Any voice actors out there?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MuseVox
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MuseVox

New member
Greetings from Chicago and huzzah - it's my first post!

I am in the little-better-than-newborn-kitten-just-opening-their-eyes stage of my career in voice acting, and have absolutely no idea whether I'm on foot or horseback when it comes to equipment for home recording.

For instance, I just signed on with an agent in Atlanta on Saturday. I sent my demo's mp3 at 3:30 and at 3:40 he replied, said he liked what he heard, and sent me the copy for two auditions that he needed by Monday afternoon. I don't even have a mic. SO I had to scramble around and found someone with a home studio who was able to record the auditions, but I don't want to wear out my welcome there.

I'm needing to create decent mp3s for audition purposes. Not absolute perfection, but not podunk either. I have immersed myself doing online research for the last 72 hours, and while I'm thankful I came across this site, I need some help...

Anyone, Bueller? Beuller? ( can't remember the spelling)

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies...

~Sarah
 
Hey...

Welcome....

you'll need a decent microphone.... (hence forth known as "mic")
and a decent soundcard.......

Depending on how many tracks you want to do for a final mixdown (hence forth known as "mix" )..you will need a recording software....

there are free ones and shareware ones lik N-Traks....
do a search for recording software.........

there are quite a few forums here to help you on your way man.....

good luck
Joe
 
I do quite a bit of VO work on occassion...

Get yourself an "industry standard" mic such as the ElectroVoice RE-20 or RE-27 or the Shure SM-7. Used is fine.

People are "used to" hearing that sound. They're not the cheapest, (but they're not Podunk, either!).

After that, an inexpensive mixer or mic preamp, OR a "channel strip" type unit with a compressor and EQ built in, a decent "pro-sumer" soundcard (Echo's MIA comes to mind - Cheap, great).

Brands & technique - I could go on for hours, so I'll stop here.

John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com
 
Hey Sarah, welcome to the BBS. I'm hearing that your career is going to be in voice acting. It just might not be a good idea for you to be investing money in equipment that you don't know how to use. I'm not saying that you couldn't learn but in addition to buying equipment it takes alot of time and learning to get decent recordings, it's a whole other career.

It just may be in your best interest to stop at a professional studio and let them do the technical stuff for you. You'd probably end up investing less and have better recordings in less time.
 
Thank you to you three that posted advice.

Ok, so let's say any of you are looking to set up something simple at home to record voice ONLY (no music or multi tracking needed) for auditions ONLY to be sent via mp3 file. (If you got the gig, it would be recorded with an engineer at an actual studio, usually with an ISDN line getting direction from the client rep.) No need for much post production.

Which mic would you go for - an AT3035 or a Shure KSM 27? Let's say the prices were the same for both, and the sound card you'd be using came with phantom power.

NYMorningstar, your suggestion is what I've been doing up to this point. However, as I'm sure you can attest, people cannot work for free, so I need to pay them for their time. However, as this is for auditions to get the gig, but not the actual gig itself, I need to pay the studio out of my own pocket. SO, the 4 auditions I had this week having come in on 3 different days, would be anywhere from $45 (at $15 an hour, and that's really cheap!) on up. This amount adds up quickly, and for even the best v/o actors, you can do 100 auditions for every one actual job. See what I mean?

You input is really appreciated!

~Sarah
 
I've never heard of having to create a different demo for every audition. You should be able to go to a studio and record a variety of VO's. Then just use those.

If you get a good mic then you also need a preamp and your looking at a few hundred bucks alltogether.
 
Sarah
#1
make sure who you are dealing with is legit
you can search their names on http://allmusic.com/ if they claim to be part industry at all.

#2
GET A MIC GF!
they aren't that expensive.. not or what you need'em for anyways... cheapo's... anything~
if these people are legit they will hear quality through the BS :nod:

#3
got a friend with a mic??
wear that welcome out next ;)

#4 a computer mic is not as bad as you think.
control your surroundings as best as you can
turn off the phone
check your recording settings and make sure they are set up accorindingly

#5
Do you hve any form or recording software???
for example I use cubase but there are tons of free programs available and if you use some enhancing effects on your vocal wav you can clean up some of the poor quality to some extent.

#6
Find a muscian friend that can assist you ASAP ;)
for learning all this if you don't gather it is not timely and you prolly ned to act now..
ya gotta have a friend who's gonna be a rock star somewhere's in those parts no?

GOOD LUCK TO YA THOUGH!
jen
 
or....

Why not just use an inexpensive mic, and download a free WAV editor like Goldwave or Cool Edit 96? Unless you plan on doing multi-track, it's got everything you probably need for free. I believe it converts to MP3, if not , there are plenty of MP3 converters out there for free. These are very simple to use and work on just about any system.Good luck!
 
thank you again.

TexRoadkill - I have a commercial DEMO that's about one minute long with a variety of spots on it. Yes, that IS sent out to agents to obtain representation as well as to casting directors and what not. Many times indeed you can get work directly from someone just listening to that, but still more often people want to hear their actual spot with your voice. Hence the need for audition mp3s (since I'm in Chicago and I have an agent in Atlanta).

Wanna hear my demo? It was recorded at Chicago Recording Company here in you-know-where. http://sarahwilson.voice123.com

Jennae -
#1 without a doubt
#2 I hear you, that's why I posted
#3 yes and no...I really DON'T have a close-ish person that I can count on that has equipment here in the city. I'm not the type of individual that likes to wear out my welcome. At least knowingly.
#4 yep, I have a computer mic, and you're right - it isn't as bad as I think
#5 a friend gave me a copy of an older program known as SAW (Sound Audio Workshop) and another friend is giving me his copy of Sound Forge. Thank Heaven for small miracles.
#6 You know, for a person who worked in the music industry for 12 years before this, I've lost touch with many. Many other people I'm frieds with live out of this area.

I guess I'll just need to be the Little Red Hen and press on myself. Ugh, that sounded wierd.

MonkeyShock - the term "inexpensive", I'm finding, is relative. To me that means $20, however when talking to people and reading reviews, $200 is deemed as such. So far all the software has been free. PTL.

Thank you again, all.

~Sarah
 
Awesome!
Once you get your sound forge
hit up the forums they have here an that department and ask for assistance if you have any issues working the program and explain what you are trying to do.

Do you have a way to burn CD's?

Once you use your program and convert your voice into mp3 you are going to want to create your second demo??

Did they give you something of specifics to say for this second project that they wanted to hear? You said you HAD a demo already.. was that a musical demo? Or are they now asking just a demo spoken of specifics??

Just curious...

anywho
this place seems to ROCK! So I am sure you can find the help and assistance you need here :nod:

Never heard of SAW btw
but also
your computer recorder... which you SHOULD HAVE
START
PROGRAMS
ACCESSORIES
ENTERTAINMENT
SOUND RECORDER???

that is digital and timeless ;)

try that out if need be...

anywho hope you sort ;)

J~
 
Re: thank you again.

MuseVox said:
still more often people want to hear their actual spot with your voice. Hence the need for audition mp3s (since I'm in Chicago and I have an agent in Atlanta).
Click to expand...

They want custom audition tapes at your own expense? What a load of crap. Do the gigs pay enough to warrant that?

Your demo is done well but the high end is very harsh. It's probably the low bitrate on the streaming mp3.

The keys to a good VO are a tight sounding room, smooth mic and a good dose of compression. Get some foam to put up right around the mic and it will kill most of the room sound and give you a nice dry track. An Audio Buddy preamp and a SM57 mic with a pop filter would do the trick. An FMR RNC compressor would be the icing on the cake.
 
Usually it isn't very long...less than a minute. I had one last week that was all of 3 words Most often it's sent via MP3, but sometimes you burn it onto CD and send it overnite. As clients and agencies become for internet savvy, it's more then former. Sometimes they can be very lucrative, though I'm still in the grasshopper stage of my career.

Thank you for your kind words about my demo. I would concur about the high end.bitrate issue. Mindy Verson was the producer of it, and CRC is a pretty well known studio here in Chicago (Smashing Pumpkins and what not). She fit me in while producer over 100 spots for Budweiser.

I think I've decided on a Shure KSM27 mic. Yep, at 1:43 a.m., that's my final answer for the evening.
 
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