Jai speaks on the role he didn't get but how that also landed him the role that was literally made for him. Plus some very excited gear-head specs for the audiophiles in the house.
Coyote Music: Jai! Thanks so much for taking the time to answer a few questions! Let's start with the easy stuff: can you share a bit about yourself and your background in music, acting, or the arts in general?
Jai Isla: Hi!! Im Jai, currently I’m a full time partnered content creator on both youtube and twitch, though it wasn’t always so. Growing up I had a massive love for both acting and music. While my love and aptitude for music took a long time to refine, I never stopped my fascination with acting, starting from an early age playing imaginary games with my friends, to discovering dungeons and dragons and stage acting. With music, it wasn’t really until I was 18 that I started taking music more seriously. I had recently lost a family member and the hospice counselor recommended that in order to keep their memory close, I pick something they loved and keep it alive--music was what I chose! From then on I started learning Broadway singing, which led to rock, and finally I discovered Death Metal, where I worked with a band for 5 years where I discovered my first long term teacher Dan Tompkins from Tesseract. For most of my 20’s music was a hobby, but when the pandemic occurred and I lost my work as a massage therapist and live audio engineer I discovered Twitch, which led to pursuing voice acting! And here we are!
CM: How did you come to land the part of Roland in Artifact: The Dream of Luna?
JI: That's actually a rather funny story. I was on the site casting Call Club one day and stumbled upon Artifact and was immediately drawn in by the premise of the story and music. I was particularly taken in by the character Yorich--I’ve always loved knights and magic and I loved the backing track that was provided for the audition. I listened to some of the submissions, and there was one that was done by Adam, that blew me away, and I knew that that was the one to contend with, but I wasn’t sure if I could. So I reached out to the director, Azakaela, and she told me the part had already been cast by Adam but was curious about my fervent interest in Artifact. We got to talking about my background in learning sword play and blacksmithing and my love for tales of knights and magic. After several messages back and forth they told me that they were still in process with writing the whole opera but was having a hard time finishing it, and they asked me what I thought. I asked them if they had an observer character, one that both watches and subtly influences the story, to which they hadn’t but they liked the idea. A few hours later they got back to me and thanked me for they had figured out how to move things forward. They created this new role and told me about this character Roland who was a blacksmith and how they integrated into the story and helped it move forward. Admittedly I was very dense, because at the time I assumed that it was going to be another role that everyone was going to have to audition for, it was only when I asked Aza what their intention was with the character that they told me, Roland was written for me! And the rest is history.
[Although initially] the only character I really related to was Yorich, Adam's ability to bring that character to life was absolutely incredible, so when I found out he had been cast I was elated, because I loved his audition. Roland being created for me personally was honestly one of the most wonderful ways to come into the project!
CM: What interested you in this project in the first place?
JI: I have been obsessed with knights and tales of powerful objects ever since I could read. Growing up on tales of LOTR, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, it was no surprise to me that I was interested in Artifact. It has an incredible story, wonderful music and the entire cast was incredible. Not only that but having a character created for me to integrate with the story was one of the most wholesome experience I have every had while joining a project.
CM: To me, Artifact is pretty intense--its length, the storyline, and the combination of spoken word & music. How was this different, or how was it a different challenge for you from other projects you've been a part of?
JI: All my previous experiences had been with bands in the past and apart from one video game and a radio drama, I hadn’t been part of any other voice acting projects, so when I was brought in I was both excited but also quite nervous as I truly wanted to do right by the project. To be perfectly honest I was extremely intimidated by the entire project. All of the cast members were professional vocalists, while I still felt I was discovering myself, which led to a lot of self doubt and worry that I wasn’t worthy enough of the project. It was only through Aza and Phil’s encouragement that I managed to truly dive deep into the project and finally feel truly apart of the production.
CM: How did you record your parts? Can you talk about that process? Were you working with final scripts & sound effects, or was it more like a read-through, and all the magic happened afterwards?
JI: With most of the parts there were essentially scratch tracks with pre recorded melody parts that we learned our parts from which was incredibly helpful! But also we were given some free reign to improvise parts. Most of the music was written all before hand and sometimes over time it was changed and we adapted to it. For myself a lot of the voice acting parts I was part of I helped produce. I would be sent the other actors lines and then I created the set and setting of the scene and then would add my own lines afterwards. Then Aza would add or send me notes of things to change if need be!
CM: Did everyone read together in real time, or was this a case of just recording your own parts at your own studio, then sending them off to be assembled?
JI: It was quite wild. We all recorded our own parts and then had them assembled together which was crazy and fun and the same time. A lot of my voice acting was made in reference to other people sending in their lines. Phil and I got to know each other a bit more through out the project as we are both engineers, which I feel led to our parts having a bit more coordination in their tonality, you can really feel this in The Wielders I feel.
CM: By the time you completed your parts, did your understanding of the project as a whole change, or was it pretty much what you thought it'd be from the get-go?
JI: I don’t think the scope of the project really landed until it was done and I realized just how varied it was! I know Phil had a much more intimate experience with it being our mastering engineer. I only had a bit of an inkling at its scope because at times I would help Aza be a sound board from the writing. Initially it started out mostly as all music, but it started to evolve as Phil, Aza and I realized that some voice acting mixed in with the narration would really fill out the story and also give an opportunity for the audience to connect with the characters!
CM: Did you read the script pretty true to how it was written, or did you make some suggestions and edits along the way as you felt the character develop? I guess that's semi-related to whether you recorded everything in one long session or if there was an ongoing development of the script as you progressed through recording your parts?
JI: Hahhahahah yes? Mostly to be perfectly honest I’m not sure anymore. I do know that there were some bits where I read the lines that were provided but then added some improvised lines here and there for Aza to review. In fact at the end of the Answers I improved that entire little speech after Lysa and I agree to go face Dorne. At the time I was a little nervous about how it would land, but Aza loved it. One part of the Opera was actually created by Aza and I to round out more of the story. After Yorich falls to Lysa the story initially goes directly onward to The Wielders, however I asked Aza if we could take a moment to honor Adam's character. What My Hands Have Wrought was essentially co written by Aza and I. She got the jist of my idea and created that beautiful backing track, and then I wrote the lyrics and melody and we brought it together into, imo, one of the most touching parts of the story. Through out the opera, Aza was also absolutely incredible in helping us refine our characters. We had small changes here and there, and in general we all worked together to make the characters stronger, which meant that sometimes we went back and changed small parts.
CM: Any fun or surprising stories or moments during the recording and production?
JI: I have been eternally grateful to my mentor for joining in the production actually. Paul Guyet is a full time professional voice actor and is the one that got me into voice acting in the first place. The scene between Roland and his father is actually one of my favorite parts. Paul has been such a good friend and mentor for years that when his line goes “I am proud of you” the crying in the background is actually me forgetting to unarm my track and my responses were made while crying from gratitude for his help in pursuing my dreams. We ended up keeping that take because the emotion was so strong and also right for the moment.
CM: Do you have any 'most' moments? Maybe most fun plot moment, or the most challenging aspect of executing the script, etc.? I'd love to hear what it was like to create each of your characters, bring them to life.
JI: I think the funny thing about Roland is he is essentially me. I am also a full time blacksmith and a lot of the philosophy behind Roland's character as an observer and protector was easy for me lean into as that is how I was raised. Honestly taking Roland from a slightly unsure and ponderous character to one that feels responsible for essentially shaping the story as best he can through time travel was a bit of a roller coaster. The ending scene with Dorne and Roland actually had some crazy improv. The line “That is your burden, not mine” was improved during the recording and just did it out of the feeling that Roland had come so far from being the artisan he originally was to one of a protector. The evolution of Roland was truly shaped by my interactions with the other actors. Without them I don’t feel like I could have truly shaped Roland into the intense character he became in the Opera.
CM: For the gear-heads out there, can you talk about how you physically recorded your parts? The equipment--mics and such. Did you have to edit out your dog/roommate/child making noise when you were trying to get your work done?
JI: OH HECK YEAH HERE WE GOOOO XD! So for the gear heads out there I used a Neuman Tlm 103 for all of the singing and voice acting going into a Focusrite 18i20. For about 90 percent of the production I was in my streaming room which meant that I had to deal with some of the room sound, but fortunately Phil and Aza are excellent engineers themselves so we didn’t have too much trouble sorting out an “artifacts” hahah that needed editing. Occasionally there were a couple takes that I had to redo because our neighbors have roosters...when they shouldn’t ahahahah. By the end of the production however I was working in my new recording studio and apart from having to redo some takes to make sure they were in better tune, we blasted through the end!
CM: I had asked Azakaela if she planned to put this on as an onstage production at any point. Understandably, that would be a ways off. If that happened, what do you think about recreating your role either onstage or in a video/film adaptation of Artifact?
JI: Oh my god I would honestly love that. I miss stage acting quite a bit and I would love to retain the role and actually be the one to play Roland. Of course, I would also be head over heels if a production company decided to pick it up and do it themselves! I think the most important part of Roland's character is ensuring you can really feel him go from that innocent and gentle artist, to a bit of a hardened realist who has experienced the traumas of loss and betrayal, while still retaining his core values around integrity and honesty.
CM: Lastly, do you have anything else you'd like to share about the work, your experience, or any other aspect of being a part of Artifact?
JI: I have to thank Aza for putting up with me ahahhha. There were several times through out the production that I was unhappy with my performances and Aza truly held my hand through the production of those songs. The Answers was a song that by the end of the production we were just happy was done because for some reason my dumb butt couldn’t figure out the melody and it took forever to finish. Only with Aza being such a good friend was I able to finally get some of my parts done. I also have to thank Phil. He truly is a kindred spirit and we both had an absolute blast playing opposite each other. Honestly I wish we had had more parts together, but the ones we did were an absolute blast. I have to say actually in general everyone that took part in this production was an absolute Legend. I have to thank Adam a bit more directly. Without his stellar audition for Yorich, I would have never reached out to Aza about the project, so in a lot of ways Adam is responsible for bringing me into the fold with Aza. As for the rest of the cast, their work speaks for itself, their performances are phenomenal and they were such kind people to work with, I feel blessed to have worked with them all. Honestly I just feel blessed to have been part of the project.
CM: Thank you again for your time and best of luck with everything!
Also check out our review of Artifact & interview with Artifact's Phil Zeo (aka Dorne)