Mark Estdale

Mark Estdale is a British voice director, sound engineer, voice actor, and casting director. In the 1980s, he worked as a sound engineer for musicians such as The Box, UV PØP, and industrial band In The Nursery. He co-founded the electronic band Chains with Peter Hope, which in 1986 released a single on Native Records.[1] In the 1990s, Estdale began working on video games, and is well known in the industry for founding the voice production company Outsource Media in 1996.[2] As casting and voice director he has worked on over five hundred video games since 1995, including titles such as TimeSplitters 2, J K Rowling's Book of Spells, []] and Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures.[3]

Mark Estdale
OriginHarrogate, North Yorkshire, England
GenresElectronic
Occupation(s)CEO of Outsource Media
Voice actor
Vocal Director
Casting Director
Sound engineer
Instrument(s)Drums, mixing
Years active1984-1988 (music)
1994-present (video games)
LabelsNative Records
Websitewww.OMUK.com

Music career

Estdale first started a career in music in the late 1970s. In 1984 he engineered the album Muscle In by the new wave band The Box. He also engineered Murmur by Sheffield industrial band Hula. From 1985 to 1988 he worked as either co-producer or sound engineer for a multitude of albums, including another release by The Box, two more releases by Hula, two releases by UV PØP, an album by the Lo-Fi and experimental band Toxic Shock, an album by jazz pianist John Avery, and three releases by industrial band In The Nursery.[1]

In 1986, Estdale co-founded the electronic band Chain with Peter Hope. The band released their debut single, "Banging on the House / Chains," in February 1986 on Native Records. Estdale co-wrote and programmed both tracks, also providing drums and co-producing with Hope.[1]

Video game career

In 1995, Estdale was hired as the voice recording engineer for the video game [2] Touche: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer for US Gold. After which he began working almost exclusively within the video games.[3] He worked as the recording engineer for GT Racers that same year, and in 1996 directed Happy Birthday Maisy and Gloriana.[3]

Outsource Media

In 1996, Estdale founded Outsource Media, a specialist voice production and dialogue company in Sheffield.[2] In 1998 Estdale began serving as a voice casting director, starting with OverBlood 2, for which he was also a voice actor. That same year he was both casting and vocal director for Incoming and Extreme-G 2.[3]

Estdale stated that the company was originally created as a lifestyle business to make sure he had time with his children, and because he found video game dialogue a creative challenge. After 2002, however, he focused on the company more intently, and it underwent significant growth.[4] The company currently provides video game dialogue services such as scriptwriting and adaption, casting, recording, and post production.[5][6] The company's stated goal is bringing the dialogue quality of film and television to video games.[2]

In 2004, Outsource Media was nominated for the Develop Industry Excellence Award for Services and Outsourcing, and their productions were nominated for 10 BAFTA Games Awards that year alone.[7]

Estdale opened an office in Los Angeles in 2005, after Hollywood studios such as DreamWorks Animation began approaching the company.[4][8] Outsource Media now has 3 recording studios in London.[5] In 2010, Estdale, who still serves as the company's Director and CEO, joined the company with TIGA, the trade association that represents the UK games industry.[5]

Through his company, Estdale has worked with game publishers and developers: Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, Atari, Ubisoft, LucasArts, Activision, Konami, Namco, Telltale Games, Codemasters,[6] Climax Entertainment, Revolution Software, Relentless, Blitz Games, Rebellion Developments, Frontier Developments, and Rare.[2][8]

Beliefs on video games

Estdale is a fervent proponent of professional acting and script writing in the video game industry. He is recognised for revolutionising recording for interactive media.

The biggest need is educating those in control of development to understand what is needed to get results. Throwing money at voice doesn't help if the basics are wrong. The non-linearity of [a video game] means the audience may spend hours, days, even weeks with your character. The slightest [dialogue] blemish will be under a microscope. The tiniest flaw can shatter the audience's suspension of disbelief.[2]

He is also a proponent for video games hiring professional actors that have experience with character improvisation on stage, film, or radio, as he has stated that voice-over artists are often inexperienced with acting.[2][9] Estdale has espoused that another common industry problem is hiring voice actors late into the production, as they aren't given time to fully express their craftsmanship.[2][10]

Estdale has also been developing software tools, known as Creative Dialogue Tools (CDT) to improve the dialogue recording and editing process for video games.[4]

What the actor needs is something at the point of performance that they can react to. To provide that for non-linear media, you need to throw away all previous script models. What CDT does is enable the recording studio to actually emulate the game engine in the recording studio immersing the actor in the game at the point of creation.[10]

Discography
Technical
  • 1984: Muscle In by The Box - co-producer, engineer
  • 1984: Murmur by Hula - engineer
  • 1985: Live: Muscle Out by The Box - live mix
  • 1985: "Anyone For Me" on Anyone For Me EP by UV PØP - mixer, co-producer
  • 1985: Just Another Day by Toxic Shock - engineer
  • 1985: Nighthawks by John Avery - engineer
  • 1985: Walk on Stalks of Shattered Glass by Hula - engineer
  • 1986: Serious by UV PØP - producer
  • 1986: Twins by In the Nursery - engineer
  • 1986: 1000 Hours by Hula - live sound technician
  • 1988: Threshold by Hula - engineer
  • 1988: ITN by In the Nursery - sound engineer
  • 1997: Praha 1 (live) by In the Nursery - sound engineer

Video game credits

See also

References
  1. "Mark Estdale Discography". Discogs. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  2. Keefer, John (23 March 2010). "GameCulture Goes Inside the Voice Actor's Studio". Game Culture. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  3. "Mark Estdale Filmography". IMDb. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  4. Davis, Elliot (13 October 2005). "Estdale heads to Hollywood". Menda Deals. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  5. "Outsource Media Joins TIGA". OMUK. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  6. "What we do". OMUK. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  7. "Outsource Media's Mark Estdale talks about bad cheese!". SPONG. 23 August 2004. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  8. "Mark Estdale is speaking at the 2011 Develop Conference on "The Keys To Unlock Believable Performance". OMUK. 7 May 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  9. MacKenzie, Austin (23 March 2010). "Casting Director: Devs Need to Cast Voice Actors Sooner". Escapist Magazine. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  10. Stuart, Keith (16 March 2010). "Voicing concerns: the problem with video game acting". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  11. "Mark Estdale". SPONG. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  12. "Mark Estdale". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 December 2013.

Further reading
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