The Gizmoz Studio Blog

Karaoke in the Studio - aka - Using a 'talk during' Template

Using the Studio to do your own karaoke is a great way to waste time you might otherwise spend watching Susan Boyle, yet again, on YouTube.  If YOU've got talent - why let it go to waste? Show us what you've got.  I'm talentless - but that didn't stop me from creating one of me singing the song 'killing me softly'. (Amazing song - check out the cool background story of the song.) So here's how you can do the same:

1. Choose a "talk during template" from the templates tab. 

Talk during lets you sing or talk while music plays in the background.  The other templates only let you record an intro, or "talk before".

2. In the "Choose Media" tab, find the music you want to sing - I did a YouTube search for 'killing me softly piano"

3. In the "Make Me Talk" tab, record yourself singing along to the instrumental background you chose earlier.  Even better - use recording software you have on your PC or Mac to get the timing better (no real tools for timing in the studio yet) and upload the MP3 you've saved on your computer.  Or, if you're like me, and your singing voice sounds like cats scratching their nails against a chalkboard, you can upload an mp3 of someone else singing the song.  I used the lovely voice of this gal (why isn't she on Idol?)

And Voila - here's my version - a Kate classic :) - Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Karaoke,Gizmoz Studio,MP3,Idol

Broken Telephone and Remixing

Remember the game broken telephone?  You know, you start by whispering "she sells sea shells to peter for a pack of pickled peppers" or some other inane statement.  Then, as it goes from person to person it turns into, "Sheila says Pete's wearing heated pepper pants" and everyone giggles at the results...Loved that game :) Remixing gives you the same goofy fix - it's essentially the same idea; you take someone's studio creation and replace either character, voice, video, outfit or some combination of those to get your own derivative creation.  Check this one out:

Gizmoz user jon37moo created this Show of Barack Obama introducing his paper shredding trick,

And then traciebelt took the Show, mixed it up a bit by changing the voice and video, and created a Show on cell mitosis for her class! (great use of the Studio traciebelt - we loved it).

Go create your own remix and send us the link!

Speak Up!

The new Gizmoz Studio product is all about storytelling and puppeteering. So, whether you are creating satire, commenting on a video or just sending a greeting, you would like your message to come out loud and clear. Here are some tips on how to do this using Gizmoz technologies, but first a little intro on how Gizmoz studio handles audio input;
Gizmoz technology accepts audio input that you create either using out TTS(Text to speech), record from you microphone, or apply just any voice audio file. The audio file is then analyzed for speech that is applied to the facial features of your character through the use of special 3D magic called phonemes and visemes. When we apply this magic, your 3D character is "taught" how to say the words that you recorded. Facial features and lip movement are synchronized with the voice, "breathing life" into you character and making it talk.
Here are some tips on how to use this technology in an optimal manner to get the best results out of your talking characters:

1. Minimize background noise - Try to record in a quiet place and speak with your mouth near the microphone. This will make sure that there is no annoying background heard in your recording.
2. Speak loudly and clearly - Don't swallow words and make sure that your intonation captures your feelings. This will make our technology capture your phonemes and visemes better!
3. Don't be afraid to experiment - Play back your voice and if you don't like it, try again! We have created a user interface that makes it very easy to start recording over with 1 mouse click.

Our technology team here at Gizmoz is constantly working to take this magic even further! We will soon be able to apply automatic filtering of background noise, for instance, to make your recordings sound professional. In addition we will be adding voice changing algorithms in the near future so that you can record several characters with different voices all by yourself by changing your voice to fit your character. Our content team is also working diligently on creating some ready made audio lines for those who prefer not to create their own voice.
Finally, we would love to hear from you on your experiences with creating voices for your Gizmoz Studio characters. So, if you have any suggestions or comments feel free to leave a comment here.

(this post was written by Ben - one of the Gizmoz VPs - each week, you'll hear from more of us :))

Technorati Tags: phoneme viseme Gizmoz Studio puppeteer storytelling