What eq/effects would you use

[Innovations]

I am reviewing a book that might be recorded for an audiobook. The action will be taking place in several manners. What EQ or other effects would you add to make the speaker seem:

1. That they are talking over a telephone.
2. That they are talking over a radio.
3. That they are talking over a megaphone
4. Shouting from the next room.
5. Talking from behind a closed door

Most of these I have a pretty good guess at but was looking for some extra opinions.

The last one is more tricky. The current trend in audiobooks is to have the narrator voice each character differently in order to help the listener understand who is saying what and to put the listener more into the story. Along with this is a trend to have more than one narrator, but for budget and logistical reasons most audiobooks have just one narrator, who must do his (or her) best job trying to voice the parts of both genders.

So...

What might you do to make a male actor trying to voice a female part sound more feminine without being obviously an effect.

[riley357]

1. Can be done with a Lexicon patch.

2...... do you mean a walkie-talkie or late-night FM dj???

3. Mic them talking through a megaphone!

4. Mic them shouting from the next room!

5. Mic them talking from behind a closed door!

6. Hire a female impersonator to do the entire reading..............

[TexRoadkill]

Actually Riley (C7?) has good suggestions. Why try to digitally recreate what can easily be recorded in the first place?

1. Cut the bass and highs drastically. Add compression and a touch of distortion.

2. Play the part through a boom box with a lot of compression and rerecord it.

3. Do the same as the phone voice with slap back echo and more distortion. A good trick is to record a distorted/feedback noise that you can insert into the part at times.

4. Point the mic away from the actor.

5. Put some type of barrier between the actor and mic. Maybe roll off the highs a little.

[carlosguardia]

1.- Eq cutting everything except 1khz, boost the 1k just a bit and compress to taste.

2.- Eq cutting everyhing above 6khz and below 250 hz, add heavy compression. Here´s a trick, record a clock radio, or a tv set with just static noise and blend that with the vocal track to taste.

3.- I would record through a megaphone with a 57 or 58, but in the lack of a megaphone, I would EQ just like the phone and add distortion. I you have an amp simulator available, try running the signal through the amp sim with some heavy gain.

4.- Add a bunch of reverb, cut out everything above 6khz, point the mic to the corner of the tracking room instead of pointing at the speaker.

5.- Record from behind a closed door. If that´s not evident enough, lower volume, cut highs (everything above 6khz).

Hope this helps,

Carlos

[Innovations]

Let me clarify some of the economies here:

Average book: 400 pages.

Average time to read page: 2.5 minutes.

Length of finished product: 16 hours, 40 minutes.

Now under those sorts of circumstances NOBODY, not the engineer, not the voice talent, nor the producer is going to be interested in setting up an entirely different micing arrangement, setting new levels, etc. just because a half dozen lines are spoken from behind the door.

Moreover the character of narrative fiction would have the action quickly cutting between what the character(s) on the reader's side of the door are saying, what the character(s) on the opposite side of the door are saying, and situation description, all being spoken by the same reader. To break that up into separate takes for each part of a sentence would destroy just about any chance for flow.

So if the recording is going to do anything to help things it is going to be entirely with effects. That is the only thing that could be switched in and out fast enough to be done without adding impractically to the time to record the audiobook.

[Stealthtech]

Actually there are tons of plug-ins that will give exactly those effects. Take CEP for example. A good many plugs are preset for telephone effect, shortwave radio, loudspeaker, and echo or distance. Tailored for your specific needs.
What software are you using ?

[outlawtorn86]

Originally posted by Innovations


Now under those sorts of circumstances NOBODY, not the engineer, not the voice talent, nor the producer is going to be interested in setting up an entirely different micing arrangement, setting new levels, etc. just because a half dozen lines are spoken from behind the door.\

so the put 1 mic regularly, one in another room, one behind the door, etc. and have the engineer just switch between each mic. it doesnt take THAT much time.

[Cyrokk]

Originally posted by Innovations

Moreover the character of narrative fiction would have the action quickly cutting between what the character(s) on the reader's side of the door are saying, what the character(s) on the opposite side of the door are saying, and situation description, all being spoken by the same reader. To break that up into separate takes for each part of a sentence would destroy just about any chance for flow..

It's done all the time on comedy albums. I remember Cheech Marin doing several quick back and forth dialogs on the Cheech and Chong albums, particularly Sleeping Beauty. Different voices are recorded on different tracks, probably against a rough single dialog (much like recording music).

In my college days I recorded a joke radio news program and I did all the voices. I dialed a fake number on one telephone, waited until the line was running but there was silence, and placed it next to the mic while i went into another room to do the "caller from home" voice. I did it all on a consumer cassette tape recorder with no overdubs and apart from the click of pressing the record button their was no break in flow or dialog.. it's just a matter of simple acting.

Cy

[Innovations]

As to what I am using now it would be cakewalk HS, although that might change. I am generally looking for ideas and understanding about how to create or adjust the presets rather than just 'use the preset'.

As for doing this with props or extra mics I still don't think that the magnitude of the undertaking has sunk it. You are talking about a finished recording that might require fourteen edge-to-edge CDs to hold. You generally get an iso booth with a stool, a music stand, and a dynamic mic. To say yeah they did it this way on a three minute track on a comedy album or in a thirty minute radio play misses the point. You are talking about wanting a special setup for about thirty seconds of a sixteen hour recording.

[Freeform]

1. That they are talking over a telephone.
- simple eq. Most plug ins have a telephone setting on them. Maybe a little room ambience reverb as well, or a short delay.
2. That they are talking over a radio.
- use some overdrive or distortion in addition to an eq similar to the telephone, then compress the HELL out of it
3. That they are talking over a megaphone
- use a real megaphone as previously mentioned or do the same as 2 with much more distortion
4. Shouting from the next room.
- just get the person far away from the mic and shout
5. Talking from behind a closed door
- use a cardiod pattern and have the person on the wrong side of the mic, facing away from the mic, then use a lo-pass filter and some short reverb