VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

Glenn Moore · Been Here Awhile Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Posts: 241

Mobile rigs are pretty easy to throw together now, and it's fairly easy to build a pillow fort in a hotel or wherever you're staying. But have you ever recorded in your vehicle? I've only known of a couple of VO folks to try it. Did you sit in the front seat or back seat? Record with your laptop/tablet/I-pod or use your phone? Did you use a power inverter? Looking at options to do this and maybe have an EQ stack built for recording actual jobs rather than just auditions. The biggest obstacle I see besides acoustics would be traffic noise. Anyone have any thoughts??

Philip Banks · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 12:54 am Post subject:

For auditions a "that'll do" will suffice. For jobs? No. I would always suggest hiring a local studio. Not enough money in the budget? The client is not paying you properly in the first place.

Lee Gordon · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 2:05 am Post subject:

A couple of years ago, I was on vacation and wasn't able to build a pillow fort in my hotel room that could adequately block out the sounds of the beach, the partying at the hotel next door, or the construction across the street. So I hopped down to the subterranean garage and recorded an audition in my rental car. I brought my laptop, a MicPort Pro, and clipped my mic onto the visor with a Stage Ninja. I operated off the computer's battery. No other power source was necessary.

I booked the job and was able to record in my own studio when I got home. Had I needed to do the gig during my vacation, I would have done what Philip suggests and booked a proper studio.
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Bish · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 7:12 am Post subject:

Car manufacturers have spent more time and effort getting their interiors sounding good than all of the so-called booth manufacturers put together, They want to create an environment that is as isolated as practical from the outside world, and suffering from as few internal reflections as possible (basically, so the driver and passengers can have a normal conversation or you can listen to Mantovani on the stereo and it all sounds good. This is no small achievement considering the amount of glass they have to contend with!

A hotel parking lot with a 416 strapped to the steering wheel pointed at the talent in the back seat (diagonally opposite) will give remarkable results. Use nothing with a fan in it and you're probably at "the best you can be" outside of a studio. Personally, I hate pillow forts... the only thing I hate more than pillow forts are the thousands of pictures from VOs who insist on showing everyone their pillow-fort when they go to a conference! We all know you can do something with a suitcase stand, an ironing board, pillows, and duvets... but most of them aren't worthy of a photograph or mass exposure on Facebook Smile

(Or was it just to tell everyone you're at a conference and are so important that you must work while you're away? - I'm with Philip... hire a studio!)
Wink

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todd ellis · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 8:35 am Post subject:

laptop + micport pro & mic of your choice. i have dome it several times in a pinch for auditions and a couple actual jobs*.

*jobs were telephony & were going to be scrunched** way down anyway - so, there's that.

**technical term you probably won't understand.
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Bruce · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 10:25 am Post subject:

I’m thinking that cloth fabrics inside the car would be far superior to vinyl or leather for sound absorption.

B
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todd ellis · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 5:10 pm Post subject:

leather interior ... who do you think we are????
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Frank F · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 11:31 pm Post subject:

As Ricardo Montalbán would say as he described the thickly-cushioned luxury of seats "available even in fine alternately, "soft" or "rich" Corinthian leather.

Made in Newark , New Jersey.

It's the only way to fly (or record).

F2
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Bruce · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 5:17 am Post subject:

Fran McClellan · Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2020 9:54 am Post subject:

I have recorded jobs while out of town in my car (last minute, urgent, no time to book a local studio/no studio around, etc). The biggest issue would be traffic noise, as already mentioned, but if you park in a quiet, low traffic area you should be fine. I sit in the backseat with my laptop (SSD drive, no loud fan noise) hooked via MicPort Pro to a 416 clamped into the front seat headrest.

My client also knew that I was not in my regular studio and approved based on samples sent beforehand, so there's that Wink

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