Sound Recording

In order to do lip sync and reading your dialogue by breaking down each word into frames, you need to get a good sound recording first. 

The most common problem with recording dialogue is how its recorded in the first place. If you don't have a recording studio handy, need to find a very quiet room, preferably a small closet with lots of clothes in it. The clothing will help with sound proofing.

Next you have to have a microphone which will allow you to see the sound levels. You need to make sure you are not talking to loud into your microphone, otherwise your sound will be distorted. Here's what that distortion looks like.

The sound peaks going off the chart, which will cause a buzz in your speakers. You can test your recording by turning up your speaker full blast, if your sound is buzzing out its because your sound is peaking. Do a few recording tests to get a good recording without distortion. 

On the other hand, if your dialogue recording is too low, there are ways to amplify or boost the recording louder without distorting it. I use a free software called Audacity which has lots of controls to help adjust your sound and build soundtracks.


If you are interested in Sound Effects, check this post called "Sound Advice".

Getting the sound first always begins the process of making an animated project. Below is a "behind the scenes" look at our recording session.

Actors Andrew Jones and Rick Almada recorded their lines of dialogue while standing in front of a microphone in a very small soundproof room. This cramped environment allows for the best recording without any distracting background noises.

Hates Halloween from Toondini on Vimeo.

Watchcat Recording Session from Toondini on Vimeo.

Both Andrew and Rick are professional actors and worked on their performances while the director worked on getting the best performance recorded.

CSUN Career Day

I went to the Career Day at CSUN in Northridge, CA where I met several students and got to take a look at their work. I also gave them Watchcat postcards and told them about my project. 

Many are learning 2D animation principles, which is a great way to learn animation. However most want to remain in the 2D animation world. Unfortunately, all studios do 3D animation and students should focus on learning as many tools as they can in order to land their first production job out of school.

I also stressed that they should graduate with a film or two that shows what they can do. The more you can show a potential employer what you can do, the more interested the employer will be in hiring you. 

We at Watchcat Films are hoping to involve more students who want to work in 2D animation by the making of future episodes, with the understanding that since we can't pay them at this time, we could pay them in other ways. We would allow them to use the finished scenes for their portfolios and would give them screen credit.

 Its not a lot, but to get a copy of an animation scene that you helped create, might lead to more work for the both of us. We personally would love to be able to pay artists, but presently we are in the hobby mode. That's the world where you have to prove that an idea is going to work or not. The only way is to produce something that can be shown in the hopes that an audience will want to see it and want to see more of it.

If you are interested in helping us out and use ToonBoom Harmony, please contact Jim at heyjimr@gmail.com.

Thanks!