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VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!
Established November 10, 2004
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Jowillie
Lucky 700
Joined: 20 Aug 2006
Posts: 714
Location: North Carolina
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louzucaro
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 13 Jul 2006
Posts: 1915
Location: Chicago area
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 Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:54 am Post subject: |
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| Jowillie wrote: | Number 1.
What is your budget?
What will you invest for an how much anticipated return? |
Well, I did ok with v.o. last year...certainly not enough to live off of, but enough to be able to spend some on some equipment now.
My initial concern was just to be able to do auditions from my office rather than driving downtown to my agent's office. I'm about 30 miles outside Chicago, so every time I go down...whether for 5 auditions or a single, one-liner, it's basically 2 - 2.5 hours out of my work-day, plus gas, sometimes parking $ and of course miles on the car.
I figured I didn't need to do anything like an actual booth, that probably a sound trap, some well-placed sonic foam, etc. would do the trick. Couple that with a nicely-powered laptop, a decent mic, a firewire interface and some headphones and I'd be pretty much good to go. I know people personally who audition from home and send in MP3s with even less, so I'm sure it'd work if set up right and done using non-crappy components haha.
But I've been kinda sick over the weekend and reading a LOT on vo-bb and I'm starting to wonder if maybe I shouldn't take it to the next level.
Plus if I have a decent hw/sw setup to do said auditions, I can hopefully be submitting better auditions in the first place, since I'll have control over which mic is being used, the take that's submitted, etc.
So I'm still putting together "possible budgets" but I don't have a number firmly in mind right now.
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com
"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"
Last edited by louzucaro on Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:40 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Jowillie
Lucky 700
Joined: 20 Aug 2006
Posts: 714
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:02 am Post subject: |
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For simple auditions, one of the new USB mics (like the new Rode Podcaster) into your laptop with appropiate editing software will probably do fine.
If that creates a demand for a more "finished" product, you will find great resources and advice here on the next step of investment.
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Wild Willie Edwards
www.hometowntvtoday.com
http://vomictest.blogspot.com |
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davediamondprovo
Contributor IV
Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 103
Location: California
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:47 am Post subject: |
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This is priceless below..
| Yoda117 wrote: | | as for the distortion, what spectrum analyzer are you using? I've always found tube mics to have some soft distortion in the mid-range. It's what makes mics like the U-47 so popular (gives them the "sizzle" and "body"). It's also one of the reasons that certain portions of the industry made the move away from tube mics (particularly the animation industry). |
So, let me get this straight. In your first response to my post you wrote..
| Yoda117 wrote: | | Bad: All that body or color is actually distortion, because the circuit created with the vacuum tube is not nearly as nice as a solid state one. In a lot of cases, you'll find that a director will want a clean read and add the additional body at a later date. You can't do this with a tube mic since the distortion is already in there. |
In your most recent response you wrote..
| Yoda117 wrote: | | Neither the violet or red waves are the "clean" signals that you would get out of an IC component (such as an LDC), They are distorted in relation to the clean signal, but offer a pleasing sound none the less. |
So, is it "Bad: All that body or color is actually distortion" or a "pleasing sound none the less?" Can something be bad AND good?
Oh, and I'm not watching your movies anymore. I've lost that Jedi respect for you I used to have.
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David
Last edited by davediamondprovo on Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:54 am; edited 1 time in total |
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davediamondprovo
Contributor IV
Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 103
Location: California
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:48 am Post subject: |
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| billelder wrote: | | I have heard great things about Rode mics. I love choices and there are lots of them. The more "hands on" help we can get, the better. Thanks for sharing your experience. |
You're welcome, Bill.
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David |
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davediamondprovo
Contributor IV
Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 103
Location: California
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:50 am Post subject: |
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| VoiceTom wrote: | I use a Rode NTK and I LOVE it.
Thanks for your thoughts on the K2 Dave. |
Hi Tom.. I too am pleased with my new mic. I was serious about leaving it in as well. It's such new territory for me and it's nice to hear something that stands up against a big name without spitting.
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David |
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Gp
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:00 am Post subject: |
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Lets end this now before it gets way too far out of hand. Yes tubes distort it's their nature. As do solid state circuits. That "distortion" is another way of saying a change in harmonics. Want more info? Check here http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/faq/tubeprimer.html
Please let's stay away from any kind of belittling I think we are more professional and smarter than that. The world is watching. |
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Deirdre
Czarina Emeritus
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 13024
Location: Camp Cooper
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:13 am Post subject: |
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This is what I mean about being beaten like a piņata.
Keep it civilized in here or I'll kick your ass, people.
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DBCooperVO.com
IMDB |
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bobsouer
Frequent Flyer
Joined: 15 Jul 2006
Posts: 9883
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:51 am Post subject: |
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| louzucaro wrote: | | Not to sound anywhere remotely arrogant enough to believe that I'd be able to land a bunch of jobs from places like voice123, but certainly my chances of landing jobs after auditioning for 500 jobs would be better than for auditioning for 250 jobs. |
Lou,
Here's another way of looking at this question. The quantity of your auditions will have far less effect on the number of jobs you book than will the quality of your auditions. By this, I'm not only including the audio quality, but more importantly the quality of your performances.
From your comments above, I take it that you've booked some voiceover work in the last year. This means you're already past the 5% Banksey Barricade. Now is the time to be sure you're ready to take your game to the next level. Be sure that as you prepare your budget, you're allotting funds to study as well as to buy equipment.
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Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express |
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Yoda117
M&M
Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Posts: 2362
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:38 am Post subject: |
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| Gp wrote: | http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/faq/tubeprimer.html
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Good link GP, thanks!
And to answer Dave's question, yes you can have something which is good and bad. While the distortion that a tube circuit imparts can be pleasing to the ear, your client may want a clean (or cleaner) take.
I'd consder that a potential "gotcha". It's happened to me before (and I think a few others on here too).
How do you easily remove coloration from a track when it came from the chain itself? It's easier to add some color than it is to remove it. That is the potential downside of a tube. I have a CMV-563 (very colored tube mic), which sounds great... but I wouldn't use it as my primary for that very reason. It's too colored.
Does this mean that one shouldn't use a tube mic for VO? I'm not saying that at all. I wouldn't be prepped to drop 4K+ on one if I felt that way. Obviously some tubes are more colored than others, and just like any other tool, you use the one in your possession that works best. That said, I recognize the fact that tube mics impart a type of distortion to my recorded source (i.e., voice) which may cause complications and work accordingly.
Another good example of what I'm trying to explain would be the "bump" that the U87AI has in the midrange that wasn't as pronounced in earlier versions of the U87. No, the U87 is not a tube mic (not without modification anyway), but the concept I've been trying to explain is the same. While the bump in the upper portion of the spectrum often makes the U87AI nice for VO, it does not for other sources. I recognize this as a tendency of mics with this specific capsule and circuitry and adjust accordingly with EQ when needed.
So long as you recognize the habits of your gear, you'll understand what the potential pitfalls are... from there you're cooking with gas.
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor
Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones |
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louzucaro
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 13 Jul 2006
Posts: 1915
Location: Chicago area
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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| bobsouer wrote: | | louzucaro wrote: | | Not to sound anywhere remotely arrogant enough to believe that I'd be able to land a bunch of jobs from places like voice123, but certainly my chances of landing jobs after auditioning for 500 jobs would be better than for auditioning for 250 jobs. |
Lou,
From your comments above, I take it that you've booked some voiceover work in the last year. |
Yes sir that is correct...
| Quote: | | This means you're already past the 5% Banksey Barricade. |
Oh dear...another thing to look up... 
| Quote: | | Now is the time to be sure you're ready to take your game to the next level. Be sure that as you prepare your budget, you're allotting funds to study as well as to buy equipment. |
Yes, although I still need to do more research on that end of things. I have taken some training with a guy who came very highly recommended from a couple of sources. I found my sessions with him to be really helpful, so hopefully I'll get to work with him again next time he's in town.
I also bought some stuff from Pat Fraley's site and am hoping that next time he's in the Chicago area, that I can learn from him as well.
I just found out about V.O.I.C.E. last Friday and the timing just wasn't workable for me. So next year I guess 
But that's partly why I want to have a way to record and start learning about at least some basic production techniques...so that I can record, listen, try something different, etc. And as I mentioned also, to reduce (hopefully, a lot) the number of times I have to go downtown for auditions through my agents.
I definitely want to make new demos at some point because I kinda cringe at many parts of my current one, even though it served it's purpose.
And I shouldn't have used the numbers 250 and 500, but I was just making a point 
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com
"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!" |
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bobsouer
Frequent Flyer
Joined: 15 Jul 2006
Posts: 9883
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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| Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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Lou,
I may be burned in effigy for suggesting this, but if all you're trying to do is practice recording, editing and auditioning, you don't need anything more sophisticated than a little headset microphone like someone might use to talk via Skype.
This won't help you with eventually picking up on audio quality issues the way a professional recording set-up will; but if you just want to learn how to edit get a cheap headset and microphone and plug it into the relevant ports (mike in and headphone out) on your computer. Download the version of Audacity that works with your OS (Windows, Mac, Linux) and practice till your sick of it. Total cost, the price of your headset/mike (assuming you don't have one already) because Audacity is free.
But, I can't stress enough that getting some professional training with a reputable coach is vital before you start spending money on recording gear. What's more, that coach (if he or she staying current) will be able to guide you in your selections of gear.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express |
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billelder
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:37 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I may be burned in effigy for suggesting this... |
Bob, if that was true, I would have been dead a year ago. |
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CWToo
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 5:50 am Post subject: |
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| louzucaro wrote: | | That said, I'm not a complete idiot (I maintain status as merely an 85% idiot) |
On average we only use 20% of our brain and well over 85% of our idiocy, so you are doing better than most of us.
And kids: it ain't the equipment, it's the performance. Mr. Banks would be getting a lot of work if he was using a Radio Shack Uniball. His U87 isn't the magic, HE is. |
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Philip Banks
Je Ne Sais Quoi
Joined: 20 Jun 2005
Posts: 11082
Location: Portgordon, Scotland
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:43 am Post subject: |
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| CWToo wrote: | | louzucaro wrote: | | That said, I'm not a complete idiot (I maintain status as merely an 85% idiot) |
On average we only use 20% of our brain and well over 85% of our idiocy, so you are doing better than most of us.
And kids: it ain't the equipment, it's the performance. Mr. Banks would be getting a lot of work if he was using a Radio Shack Uniball. His U87 isn't the magic, HE is. |
I appreciate the "Big up da Brit boy" Chris.
It's interesting that on this site if one starts a thread on how kick-butt is your mic it'll run into multiple pages and some will get a little hot under the collar. Whereas, if one starts a thread on the important component - The nut in front of the pop shield and what it does there is usually a deafening silence.
Within reason a mic is a mic is a mic. As a Voice Over, what you are selling is you and you can't upgrade you just have to be good enough in the first place. |
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