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Headmasters Fandub episode 7
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Travoltron
May 20, 2013, 9:32:27 PM5/20/13
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Zobovor
May 21, 2013, 10:57:55 PM5/21/13
to
On May 20, 7:32 pm, Travoltron <travolt...@defender.uni> wrote:
> http://youtu.be/LISpBoanrFA
Okay. This is actually very good—borderline excellent. I liked it so
much I've already watched it twice. There are a few very minor qualms
that prevent me from enjoying it thoroughly. I feel as though I can
speak with some authority on the matter since I did all the music and
sound effect mixing for the Radio Free Cybertron movie parody, so I
can definitely appreciate how much work it is to put something like
this together. I also did most of the voices for the parody so I can
equally appreciate how difficult it is to capture the vocal quality of
a very specific character/actor. I'm really passionate about fan
works of this nature, so I have a lot to say.
First off, I love that they restored the original transformation sound
effects and the background music tracks from the Sunbow episodes.
Their omissions in the original episodes, more than anything else,
were what really put me off about watching Headmasters in the first
place. Nothing about it *sounds* like a Transformers show, with the
crazy sword-clash sound they use when robots transform and the
disposal of all the old background music. So, definite kudos there.
They must have extracted music from the DVD release of G1 (along with
the use of some music from the 1986 movie soundtrack, which felt
slightly less authentic because it was pretty much never recycled for
the TV show). You can tell that they even extracted specific archive
sound effects from other episodes and inserted them pretty seamlessly
into the new mix. The only problem I have with the music is that
somebody gets really edit-happy. During the scene where Chromedome is
telling Arcee to stay behind, they jump through about four or five
different musical themes in the course of 20 seconds. It's kind of
distracting. Still, the combination of the familiar music with
unfamiliar scenes (which tells my brain, "Hey, new G1 episode!") makes
me really happy.
I've already said how much I love the guy who is doing Cyclonus. His
impression of Roger C. Carmel is absolutely spot-on perfect. The
other voices range from passable to horrible. It's probably a given
that nobody can sound like Frank Welker except Frank Welker, so maybe
they made the right choice in going with the Leonard Nimoy version. I
really think they should have done a casting call or something to get
a larger pool of performers, though. Some of the impressions are
pretty good (Kup, Scourge, the Victor Caroli style narrator) and some
of them are not so good (Blurr, Optimus Prime) and some of them are
absolutely terrible (Alpha Trion). I think part of the problem is
that every person's vocal cords are different, and some of us are just
configured differently than others. You absolutely cannot get a
saxophone to sound like a flute. What I mean by that is that even if
somebody is tensing their throat muscles in the right way and speaking
in the correct inflection, they still won't be able to produce the
correct sounding voice. The guy doing Scourge, for example, has the
right gruff, scratchy quality, but he's playing the same note through
his entire delivery. Some of these people really phoned in their
performances, though. The person they picked for Arcee was horrible.
I get that Transformers has a predominantly male-oriented fan base and
that it's a rare and wonderful gift when a female actually deigns to
even participate in one of these things, but she delivered her lines
so flat. Susan Blu was one of the most talented performers on G1 so
she's a hard act to follow, but it's like this person didn't even
try. Along the same lines, they're only trying to match the
performances of *some* of the G1 actors; they obviously didn't bother
with any of the Autobot Headmasters, so that's kind of jarring, too.
From a technical standpoint, they did a great job. The volume levels
for the voice performances and the music all came together in a
professional and consistent manner (even professional recording
artists sometimes forget to check their recording levels which results
in distortion that I patently cannot stand; I cite the scene from
Monsters, Inc. when Sully is screaming "No, no, no!" repeatedly while
opening the door over and over again in the snow as one example). The
voices are synched with the movement of the characters' mouths in
every scene. I'm just so disappointed with the casting. It's not
necessarily because I want to be a part of this (I doubt I would have
the time, though if I may say so, I'm capable of doing better
character impressions than most of these guys), but because everything
else has the makings of excellence and this is the only weak point in
the production.
It probably sounds like I'm being needlessly critical, but this is
just so much better than anything we ever managed at Radio Free
Cybertron with our sad little mostly-one-man operation. It's so
amazing. It's like an absolutely gorgeous cat that you fall in love
with and keeps you warm every night, but then she starts biting you at
random and unexplained intervals. If only she would stop biting, she
would be perfect.
Zob
> http://youtu.be/LISpBoanrFA
Okay. This is actually very good—borderline excellent. I liked it so
much I've already watched it twice. There are a few very minor qualms
that prevent me from enjoying it thoroughly. I feel as though I can
speak with some authority on the matter since I did all the music and
sound effect mixing for the Radio Free Cybertron movie parody, so I
can definitely appreciate how much work it is to put something like
this together. I also did most of the voices for the parody so I can
equally appreciate how difficult it is to capture the vocal quality of
a very specific character/actor. I'm really passionate about fan
works of this nature, so I have a lot to say.
First off, I love that they restored the original transformation sound
effects and the background music tracks from the Sunbow episodes.
Their omissions in the original episodes, more than anything else,
were what really put me off about watching Headmasters in the first
place. Nothing about it *sounds* like a Transformers show, with the
crazy sword-clash sound they use when robots transform and the
disposal of all the old background music. So, definite kudos there.
They must have extracted music from the DVD release of G1 (along with
the use of some music from the 1986 movie soundtrack, which felt
slightly less authentic because it was pretty much never recycled for
the TV show). You can tell that they even extracted specific archive
sound effects from other episodes and inserted them pretty seamlessly
into the new mix. The only problem I have with the music is that
somebody gets really edit-happy. During the scene where Chromedome is
telling Arcee to stay behind, they jump through about four or five
different musical themes in the course of 20 seconds. It's kind of
distracting. Still, the combination of the familiar music with
unfamiliar scenes (which tells my brain, "Hey, new G1 episode!") makes
me really happy.
I've already said how much I love the guy who is doing Cyclonus. His
impression of Roger C. Carmel is absolutely spot-on perfect. The
other voices range from passable to horrible. It's probably a given
that nobody can sound like Frank Welker except Frank Welker, so maybe
they made the right choice in going with the Leonard Nimoy version. I
really think they should have done a casting call or something to get
a larger pool of performers, though. Some of the impressions are
pretty good (Kup, Scourge, the Victor Caroli style narrator) and some
of them are not so good (Blurr, Optimus Prime) and some of them are
absolutely terrible (Alpha Trion). I think part of the problem is
that every person's vocal cords are different, and some of us are just
configured differently than others. You absolutely cannot get a
saxophone to sound like a flute. What I mean by that is that even if
somebody is tensing their throat muscles in the right way and speaking
in the correct inflection, they still won't be able to produce the
correct sounding voice. The guy doing Scourge, for example, has the
right gruff, scratchy quality, but he's playing the same note through
his entire delivery. Some of these people really phoned in their
performances, though. The person they picked for Arcee was horrible.
I get that Transformers has a predominantly male-oriented fan base and
that it's a rare and wonderful gift when a female actually deigns to
even participate in one of these things, but she delivered her lines
so flat. Susan Blu was one of the most talented performers on G1 so
she's a hard act to follow, but it's like this person didn't even
try. Along the same lines, they're only trying to match the
performances of *some* of the G1 actors; they obviously didn't bother
with any of the Autobot Headmasters, so that's kind of jarring, too.
From a technical standpoint, they did a great job. The volume levels
for the voice performances and the music all came together in a
professional and consistent manner (even professional recording
artists sometimes forget to check their recording levels which results
in distortion that I patently cannot stand; I cite the scene from
Monsters, Inc. when Sully is screaming "No, no, no!" repeatedly while
opening the door over and over again in the snow as one example). The
voices are synched with the movement of the characters' mouths in
every scene. I'm just so disappointed with the casting. It's not
necessarily because I want to be a part of this (I doubt I would have
the time, though if I may say so, I'm capable of doing better
character impressions than most of these guys), but because everything
else has the makings of excellence and this is the only weak point in
the production.
It probably sounds like I'm being needlessly critical, but this is
just so much better than anything we ever managed at Radio Free
Cybertron with our sad little mostly-one-man operation. It's so
amazing. It's like an absolutely gorgeous cat that you fall in love
with and keeps you warm every night, but then she starts biting you at
random and unexplained intervals. If only she would stop biting, she
would be perfect.
Zob
Travoltron
May 21, 2013, 11:41:06 PM5/21/13
to
Well, they are asking for feedback. Since some of the voice actors are
probably reading the comments, you might want to send criticism of them
via PM to avoid drama.
One ad of theirs I saw said that there will be a casting call coming up.
If I see anything else about that I will post it here.
I'd love to do a voice, but I'd rather it be a "new" character with no
established English voice to be compared negatively against. Like a
Duocon or something.
You're right, the new music and FX really work well. The Japanese
Headmasters always LOOKED like Transformers, but didn't sound like it.
I thought the Japanese music for Headmasters was bad, like '80s porno
bad, but loved the music in Victory. I was shocked to later learn the
same guy had composed all 3 G1 anime.
probably reading the comments, you might want to send criticism of them
via PM to avoid drama.
One ad of theirs I saw said that there will be a casting call coming up.
If I see anything else about that I will post it here.
I'd love to do a voice, but I'd rather it be a "new" character with no
established English voice to be compared negatively against. Like a
Duocon or something.
You're right, the new music and FX really work well. The Japanese
Headmasters always LOOKED like Transformers, but didn't sound like it.
I thought the Japanese music for Headmasters was bad, like '80s porno
bad, but loved the music in Victory. I was shocked to later learn the
same guy had composed all 3 G1 anime.
Zobovor
May 21, 2013, 11:49:07 PM5/21/13
to
On May 21, 9:41 pm, Travoltron <travolt...@defender.uni> wrote:
> Well, they are asking for feedback. Since some of the voice actors are
> probably reading the comments, you might want to send criticism of them
> via PM to avoid drama.
I don't write stuff and release it to the Internet because I'm afraid
> Well, they are asking for feedback. Since some of the voice actors are
> probably reading the comments, you might want to send criticism of them
> via PM to avoid drama.
somebody might read it. I calls 'em as I sees 'em. I'm not trying to
create drama (I am but one person with one opinion) but if they read
this, they'll hopefully do what I do when somebody offers criticism...
pout, eat an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's, think about it,
begrudgingly accept that I'm not perfect, and make subtle adjustments.
Zob
Travoltron
May 22, 2013, 1:07:49 AM5/22/13
to
On 5/21/2013 8:49 PM, Zobovor wrote:
> I don't write stuff and release it to the Internet because I'm afraid
> somebody might read it. I calls 'em as I sees 'em. I'm not trying to
> create drama (I am but one person with one opinion) but if they read
> this, they'll hopefully do what I do when somebody offers criticism...
> pout, eat an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's, think about it,
> begrudgingly accept that I'm not perfect, and make subtle adjustments.
I understand. I just feel like you would be a huge asset to the project
> I don't write stuff and release it to the Internet because I'm afraid
> somebody might read it. I calls 'em as I sees 'em. I'm not trying to
> create drama (I am but one person with one opinion) but if they read
> this, they'll hopefully do what I do when somebody offers criticism...
> pout, eat an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's, think about it,
> begrudgingly accept that I'm not perfect, and make subtle adjustments.
and I'd hate to see you start off on the wrong foot with them.
I know I've really pissed people off online for some of the most
innocuous stuff. My friends (and job requirements) have forced me into
the social media scene. My posts are usually very dull because I'm so
worried about starting a civil war between my politically diverse group
of friends.
mathewi...@gmail.com
May 25, 2013, 2:48:49 PM5/25/13
to
On Monday, May 20, 2013 9:32:27 PM UTC-4, Travoltron wrote:
> http://youtu.be/LISpBoanrFA
Hey, I'd like to start a page on wikialpha, along side the third party Transformer articles, devoted to this fan dub. Let me know if you can help with some information.
Mathew
> http://youtu.be/LISpBoanrFA
Hey, I'd like to start a page on wikialpha, along side the third party Transformer articles, devoted to this fan dub. Let me know if you can help with some information.
Mathew
mathewi...@gmail.com
May 25, 2013, 3:13:22 PM5/25/13
to
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