Narration Only: I sound too snarly (maybe evil) - not good for sonnets

B

Bubba Spear

New member
Similar to what dontxpanic posted a short while ago, but with a twist. It's in regard to spoken word and narration only:

I too have a bass voice - posted a link here short while ago - and I find the addition of a microphone makes me sound snarly (possibly evil). Not so good for sonnets. I've tried moving further away from the mic, but I have to move quite far away to make any real difference and it's then too weak. It's as though the mic is picking up the sound from all over my upper body, not just my mouth. I'm familiar with stage but a newbie to close up mic stuff. Any of you studio engineers had this problem with people more used to treading the boards than whispering into a metal grill?

The actual answer might be that this is how I sound when recorded, and there's nothing I can do about it.

Thanks in advance. I've learnt so much just by reading through this website. Don't know if I'll ever be able to reciprocate though. Wish I could.

Bubba Speare
 
Do you have a sample? Sometimes the way you hear your own voice is very different from the way other people hear it.
 
Yep, I did post a link about a week ago. However, I now think it's simply all down to me and that the mic is good. Hadn't explained myself too well in the initial post here, but there's a low gravel like rumble that isn't noticed in front of people, but is by any close mic. It's a voice rumble, nothing to do with equipment. As a newbie, I'll have to work on that.

Curious to know whether studio engineers have to tell certain people (spoken word) not to project. I can see amusing conversations coming out of that.

Bubba Speare
 
Some people speak in a manner that makes life easy for the person recording. Others don't. On a good voice, the engineers job is easy. They earn their money making average voices better for the job. Don't forget many famous, award holding actors just cannot do voiceovers. Others have a 'voiceover' voice. Sir Laurence Olivier was a good example. In the movies you recognise his voice instantly, but he narrated loads of TV programmes and sounds nothing like himself with his VO voice on. More conversational, balanced between words and excellent diction, without being Shakespearian.

Unless we can hear, we cannot help.
 
Okay Rob, here's a link. Just remember, I am not a VO person. Just have a few simple pieces to do.

First time learning sessions: recorded at home, sitting on a chair in the drawing room, with EV RE20 mic + Cloudlifter CL-1 + Focusrite Solo audio interface. It is just a newbie sample/test, to see if I can get anything recorded onto my laptop. Another possibility is that I might be twiddling the wrong knobs, or not twiddling them enough. To twiddle or not to twiddle, that is the question.

Subject matter: simple words I wrote while considering ideas for a friend. Obviously not buyer friendly.

https://youtu.be/XLA4CScHEzg

Bubba Speare
 
I do think your voice lends itself to voice over work in certain genres. It's deep and clear and seems to have a bit of "character". I wouldn't be so critical of it if I were you. As for the sample recording........other than it being a bit bass heavy...........which can be helped with some EQ and or some high pass filtering.......and maybe learning how to carefully control or make changes to the distance you are from the mic (proximity effect).....you just need to keep working at it. I'm not entirely sure why you need the Cloudlifter??? Have you tried recording without it?
 
Hi Mickster, I bought the Cloudlifter at the same time as the RE20. My main consideration was for a simple home usage setup, and a microphone that would be the most tolerant of any unwanted room/external noise. It then appeared that every RE20 review suggested the Cloudlifter as a must have companion; something to do with the RE20 needing lots of gain. More than my cheap Focusrite Solo could pump out.

Edit: Thanks for the concise advice. The EQ twiddling is the last and most scary of all the stuff I've had to learn. To be honest though, I sometimes make an adjustment and can't hear any difference at all. I'm guessing that you develop 'ears' after enough of this audio meddling. I'll give the EQ another go. Thanks again.

Hope all my narration talk is suited to this forum. It is home recording, just not music. I need to get some WW1 stuff down (Zeppelins), plus a bunch of sonnets.

I'm slowly making my way through hundreds of posts here. Nice.

Bubba Speare
 
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Bubba.......sometimes accessories like the Cloudlifter can color sound. I can't say if that one does. So it's worth trying to record without it. I can't imagine your Focusrite Solo is not enough to drive that mic. If the Cloudlifter is adding any elements to the sound.........you'll be able to see that. As for trying EQ.......make big adjustments at first so you can get used to what each effect has on your tracks. Then.......be sure to back off to a point where the effects is not "taking over" your track. Mostly less is better................not always......but mostly. That's a common problem when people first begin to apply EQ and other effects. As previously mentioned........do your best to get the track recorded the way you want it to begin with. If you stay with it.......you'll get better every day.
 
Oh yeah I remember your voiceover bubba, it sounds good to me. Seems perfect for a shakespeare reading if that's kind of what you're going for. Sounds like a little eq may help, high pass at like 100, maybe try a dip around 200-400 and a little boost up high, maybe around 5k? Just a guess with those numbers but I feel like there's a bit of boxiness down below and maybe a little up top would help clarity. I don't hear anything scary, just authoritative, seems great for voiceover.
 
I think in the example you showed us, you are being over critical, your voice is fine.

It just needs some EQ to improve the clarity, I'd take out some of the low mids and boost 2.5k, you could also try moving away from the mic, this will help massively, it sounds to me like you might be too close to the diaphram, the good news is that your voice is great.

About the cloudlifter 'colouring' the sound though, I disagree with that one, it's simply an ultra clean boost that lowers the noise and improves signal to noise ratio, whilst improving the sound, in other words, keep using it.
 
Mickster: Much appreciated. I'll give that a go.

Easlern: Great advice. I've finally started using the EQ.

Btyre2013: Thanks for the kind words and advice. However, overly self-critical is my middle name :-)

This is uncharted territory for me. I never appreciated just how tricky the microphone stuff is to do. No stage, audience, distance or music to hide behind. And then there's that flashing 'record' light. Scary!

Praying that I don't get sucked into worshipping equipment.

Bubba Speare
 
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