VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

mstaji

Hello Folks,

I got this epiphany yesterday while talking to a few VO folks on LinkedIn about ipDTL.

And it goes like this. The artist I was talking to said that ipDTL is kinda sorta a waste of time and he was sure that there was an open source alternative that would allow ISDN quality full duplex sound transferal between two computers in a direct connection (this is in the "Radio, Television Broadcast and Voice Over Professionals" linkedin group if you guys want to check that out"

During one of the discussions in my personal Linkedin group "Taji's Voice Over Casting Group" we were talking about ISDN alternatives and a voice artist posted this in that discussion:

"Hi Taji! I am working with a client who recently tested a system that was originally intended as a gaming communication platform, but their test was for recording remote sessions with multiple Voice Actors online simultaneously. The talents will all download the system, configure it to the director's specifications and perform live, under his direction. The client will be recording on his end. The download is free and they say the sessions are extremely affordable with excellent sound quality. here is the link: http://mumble.sourceforge.net/ on your list already, I apologize for any redundance! It is my understanding that you can use their server or you can use your own server with this system. I find this so fascinating!
Theresa Mignonne Daniels "

This got me thinking that the voiceover community can setup a kickstarter so that we can collect money that would go towards paying a developer to create this solution for us.

The idea is that it would create a free open source ISDN alternative that would allow us to create a MAC and PC based application that would work as an alternative to ISDN / Source Connect / ipDTL / Soundstreak and would be a computer to computer solution where the studio would connect to you and be able to achieve high quality recordings.

The kickstarter would need to be organized and a Software requirements sheet would need to be developed and agreed upon and later on a Software Design Document would need to be generated by the software company or developer that we chose to take on the project.

We can have donations in the range of $5 / $10 / $20 and the bonuses to those that contribute the most would be their given priority in the alpha and beta releases of the software.

I believe we can pull this off... it will take time and patience and money... but it is definitely doable and if we pool our resources I believe we can come up with a solution that every voice actor can use free.

Any ideas or suggestions?
_________________
Mahmoud Taji
Personal website: http://www.mahmoudtaji.com
blog: http://www.voiceemporium.com
twitter: @mahmoudtaji

Philip Banks · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:12 pm Post subject:

ONE MORE F***ING POST ON THIS SUBJECT AND I'M HIRING A HIT MAN!!

Using ISDN of course. Laugh

mstaji · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:19 pm Post subject: Pertinant information

I'll email you my new home address so your hitman knows where to find me Philipe (pronounced philip-eh).

Smile

_________________
Mahmoud Taji
Personal website: http://www.mahmoudtaji.com
blog: http://www.voiceemporium.com
twitter: @mahmoudtaji

Philip Banks · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:31 pm Post subject:

Greet the man in Ray Bans thus "Yo..Vinny!"

mstaji · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:35 pm Post subject: Hospitality first

I'll do my best to make Vinny feel at home... till the deed is done.
_________________
Mahmoud Taji
Personal website: http://www.mahmoudtaji.com
blog: http://www.voiceemporium.com
twitter: @mahmoudtaji

georgethetech · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:52 pm Post subject:

Mahmoud:
So you want the Audacity of Source Connect?
Do you really think IPDTL and SC Now (pricing soon to be announced) is overpriced to the point where we need another competing system? Who/what will support you when something goes wrong at the last minute, a forum?
Answer these questions before you plunge into this...
_________________
If it sounds good, it is good.
George Whittam
GeorgeThe.Tech
424-226-8528
VOBS.TV Co-host
TheProAudioSuite.com Co-host
TriBooth.com Co-founder

mstaji · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:02 pm Post subject: Not a competing system

I don't want to compete with them.

I want to make them obsolete. If you are already paying for an internet connection there should be some way to develop an application, that creates a connection with another computer on the other end of an ip address that will allow for those two computers to communicate audio at high quality.

The whole point of this is to create a tool that is free for all voice artists to communicate with studios or clients or whatever and not have to pay a per usage fee or a annual fee.

The kickstarter would fund the development of this application.

If the application is open-source then the development of it and improvement of it would also fall under the category of open source and so be open to all.

Sorta of like how linux was originally one flavour then other developers took it over and created other versions of it.

Support for it can also be paid for by the kickstarter.

The idea is pretty simple... if 50,000 voice actors pitch in a buck each... that's $50,000 USD that can be put into developing and testing the application then later on setting up a website where the software can be distributed... or we can even forgo that all together and just host the application on Source Forge.

I don't want to compete with Source connect or ipDTL as in provide a cheaper version... Like you said... I want an audacity version that everyone can use.
_________________
Mahmoud Taji
Personal website: http://www.mahmoudtaji.com
blog: http://www.voiceemporium.com
twitter: @mahmoudtaji

Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:15 pm Post subject:

Asking 50,000 voice actors to pitch in a dollar each will put 40,000 of them into a negative cash flow position. Shocked

_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:51 pm Post subject:

The studios will define what technology gets used, not the talent.
_________________
Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

Frank F · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:01 pm Post subject:

Both IP:DTL and SC Now are WebRTC. WebRTC is available as an open source project right now for FREE. All folks need to do is have a server capable of handling WebRTC protocol - which is also available - for free - if you know how to program a little and have a web hosting source which can handle the data.

Also, the Opus codec used in WebRTC is capable of higher quality (if programmed properly) than ISDN codecs.

Have fun!

Oops, Lee, I think you are short about 9,999 VO peeps.

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

mstaji · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:25 pm Post subject: Sweet!

@Frank F : Wow! I did not know that these current technologies available right now are also flavours of an existing open source technology (no I'm serious I didn't ... thanks for that)

I don't see why it would be that hard to use the open source codec and just skip the necessity of using a dedicated server... which would complicate things considerably... having this work on either user's computer or shared on both their computers sounds like something that might work to our advantage.

Studios will also follow if it means they don't have to pay fees.
_________________
Mahmoud Taji
Personal website: http://www.mahmoudtaji.com
blog: http://www.voiceemporium.com
twitter: @mahmoudtaji

Frank F · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:03 pm Post subject:

The reason a server is needed is there must be some way for a connection to be made which is rooted on the internet.

There is not a lot of data being transferred so a large capacity server is not necessary. The data required is to initiate the communication, send an invitation, accept the invitation, create the connection, route the P2P media between computers, and send an "end" signal when the communication is finished.

Only one side of a connection must have a server address. This means a small amount of data is being transferred with each connection.

The current sources of WebRTC (IP:DTL and SC Now) for VO or musicians have a failing which could be addressed by someone who sees the problem. Talent supporting ONE concept or another is not going to resolve the main issue.

If you choose to continue your conceptual project, think OUTSIDE of the box and see the bigger picture. You can be a success with the idea if you address the main problem the others do not.

Frank F
_________________
Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

mstaji

@Frank F: So technically I don't need a dedicated server for this unless the amount of users on the system becomes far more than a shared server could handle.

I'm not technical (I've managed technical folk but I can't program to save my life... or someone else's) so do you mean by only one side of the connection has to have a server address that this server has to have a dedicated ip and not be a dynamic ip?

As I mentioned earlier I want this to be a open source solution for people (not musicians ... voiceover artists). I don't want to make money off this unless this money is to maintain the technology or to add new features to this technology on an incremental basis.

What, in your opinion, are the main issues that need resolving?

This could be something similar to the Wordpress project that provides an open source application that you can host on your own server (and most of the medium and pro level voice talent have at least shared servers to host their websites) and a website that takes paid subscriptions or donations for those who don't have their own servers and pay for the development of the hosted servers.

Or we can have a shared computing solution much like the fold@home project that distributes the computing....actually that might not work... maybe have people run server applications on their computers in the background (they used to embed these in screensavers in the fold@home project).

Does that make sense?
_________________
Mahmoud Taji
Personal website: http://www.mahmoudtaji.com
blog: http://www.voiceemporium.com
twitter: @mahmoudtaji

georgethetech · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:51 pm Post subject:

FYI: It already exists, it's called Google Hangouts "studio mode", and yes, it's free. And when Skype decides to deploy the Opus codec they co-developed in the first place, it could also be another free alternative. Both with an installed user base in the 100,000,000's.

Again, it's not the back-end, it's the GUI, the user experience, and the SUPPORT if something goes wrong. If ISDN goes down the TelCo is legally bound to repair it, and do it rapidly. If SC has trouble they have a support staff waiting to help. If an open-sourced software system fails, who's going to answer your frantic phone call?

But sure, it could be done with enough spare time and motivation!
_________________
If it sounds good, it is good.
George Whittam
GeorgeThe.Tech
424-226-8528
VOBS.TV Co-host
TheProAudioSuite.com Co-host
TriBooth.com Co-founder

Frank F · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 4:08 am Post subject:

One side needs a server address and yes, a dedicated IP to make the link. The other side can be a dynamic IP.

The issues needing to be resolved? I will not go into detail, that is why you should do your research on WebRTC, IP:DTL, and SC Now. Find out what they have and what they need to be better - then implement the concepts they have forgotten.

There is no such thing as a FREE lunch. Free in this case (WebRTC) is not really free. Please research this to find out what I mean by the statement.

Soundgun is correct: "...it could be done with enough spare time and motivation!".

Frank F
_________________
Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com