Serious help please... Voiceover/Talk Show Setup

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Bampei

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Help! I am new to home recording, but have a critical need to setup a home studio ASAP.

I currently have a weekly golf talk show broadcast over AFRTS in Japan and Korea. Currently the show is broadcast live in the studio, and other segments and voiceovers have been recorded using their studio equipment. I also record a number of serial segments for weekly air play.

My problem is that I am suddenly in heavy demand for voiceovers and narrations in the Japanese, Korean, and English commercial markets here. I "could" use existing studios, but the military station forbids its use for commercial purposes, and the commute time and booth time in Japanese studios is a major pain.

Therefore, I have elected to setup a full home recording studio for the following purposes:
a) General voiceover work and narrations
b) Create current aired spots and segments in the comfort of my own home, and in my underwear.
c) Pre-record my weekly talk show when necessary due to travel or other planned absences. (with my show partner)
d) Other needs as they come up

My requirements are as follows:
1. Record, Mix, and save as .wav
2. Multiple mic's for group interviews and partnered shows
3. Premium Microphone (and pre-amp if necessary) for primary voiceover work
4. Audio card capable of Pro-level recording and playback (Audiophile 2496 ????)
5. Mixer (Settled on Mackie 1604-VLZ Pro already... the only thing I've chosen so far)
6. External FX system for effects, both voice and other
7. System to rip beds from CD's (PC already capable?)
8. Possibly a compressor (Though I have no clue what its for!)
9. Ability to patch in telephone audio for interviews.
10 Ability to record off cassette with direct patch from Marantz PMD430 Pro Portable recorder.
11. Option of using MIDI sampling system or keyboard
12. PC software compatible with XP (Primary use is for editing voice tracks and laying music beds, so it can be relatively unsophisticated)
13. ANYTHING ELSE I HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF.....

I already have a current high-end P4 PC, and additional computers on a small network.

I am a complete novice. While I am capable of using the broadcast studio equipment marginally, I have no idea what I'm doing on my own. Simply said... I don't know squat. (Although the many posts I've been reading "have" helped some).

While I am open to a budget, and do NOT need to scimp, I don't want to overspend either. I don't want to compromise quality or capability for cost... so I'm pretty open to ideas.

DO NOT WANTS -
No DigiDesign equipment or software due to incompatibilities with XP and various PC configs.
No Behringer equipment of any sort.

You guys are the experts... PLEASE HELP ME BUILD MY SYSTEM.
The most important feature I can imagine right now is the quality of the primary microphone for voiceover work. It MUST be capable of accentuating a deep, and rather loud voice, while still having great performance when I'm using other voice timbers, and character voices. The other mic's will be used for group talk sessions, virtually no musical vocals that I can think of.

I don't mind a learning curve, but don't want to spend the rest of my life trying to learn how to use the system or software.

Please... Please... Please help! And don't forget... "A mind is a terrible thing to taste"!
 
We've had a few discussions on this the last couple of weeks. Search on 'vo' or 'voice over' and you should get some good threads. If not let us know.
 
TexRoadkill said:
We've had a few discussions on this the last couple of weeks. Search on 'vo' or 'voice over' and you should get some good threads. If not let us know.
Click to expand...

With all due respect.... I stated in my original post that I have already read tons of posts, and done more than a thorough search on the BBS, (12 hours of reading) and what I've found is 90% people looking for advice with extremely low budgets (nothing wrong with that -- it just isn't what I'm after), or seeking information which is of no use to me, i.e. " How do I break into the voiceover world", or "I have a great voice, now what"?

As I stated in my original post, I am a working voiceover artist and broadcast host. I posted the message with extreme detail seeking "detailed" advice based on very narrow criteria.

While it's nice to get any kind of response... simply telling me to do a search for other threads is a little lame, and wholly unhelpful.

But thanks for reading anyway.
 
Sorry dude, wasn't trying to be a dick. There's a few threads going about it right now and VO gear isn't really that particular.

I'd get a Sennheiser 421 or an EV RE20. Those are pretty standard VO mics. If you want something more exotic the large diaghragm Neumans are popular.

An FMR RNC would be a clean and capable compressor.

Wavelab is a great 2 track record/edit program. If you want more tracks then Cubase SX or Nuendo is good. Vegas if you want video capabilities.

Telephone is a little more tricky. You can use the heaphone jack to give you a seperate send/receive and try to make that work with your mixer. Or you can buy special boxes for converting phone to line level. I don't know any brands for that but they are available at dealers that cater to broadcasting and are pretty expensive.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. They helped.

Now after more research, I've settled on the following components so far:

1. Mackie 1604VLZ-PRO - Mixing board
2. FRM RNC Compressor (Thank you, I'd have never have found this on my own)
3. Three Sennheiser 421II Mics; 1 with shockmount
4. JK Audio INNKEEPER phone patch system (Yay, I found this on my own!)
5. Zephyr ISDN Codec tranceiver

Now... I'm still up in the air over the following issues. Please help

a) I still am unsure of the appropriate / functional audio card for my purposes. I'm leaning towards an Audiophile 2496, but I'm very open to other ideas or validation of the Audiophile

b) I need an external high quality FX / signal processor with a large number of effects for voice use. Any ideas?

c) I am seriously considering a large condenser mic as my primary. The suggestion has been a Neumann, but which one (readily available) would be the best for warming my voice and keeping noise at virtually nil?

d) What pre-amp would be worthwhile with the large condensor mic?

e) Should I be considering mic pre-amps with the 421's as well? Or can I reliably rely on the Mackie's pre-amps? (What about for just the primary backup to a large condesor... could I use the same pre-amp for both a condensor and a dynamic?)

f) Still up in the air over software. Leaning towards Wavelab, but also have access to Sound Forge, Sonar, and others. Which will give me the least headaches, while performing at a level for commercial broadcast mixing (voiceovers and recorded radio broacasts with only music beds behind voice)

Thanks in advance for all the advice and help!
 
You may want to consider getting a few different mics rather than the three sennheisers. At least that way you would have some different flavors for different voices. The Mackie preamps will probably be sufficient. You might as well use that first and then wait and see if you need something better. You might want to get something like the Studio Projects preamp with the Toob control so you could really saturate your voice for a thick and syrupy movie trailer voice. I wouldn't use it on everything but it might be cool to have.

The Neuman TLM103 is one of their cheaper mics that might work well. Places like Mercenary Audio will let you try them out and return them if it isn't what you need. Call them up and they will give you some good advice. They are blowing out their Neumans right now (if they even have any left).

The TC Electronics M300 is a cool effects unit and is very clean. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles but it has some convincing room sounds and good chorus/flange/delay. If you are going to be mixing in software than you might want to just use some software effects plugins instead. It is usually preferred to add effects during mixdown and keep the recorded signal dry.

I don't use software much anymore because I have found they are all a complete pain in the ass. They can all handle most editing chores pretty easily but when it comes to recording/mixing and midi functions it is just a matter of choice (and patience). If you want to track more than 2 seperate sources at a time you should probably step up to the Delta 44 or 66. With the 66 you have a SPDIF i/o that could be used with the TC M300 for an all digital effects loop. If you got a Soundcraft M4 mixer you would have a digital i/o on that to use also.
 
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