Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
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Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
I am literally shaking.
I saw a video today on YouTube of Ryo Horikawa doing an English voice for vegeta generated by AI and it sounds almost good enough to be real and dare I say better than any English dub performance for Vegeta.
There was another video of Masako Nozawa doing english dub for Goku and while it didn't sound as good as the Ryo Horikawa Vegeta english voice, it was still crazy.
What would be everyone's estimations on the probability that in 5-10 years Toei and/or Sony could soon rely on such technology to cut the costs of dubbing Dragon Ball and other anime? I know it may be a contentious topic so let's try to keep it civil, everyone.
(tw: trolling/clickbait/memeing) The videos in question:
Ryo Horikawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI61k_Vy6X8
Masako Nozawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxect5yGRJ8
I have it on good authority that some of the official English dub cast are already worried about AI dubbing making voice actors redundant...not a joke. But the official cast member(s) in question are saying 20-30 years rather than my guess of 5-10 years.
I saw a video today on YouTube of Ryo Horikawa doing an English voice for vegeta generated by AI and it sounds almost good enough to be real and dare I say better than any English dub performance for Vegeta.
There was another video of Masako Nozawa doing english dub for Goku and while it didn't sound as good as the Ryo Horikawa Vegeta english voice, it was still crazy.
What would be everyone's estimations on the probability that in 5-10 years Toei and/or Sony could soon rely on such technology to cut the costs of dubbing Dragon Ball and other anime? I know it may be a contentious topic so let's try to keep it civil, everyone.
(tw: trolling/clickbait/memeing) The videos in question:
Ryo Horikawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI61k_Vy6X8
Masako Nozawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxect5yGRJ8
I have it on good authority that some of the official English dub cast are already worried about AI dubbing making voice actors redundant...not a joke. But the official cast member(s) in question are saying 20-30 years rather than my guess of 5-10 years.
Last edited by Inkei9001 on Thu Feb 02, 2023 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Yeah it still sounds artificial af. I wouldn't be worried anytime soon
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Must be placebo.
Can you honestly say if you had never heard of AI voice generation and you didn't know who Ryo Horikawa was...that you'd think this is artificial "af"? Cap
And while you're not worried, like I say, some of the significant official English dub VAs are
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
That didn't sound the least bit natural. Like the Ryo Horikawa one was a step above Microsoft Sam and the average deepfake but if that has you "literally shaking" then I dunno man, you need to listen to more people talk or something. And the Nozawa one? Yeah, no. That was a typical deepfakeInkei9001 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 6:51 pmMust be placebo.
Can you honestly say if you had never heard of AI voice generation and you didn't know who Ryo Horikawa was...that you'd think this is artificial "af"? Cap
And while you're not worried, like I say, some of the significant official English dub VAs are
Yamcha: Do you remember the spell to release him - do you know all the words?
Bulma: Of course! I'm not gonna pull a Frieza and screw it up!
Master Roshi: Bulma, I think Frieza failed because he wore too many clothes!
Cold World (Fanfic)
"It ain't never too late to stop bein' a bitch." - Chad Lamont Butler
Bulma: Of course! I'm not gonna pull a Frieza and screw it up!
Master Roshi: Bulma, I think Frieza failed because he wore too many clothes!
Cold World (Fanfic)
"It ain't never too late to stop bein' a bitch." - Chad Lamont Butler
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Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Not gonna lie, they both sound really, really bad. The Japanese voices sound great when speaking their native tongue with their speaking patterns. This just sounds pretty awful.
And yeah, let's just put all voice actors out of business. Why stop there? Why not use AI for the Japanese version too?
It'll be great when every job is replaced by some form of AI except for the occasional person who has to maintain them (until they get AI that maintains AI). Then we'll all be sitting around so proud of what we created when we have no jobs, no money, no purpose. Anyway, too deep--for now, I'll just say that I thought that sounded terrible.
And yeah, let's just put all voice actors out of business. Why stop there? Why not use AI for the Japanese version too?
It'll be great when every job is replaced by some form of AI except for the occasional person who has to maintain them (until they get AI that maintains AI). Then we'll all be sitting around so proud of what we created when we have no jobs, no money, no purpose. Anyway, too deep--for now, I'll just say that I thought that sounded terrible.
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Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
I am beyond tired of all of this AI stuff. Not to mention the implications in terms of art. I'm not one who's excited for these things really taking off in the future.
"Kenshi is sitting down right now drawing his mutated spaghetti monsters thinking he's the shit..."--Neptune Kai
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Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Even if an AI can sound "accurate", that's never going to be the same thing as actually giving a good performance, and these clips do a good job of showing just how far off a voice can be taken when it's fed clips of one language and forced to interpolate them to another. They have the tone of Horikawa and Nozawa, but none of the enunciation.
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Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Yeeeeeeahhhh...that barely (and i mean barely) sounded anything even remotely close to how Horikawa or Nozawa actually sound like in reality. It's like someone trying and failing to do impressions of their voices if they were to learn and be able to speak English fluently as a second language in addition to their native tongue.
DB collection related goals as of now:
1.) Find decent priced copy of Dragon Box Z Vol. 4 (Done)
2.) Collect rest of manga
3.) Get rest of Daizenshuu (2-7)
1.) Find decent priced copy of Dragon Box Z Vol. 4 (Done)
2.) Collect rest of manga
3.) Get rest of Daizenshuu (2-7)
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Chris Sabat voice synthesis with AI tech from 2021-2022 (tw: broadcast audio situation):
https://vocaroo.com/15QHJIGVG0Mx
Ryo Horikawa voice synthesis with AI tech from this year:
https://vocaroo.com/1gQTPSHBtBHX
Surely you guys can see why I'm literally shaking (in fear). Only delusion, cope or pure technological illiteracy can be reasons for not being impressed and scared by this tech's current state let alone where it will be in 5-10 years.
And yeah, these don't sound exactly like Horikawa or Nozawa... the technology is not actually focused yet on listening to Japanese people and converting their voice for usage in English; so, whether these are 100% replications of Nozawa and Horikawa's voice is not the matter in question. It's the fact that the results are as good as they are right now (in the tech's infancy, used in a way for which it wasn't built), surely anyone with the most basic familiarity with technological progression can get a sense of how far this will go. Hyperbolic critiques like "this is only a step above microsoft sam" from people who still regularly use forums in 2023 sadly won't make futuristic technology any less of a reality
Here are some crazy impressive non-DB ones I've seen people post on twitter and discord:
Dumbledore in Harry Potter 2030 reboot (tw: jk rowling character):
https://vocaroo.com/18hc1jZUEXL4
Hitman - New mission for Agent 47:
https://vocaroo.com/1iYiyN3rCJJn
https://vocaroo.com/15QHJIGVG0Mx
Ryo Horikawa voice synthesis with AI tech from this year:
https://vocaroo.com/1gQTPSHBtBHX
Surely you guys can see why I'm literally shaking (in fear). Only delusion, cope or pure technological illiteracy can be reasons for not being impressed and scared by this tech's current state let alone where it will be in 5-10 years.
And yeah, these don't sound exactly like Horikawa or Nozawa... the technology is not actually focused yet on listening to Japanese people and converting their voice for usage in English; so, whether these are 100% replications of Nozawa and Horikawa's voice is not the matter in question. It's the fact that the results are as good as they are right now (in the tech's infancy, used in a way for which it wasn't built), surely anyone with the most basic familiarity with technological progression can get a sense of how far this will go. Hyperbolic critiques like "this is only a step above microsoft sam" from people who still regularly use forums in 2023 sadly won't make futuristic technology any less of a reality
Here are some crazy impressive non-DB ones I've seen people post on twitter and discord:
Dumbledore in Harry Potter 2030 reboot (tw: jk rowling character):
https://vocaroo.com/18hc1jZUEXL4
Hitman - New mission for Agent 47:
https://vocaroo.com/1iYiyN3rCJJn
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
At the risk of sounding rude....have you ever heard an actual person talk....ever?
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
They resemble a little bit but they lack a lot of emotion and energy, and they're not really that close in voice timber.Inkei9001 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 6:40 pm I am literally shaking.
I saw a video today on YouTube of Ryo Horikawa doing an English voice for vegeta generated by AI and it sounds almost good enough to be real and dare I say better than any English dub performance for Vegeta.
There was another video of Masako Nozawa doing english dub for Goku and while it didn't sound as good as the Ryo Horikawa Vegeta english voice, it was still crazy.
What would be everyone's estimations on the probability that in 5-10 years Toei and/or Sony could soon rely on such technology to cut the costs of dubbing Dragon Ball and other anime? I know it may be a contentious topic so let's try to keep it civil, everyone.
(tw: trolling/clickbait/memeing) The videos in question:
Ryo Horikawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI61k_Vy6X8
Masako Nozawa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxect5yGRJ8
I have it on good authority that some of the official English dub cast are already worried about AI dubbing making voice actors redundant...not a joke. But the official cast member(s) in question are saying 20-30 years rather than my guess of 5-10 years.
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
This line would be the slightest bit funny if it made any sense.
We're talking about dubs and voice acting...are you telling me voice acting for a children's cartoon is how you think people talk in real life? You might need to get off internet forums and hear real people talking and you'll see how voice actors dub a children's cartoon versus how "actual people talk" are two very different things and it isn't the latter in discussion here
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Whether we're talking about "children's cartoon acting" or how "actual people talk," these things you keep trying to shove down our throats sound like neither. They don't sound like words coming from a human. Period.Inkei9001 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 10:24 amThis line would be the slightest bit funny if it made any sense.
We're talking about dubs and voice acting...are you telling me voice acting for a children's cartoon is how you think people talk in real life? You might need to get off internet forums and hear real people talking and you'll see how voice actors dub a children's cartoon versus how "actual people talk" are two very different things and it isn't the latter in discussion here
Yamcha: Do you remember the spell to release him - do you know all the words?
Bulma: Of course! I'm not gonna pull a Frieza and screw it up!
Master Roshi: Bulma, I think Frieza failed because he wore too many clothes!
Cold World (Fanfic)
"It ain't never too late to stop bein' a bitch." - Chad Lamont Butler
Bulma: Of course! I'm not gonna pull a Frieza and screw it up!
Master Roshi: Bulma, I think Frieza failed because he wore too many clothes!
Cold World (Fanfic)
"It ain't never too late to stop bein' a bitch." - Chad Lamont Butler
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Shove down your throat? My guy, whether you choose to click a thread and then click on links is totally on you. Wanting to blame others for your own actions is a typical "moment"
And yeah... I mean, I'm surprised reading comprehension ain't among the forte of people who have spent enough time on forums to rack up 5000-8000 posts, but the point of this thread isn't "why haven't we started replacing VAs yet with AI?" and is about, could this become good enough in 5-10 years to do so. If reading comprehension was your thing, you might've figured that no one is saying what you're hearing right now is good enough just yet to get rid of voice actors. Though AI horikawa still sounds better than Sabat's vegeta bc Sabat's vegeta is that lame :shrug:
Last edited by Inkei9001 on Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
The Nozawa one only vaguely sounds like her in tone.
And to answer the topic question- no. AI isn't replacing actual human voice actors any time soon based on that, foreign dub or not.
That being said: With some fine tuning and an actual human performing it, you might have a pretty good English Goku. This may be a hot take, but considering I can hear something of Nozawa in there at all tells me that this wouldn't be a completely bad starting point if you were theoretically looking to recast English Goku to sound closer to Nozawa. Like, it could provide a (very) rough draft of sorts for what the character sounds like in English that the casting people could use as a basis for finding an English voice actor that could fine tune it into something close that works.
And to answer the topic question- no. AI isn't replacing actual human voice actors any time soon based on that, foreign dub or not.
That being said: With some fine tuning and an actual human performing it, you might have a pretty good English Goku. This may be a hot take, but considering I can hear something of Nozawa in there at all tells me that this wouldn't be a completely bad starting point if you were theoretically looking to recast English Goku to sound closer to Nozawa. Like, it could provide a (very) rough draft of sorts for what the character sounds like in English that the casting people could use as a basis for finding an English voice actor that could fine tune it into something close that works.
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Also, scratch the 5-10 years.
It looks like AI art (despite only really kicking off barely 6 months ago) is already making its way into replacing human artists in anime:
https://twitter.com/80Level/status/1621486161456934913
Some folk seem to think companies care about what's going to maintain quality? Nah lol, we went from gorgeous cel animation to crappy digipaint anime and then from crappy digipaint to now (still fairly crappy) CGI anime. Companies are about efficiency and using new tech when it's "good enough" to drastically cut costs. They're not gonna pull internet nerd moves like "uhm aktually to me this still sounds artificial" and not use it lol.
People who think their senses are very good at catching what's fake/artificial are prone to reddit moderator syndrome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0VsHkdPFA0
It looks like AI art (despite only really kicking off barely 6 months ago) is already making its way into replacing human artists in anime:
https://twitter.com/80Level/status/1621486161456934913
Some folk seem to think companies care about what's going to maintain quality? Nah lol, we went from gorgeous cel animation to crappy digipaint anime and then from crappy digipaint to now (still fairly crappy) CGI anime. Companies are about efficiency and using new tech when it's "good enough" to drastically cut costs. They're not gonna pull internet nerd moves like "uhm aktually to me this still sounds artificial" and not use it lol.
People who think their senses are very good at catching what's fake/artificial are prone to reddit moderator syndrome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0VsHkdPFA0
Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Eew. Stop.Inkei9001 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:06 pm Also, scratch the 5-10 years.
It looks like AI art (despite only really kicking off barely 6 months ago) is already making its way into replacing human artists in anime:
https://twitter.com/80Level/status/1621486161456934913
Some folk seem to think companies care about what's going to maintain quality? Nah lol, we went from gorgeous cel animation to crappy digipaint anime and then from crappy digipaint to now (still fairly crappy) CGI anime. Companies are about efficiency and using new tech when it's "good enough" to drastically cut costs. They're not gonna pull internet nerd moves like "uhm aktually to me this still sounds artificial" and not use it lol.
People who think their senses are very good at catching what's fake/artificial are prone to reddit moderator syndrome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0VsHkdPFA0
They do sound artificial, they are incapable of conveying appropriate emotions, they also cannot properly do any nonverbal vocals (which I don't know if you're aware but that is important). It's just not feasible. People can forgive a lot, but this is not one of those things. Humans pick up on the tiniest of variations in sound, especially when it's the voice of another person. Cartoon animation blunders we can forgive, but what you're suggesting is like ignoring the auditory equivalent of the uncanny valley.
Why you're so insistent to pursue this in such a hostile manner is beyond me. Chill.
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Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Those two voice clips sound awful. Sounded like Alexa or Siri. Dubbing by humans will never go away.
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Re: Could foreign dub casts be a thing of the past?
Except that major companies such as Disney are already AI as VO for smaller projects with Aladdin's VA as an example. This will only increase in the future as technology improves.