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 Interview
with George Ledoux, Voice Actor |
Thursday,
December 14th, 2000
Dragon: To begin with, describe the work that you did for Majesty.
Ledoux:
Well basically, I performed the voice for the Royal Advisor, Venn Fairweather. He's the character who introduces the
game and each quest as well as continually "advising" the player during the game. Besides Venn, I also performed the
voices of various other characters. These include the Wizards, the Monks, the Rogues, the Dwarves, and the Barbarians.
Oh, and I also show up as Vendral, the two headed dragon.
Dragon: Did you find the work enjoyable, challenging, etc.? Are you happy with how it turned out?
Ledoux:
Oh yeah! When I've done work for computer games before it's always been a blast because you really get to act
"over-the-top". It's like doing the voices for an animated cartoon; your voice has to be able to twist and turn and stretch just
like the character on the screen. But sometimes you also have to really "act" to convey emotion with only your voice.
Personally, I think the Majesty project turned out great!
Dragon: Have you done work for Cyberlore before?
Ledoux:
Yes. A year or so before I worked on Majesty I did some work on a science fiction based game that Cyberlore was
working on that was never completed
Dragon: Why do you think Cyberlore approached you for the project?
Ledoux:
I think they contacted me for a couple of reasons. First, because I had worked for them before on the sci-fi project they
remembered me and my work. Secondly, and I think this was a key factor, I offer a pretty wide range of voices and I can
work quickly. I think this was a plus for them. Finally, I am a local. Cyberlore and I are both located in the Pioneer Valley
of Western Massachusetts. This area is rich with talent and creativity and Cyberlore strives to support local talent. So,
before going through the expense and hassle of auditioning NY or Los Angeles talent, Cyberlore looked in their own
backyard and there I was -- rummaging through their dumpster for old CD's and office supplies!
Dragon: How was it decided which voices you would use and which characters you would do for them?
Ledoux:
Well, back in October of 1998 Cyberlore called me in to audition using a script which had various possible voice lines
from the game. Besides myself, they also auditioned other actors and actresses, though not all at the same time. So, after
trying out several voices and actors for the various characters, Cyberlore chose which voices would be the best for each
character. It was during those early recording sessions that my Sean Connery impression was chosen (with a little tweaking
so as not to be too close to the real thing) to be the voice of "the Royal Advisor". I think it was later in development that
they gave him the name of Venn Fairweather.
Dragon: How long did it take you to do the voice work for Majesty?
Ledoux:
It was literally only a few hours but it started back in October of 1998 with Cyberlore calling me in to try out as many of
the "voices in my head" on them as possible. At the time, they had a working script which had a description of the various
heroes and villains as well as the "Royal Advisor" but nothing final. After they had chosen which voices and actors they
wanted to use, they called me in for another recording session using a more finalized script.
In May of 2000 I was called in for another recording session for the Northern Expansion - or MajX. This was mostly for
the Royal Advisor lines which introduced each new quest. Besides these lines, we created new Easter Egg lines for each
building in the game. Most of these are done by myself imitating the actors from the original Majesty and several of these
lines were ad-libbed in the studio with input from the Cyberlore staff.
In addition to the script there was also quite a bit of improvised dialog which was recorded just for fun and was never
intended for inclusion in the game. Most of this dialog was later used by the Sound engineer, Jack Cameron to create some
"top secret" wav files, which, in my opinion are hilarious and often rude as hell! I believe at least one of these "secret" files
was included in the NE as a "cheat code" that can be played.
Dragon: How did you get your start, and what made you decide to pursue this career?
Ledoux:
I began doing voice-over work professionally about six years ago at the urging of my friend, Stanley Wiater. Stanley has
been a writer and interviewer of horror, sci-fi and fantasy authors and filmmakers for over 25 years and recently began a
television series in Canada called "Dark Dreamers". He recognized the fact that one of my few natural abilities was my
talent for doing funny voices and impressions. So he's the one who encouraged me to try and make a career using my big
mouth! I haven't made the leap to full-time voice work yet but as long as I'm having fun and doing quality, interesting work,
I'm very satisfied.
Dragon: Are there any other projects you have been involved with outside of gaming that our readers might
recognize?
Ledoux:
I've done quite a bit of narration for CD-ROMS and videos for various national companies. Lucent Technologies,
UNISYS, and Daimler-Chrysler are some of the bigger ones. These are what are called "industrials" and are usually for
training or promotional purposes. I've also done a lot of radio and TV commercials for regional companies in and around
New England.
But the most enjoyable gig outside of Cyberlore has to be the work I am currently doing for a company called Crystal Air
productions. Crystal Air is a syndicated comedy service for radio stations all over the country that produces short parodies
of ads, TV shows, movie trailers and songs. I basically get to act (and occasionally sing) like various celebrities and odd-ball
characters every week. It's a blast!
Dragon: What about other PC game projects?
Ledoux:
All I can say about this is, it must be very difficult to develop a game for PC's or other game platforms. I have personally
worked on four different projects but Majesty has (so far) been the only one to reach the shelves. I'm just glad I'm not a
programmer. I mean, you do all that work and then it doesn't even get published?! Sheeesh!
Dragon: What project are you the most proud of?
Ledoux:
Majesty, without a doubt. It's the only voice over project I've worked on where I've actually received fan mail! This by
itself blew me away.
Dragon: Have you actually gotten to play Majesty, and if so, did you enjoy it?
Ledoux:
Yes. It's funny too since, to be honest, I had little interest in it and had not played a video game since the days of "Missile
Command" -- probably because I sucked at it! But when I got a copy of Majesty I initially just wanted to see how my
voices had been used throughout the game. So, I installed it one Sunday afternoon around 4pm, and the next thing I knew
my wife was saying something about "The Simpsons" were on and that's when I realized I had been playing for 4 hours
straight. From then on, I was hooked!
Dragon: Can you give us any hints at what projects you are working on now (not necessarily for Cyberlore) ?
Ledoux:
Unfortunately, I am not working on any projects for Cyberlore at this time but I hope they will consider me for Majesty 2
if they create one! Currently, I'm trying to create a real website for my voice over biz: "Voices In My Head" productions
since I don't have more than a simple one-page site right now. I also am looking for a publisher for an audiobook project I
produced last year called "Intimate Strangers", which features several short horror stories by Stanley Wiater, adapted for
audio. Finally, I worked on a multi-part radio play that may come out in a year or so called, "The Great College Radio
Hoax". It's a comedy that involves a college radio station, a virtual reality theme park and a small-time hoax that achieves
national attention. It was really exciting to play even a small part in it since I love doing audio theater. But the producers
liked my work so much that I ended up playing multiple characters and may be the play's narrator as well. I don't know
why, but that scenario sounds familiar!
Well, I hope this was interesting for your readers. Thanks to everyone who made such nice comments on the Cyberlore
forums about my work on Majesty. But even bigger thanks go out to Cyberlore for creating a great game like Majesty and
giving me and opportunity to be a part of it! See you on the Forums boards, gang!
We here at Majesty-Dragon
would like to thank George for taking time out of his busy schedule to talk
with us. We wish him the best, and we know that his talent and hard
work will take him far. Hopefully we will hear more of his work in
the future.
-Dragon
If you would like to learn more about George Ledoux and
Voices in my Head Productions , be sure to check out his Web
Page.
Note from Dragon: I noticed that George's visage changes as the interview progressed. I wonder what was in that coffee?
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