VO guy needs help

  • Thread starter Thread starter meVOguy2
  • Start date Start date
M

meVOguy2

New member
Hi and thanks for viewing my topic. I have a home studio from which I do voiceovers for mostly nightclubs, concerts and imaging for radio stations and I'm looking to upgrade my mic chain. My current setup is clean but lacks the rich, thick and especially loud sound that I'm looking for. My mic is the Marshall V69 Mogami Tube, which goes directly into a Symetrix 528e. I'm a digi 001 user and I have various plugins on the mic channels, including Antares tube, mic modeling, digi 4 band eq, and wave gold's C1 compressor gate. On the aux channel from which all vocal tracks are directed I have digi expander, wave's L1 limiter and the aphex 204 aural exciter with big bottom.
Now my question. I'm hoping that I'm just a great mic pre/voice channel away from greatness! I've read reviews on several pieces including the Avalon 737, Focusrite ISA, M audio's Voxbox and many others. I need a clear, warm, phat sound with great harmonics. I'm sure you all hear the type of work I do on your local hit music stations especially urbans. I just need help getting that sound I'm in search of from someone with great ears. Can you help?

Here are a two demos to give you an idea of the sound I seek.




Hopefully I can accomplish this without breaking my bank.

thanks in advance
 
An EV-RE20 and a good preamp (RNP, Grace 101, etc.).

If it needs much more than that, it's the voice.
 
Can you post a sample of something you have done? I agree that an re-20 or an SM7 would be a better fit, but I am curious to hear what you're working with vocally.

Pete
 
If you like condensers, i find that (in my limited mic pallette) the Oktava 319 (mine is lightly modded as per Michael Joly www.oktavamod.com ) has a similair dark, resonant quality as the RE27 (virtually the same as the RE20 with some extra switches), but needs less gain and has a bit more the "voice of god" sound.

Daav
 
Hey VO guy ...

This voiceover stuff isn't particularly challenging from a technical standpoint. A lot of the top Ad VO guys here in Chicago, for example, do some pretty kickass sounding stuff on lesser gear than you're currently working with.

I hate to bring reality in to the picture here, but I'm afraid this stuff has everything to do with the natural characteristics of your voice. The VO guys that I personally know -- and I know a few that do regular work on video games and even some movie trailers ... their voice just sounds like that naturally. I can talk to one of them on the phone, or even just walking in to the room, and they sound just like that guy on the trailer you posted.

If your voice has what it takes, then your V69 and Symetrix channel should more than deliver the goods. There isn't a magic mic out there that is going to make your voice sound bigger, louder, clearer, and with more harmonics. I'm afraid it just doesn't really exist.

Sorry.

.
 
Most movie trailers are recorded through a Sennheiser 416
shotgun mic. Many times through a Mackie VLZ pre-amp, and talents home ISDN studio.

The 416, worked close, will bring out tons of timbre and other characteristics from your voice - if it's there to begin with.

Sennheiser MKH 416, $1100.00, if you want to do serious
work.

DW
(Disney Voice)
 
Give James Lehmann a call or email. He is very good at his craft. I know him from Gearslutz, and he is an expert and will steer you right. Ive done quite a few voice overs but most ive done were with the Neumann BCM mic through a Kuhnle Preamp..
 
We use Gefell MT71's and either a pre on a Yami 02r or the pre's in a control 24. Same mic though. It is the talent, the room, and the engineer. We track to PT HD and use the Focusrite D2 comp. That's it. We use pretty much that chain all the time. Listen to the Hitman game trailer it was cut with the first chain I mentioned above. Narruto, Zatch Bell, Celeberty Deathmatch, Ultimate Avengers, all cut with that chain. Just trying to show you it the voice that is most important.


Just read the DW post above. The 416 is mostly an ADR mic and that is usually just so you can cut in the ADR to production sound. I still use the MT71 or U87 on almost all ADR. By the way we do a bunch of Disney work. Curious to what voices you do DW?
 
Last edited:
Samples

Are you voicing and producing, too? What's the room like where you mix and master? Does it have any acoustic treatment? What kind of monitors are you using? You've got a lot in that chain. I have to wonder if maybe something in the mixing, mastering, and tweaking process may be throwing you off. Some samples of your work would be helpful. Never used the V69 so I can't comment on that, but an RE20 and the Symetrix should pretty much give you what you need for high energy radio stuff.
 
And get rid of all those effects. Some EQ, Compression and maybe a touch of delay and/or flanger should be all you need.
 
I pay a lot of attention to dialog work when I review gear. That's something we actually record around here.

You might poke around www.mojopie.com and pay attention to the mic reviews. Matching the mic to the voice means a lot. I've found some mics that knock me over on VO, such as the Blue Baby Bottle and the sE R1 Ribbon. The sE R1 Ribbon needs the right input impedance to give you that Orson Welles authority vibe.

Preamps matter a lot with ribbons and dynamics in my opinion and not as much with condensers.

I doubt I'd change the mic you've got. I doubt I'd change the channel you've got. I'd probably learn how to work the EQ and to talk into the limiter on the unit. I recommend trying to work the limiter as in more than a few cases of these "cool" sounding voices they're hitting a limiter to add a little extra snarl.

You might look at adding a Kurzweil Rumour. See www.mojopie.com/rumour.html

Your Digi 001 converters are obsolete. You should be able to use the Rumour by SPDIF but I'm not going to pull the manuals for both and figure it all out for you. The Rumour will give you a giant upgrade to your converters as well as some of the best reverbs out there.

If the Symetrix unit doesn't truly give you limiting, then you might think about getting an Aphex Dominator. See http://mojopie.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=846

The guy I work with that does so much VO doesn't post here. You might try posting this question over at the Mojo Pie forums. I'm guessing he might tell you that it's all the talent (as he's purely an engineer on VO projects). Still, he might be willing to share some secrets. He uses a Digi 002 rig so he might possess some better insight than I do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top