Master VO

Dear Master VO,

Reese Westfall (aspiring to be a great voice-over artist!)

Welcome Grasshopper Reese,

As the Chinese proverb goes, “Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

What you lack in basic knowledge, you are making up for in determination. Good start!

When I taught high school social studies, a student once came up to my desk during a study hall and asked; “How do I find information on the Internet for a report I’m doing about “medieval religious icons?”

I paused for a second and asked: Have you tried typing in “medieval religious icons” into a search engine? He had a dumbfounded look on his face (as my students usually did).

So I took him over to one of the many PC’s our school district had generously placed in my classroom, and typed the magic words into Google. This was in 1999 or so. A bunch of hits came up with the very information he had sought. His dumbfounded look turned to one of glee.

The moral of the story?

Search engines are the card catalogs of the 21st century. Ask exactly for what you want. My 10 second search for “Audio Editing Tutorials” came up with two excellent sites that graphically take you through the process.

http://www.blazeaudio.com/howto/edit-introduction.html
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/tutorials.html

Audio editing is as much a skill as it is an art. Modern software makes it a breeze. Once you learn the basic skills, such as using waveforms and timelines, you can play to your hearts content. Your only limit is your imagination.

As to your second question; that’s a little more tricky. Sound effects require “multi-tracking.” That is, using multiple waveforms in separate “tracks” laid over each other. Audacity is a very basic, multi-track, audio recording and editing software. Even better, it’s free! In a nutshell, you insert your sound effect file in a new track on the track timeline where it is supposed to synchronize with your voice. You do the same with your music track. You can then adjust the volume of each track to get the level “mix” you wish. If you’ve ever worked with any video editing software, it’s the exact same thing. Cut and paste, split and adding effects.

Recording and editing does require some “hands-on” experience. I recommend you find a local recording studio that offers multi-track recording classes. That will be more than worth your time and money and may lead you into something else that you didn’t think about.

As for downloading SFX. (Sound effects) Downloading SFX for commercial use is a murky area. For demo’s, it’s no problem. But if you are doing commercial work, I recommend you buy a CD of sound effects online or at an electronics store. Or, try recording your own SFX! Its called “Foley.” It’s what they do in Hollywood. (A real fun exhibit at Universal Studios in LA and in Orlando by the way!) I once needed a sound effect of Niagara Falls for a commercial. I went down the street from the radio station I was working at, to a modest waterfall on a local creek. I recorded the sound on a tape recorder, took it back to the studio, multi-tracked that sound over itself about 5 times, pumped up the volume and I had my roaring cataract!

It’s great to aspire to something you love to do. Pursue your passion with a lust for knowledge. The way you’ll learn is by doing. Try the demos of all the major multi-track programs like ACID, Audacity, Pro-Tools and even my favorite, Mac’s Garage Band! Find out what feels best to you and your style or is easiest to learn.

Go forth and manipulate audio!

((((GONG))))

Master VO