VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[ConnieTerwilliger]

I have a regular client who sends me about 200 or so files a month to record (contracted to that 200 or so number). Delivery is as finished telephony files in an obscure format that required the purchase of Vox Studio (for which I am eternally grateful!).

Well, last month I opened the first of two emails (which was unusual) and there were 403 files to do - so I thought, great, a good month. Then I opened the second email and found 2422 more files!

Apparently the plan just took on the Optical departments at three mojor retailers across the country, plus several more independent optical chains.

After letting the client know that it would be impossible to do 3000 files in a month and renegotiating the rate and the time for delivery, I started in on the project - a little bit at a time in and around other projects.

Each file has to be recorded, saved with an obscure file name, exact "handles" added to the beginning and end of each file, normalized to 100% and finally converted to NMS Vox files (which Audition doesn't do - and the free DOS based converter won't handle 10 character file names.)

The blessing of Vox Studio is that with a little bit of formatting of the script to a plain text file, it feeds a prompter which puts each prompt up on the screen and lets you start and stop recording by pressing the space bar. Each time you stop recording, the file is automatically saved with the right file name and the prompter advances to the next prompt. You can go back and listen to what you did, or rerecord. Then, when I'm all done with a "script", I add the handles, normalize and convert all the files to NMS Vox in one batch convert.

Now, this software is specifically for telephony - so the sound quality is optimized on the initial record. I find that I am using it for all of my voice mail/IVR clients - even the ones that only send me a few files per week.

Anyway, with this huge job that I am in the middle of, I broke the scripts up into several text files of about 250 files each. Here's where the games begin.

The files are sorted alphabetically by state, then by the name of the optical company (so all the Major Retailer A Departments in each state come first in the list), then by phone number. I'm up to the middle of Indiana right now.

But I sit there and read the name, address and phone number of each of these companies - in some sort of weird space - where half my brain is watching the phone number area codes and prefixes advancing numerically tring to figure out when the retailer is going to change and then when the State is going to change.

If anyone else does a lot of telephony work (thank god it isn't all I do, or I really would be a complete basket case), you should check out Vox Studio. About $400 from Belgium. PC only I think. But the time it saves (with the prompting feature) and the overall higher quality of the final files is worth the dollars.

It also has a slicing feature that cuts up a long file into separate files, naming the files whatever you want (using a script).

Anyway, I am just amazed at what our brains will do to keep us sane.

Gotta go - going dancing tonight at Mulvaney's in Santee. Hey - GregAllen - you live out that direction - come on out!
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Playing for a living...
www.voiceover-talent.com
YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/connieterwilliger

[mcm]

Wow. You the telephony bomba.

I don't do much of that. And after reading your post the very thought of it terrifies me. But now I know whom to recommend...

Dancing, now - that I can do Wish I could join ya.

[mcm]

Speaking of dancing....

Evolution of Dance

[Deirdre]

This guy's got some serious moves.
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DBCooperVO.com

[Diane Maggipinto]