Voice Acting For Dummies

by David Ciccarelli

  The Apogee One is a single-channel audio interface with a built-in microphone and an input for an external microphone. It provides the quality of the more expensive Apogee Duet, but it doesn’t provide phantom power, which is often referred to as “48+” or 48 volts. (See the nearby sidebar “Phantom power.”)

  Apogee has worked closely with Apple, and its products are very well made and executed. They integrate seamlessly with GarageBand and Apple Logic Studio, and connect to your computer with a regular USB cable, which means less time spent configuring software and more time recording for clients.

  Phantom power

  Phantom power is a direct current (DC) voltage that is sent through a microphone cable to power the microphone itself or an associated device. Phantom power is necessary on all condenser microphones. The microphone you choose determines whether you need phantom power. For example, the BLUE “Blueberry” and the Neumann TLM 103 microphones do require phantom power, so be sure your audio interface supports phantom power.

  Other interface/hardware suggestions

  Other suggestions include

  M-Audio Interfaces

  Roland’s Edirol AudioCapture

  Lexicon Lambda

  Selecting a microphone

  Whether you’re using a Mac or a PC, you need a microphone to record your voice into your computer. While we can’t give a definitive answer to anyone who asks “What microphone should I get?”, we can provide you with tools to help you decide for yourself. Be sure to also get a microphone stand so that you can properly mount your microphone in your studio.

  Usability

  The best microphone is the one that you can use with the fewest technical problems. If all other things are equal, choose the simplest setup that you can that enables you to record as quickly as possible — hence the saying “plug and play.”

  Frequency response

  Some microphones like the RE20 (the stereotypical radio microphone) are large diaphragm microphones designed to pick up lower frequencies such as a deep male voice, a bass drum, or even a bass guitar.

  The small diaphragm or small capsule microphone is designed to pick up higher frequencies such as the female voice, the brightness of an acoustic guitar, or shimmering cymbals. You may have seen these as the overhead microphones on a drum kit or above an orchestra.

  The most used promo microphone is the Sennheiser 416, a small diaphragm microphone that suits many voice types.

  Polar patterns

  Every microphone you’ll find on the market has a property called directionality (also called polarity). Directionality relates to how sensitive a microphone is to the sound being produced around it. Polar patterns are divided into four main categories:

  Omnidirectional: Picks up sound from every direction

  Cardioid: Picks up sound from directly in front of the microphone

  Hypercardioid: Even more narrowly picks up sound from directly in front of the microphone

  Bidirectional: Uses a figure-eight pattern and picks up sound equally from two opposite directions such as the front and back of the microphone

  Decide which type of directional pattern, also known as a microphone’s polar pattern, best suits your needs. For voice-overs, a more focused directional microphone is likely best. The polar pattern you should be looking for is a cardioid or a hypercardioid. This type of polar pattern minimizes room tone and ambient noise because it’s designed to pick up sounds within close proximity of the front of the microphone.

  Pop filter

  A pop filter is considered a standard accessory for voice artists. The pop filter acts as a screen that helps to reduce the impact of the air from your mouth onto the microphone capsule, which results in the minimization of mouth noises.

  Shock mount

  A shock mount is a mechanical fastener that holds your microphone in place, suspending it by elastics. One of the benefits of a shock mount is that the microphone is isolated from stand vibrations. For instance, if there is a low rumbling under foot, the shock mount can absorb it.

  Testing

  Experiment with a friend’s microphone or borrow a handful of microphones from the music store and test them out. If you’re looking at a high-end microphone, you may consider renting a few mics for a couple hundred dollars overnight to test a few pieces of equipment before investing a couple thousand dollars on the right microphone for your voice.

  Our favorite microphones

  Some time ago we posted an article asking voice actors to comment about their favorite microphones and why they loved them. If you’re looking for some first-hand recommendations from people who love their mics, we encourage you to read this article at http://bit.ly/hotmicrophones.

  Many reviews are available online where people describe their experiences with various microphones. A quick online search can lead to more information quickly on a particular microphone of interest.

  Price

  The best microphone for your voice won’t necessarily be the most expensive one on the market. From one perspective, the best microphone is the one that is affordable and gets the job done, which is why many of these criteria could be considered “nice to haves,” and not “need to haves.”

  Having said that, the microphone, along with the preamp, are the pieces of technology that are between you and your computer, so get the microphone that makes your voice sound best but also fits in your budget.

  Recording and editing software

  In this section, you will discover the different options out there for recording and editing software. Some, like Audacity, are free to use, and others, like Pro Tools, require more of an investment.

  Audacity

  Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/ Linux, and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to record live audio, convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files, cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together, change the speed or pitch of a recording, and more.

  GarageBand

  GarageBand lets you easily perform, record, and create your own music. Whether you’re an experienced or aspiring musician or just want to feel — and sound — like a rock star, the new version of GarageBand can get you there and even record multiple tracks at the same time. GarageBand is for Mac only and comes free with most Mac computers.

  Adobe Audition

  Designed for demanding audio and video professionals, Adobe Audition offers advanced audio mixing, editing, and effects-processing capabilities. Its flexible workflow, combined with exceptional ease of use and precise tools, gives you the power to create rich, nuanced audio of the highest possible quality.

  Pro Tools

  Pro Tools is the professional recording, editing, mixing and mastering software for Mac and PC users and is considered the industry standard. The manufacturer, Avid, offers Pro Tools HD for professional grade studios and also provides the Pro Tools Express version bundled with the Mbox audio interface for the more budget conscious. You’ll have everything you need to create and produce music with professional results regardless of whether you choose Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools Express. Whether you’re looking for an all-in-one audio/MIDI solution with an integrated control surface or simply a highly portable Pro Tools system, there’s a powerful solution designed to satisfy your creative needs.

  You may be afraid of Pro Tools, perhaps in part to its complexity and price, but it’s good to know that it provides both a hardware and software solution. Many of you won’t have a need for the multitracking capabilities that Pro Tools provides; however, if you do get into any kind of production work, this is the industry standard.

  Grabbing the Last-Minute Accessories

  Most voice actors use additional tools to help them make cleaner recordings. Others employ the use of
headphones to help them gain a better appreciation for how they sound. In this section, you discover a number of extras that help complement your studio and enhance your performances from a technical standpoint.

  Downloading iTunes for the Mac and PC

  If your audio recording program only exports a WAV file, you need an audio conversion program. The easiest way to convert files into MP3s is using iTunes. Many people use iTunes as a file converter and may even store session files in there.

  Filtering pops with a pop filter

  If you’re looking for more noise reduction or need something that gives you the portability of a voice booth, you may want to get a pop filter. This piece of equipment sits on the mic stand and acts as a portable booth, weighing all of 11 pounds. The microphone mounts right into the center of it, and you can use it in any room to turn it into a studio environment. We recommend the sE Electronics Reflexion Filter as a pop filter. It acts as if you’re standing in a whisper room or recording studio.

  If you have a lot of external noise (such as road traffic), the sE Electronics Reflexion Filter won’t block it out, but it’s very good otherwise for recording in a quiet room.

  For simpler editing software solutions, try Amadeus for the Mac and Adobe Audition for PC. Both are easier to use and don’t cost as much as the audio recording industry-standard Pro Tools. Audacity (can be used on both Mac and PC) is free to use and perfect for voice actors who want to get started without spending any money on an audio program.

  Listening with headphones

  Not everyone uses headphones when recording, but in some instances you may need to wear headphones. These include

  If the director requires it

  If you need to hear the production as you voice, like in promo

  If you’re voicing to a music track

  Some voice actors see headphones, or cans as they’re sometimes called, as a distraction that takes away from their ability to perform. When you have a set of headphones on, you may experience the tendency to focus more on how your voice sounds processed than on your artistic performance. Not only can headphones be a vocal distraction that keeps you from excelling in your performance, but they also can inhibit your ability to move and use your whole body as a voice actor. Remember that the headphones are plugged into something and therefore make it harder for you to let loose in the booth. Another benefit to not wearing headphones is that you won’t have more than necessary being piped into your ears.

  Backing up your work with an external hard drive

  If you’re weeks into a recording project, the last thing you want is to redo all that hard work because you didn’t back up your work. Right? Right. So invest in an external hard drive to back up your computer!

  You have some good options for backing up your work. You can buy another hard drive for as little as $99 that connects to your computer with a USB cable. External hard drives come with back-up software that makes the process pretty easy. Then, save your important files to the external hard drive. Look for a hard drive that has at least 1 terabyte (TB); One TB is equal to 1000GB of storage (enough space to store at least a dozen large projects).

  When you’re done with the project, you can always burn a DVD for archival purposes to free up space on your hard drive.

  In the unfortunate event of a catastrophe, such as a flood or fire, at your home studio, your external hard drive will be lost with your computer. With that in mind, you may want to consider off-site storage by using a web-based service, such as DropBox or Box.net. These services allow you to store files on their secure servers for a small monthly fee.

  Whatever option you go with, do something. Back up your work. You’ll sleep better at night because you do.

  Chapter 18

  Understanding the Recording Process a Little Better

  In This Chapter

  Examining the ins and outs of recording

  Becoming familiar with studio terminology

  Knowing how to position the microphone and script stand

  Hitting the record button

  The fun part is finally here. You’ve been working for a long time preparing to finally record your demo. You’ve been dreaming of standing behind the microphone and letting all the voices in your head come out. Recording your voice is both an art and a science.

  Recording your demos well takes some preparation and understanding of how the recording process works. In this chapter, we explain the recording process, introduce you to some common terms used by audio recording professionals, walk you through how to position the microphone and music stand, and decipher the actual recording process.

  Eyeing the Recording Process: What Exactly Happens

  Have you ever captured your voice on a recording? Maybe you remember recording your voice on a tape deck as a child or hearing a playback of what you sounded like while singing Karaoke. Even though you may have played around with recording your voice, you probably don’t know what actually happens during the recording process and how it actually is recorded.

  This section shows you how the voice enters the microphone and gets recorded, how you can create a recording session, and how you can keep recording sessions simple.

  Indentifying the signal flow

  In order to fully understand what happens in a recording studio when you’re recording your voice-over work, you need a basic foundation of what recording engineers call signal flow. Signal flow, also referred to as signal chain, is basically the path by which sound travels from source to destination. In creating a voice-over demo, the source is your voice, and the destination is an MP3 file. (An MP3 file is a digital audio file format recorded on your computer. Check out Chapter 21 for more information.)

  The following list breaks down, step by step, what happens with typical voice-over signal flow:

  1.You speak to create a vocal sound from your mouth.

  2.The microphone detects the vocal sound.

  3.The microphone passes the signal along the microphone cable.

  The microphone cable is plugged into a mixing board or digital interface, which is plugged into a computer. (A digital interface basically is a hardware box that plugs into your computer and routes sound in and out of your computer. Sound going into the digital interface is an input and sound going out from your digital interface is an output.)

  4.The computer records the signal using recording software.

  During playback, you can listen to exactly what was recorded. The signal is routed to the audio interface and out to your headphones or speakers where your ears actually hear your voice-over recording. If you don’t have an audio interface, the signal will be routed directly to your computer speakers. The computer software records what the microphone hears and then saves that information in your session. In order to share your recording with someone else or upload it to your own website, you need to export your recording as an MP3 file, which Chapter 21 explains how to do.

  Opening a new recording session

  A recording session is the term that both describes the event (you’ve marked this time off on your calendar) as well as the project folder containing all the recordings, the client’s script, and the link to launch the recording software. Regardless of which computer software you’ll be using for the recording, you need to start a new session when you start to record your voice-over.

  You create a new session file, which is like a folder that contains all the other files that relate to your recording, such as music, sound effects, vocal tracks, settings, and more. In other words, you want to keep all the related material with this voice-over job together, in one place. For now, remember that when you want to start recording a new job, you need to start a new recording session.

  For best results, make sure you use the same microphone and microphone positioning when you record for each session tha
t’s part of a larger project. Doing so creates a consistent sound for your voice-over work when recording for that specific client. Furthermore, you end up saving a lot of time during setup because you’re familiar with your equipment and your computer software and the settings for that specific project.

  To help you store all your settings and preferences for a specific job, we suggest you keep a session template. This template keeps everything — background music, vocal tracks, and all other settings — in one easy-to-access place. To create a session template, you set up a new session and configure (configuring a session means that you set your preferences as to the numbers and names of tracks that you have by default, any effects or plug-ins applied to those tracks, as well as any other settings that you want to have established by default so that you don’t have to re-create these properties from scratch each time you start a new session) it for a normal recording session.

  Your template should include the following:

  Vocal track

  Alternate vocal track

  Music track

  Sound effects track (optional)

  Other processing or special effects, such as an equalizer

  After you get the perfect session, which is to say you have the settings and preferences established just the way you want them, save it as “Template Session – Dry Voice-Over.” You can save it as a particular kind of recording session template. You may have one template for certain kinds of reads (perhaps a different one for podcasting, one for audiobook narrating, one for commercials, and so on, depending on the production elements involved.) The differences between these kinds of templates include the number of tracks, the types of tracks (is this a music, sound effect, or voice-over?), any plug-ins you’ve added, and specific presets made to those plug-ins.

  You also want to include on your template the saved settings for your plug-ins, such as the equalizer, compression, and others. These saved settings are called presets. By default, many plug-ins already have a number of presets ready for you to pick and choose from. Presets, in addition to elements from the preceding list, contribute to a perfect setup for your session template.