| Mark Estdale | |
| Origin: | Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England |
| Instrument: | Drums, mixing |
| Genre: | Electronic |
| Occupation: | CEO of Outsource Media Voice actor Vocal Director Casting Director Sound engineer |
| Years Active: | 1984-1988 (music) 1994-present (video games) |
| Label: | Native Records |
| Associated Acts: | Chain, The Box, In The Nursery |
| Website: | www.OMUK.com |
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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
In 1995, Estdale was hired as the voice recording engineer for the video game for US Gold. After which he began working almost exclusively within the video games. He worked as the recording engineer for GT Racers that same year, and in 1996 directed Happy Birthday Maisy and Gloriana.
In 1996, Estdale founded Outsource Media, a specialist voice production and dialogue company in Sheffield. 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.
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. The company currently provides video game dialogue services such as scriptwriting and adaption, casting, recording, and post production. The company's stated goal is bringing the dialogue quality of film and television to video games.
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.
Estdale opened an office in Los Angeles in 2005, after Hollywood studios such as DreamWorks Animation began approaching the company. Outsource Media now has 3 recording studios in London. 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.
Through his company, Estdale has worked with game publishers and developers: Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, Atari, Ubisoft, LucasArts, Activision, Konami, Namco, Telltale Games, Codemasters, Climax Entertainment, Revolution Software, Relentless, Blitz Games, Rebellion Developments, Frontier Developments, and Rare.
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.
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. 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.
Estdale has also been developing software tools, known as Creative Dialogue Tools (CDT) to improve the dialogue recording and editing process for video games.