y'all are getting so close to a completion (happy ending?). Good luck to everyone with their auditions!

Same here >w>
But yeah, I too am very excited about this project! Can't wait to play Xanadu in English~♥♥
Good luck ^^

xcrement5x · 04/07/2017, 12:52 PM

Wow, the amount of time and effort you put into the audition listing alone is impressive! I kind of want to try out myself but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of random characters!

pixeljunkie · 04/07/2017, 01:03 PM

this is exciting! Gotta' get my pipes ready for this.

Dicer · 04/07/2017, 02:02 PM

Line reading now...

elmer · 04/07/2017, 02:02 PM

Quote from: guest on 04/07/2017, 12:52 PMWow, the amount of time and effort you put into the audition listing alone is impressive! I kind of want to try out myself but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of random characters!

Be careful folks ... if you haven't played the games yet, and you're not seriously thinking about auditioning, then you might want to skip reading the the Character List page, because there are some much-needed plot-spoilers in there to explain who the characters are.

The other pages are worth reading even if you're not going to audition ... Esteban and SamIAm did a wonderful job on the website!

xcrement5x · 04/07/2017, 02:56 PM

Quote from: elmer on 04/07/2017, 02:02 PM
Quote from: guest on 04/07/2017, 12:52 PMWow, the amount of time and effort you put into the audition listing alone is impressive! I kind of want to try out myself but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of random characters!
Be careful folks ... if you haven't played the games yet, and you're not seriously thinking about auditioning, then you might want to skip reading the the Character List page, because there are some much-needed plot-spoilers in there to explain who the characters are.

The other pages are worth reading even if you're not going to audition ... Esteban and SamIAm did a wonderful job on the website!

I meant the details with like, age, pitch, speaking style and the like. Lots of good info.

crazydean · 04/07/2017, 03:02 PM

I would love to try out but i haven't been accepted to the Game Sack School of Voice Acting yet.

Arjak · 04/07/2017, 03:18 PM

Audition sent!

elmer · 04/07/2017, 03:42 PM

Quote from: Arjak on 04/07/2017, 03:18 PMAudition sent!

Thanks, you're officially the first one to send anything in!

Gredler · 04/07/2017, 04:51 PM

http://kotaku.com/1794124718

Big league publicity!! First time I've read something related to our community on main stream news, congratulations!!!

This should raise the quantity and quality of submissions, eh?

Great job you guys

elmer · 04/07/2017, 05:13 PM

Quote from: Gredler on 04/07/2017, 04:51 PMhttp://kotaku.com/1794124718

CGQuarterly · 04/07/2017, 05:44 PM

I wouldn't mind taking a crack at "male narrator". People tell me I'm pretty good at that. I'll have to set my stuff up to record the VO for the next episode of my show, so I'll try to remember to do it then.

seieienbu · 04/07/2017, 06:05 PM

This is fantastic. As soon as I can figure out how to get a good quality recording I'm going to audition for at least a couple of roles. Thanks for all your hard work!

Dicer · 04/07/2017, 06:50 PM

Quote from: elmer on 04/07/2017, 03:42 PM
Quote from: Arjak on 04/07/2017, 03:18 PMAudition sent!
Thanks, you're officially the first one to send anything in!

I'm not sending anything in until this snoterfall is done cascading out of the left side of my noggin...

SamIAm · 04/07/2017, 10:08 PM

They're starting to roll in. This is really exciting!

esteban · 04/07/2017, 10:21 PM

The post at Kotaku is a good thing, indeed.

More importantly, I am glad that this announcement has been generating interest in auditions.

SamIAm · 04/07/2017, 10:47 PM

Would anyone with a NeoGAF account be willing to make a post there on our behalf? Elmer and I have both tried registering there, multiple times in my case, but they're just so darned strict.

PM me if you're up for it.

Dicer · 04/07/2017, 11:26 PM

Quote from: SamIAm on 04/07/2017, 10:47 PMWould anyone with a NeoGAF account be willing to make a post there on our behalf? Elmer and I have both tried registering there, multiple times in my case, but they're just so darned strict.

PM me if you're up for it.

I would but after 3 accounts, I'm not bothering making a 4th.

I'd leave them out of this project, personally.

SamIAm · 04/07/2017, 11:33 PM

It's all about exposure. If posting on a forum gets us one more actor, it's worth it. Those 50+ parts aren't going to fill themselves, after all.

Dicer · 04/07/2017, 11:52 PM

Quote from: SamIAm on 04/07/2017, 11:33 PMIt's all about exposure. If posting on a forum gets us one more actor, it's worth it. Those 50+ parts aren't going to fill themselves, after all.

Hit up Reddit and other outlets, Neogaf will pick it up on it's own.

I think you'll find people easier than you think, but of course time will tell.

I'd do it if I could.

Edit: Might have us a lady actor type person, woohoo

SamIAm · 04/08/2017, 12:26 AM

I wonder what the best reddit subforms for this would be?

Vimtoman · 04/08/2017, 05:38 AM

I think https://www.reddit.com/r/TurboGrafx/ is the only one currently being updated daily.

I've asked my daughter if she want to try out a voice.
Her boyfriend has recording facilities.

SamIAm · 04/08/2017, 06:01 AM

QuoteI've asked my daughter if she want to try out a voice.
Her boyfriend has recording facilities.

Awesome.

The brutal reality is that we will probably be starved for actresses. We received thirteen auditions in our first day, and while we are always happy to get an audition from anybody, it's a tad alarming to see that every one so far is male.

I won't do this on other forums (much), but here on PCEFX...I shall repeatedly implore all of you to ask female friends and family if they would be up for participating in this. There are many female roles that are on the order of ten seconds of total talking time, and also that are ADPCM-based in the game, meaning that a high-quality microphone isn't necessary at all. I'm literally considering asking my mother and my sister if they would like to try a couple of parts, and I can't even believe I'm saying that.

This kind of community cooperation is probably going to be necessary for us to produce a complete dub.

LentFilms · 04/08/2017, 09:41 AM

Really awesome to see this project coming so close to completion after all these year! Getting auditions for the female roles was a problem with the Ys IV dub as well. We ended up getting a lot of our actresses from contacting people directly that I had heard in various fan projects at the time and even then some of the actresses ended up playing multiple roles, but even professional dubs often have actors/actresses play more than one part. I'm sure once more people hear about this project you'll start to get more auditions from actresses. Anyway, good luck guys and godspeed.

TheClash603 · 04/08/2017, 10:28 AM

In my former life as a talk radio show host I was all about recording, but as I've gotten older, less technologically savy, and more anxious, I will wait to hear what the young bucks on this forum can do.

Good luck getting some ladies, may I recommend Tinder?

Can't wait to play!

PukeSter · 04/08/2017, 06:13 PM

Might want to promote the game on 4chan's /vr/ board. Plenty of Falcom fans there, though they tend to hate dubs.

spenoza · 04/08/2017, 07:24 PM

I will ask on Racketboy. We have a couple lady-members there.

elmer · 04/08/2017, 07:56 PM

Quote from: guest on 04/08/2017, 07:24 PMI will ask on Racketboy. We have a couple lady-members there.

Excellent, thanks!

We did finally have some ladies audition today, and they're all pretty good ... but we're going to need a *lot* more!

Michirin9801 · 04/08/2017, 08:47 PM

I made a post about this with a link to the audition page on my deviantArt, I don't know how much it will help, but spreading the word is the least that I can do!
It's here in case anyone wants to read it...

elmer · 04/08/2017, 11:58 PM

Quote from: Michirin9801 on 04/08/2017, 08:47 PMI made a post about this with a link to the audition page on my deviantArt, I don't know how much it will help, but spreading the word is the least that I can do!
It's here in case anyone wants to read it...

Thank you, and thanks for the link! Everything helps!

I hadn't visited the deviantart site for far-far too long ... so many beautiful creative-types hang out there with such wonderful artwork. I really have to visit there more often.

SamIAm · 04/09/2017, 12:04 AM

Quote from: guest on 04/08/2017, 07:24 PMI will ask on Racketboy. We have a couple lady-members there.

Quote from: Michirin9801 on 04/08/2017, 08:47 PMI made a post about this with a link to the audition page on my deviantArt, I don't know how much it will help, but spreading the word is the least that I can do!
It's here in case anyone wants to read it...

Fantastic!

You guys may not know it, but this kind of thing makes a huge difference. There are lots of people out there who have the skill and the interest to do this dub, but we don't know how to connect with them.

I hate asking such things of people, but if you are interested in our Xanadu translation project as a whole and have a connection to communities that elmer and I don't, please consider sharing our dub-site. If you would like one us to come and ask on our own, all you have to do is invite us.

At this turn, the quality of the translation is going to result from how many people we can reach, so we will do whatever it takes to reach as many as possible.

LentFilms · 04/09/2017, 09:12 AM

I know that the VAA is no longer around, which I only discovered this week, but have you guys thought about posting your project on the Behind the Voice Actor's Casting Call? I'm very familiar with the site's voice actor wiki but I don't know a lot about the Casting Call. However, a lot of amateur actor/actress seem to audition for projects there. Might be worth a shot. Here is the link to the site: http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/casting-call/

SamIAm · 04/09/2017, 09:44 AM

You know, I made a post there, but it's stuck waiting for moderator approval. I actually accidentally submitted it twice, too. Hope that doesn't make them upset!

Seriously, it does look like a good site and community. I really hope they let it through.

Do you know what happened to VAA? I could swear I was there just the other week myself.

LentFilms · 04/09/2017, 10:11 AM

Quote from: SamIAm on 04/09/2017, 09:44 AMDo you know what happened to VAA? I could swear I was there just the other week myself.

I was on there not long ago too. I did some causal searches and it seems the site got infected with viruses (or something) so the site owner shut it down and it doesn't seem like it will be coming back.

Also I contacted some actors/actresses directly, telling them about this project and linking them to your site. They are just some people I heard in various fan projects over the years that I thought sounded good and that might be willing to work on a fan dub. Hope that helps.

destructive cactus · 04/09/2017, 08:14 PM

I have a female friend who's very interested - I can have her send in auditions from her laptop with the promise that she can use my good mic over here if she gets a part. I'm also going to send the link to various people (youtubers, etc) who I think have great voices and would be interested.

SamIAm · 04/10/2017, 11:25 AM

Quote from: destructive cactus on 04/09/2017, 08:14 PMI have a female friend who's very interested - I can have her send in auditions from her laptop with the promise that she can use my good mic over here if she gets a part. I'm also going to send the link to various people (youtubers, etc) who I think have great voices and would be interested.

That is wonderful. Thank you so much! I'll be eager to get your friend's audition, and I'm happy that more people will know about the project's existence.

elmer · 04/10/2017, 06:03 PM

I'm really very, very impressed with some of the auditions that are coming in!

It's still early days, and we're going to need a *lot* more, though.

I know that we seem to have a bad rap for being unfriendly here ... but jeez, some of the other places out there!

Apparently we must have hidden SamIAm's Pronunciation Guide for the character names really well,
because judging by the auditions, almost nobody has actually managed to find it!

Gredler · 04/10/2017, 06:27 PM

I wont be able to audition because of recording equipment restrictions, but I wonder if someone auditions for one role and you feel they are more appropriate for another, will you offer them that other role?

elmer · 04/10/2017, 06:46 PM

Quote from: Gredler on 04/10/2017, 06:27 PMI wont be able to audition because of recording equipment restrictions, but I wonder if someone auditions for one role and you feel they are more appropriate for another, will you offer them that other role?

Absolutely! SamIAm has already suggested that a few people put in some extra auditions for other roles.

At this point, having worked on the game and the scripts for so long, we each have a pretty good idea in our own heads of how we'd like certain characters to sound, and it wouldn't be fair to expect everyone else out there to immediately get that.

The character descriptions are a great starting-point for people, but voice-actors won't have the chance to get a really-good feel for the characters until they see the full scripts and get a better idea of how they all interact.

Well ... that's for the main characters, the one-line Boss monsters really don't get fleshing-out!

LentFilms · 04/10/2017, 07:08 PM

Quote from: elmer on 04/10/2017, 06:03 PMI'm really very, very impressed with some of the auditions that are coming in!

It's still early days, and we're going to need a *lot* more, though.

It is awesome to hear that you guys are getting some quality auditions! Don't be afraid to ask some actors/actresses if they would be willing to play multiple parts, my brother did that with the Ys IV dub and many professional productions do it all the time. Don't have one person play several huge parts but it won't hurt to have them maybe play one sizable role and another smaller part with only a handful of lines.

NightWolve · 04/15/2017, 01:31 AM

Oh wow, I was gonna ask why Voice Acting Alliance wasn't used since that's what helped for the Ys IV dub. Seems the site got flagged as unsafe, and then they went down totally.

I have a NeoGAF account, I tried the Create Thread option, but it seems I don't have enough posts. I only had about 9 since registering. Yeah, they're pretty strict, forced me to find my ISP's assigned email address and register with that.

BTW, is this esteban's web work to set up dub recruitment ?

https://www.tg-16.com/Our_Portfolio.htm

Amazing, great that you managed to get him involved in a project somehow!

Especially this:

https://www.tg-16.com/How_To_Record.htm

WOW, a lot of tedious work went in to put a good guide like that together!

Dicer · 04/15/2017, 09:37 AM

Quote from: NightWolve on 04/15/2017, 01:31 AMOh wow, I was gonna ask why Voice Acting Alliance wasn't used since that's what helped for the Ys IV dub. Seems the site got flagged as unsafe, and then they went down totally.

I have a NeoGAF account, I tried the Create Thread option, but it seems I don't have enough posts. I only had about 9 since registering. Yeah, they're pretty strict, forced me to find my ISP's assigned email address and register with that.

BTW, is this esteban's web work to set up dub recruitment ?

https://www.tg-16.com/Our_Portfolio.htm

Amazing, great that you managed to get him involved in a project somehow!

Especially this:

https://www.tg-16.com/How_To_Record.htm

WOW, a lot of tedious work went in to put a good guide like that together!

There is a PCE topic in the community section of NEOGAF, it might be a bit buried but it's there.

here http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=543411&page=86

drop info in there, and maybe someone like piggychan will make a topic in the main forum.

LentFilms · 04/15/2017, 11:33 AM

There actually already is a thread on NeoGaf about the dub that was created a day after the site launched: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1359015

Most people in the thread seem excited about the project.

NightWolve · 04/15/2017, 01:28 PM

Ah, so there is one. I searched for Xanadu and dub, but couldn't find it - didn't wanna embarrass myself with a repeat thread. Xanadu Next results interfered, gave me pages to sift through and then I found I can't make a thread anyway due to low post count I guess.

Gotta hand it to esteban, that's great looking web work and somebody finally recruited him to help for fan translation projects! I think he could make a great script editor too!

esteban · 04/15/2017, 05:04 PM

^ You are too gracious, Comrade NightWolve

Sam chose all the images/wrote all the text, so he did 99.99% of the work.

NightWolve · 04/15/2017, 06:01 PM

Ah. Stand corrected.