Thank you :3 It's the burnout that's been kicking my butt the most this year >.<
But I'm currently on a wellbeing programme for autistic people that's actually run by autistic people, and it's been immensely helpful so far! I feel like it's exactly what I needed as soon as I was diagnosed with autism a couple of years ago because it's super informative and uplifting :3
It's like it's already helping me more than therapy ever has! It's just a loooong journey to go on with a lot still to learn, and the meetings + homework is taking up a lot of my time at the moment. I think it will eventually help me to manage things like my depression and burnout a bit better though, so that it hopefully won't be as big of a problem as it has been.
I certainly wouldn't completely rule out community casting as an option :3 And heck, I would be willing to bet that plenty of people have talent for voice acting, they just don't know it yet :D You definitely don't have to be a pro to be a brilliant voice actor. I've cast people in the past who were giving it a go for the first time, and they were amazing ^-^
Mic quality (and to an extent, also recording technique) does make a big difference, though, unfortunately >.< Someone could be an epic actor, but if their mic is bad, or they speak too loudly/quietly, etc. It would make it extremely difficult for me to edit the audio into a way that would be usable.
That being said, a person wouldn't need to have a particularly expensive mic or setup in order to record decent quality audio :3 Some of the people I've worked with in the past just had a Blue Yeti mic and covered themselves and their laptop in blankets to get by, and it was all good :D (besides the fact that they got pretty sweaty during recording xD)
And regardless of experience, or even if a person was happy to volunteer, I'd still have to pay them some form of compensation for their time cos, otherwise, it just wouldn't be fair on them x3
I've been trying my best to keep a log of auditions and people's contact info over time so that I can attempt to do closed casting by reaching out to folks who have sent over demos if their voice seems like the right fit for a character :3
So if you ever want to, feel free to send me over a demo (doesn't have to be professional quality or anything like that - just performing a few lines from a character you like is enough, or reading a little of a script from somewhere :D) to give me some idea of what your voice sounds like! You can email it to me if you would prefer to send privately: melancholicmarionette@gmail.com
As for my arm, it's all healed and usable again now :3 But funnily enough, I recently discovered a reason why I seem to keep breaking that same arm + similarly regarding other repetitive injuries I get on a semi-regular basis, like dislocations >.< Turns out I may have something called Hypermobility, which is apparently fairly common in people with autism x3
It's probably gonna be impossible to get it investigated properly or diagnosed, so it'll probably keep happening throughout the rest of my life >.< But it's nice to know that there's a probable cause behind it at least, haha. I used to just think I had like the body of an old lady or something xD
I hope that you're well, and that you're having a good year so far :3