Today I recorded the dialogue for the manor. The script is as follows:
“This isn’t right at all. I must find out why my dear sister has been so silent since she moved away. I’ve had nothing, not a single letter. I know Rosa too well, she would have written to me by now. All I have is this address. (PAUSE) Oh, it looks as though we’ve arrived. (SHORT PAUSE) Excuse me, Driver? (PAUSE) Driver?”
“W-what happened? The horse…and the driver!”
For the part of Grace, I needed a voice that had a victorian era accent. A girl that I work with, Ashley Lewis, has a very posh speaking manner, which I thought was perfect for the role. Ashley was happy to help so I scheduled the dialogue recording for today.
I set up a Pro Tools session, and connected my Rode NT1-A to my Apogee Duet pre-amp. Ashley arrived and after talking through the script we decided to record a few takes. I monitored the sound through headphones. I wanted the dialogue to sound as though it was coming from inside a carriage. I had previously asked Amelia if Grace was thinking or speaking aloud. Amelia wanted Grace to be speaking aloud, so I needed to get the sound just right.
The room I was recording in was the third bedroom in my house. It is very boxy and small, with wooden floors. Due to the wooden flooring there was a slight echo to the voice recordings that I really liked. I don’t think it will take much editing to sound like it is coming from a carriage.
I recorded 12 takes in total just to be sure I had a wide selection of recordings in order to choose the best takes. I also saved the recording levels to a template so that if any more dialogue was required, I would have the exact same settings as the first recording.