Random Thoughts for Newcomers

Frank Cabanski · **Voice Talent** Joined: 12 Dec 2005 Posts: 87

Remember that free advice is worth what you paid for it.

This forum is an excellent source of information. A lot of people around here, including some seasoned pros, give great advice.

But I suggest to people new to voice over that they save up and seek to hire professional training and advice. Some of the people on this board offer classes and professional services, research it and engage them.

Jodi Krangle · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 65

Thank you, Scott. Far from discouraging, I found your post to be inspiring. Smile

I'm fairly new to this business of voice overs, though I've been a singer for many years. That musical experience has taught me how to use a microphone and breath control (and how to be comfortable in a studio - which is a *really* useful skill to have!). My experience running a business from home (Internet Marketing) for the last twelve years has taught me about how to start my own business and work for myself. I totally agree with Les that you really do need to be prepared to weather the storm when you first start ANY business, let alone this one.

I'm always interested in learning more, have read a bunch of books and taken some voice acting classes with someone local to me. Through those classes, I was directed to a book called Audition by Michael Shurtleff. I *highly* recommend it to anyone wanting to improve their auditions. Since I didn't come at this from an acting perspective, I've found the book to be hugely helpful to me in getting my head around certain acting concepts I'd never had any experience with before.

Anyway, thanks again for your very helpful (and timely, for me!) advice.

All the best,

--Jodi

Christine Leary · **Voice Talent** Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 4

Hi Scott. I truly appreciate your post. It's great food for thought. In your post you talk about getting a great system setup for under $1000.00. As an educator, I understand the value of using resourses rather than re-inventing the wheel. So I'd like to ask you what you would consider a "great setup." Or, where would you point me towards to research the answer to that question.

Thank you,
Christine Leary

Scott Pollak · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008, 18:53 (GMT) Post subject:

Good questions, Christine.

After the actual TALENT, the next two most important parts of doing this from an equipment perspective would be your microphone and your room acoustics.

While there's no need for anyone starting out to purchase a Neumann or other similarly expensive, multi-thousand dollar microphone, I'm equally amazed at how many folks will grab a $99 Blue Snowball and try to do professional work. Don't get me wrong, the Blue Snowball is apparently not a bad little mike, but for broadcast work it just won't cut it.

You'd need to be sure to find the right mike for your voice. It's different for everyone. Here's one of MANY interesting places to start looking and learning:

http://www.transom.org/tools/recording_interviewing/200508.mic_shootout.html

Really, really decent, studio quality mics can be had from between $200 and $800. I personally use an old broadcast standard, an Electrovoice RE-20, that I purchased new on ebay about 5 years ago for $350. But again, it may not be the right mike for YOU, so take your time to research and if possible, try out, different mikes. But you should be able to find something quite nice for $500 or less.

Next would be your mixer/preamp. Over in the "Geeks" section there has been a ton of discussion about this, and what you'll get will, again, depend to a large extent on your mike. But suffice it to say you can get a very nice mixer for as little as $80 on up to several hundred dollars.

Don't skimp on your sound card, either. "Invest" $150 or so in a top-notch sound card for optimum quality.

For digital recording software, commonly referred to as DAW, you can get Audacity online for free. I haven't used it, but I've heard really good things about it. I'd start with the free stuff before spending money on something you may not need like Adobe Audition or ProTools or Cubase.

Finally: the room acoustics. This is so critical. Many people record in their closets and that's great if you can do that. The natural sound baffling qualities of hanging clothes can't be beat. But regardless of where you record, you have to have an acoustically dead room, no echoes, ringing, hollow sounds, etc. I'm fortunate in that the bonus room that my studio is set up in is acoustically very dead and I've never had any complaints about the quality of my audio. I DO have to shut off the a/c or heat whenever I record, but that's a small thing.

I'm not a tech geek, Christine. If you want more and better tech advice, seek out people like Colin Campbell, Jacob Eckstroem, Ed Gambill, David Oxford, and others.... all who you'll find around these forums.

Hope this has helped and I wish you all the best!

Christine Leary · **Voice Talent** Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 4

Thanks Scott. I'm really excited to research and give this a go! I'm currently working full time and in grad school full time, but I'm fascinated by the field, have the talent, I think, and have so many students who want more information from me on different avenues of recording job, that I thought getting involved would help to educate me. Your response was most helpful and I look forward to learning more as I go.

I am about to attempt my first 'audition' for a vo request. I've recorded the script but now have to figure out how to submit it!
Wish me luck!
Christine
PS. Your voice is amazing!

Jodi Krangle · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 65

Hi guys. This is such a fantastic discussion ... I'm learning a lot. I currently have to set up my recording in my office ... which is surprisingly, the quietest room in the house. But the closet is WAY too small for me to ever record in - so I'm stuck using the room itself. There's lots of "stuff" in here so it's not entirely reflective ... but it's not great either - and there is, unfortunately, a window across from the door (as there are windows in nearly every room in a regular house, unless you're in the basement).

Like you, Scott, I have to turn off the A/C or Heating before I start to record. I also have a desktop computer (I record on my laptop, which is very quiet) that I turn off then too.

I've been hanging blankets all over my office when I record, but as you can well imagine, that's a HUGE pain in the butt every time you want to do an audition. Wink

After doing a lot of research on this and finding a huge amount of very expensive solutions - plus trying a "voice box" (a 15"x15" box lined with acoustic foam to place the microphone inside) - which I found muffled the sound too much (probably my own fault, that - and if I was traveling, it would likely be fine...), I was pointed to this online by a fellow I've been in contact with over at Sweetwater:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Reflexion

I've decided to give it a try. It's portable, it's a simple solution that won't block up the entirety of my office, and it will help remove other ambient sounds. I'll still hang a blanket *behind* me, but that's a heck of a lot easier than trying to hang blankets all *around* me.

After all the stuff I found that could handle this that was in the thousands of dollars - plus thinking about hanging stuff from the ceiling so I could wrap my blankets around an area of the room like the curtains around a hospital bed (and then be able to fold it back when I wasn't using it), this seemed to me, to be the most elegant (and relatively inexpensive but professional) solution.

I'll let you know how it works for me when I try it out (I just ordered it today so it'll take a little while to arrive). As a note, Sweetwater is the only American big chain music equipment store I've found that charges *reasonable* rates to ship to Canada. Musicians Friend, while having an excellent selection, charges almost *three times* as much to ship to Canada, even if they will ship there.

How frustrating!

Anyway, good luck with everything, Christine!

All the best,

--Jodi

Christine Leary · **Voice Talent** Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 4

Hi Jodi.
Thanks for the additional info. I've just recorded a VOIP demo and am going to try out the 123 subscription fof 15 days. Since I've never done this and am pretty unsure about how it all works at this point, I figured it's better to see if I can even get around the sight and utilize the recording equipment I've got.

Let me know how your set up works for you!

Jodi Krangle · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 65

Joe Graham · **Voice Talent** Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Posts: 1

Very sage advice Scott, thanks. I'm so new I haven't finished putting my profile together! As you so succinctly pointed out, this is a business and to treat it as anything but would be naive and foolish. I hope to learn a lot from folks like you with this experience.

Marilyn Taylor · **Voice Talent** Joined: 30 Oct 2006 Posts: 400

Great discussion. Scott those 'random thoughts' should be attached to every single new Vo talent. I've learned them all the hard way...but the good way..through the nice folks here on the savvy site....
Jodi, here's what I did regarding sound proofing and it works great....I went to home depot and got 4 eight foot sheets of styrophome insulation. I glued soundproofing foam to them. Now they are movable walls that make a booth anywhere in the room I want. and I can remove them easily. because they are 8 foot they stand straight up to the celing...no attachements necessary. I painted them black cus I'm really picky on asthetics...pm me if you want a pic....

Jodi Krangle · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 65

Marilyn Taylor · **Voice Talent** Joined: 30 Oct 2006 Posts: 400

Jodi, My studio is in shamples right now as I'm upgrading, revamping and re grouping...I'll send a pick of my awesome sound booth asap....
my best to you!

Jodi Krangle · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 65

No problem, Marilyn. Smile

Thanks!

Lee Kanne · **Voice Talent** Joined: 20 Dec 2005 Posts: 129

Attached here is a picture of a very inexpensive and practical method I have implemented here at my home, in a spare room I've converted to use for a voiceover studio....I find this method is a little more practical than an actual booth because I can quickly go back and forth to the computer and edit, undo, etc...

It involves deadening a corner of the room and speaking into that corner. I've also figured out a way to isolate the corner further, by attaching Auralex to a sheet of pegboard and hanging that from the ceiling. ..the cost of the whole setup was about $30

You can also speak out into the room, to give it a more "ambient" flavor.

Keep in mind, this doesn't isolate your mic from picking up outside noise, it is designed to isolate and diffuse your voice, eliminating reflections.

Jodi Krangle · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 65

Thanks for the picture, Lee! Very cool setup there. Unfortunately, over here, I don't have an available corner. But I kind of make my own using my Reflexion screen. Smile

Steve Royal also gave me some outstanding tips on where to place that screen and where to place the microphone and aim it so that I don't have to use a pop filter, but I still get great sound. It's awesome. (Thanks, Steve!)

If I arrange the screen so that it's more to the side (my left side as I'm facing it) than in a half moon directly in front of me, then if I have the microphone angled to my left jaw and I speak straight ahead, it works like a dream.

I still live in a fairly noisy place (townhouse complex with a window that faces the street) and unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about that sometimes (there honestly isn't a better spot for me to record and there are no available closets to use for this purpose) but I use my noise reduction ... and things turn out pretty well, despite that. And they're getting better all the time.