Master VO

Welcome to a whole new world Jacob!

This is pretty simple. In fact, I always say keep it simple.

The phrase to learn here is “Audio Chain" or "Signal Chain”. In other words, how you get the sound of your voice into your computer.

It can be quite complex and expensive if you want to impress your friends and drain your life savings, or you can use some very consumer level products and still have enough money left for the boxes of mac and cheese you’ll require to live on until you find enough work to support yourself.

But seriously, take things step by step and understand why each thing is needed and why some things are not.

Today, digital recording takes a big chunk out of the effort to get great sound.

First off, of course, your microphone. Yeah, while a Labtech off the shelf computer mic might sound better than your old cassette recorder mic, it won’t hack it in this ever increasingly competitive market. The good news is a good mic that is more than adequate is under $100 US. You need a studio condenser mic. I would suggest, because you are a beginner, to keep it very simple by putting several links to your audio chain into one. This way you won’t have to buy a mic preamp, a mixer and a digital interface. Use one of the new, USB condenser studio mics on the market. You simply plug it into your computer, set up the software and record using your recording software. Samson’s CO1U is a fabulous bargain at under $80 and Blue’s, USB “Snowball” comes pre-packaged in some stores with everything you need including software.

Second; your software. Here you have more choices than mints at your supermarket checkout. You don’t have to spend anything if you don’t want to. Use the most popular multi-track recording software, Audacity. Just download it and read the instructions.

Believe it or not, that’s all you need, equipment wise, to get started! Having a thousand dollar mic, a pre-amp, a mixer board and a digital interface is for folks who have had a few years experience in recording and processing sound. You need to concentrate on learning to be a voice artist. While doing that, this set up will allow you to record, produce broadcast quality audio and give you the flexibility to play and see how different settings like equalization, compression and noise gates affect your sound.

I know of some very high-end pros who use this set up. I use it when I’m on the road and honestly, most average users of voice over talent can’t tell the difference! We’ve come that far! In fact, this is the reason our little home-based voice over industry is growing so rapidly. Anyone can record great quality audio.

Your challenge, if you decide to accept it, is to learn the techniques and develop the talents you have, to make your voice unique and natural sounding.

Voice over is about commitment, talent, and doing what you just did; asking questions to those who know.

Good luck Jacob, and report back!
Master VO out… (((GONG)))