I really need an objective opinion...

[Scorpio Moon]

Hey guys,

I'm in the midst of recording my voiceover demo.

Right now, I'm in the process of trying to find the perfect tech setup for getting a decent sound.

I'm recording in my bedroom. It's barely soundproofed.

I'm using a Rode NT1 plugged into a Behringer Eurorack MX802A mixing board.

I'm editing in Cool Edit Pro and using Ozone presets.

Can you take a listen to these clips (both are 18 seconds long) and tell me what you think? What do I need to improve upon to get a better sound or is what I'm capturing alright as is?

This is the original version.

This is the edited version.

In the edited version, I did noise reduction and used a Ozone preset.

I have the mic set at forehead level. I'm using a pop screen and standing about six inches away. I like the warmth I'm getting, but the mic still picks up every, little pop. Any advice on how to deal with that?

P.S: Don't pay attention to my vocal delivery. Right now, I'm more concerned with the engineering stuff than doing the voiceover perfectly.

Thanks. I really appreciate any help you can give me.

 

[Massive Master]

Yeah... You sound a little tight in the upper chest there... Gotta put those shoulders up a bit.

I know, I know, don't pay attention... Sorry... Force of habit.

Anyway, I'm hearing some nasty sibilance before anything else. For the most part, the clarity is fine. On the popping (AND the sibilance), technique is a far better fix than anything else. Obviously, a sidechained compressor will fix some of it (or a de-essing plugin). Plosives "can" be handled in a similar fashion, but as long as the mic isn't directly in from of the air path, there shouldn't be a problem with it.

One thing I'd try is putting the mic at just below mouth level and moving it around a bit. If you got more "chest" sound in there, the sibilance won't stand out as much. And as long as you aim the plosives away from the screen a bit, that shouldn't be an issue either.

If it's a bit too warm after that, it's easy to thin it out a little. Not so easy the other way around.

YMMV

 

[0-T]

I'm still finding better ways to record everyday... can't give you advice there, but I'm a semi-expert on cool edit wave editing.

First thing, you don't wanna go overboard with the noise reduction. It's one of my favorite tools, but you can distort your vocals if you're not careful. I can hear a bit in your second mix.

First, highlight as much silence of the same track as possible, and use that for your noise profile. Click "get profile from selection" and click close, not cancel (close saves your profile). You may have done this.

CE's default is reduce by 40, but that can get you in trouble. Try 10-20, and do the rest in your EQing.

Next, compress your vocals... you can use anything from a 4:1 ratio to around 5:1... whichever sounds best for your voice. Then go to the graphic equalizer, and experiment. Normally you wanna drop all of the really low ends, like <31 and toy with the 4->16 range, but don't go overboard.

 

[bennychico11]

Listen to Massive, he knows his stuff. And I agree with it all too.
Another pop-filter technique you can try is taping a pencil over the microphone screen. Then, aiming the mic directly at your mouth, the pencil will dispurse the air through the sides of the mic while helping to cut down on the pressure on the capsule membrane. I'd recommend this as a last resort though.
As far as voiceover editing goes, do the normal compression and EQ stuff...but also be VERY picky when editing. Any saliva sounds you hear when taking a breath or lifting you lips...cut it out. It can be rather annoying at high volumes. And do several takes of a group of words in one pass. I'd suggest just pressing record and reading a sentence or two, then redoing them again until you feel like you've got some good takes. Then when you're done with the whole thing you just have to go back and edit it. Splice the good parts together, throw in a half second of room ambience between splices, and fade them together. And you got an awesome voice over! Good luck.

P.S. I love the vocal technique....i think you should keep it! I found it rather sultry and it made me want to go play tennis. lol

 

[Scorpio Moon]

Thank you, all of you, so much!

Massive: I took ALL of your advice and I think the recording sounds much better because of it.

Granted, once I feel confident I have the recording/editing technique down I will completely focus on practicing my vocal techniques. As you said, the popping and the sibilance will ease up once I, essentially, breathe differently.

I brought the mic down and didn't stand directly in front of the mic. I liked the results I got from this positioning.

I also used the de-esser plug-in. I think it helped tremendously.

0-T: Thanks for pointing out the noise reduction issue. I did get a little over-zealous with it. I will take your advice and make sure to keep it toned down.

bennychico11: Oh my gosh! Don't ask me why, but I never thought to dig in and do some microscopic editing with these recordings! But you are so right!

And when I read your suggestion to do one or two lines at a time I felt relieved because, at this point, trying to do 5-6 lines take after take is making me insane.

Can you explain "fade them together"? I always wondered how one does that.

Do you mean using the "fade in" and fade out" presets in Amplify? Or do you mean bringing the track into multitrack mode and positioning nodes?

LOL re: my voice. Thanks.

Thanks again, everyone. This helps me so much.

If you want to, take a listen to the recording I made after implementing most of suggestions offered:

Here's the revised sample.

 

[bennychico11]

I think the new version sounds a 100 times better already. Definitely a lot less pops. As far as the crossfade thing:
I'm not sure if you did this last version doing the multiple take thing I suggested and then splicing them together, but first make sure when you do your splicing that you cut on the zero crossing line. This way the splices flow smoothly together right off the bat. After that, you want to make the entire piece sound natural with room ambience. So when you splice a new part next to another, throw in a half a second of a recorded ambience noise so that it sounds like you just stopped talking to take a breath and not stopped talking, pressed stop, started talking again. When this is all done throughout the entire selection, you want to crossfade each separate region together so that it flows even more smoothly and that you can't hear any weird transitions. I'm not sure what software programs you are using for multitracking but there should be someway you can fade one section out at the same time you are fading another one in. And if you can make them equal gain. In other words, don't fade them out with a straight diagonal line. Make it more of a slow curve so it sounds natural. Some programs, like Pro Tools, has a function where you can just select everything and do a batch fade so you don't have to draw them in manually. So i think you were on the right track when you said do it with nodes in multitrack mode.
Again, I hope this helps you. I'm no expert, this is just tips and trick I've picked up. Take it easy

 

[bennychico11]

Also, when you are reading a sentence over and over again to get different versions of it....try with different tones/inflextions in your voice on different words. This gives you even more choices for the end result. Of course, it also means more work...but it won't hurt ya