VO Recording classes?

[mrjk79]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knows of an excellent class available in the Los Angeles area, that covers in depth techniques on recording voice over? I'm talking engineering and mic placement, as opposed to classes on how to be a voice actor.

Thanks for your help!

[JWalkerPostAudio]

Originally Posted by mrjk79

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knows of an excellent class available in the Los Angeles area, that covers in depth techniques on recording voice over? I'm talking engineering and mic placement, as opposed to classes on how to be a voice actor.

Thanks for your help!

Try contacting Video Symphony in Burbank for a list of their classes. I went there years ago before they moved their audio program to a recording studio nearby and I know they've changed their class catalog quite a bit so I'm not really up to date with what courses are available now, but I'm sure they have a recording techniques class that will cover VO.

-Justin

EDIT:
From their website:

PT280 Voice Over Recording & Production

This 20-hour course provides instruction for voiceover production and recording, and is where students record the voiceovers needed for their various work projects.Instruction includes selecting voiceover talent; VO direction and recording techniques; studio session etiquette, practices and tips; voiceover assembly and advanced edit techniques, including performance and timing; processing, including equalization, compression, limiting, noise gates, de-essers and more; technical solutions for sibilance, popping and room tone issues; and concludes with final levels and preparation for mixdown. Prerequisite: PT 212

[mikevarela]

knowing pro tools is first step.

VO is often dry. Mic placement close, +- 6 inches. Very dead room. Sometimes slight compression going in, though depends on material. Animation almost always using compression, straight commercial and audiobook reads almost never.

For commercial reads (copy that's selling goods) just run a new record per take. For longer more involved sessions like audiobooks, drop markers for mistakes, have talent 'pickup' and continue, not losing vibe. afterwards go back to markers and delete mistakes and shuffle audio together. Also, easier to break chapters into tracks. Keeping it moving here is very important.

Have a nice light and table near the mic, provide room temp water, some with a little lemon juice tossed in for saliva, and always be encouraging. (there actors for god sake)

Post processing of takes varies. If you're simply handing off material, naming is important, mastering isn't. WAV is preferable.

If you're mastering the audio for a website, audition or something like this, top/tail the recording, use an expander with slight ratio and kiss the threshold of the NOISE FLOOR, not the main audio for reduction of noise floor, or just delete breaths and in between passages, leaving cadence alone. if it's an audiobook, expand, not delete air. too much work and it's unnatural.

Run an eq if needed to level out the spectrum, compress using a nice compressor and possibly multiband limit or regular limit if needed.

always normalize and volume automate before compression.

naming is important. also, be aware of specs, often places have specs on audio bit/sample you'll need to hit, and mp3 bit rates too.

the sound you often hear in VO comes almost entirely from talent. you can bass boost, presence boost all you want, but the voice you start with is sooo important.

also, large diaphram condensors are often best, like the TLM 102/103. But, the sennheiser 416 (or rode NTG3) are also used often.

ISDN also is very popular, however, it's expensive. You're better off asking a studio near by to be a fly on the wall during one of those sessions to get an idea of how it works. Bring bagels or coffee and they might take a liking to you. be kind in asking and humble and it'll go a long way.

SAE, LA Recording School and Video Symphony are all approved schools.

here's an article

http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_recording_voiceover/

and this book, while dedicated to actors, provides a lot of detail on the subject

http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Actors-G...over+recording

[peter5992]

Excellent advice Mike - we should make this a sticky.

[capt kirk]

we found that a superior mic pre is really worth it. so many of these things sound so tiny, and then you use something like a Summit.....no comparison.

[mrjk79]

Thank you guys for your advise, very detailed! Video symphony looks great too, I'm going to try and take that class.

I've been doing some long format VO recording in a small padded booth with a glass window, and wood door. Using a KMR 81 with am api lunchbox preamp. Most of the recordings sound very tubby to me. When I try and eq the tubbyness out, then it's very sibilant... Pretty harsh around 7.5khz, so struggling with the de-sser to soften the top end. It seems to be lacking a punch that I've heard in other VO recordings. If I turn on the high pass filter it feels very thin to me. So I'd love to learn how people are getting these nice warm present recordings that cut through heavy music and sfx.

Thanks again!

[Dallas Taylor]

Just to chime in, I had a fantastic experience with Video Symphony years ago and am happy to recommend them for this sort of thing.

[mikevarela]

'tubby' is coming from size of room. try different placement, hanging moving blankets over corners and putting pillows in corners too. it's a boxy feeling that is very common in small booths. only way to help would be to change dimensions of space, i.e. pillows and blankets. you could also build something like the porta-booth for the mic.

http://www.amazon.com/The-NEW-Porta-...orta-booth+pro