Then whatâs the other half?
Getting those who commission anime dubs to realize that this quote about LA dubs, from that article you linked, isnât exactly true:
Maybe the argument can be made that NGP and Ocean can provide a better product at a lower cost than B/Z and Studiopolis; âIf youâre going to pay the money to dub something, itâs far less risky to pay less than you would to the studios that you have been using and are almost certain to get a better dub as a result.â
The main issue is that LA, for all its expensiveness and difficulty due to unions compared to Vancouver and Texas, is the most lucrative area in the English voice acting community, even though Vancouver is essentially cheaper than LA and lies in the middle between LA and Texas in terms of dubbing prices. Also, there was this growing feeling that Vancouver studios werenât making as good dubs as they used to in the past, so many studios began to shift their dubs to LA, since they consider that area as the most trustworthy to them.
Even for NGP (which is based in LA), itâs overshadowed by the likes of Bang Zoom! and Studiopolis since it uses small-time VAs instead of the big-name VAs like Steve Blum, Kirk Thornton, Tony Oliver, etc, that the other two use. I honestly wonder why Viz and Aniplex still use LA if Vancouver is actually cheaper.
I havenât heard Blum pop up in a dub lately (which IMO is a good thing as he has demonstrated no ability to disguise his voice). I havenât really noticed the big names from LA appear in too many LA dubs lately-mostly Iâm noticing newer people, with smaller names-so Iâm not fully onboard with it being lack of access to certain talent that is leaving NGP as the odd man out in LA.
Besides, if they really wanted Blum, couldnât âDavid Lucasâ make a dramatic return to voice acting? 
Iâm still wondering if NGP and Ocean are even trying to get back into the running with anime dubbing, or if theyâre content to do anime dubs only once in a blue moon as theyâre focusing on other, perhaps more lucrative, projects.
[quote=âcelestial_being, post:45, topic:7862, full:trueâ]
I havenât heard Blum pop up in a dub lately (which IMO is a good thing as he has demonstrated no ability to disguise his voice).[/quote]
Well, if youâre wondering as to why Blum hasnât appeared in dubs recently, itâs because heâs a Union-only actor, and I donât think he sees the incentive to go ficore like the other big-name dub VAs. Also, heâs been succeeded by Keith Silverstein in the dubbing world (Keith also succeeded Crispin Freeman as well)
Thereâs still older-generation anime VAs appearing in dubs, such as Michael McConnohie, Richard Epcar, Doug Stone, Wendee Lee, Kirk Thornton, Michelle Ruff, Karen Strassman, Derek Stephen Prince and Tony Oliver. Also, itâs not really so much the lack of certain talent as theyâve used big-name VAs in their dubs (such as the aforementioned Michael McConnohie, Doug Stone, Wendee Lee, Michelle Ruff and Karen Strassman), but rather NGPâs insistence on using VAs entirely new to voice acting and its voice directors mostly unfamiliar to most big-name VAs (Bang Zoomâs and Studiopolisâs voice directors had prior experience with directing dubs) thatâs probably left them as the odd man out.
I donât think the SAG-AFTRA would let its VAs use synonyms as they did in the past ever since Global Rule Number One passed. I know they still let Jamieson Price use synonyms still in dubs (such as James Lyon and Taylor Henry), but his union status is ambiguous as âMortal Kombat 9â (which he was credited with his real name) may have been non-union due to it being developed during Midwayâs final days so they didnât have that much budget (it may also explain why âMKvsDCUâ was non-union and may have been done by NGP).
NGPâs working on the Zen Studios games right now, and Oceanâs working on their dub of âDBZ Kaiâ (I do think they could probably work on more than just that right now, as I could see Saban give the upcoming âDigimon Adventure .triâ to Ocean to dub once they get it since Joshua Seth and Michael Reisz are no longer active), which may be their final chance to convince the anime companies that theyâre still worth the expense of being outsourced to if the if is just as good as (or even better than) FUNimationâs take.
Isnât that what Bang/Zoom and Studiopolis (and, to a lesser extent, Funi & Sentai) do?
Well Iâve long thought that B/Z has some questionable casting practices so that doesnât surprise me in the least.
Brings me back to the âOkratron needs to get its name out there, so other video game makers will use 'emâ train of thought. Though NGPâs workload seems so light that I wonder how they endure, but then again they seem to be doing alright, iirc they still have their China branchâŠ
Yes, but what I was saying was that during the time when NGP was at its prime (early 2000s until 2008), Bang Zoom! and Studiopolis hired big-name VAs (many of which are Animaze veterans) on a regular basis whereas NGP seldom did and used entirely new VAs instead. Bang Zoom! (and later Studiopolis) began hiring completely new VAs ever since K-On! (2011).
Okratronâs gonna need more than just Gearbox Software games (though they help since theyâre AAA games and thus they gain more attention) to convince companies that theyâre a good alternative to LA. They are also going to need pre-lay work (i.e. cartoons), but itâs very difficult for a cartoon to not have its voices done in LA due to the existing status quo.
Isnât the Gantz dub considered to be some of the most hilariously bad dubs to come from Houston?
They could try to experiment gradually (though theyâll most likely have to do it with titles that are more likely to sell well to make up for the fact that it would likely cost slightly more than Houston, such as Akame ga Kill!) and see how it works before giving Parasyte to Ocean.
They could use Kill la Killâs or Inuyasha: The Final Actâs timeslot for Sentai shows once either of those two shows wrap up, unless AoA wants to use the latterâs for stuff like Magi, Fate series, Madoka Magica and Aldnoah, and Viz use the formerâs for titles like Tiger & Bunny and Accel World.
Even with Chris Ayres helming the dub, itâs doubtful if it will be a quality dub given Seraphim Digitalâs incredibly rushed dubbing schedule and the fact that itâs way past capacity.
If thatâs a common sentiment in the fandom, I canât say that Iâve heard it. Even if it were, Matt Greenfield would still be the âwinningestâ ADR director in anime. 
Akame ga Kill! is also a mega-popular Sentai title and it too needs a great dub, which ought to DQ it from being the âguinea pigâ for outsourcing due to the same reason as Parasyte.
Chris Ayres is the âmost CAâ of the directors at Sentai (Interestingly, he takes flak from the fandom that Oliver and AVR are spared but also deserve). Iâve noticed that his serious dubs tend to be a bit too serious, which might translate into success with Akame ga Kill, a show that is serious but yet not serious simultaneously. Then again, it could also turn out to be a solid âmehâ, like CAâs Kill La Kill dub. HmmâŠ
Whatever it takes to get a good dub for both of these shows is what I want to see done.
So what youâre saying is that Sentai shouldnât outsource either Parasyte or Akame ga Kill! (though Houston dubs in general are âmehâ). If thatâs the case then which titles would be better for outsourcing?
Also whoâs AVR?
Fortunate typo of someone whose initials are a rearrangement of âADVâ 
I donât buy into that, not without restricting the domain: there have been Sentai-era Houston dubs that have been âmehâ, but there have been a few that were not. The question is why arenât Sentai dubs at ADVâs level.
Ideally, Iâm not sure if Vancouver would have the time to dub Parasyte as you would have managed to convince Funi to enlist their aid to help them out with their Broadcast Dub project.
Whatever happens, I donât want to hear that the dubs of either of these shows was done too rapidly (no tales of 12+ eps worth of lines in one ADR session or reading magazines while recording lines, please) and/or that the dub was wrapped months and months before its release but has plenty of room for improvement.
Bulogna! Just Utter Bulogna! Whats next? Ef a Tale of Memores is BLEGH? Log Horizion is trash? And Chunibyo is below decent? Those along with H.O.T.D, Angel Beats, Needless, Btoom, Nyankoi, Another, Book of Bantorra, Tsuritama, Maria Holic, Grave of the Fireflies, From the New World and Kill me Baby are some of the best dubs from Houston.
Iâm concerned for the dub aswell and I can name some titles that Seraphim did below average(Medaka, Loups Garou, Samurai Girls S1(script) and half of Broken Blade), but fans need to get off their high LA/Dallas fanboy boot licking horses and look at there own flaws. LA canât be liberal for crap or have proper breaks between empty lip flaps, Dallas has actors overact/underact so hilariously bad that it feels like they were abused to act like that. Yet they, âpretend.â To follow the original script while trying to add some lines that make them feel like their begging for an ADR scriptwriting Oscar.
Ocean has some good actors/directors that fit their characters, its the delivery that is handled bad sometimes.
While I would like Sentai to work with Studiopolis or New York studios since some of the great 4kids actors like Marc Diarison have done work there. I just want to hear the best from what they got since its not really hard to top the Japanese VAâs despite Aya Hirano and Kana Hanazawa.
YEP! I wanna hear more from him. The guy is a legend alongside Mike Mcfarland and Steven Foster. The Parasites have a, âspacey.â Feel to them, so can that pass for Matt wanting to try a dub for it since it has space!? XD
Though, I want him to watch out for what Tiffany Grant will recommend for the script. The whole Spider Man line in Infinite Stratos felt REALLY out of left field.
IIRC, Greenfield also has a passion for daikaiju works and the Parasytes are kaiju so maybe thereâs a chance at a Greenfield dub after all.
Actually, Oceanâs kind of vacant aside from DBZ Kai (which pretty much already wrapped up). Also, Sentai doesnât have to do a broadcast dub (and they canât even do so ATM).
I didnât say that all Houston dubs were crap (as a matter of fact I watched and enjoyed several of them, such as Another, HOTD, Angel Beats! and some others). The issue is that there are too many middling Houston dubs since Sentai decided to try to outpace Funimation in terms of how many dubs can they make.
Thatâs why I chose them. They have the least amount of cons compared to LA and Dallas.
Whatâs ADVâs level like?
Who said that they did?
You say that as though it were a sure thing, that Sentai is on a mission to beat Funi on dub quantity. I also wonder if it is the quantity of dubs that Sentai does that is affecting dub quality.
Well, why did you mention funimation earlier?
I think itâs the quantity of dubs thatâs affecting the quality of their dubs.
I missed so much. Honestly, I do think that the number of dubs that Sentai was producing for a while did have a negative affect on some of their quality. There was a time, not that long ago, that they were dubbing literally every show they got except for those that had previous incarnations released sub-only. You combine a large number of dubs with an already shortened production period and you are bound to have some hiccups.
However, they have been more selective with their dubs and it appears that theyâve even added to their production staff. The quality has been increasing and many of their recent dubs have been quite good, and even the worst of the bunch was only average.
As for this show, itâs good to see them finally announce it.
Greenfield didnât direct IS2? Iâm pretty sure his name was on the box last I saw it.
Iâm not sure what youâre getting at.
I just canât agree with that being the primary reason. Recently quantity has gone down but Iâm not noticing quality going up correspondingly.
I guess you were right. I was thinking of some preliminary artwork that had Chris Ayres listed by mistake. Still, I think the chances are still fairly slim. I would love to see him direct it though.