I am but a humble Voice Over Artist who needs some help

[suzysuz]

Hello Musicians,
I come to you hoping someone knows how to help me.
I am a voice over artist who records at home in my bedroom, not soundproof.
I have an m box mini, Protools LE, a mac and an Audio Technica 4040 mic that pics up EVERYTHING...
It is too good for what I need, pics up my dog's breathing and sounds from my courtyard.
Instead of trying to sell it and get a less good mic, a colleague told me I can run input to an auxtrack, add inserts (?), feed the auxtrack back to the audio and hide it, and then record. I am not too well versed in mixing and using inserts, but am trying to learn and even bought protools for dummies.
I did see him do this in a VO class, where there was hammering going on in the background and he got rid of it.

I asked this friend if he could describe to me in detail how to properly do this and he hasn't gotten back to me.

DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW HOW TO DO THAT?
I've asked some vo people and they didn't know.
I'm hoping you musicians will know.
Thank you in advance!
Suzy

 

[TimOBrien]

condenser mics are VERY sensitive.
you really need an acoustically treated room to keep from picking up outside noise.
thats why major studios spend big buck to build soundproof rooms.

For voice-overs a better solution is a dynamic mic
Shure sm-7b, electrovoice re-20 and sennhieser md-421 have been standard radio station and vocal mics (especially for rap/hip-hop spoken vocals) for nearly 50 years for a reason.
they are less sensitive and reject extraneous noise better.

An SE Relextion filter or Realtraps Vocal Booth on your mic stand may also help as it provides a portable sound treatment