Master VO

What's pre-mastering and how, when, and why should I use compression?

Master VO,

Thanks for this opportunity (you may come to regret it !!)

Could you please have a go at explaining the art of “pre-mastering” and how, when and why to use compression.

I have Audition 2.0 and it is a monster that I only use to a fraction of it's potential; maybe there could be an offshoot forum for Q&A on how to maximize the potential of this remarkable software?

Martyn Lloyd- Australia

__

Thanks Martyn,

Another Aussie chimes in.

My job here is to de-mystify a highly complex subject. I’ll start by saying that “Pre-Mastering,” in the sense of sending out voice files to clients isn’t something, as a “Grasshopper,” you really need to worry about a great deal. You’re not producing Snoop Dog’s tracks. However, you may be recording fully produced commercials that require music and sound effects. You may also wish to “enhance” your voice.

Let’s start with what our buddies at Wikipedia say:

Audio level compression, also called dynamic range compression, volume compression, compression, limiting, is a process that manipulates the dynamic range of an audio signal. Compression is used during sound recording, live sound reinforcement, and broadcasting to improve the perceived volume of audio. A compressor is the device used to create compression.

Adobe Audition, as well as every other major multi-track recording software, has a digital compressor with lots of settings built in.

Compression is often used to make music sound louder without increasing its peak amplitude. By compressing the peak (or loudest) signals, it becomes possible to increase the overall gain (or volume) of a signal without exceeding the dynamic limits of a reproduction device or medium. (I.e. your radio, i-Pod, or your computer speakers, known for their wonderful fidelity and frequency range) The net effect when compression is applied along with a gain boost is that relatively quiet sounds become louder, while louder sounds remain unchanged.

Got that?

Compressors usually have controls to set how fast the compressor responds to changes in input level, known as ''attack'', and how quickly the compressor returns to no gain reduction once the input level falls below the threshold, known as ''release''. Because the loudness pattern of the source material is modified by the compressor it may change the character of the signal in subtle to quite noticeable ways depending on the settings used.

A second control on a compressor is hard/soft knee. This controls whether the bend in the response curve is a sharp angle or has a rounded edge. A soft knee reduces the audible change from uncompressed to compressed, especially for higher ratios where the changeover is more noticeable. You need a chart to sort of show that.

http://alesis.com/support/notes/Signal_Processing/Compterm.html

An audio engineer might use a compressor in a subtle way in order to reduce the dynamic range of source material in order to allow it to be recorded optimally on a medium with a more limited dynamic range than the source signal, like a talking handheld device, or they might use a compressor in order to deliberately change the character of an instrument being processed. However, that has little to do with recording your voice for a documentary or a website Power Point (tm) or Flash presentation. Or does it?

It’s hard to explain without you actually hearing examples. One way I use compression is to emphasize the lower registers of my voice. I can play my voice louder, thus emphasizing the lower frequencies, which require more power, but keep the overall level from over modulating, or distorting. Compression lets you do that. That’s what many of the “Voice of God” radio imaging guys use. You know, the one who say “97 ROCK!” like it came deep from their gall bladder. My beloved agent refers to them as “Pukers.” I don’t do that type of stuff. I use it mostly to give my voice “presence.”

Another use of compression is to make your voice “float” over background music. By making your voice louder, it will overpower the music, even though they are at the same overall level or the music is complex and distracting. It’s a very subtle thing.

Remember that many times a producer just wants dry voice, and they will tell you so. Just record your voice with no processing. Let them handle that. However, if you do a great deal of business-to-business work, where you are the pro, you can enhance your audio using compression and the other fun stuff. Many clients who say “I’ve never done this before” will just say “that sounds great!” (Or not)

Some people need to read manuals on their software to learn all the bells and whistles a particular program offers. Most of these programs have factory “presets” that describe what that compression setting will do. As with many things in life, it is best to “go out and play!” Record something and change the compression settings. You’ll hear the difference. Learn what those changes are and what made them. You won’t learn that overnight. It takes years of listening and playing. Van Gogh didn’t learn his art overnight. He had talent but it took him years of torment to bring his colorful vision to canvass. He would have had trouble in VO however. He had no ear for it.

Compression is just one technique in the tool bag of recording tools. Play and learn. It’s a fascinating journey!

(((GONG))))

Brand names? What's the difference? Master VO says "What sounds best to you?"

Hi Master VO,

I run my own little company "Big Mouth Media" for voice overs here in Australia, and as many do, run it from home.

I've only just upgraded the hardware - so now I have an sE (Studio Engineering) Mini microphone (known as M1C in the USA), and a Behringer XENYX 1622 FX with much nicer pre amps and the like than the UB802 I used to have.

I bought the Xenyx because it allows me to have subgroups, for which I will utilise when I get a phone patch setup - it's made by JK Audio called the "THAT-2", and runs XLR's in/out from the box to the mixer and back. My plan is to be able to be directed while recording, sending myself to the main mix and the sub, having the listener come back on the sub (which I'll also monitor) so that only I get recorded in the end.

Now my next conquest is speakers, I've got a couple of suggestions - Yamaha HS50M, KRKSYS ROKIT-5, Behringer Truth, and Edirol MA15D (the cheaper of the bunch). Basically I'm looking for something more than the Creative Audio satellite speakers and subwoofer I have now, needing something more 'true to life' and one of these studio monitors I'm sure is better.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Paul Seidel

G,day Paul,
Great to hear from “OZ!”

You’ve made some good mic choices. If you do a search for “Microphones” on E-Bay, you’ll find some great bargains on some classic models. I’ve discovered that my prized Neumann TLM 103 picks up my mustache rumbling. My Audio Technica 3035 did yeoman’s work for a couple of years and for less than $200 it’s a great starter mic. There’s no mystery here. You want a mic that picks up everything. The cleaner the sound in, the more you can do with it in processing.

You’re doing a great deal of routing just to do the phone patch. My philosophy is KISS! Keep it simple! (I’ll leave the last “s” off.) Here is something so simple you’ll slap yourself in the head and say “Of Course!” SKYPE!

When I was introduced to SKYPE over a year ago, it was a growing company. Within a few months of my signing on, several million others did as well. For those of you who have been on Mars, SKYPE is a fantastic VOIP program. It solved the ISDN and phone patch conundrum … For FREE! Really! You call their computer or they call yours. All you do is set up your digital interface as your sound source for SKYPE. Your mic becomes a high-end phone. You listen to the producer on headphones. What amazed me, was that because the digital interface “keys off” off the monitor (To avoid feedback) and the call from the other end is routed around the “input” bus to avoid feedback (Or something like that) you hear them, but what they say is not recorded on your computer! Problem solved!

My clients were thrilled when I introduced them to this! I saved them thousands by me not having to be in Phoenix, Seattle or Tel Aviv, and by utilizing SKYPE'S free computer-to-computer VOIP. Free to another computer anywhere in the world, what they don’t spend on studio communication, they spend on you. Beat that! It’s the end of ISDN. Plus, there are some programs coming down the pike that will rival ISDN quality. That which has made the online voice industry, continues to get better.

Monitors.. good studio monitors are essential. I got two KRK ROKIT 5 studio monitors and laid out almost $300 US for them. ($149 US each) It's worth every penny! Again, you want to have your mic pick up everything in your voice, and the monitor will deliver the exact same thing back. They aren’t loudspeakers for your home stereo. Any professional grade studio monitors will suffice. Although, I have noticed that the old pair of Radio Shack Optimus bookshelf speakers that I bought at a garage sale sound pretty good when played through my old analog Techniques dorm room amp. I’ve got those hooked up to my PC. (I use a Mac) Great sound sounds good on anything.

Everybody is different. Brand name monitors have loyal followings, but it has to do more with how your ears work. What sounds good to you, is what’s best for you. Having a name brand on your studio monitors means nothing to your clients if they aren’t in your studio. It’s so much better having them on the other end of the phone instead of seeing the mess in your own “Black Hole of Calcutta.” If they say it sounds good to them, who cares?

Thanks Paul, that will cost you two vegemite sandwiches!

Master VO

P.S. If you have any questions, please write to me and I’ll get back to you on the blog with my answers.

If you have questions about the technical side of the voiceover business and need advice on how to set up your home recording studio, seek and ye shall find - ask Master VO!

Greetings Voice over pros,

I spent 15 years in the radio and television business in the 1970’s 80’s and 90’s. I didn’t make much money and I was at too many radio stations to mention (I can’t even recall the call letters of some). My voice is nothing special, but I never had trouble finding work.

I found my niche in commercial production. (The guy at the radio station who makes the local commercials). I was in demand because I could take copy and bring it to life with a combination of music, sound effects and voice intonation. I mastered the art of using a recording studio to make myself, and my clients sound great.

I hated being “on the air,” giving the time and temperature and keeping to the tight formatics of each station. The fun was in the production studio! That’s where creativity had time to incubate and grow into something special, even with the lamest of copy.

In order to actually support a family, I left it all in 1991 to pursue another career in insurance sales. I was good at it. The one-on-one problem solving for people was very rewarding, but marketing, convincing anyone to even talk to me about their life insurance needs, was…. Hell! I hated cold calling with a passion (instead of loving it like the company seminars preached).

After 5 years, and better financial results, I left it to pursue teaching high school social studies and media studies and production. I loved that too, but found the public schools in the United States a disaster area of mediocrity. OK, that’s a little judgmental, but if you’ve been in a public school in the last 10 years, I’m sure you know what I mean.

Fortunately, my wife gave me the opportunity to become a stay-at-home dad, to be an important part of my kid’s lives. This was also rewarding, but a very lonely life.

After a few years of too little adult conversation, and my kids now being at school, I looked to contribute to my family with something I had always wanted to do.

I had always dabbled at home with recording and I had always kept an open door to doing freelance voice over work. It was now 2004. Since I had last ventured into a professional recording studio, the world of voice over had witnessed a revolution.

I came across this quite by accident.

I was finishing my Masters degree in 2002 and was offered to do a documentary about a legendary, local jazz musician as my Masters thesis project. It dawned on me that a bunch of talking heads would not convey the story the way just pure audio would. It became a radio documentary with the artist’s rare recordings serving as the musical bed. In order to record interviews I purchased a great studio microphone and a portable digital workstation at my local Guitar Center store. (A great resource, if you haven’t discovered that yet).

The transition to digital recording from the ol’ tape an grease pencil days was a pleasure. Tasks that took a great deal of time could now be done with the click of a mouse.

The hour long radio documentary was played on our local NPR affiliate and I was reconnected with the News Director, an old friend from my radio days some 15 years earlier.

One thing lead to another and I was given the opportunity to do a monthly political commentary at the station. After trudging to the station to record my conservative, almost Rush Limbaugh like commentaries, I offered to do them from home and just e-mail the 5Mb MP3 file to the station.

The News Director was thrilled. It saved him a couple of hours of precious time each month. And then…. Duh,… it dawned on me again. I could record anything and send it anywhere. I did a quick Google search, typing in “Voice Over.”

I’m sure you’ve seen the classic scene from the “Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy opens the door of her black and white tornado tossed house into the Technicolor Munchkin land. It was like that.

While I had been hibernating, the world of voice over had been revolutionized.

Virtual casting sites made it simple to get your voice out there and to do business with anyone and everyone. I was in a perfect position to exploit it with my knowledge of day-to-day production skills and the ability to do it from my custom home studio. I’ve never regretted it.

Since I began, I’ve received many questions from other beginners on how to set up their studios.

While attending a weekend seminar for a nationally known voice over coach, I found people asking more questions of me than our host. It seems the big trainers and coaches are training you guys to work in big studios. The philosophy is that a home studio is merely a facility to audition from. Nonsense!

The big guys doing the big stuff in NYC and LA Don’t want you to compete with them and their home studios. They want you to fight like cats and dogs over a declining industry, while they clean up in the comfort of their own home.

Folks, good quality sound and production IS NO MYSTERY. The skills to compete ARE NO MYSTERY. You can do it at home and make a nice side income or you can make that leap of faith to try to compete with the big boys and girls.

If you seek to succeed in voice over, you must learn some very basic technical stuff.

There’s jargon, there’s Internet protocols. There are more genres of voice over content than you can count, each with its own special needs and skills.

That’s why I’m here.

You will be faced with technical requirements from clients that you won’t understand. By the time you figure it out, the job will have gone to someone else. When that happens, or if you just are curious about something that seems technically mysterious, jump on my blog and ask away.

I’ll try to feature as many good questions as I can. Much of what I do is “been there, done that.” My answers are simple and understandable. From KHz to Kbs, I’ve got the answer or I’ll find it for you.

I am here grasshoppers! Seek and ye shall find!

Dan Lenard, Master VO

If you have any questions, please write to me and I’ll get back to you on the blog with my answers.