In the Recording Booth (Experience #1)
02-14-2020
For several years now, I have been interested in voice acting and voice-over work. I have taken classes dedicated to the subject, I've taught myself basic sound editing skills so I can submit self-taped auditions, and most recently I have been taking an independent study on voice-over and voice acting. As a part of this study, my professor helped me and my fellow student in the study set goals for things to accomplish this semester to help us grow as voice-over artists. Our first goal was fairly straight-forward: create a commercial demo reel. A demo reel consists of about a minute to a minute and a half of audio showcasing an actor in different audio clips. In this case, the demo reel would be geared towards commercials for television or the radio.
We scheduled a time and date to use a recording booth at the KTCU station, and got right to work. There was plenty to do before we set foot in the recording studio, after all. We had to find bits of copy, or text for us to say aloud. Once we did that, we had to play around with different readings and narrow it all down to what we thought showed us off to the best of our vocal abilities. The preparation process itself was a wonderful learning experience. It forced me to evaluate myself by listening to my recordings over and over again, picking apart what I thought I did well and what I thought I could improve upon.
By the time we were set to record in the studio, I felt I was as prepared as I could possibly be. I had never recorded in a booth before, I was ready to see how the recording process worked in a radio studio setting (as opposed to recording in the closet of my apartment). Immediately, I saw their process was different from my own. I use GarageBand and Audacity, they use Adobe Audition. I manage everything from my laptop, they have soundboards. I use a USB microphone and earbuds when recording, they use professional microphones and headphones. Even with all our differences, I didn't have much of a learning curve. Fortunately, my professor managed the board for me mostly, and I was able to learn from watching her. My sole concern was making sure I laid down good takes.
I started off recording like I usually do, giving the material a few read-throughs then going back and listening, but about halfway through, we noticed some interference in the audio clips I was recording. Microphones can be very sensitive, and though the one I was using was of professional quality, it was quite old. We quickly came to the realization after listening to the audio through different speakers, that the microphone itself was malfunctioning, and all of the audio with the interference was salvageable. When my professor got her contact at KTCU to come take a look at the microphone, he concluded that a band had come loose within the microphone and was rattling when I was speaking into it, and the way to fix it, he said, was by yelling into it. Needless to say, I was surprised by his solution. I was even more stunned when it worked and the rattling went away!
I quickly finished recording my lines, and my peer began recording his. While I watched and listened to him recording, I was able to look at recording from a different perspective. The whole time I had been recording, my professor and classmate had been giving me suggestions and redirects on potential approaches to the material I was reading. It was my turn to do the same for him.
I really do love it when an experience is multi-faceted and allows you to look at the same thing from multiple perspectives. In this case, I got to view the recording booth as a performer, technician, and director--three birds with one stone!
For several years now, I have been interested in voice acting and voice-over work. I have taken classes dedicated to the subject, I've taught myself basic sound editing skills so I can submit self-taped auditions, and most recently I have been taking an independent study on voice-over and voice acting. As a part of this study, my professor helped me and my fellow student in the study set goals for things to accomplish this semester to help us grow as voice-over artists. Our first goal was fairly straight-forward: create a commercial demo reel. A demo reel consists of about a minute to a minute and a half of audio showcasing an actor in different audio clips. In this case, the demo reel would be geared towards commercials for television or the radio.
We scheduled a time and date to use a recording booth at the KTCU station, and got right to work. There was plenty to do before we set foot in the recording studio, after all. We had to find bits of copy, or text for us to say aloud. Once we did that, we had to play around with different readings and narrow it all down to what we thought showed us off to the best of our vocal abilities. The preparation process itself was a wonderful learning experience. It forced me to evaluate myself by listening to my recordings over and over again, picking apart what I thought I did well and what I thought I could improve upon.
By the time we were set to record in the studio, I felt I was as prepared as I could possibly be. I had never recorded in a booth before, I was ready to see how the recording process worked in a radio studio setting (as opposed to recording in the closet of my apartment). Immediately, I saw their process was different from my own. I use GarageBand and Audacity, they use Adobe Audition. I manage everything from my laptop, they have soundboards. I use a USB microphone and earbuds when recording, they use professional microphones and headphones. Even with all our differences, I didn't have much of a learning curve. Fortunately, my professor managed the board for me mostly, and I was able to learn from watching her. My sole concern was making sure I laid down good takes.
I started off recording like I usually do, giving the material a few read-throughs then going back and listening, but about halfway through, we noticed some interference in the audio clips I was recording. Microphones can be very sensitive, and though the one I was using was of professional quality, it was quite old. We quickly came to the realization after listening to the audio through different speakers, that the microphone itself was malfunctioning, and all of the audio with the interference was salvageable. When my professor got her contact at KTCU to come take a look at the microphone, he concluded that a band had come loose within the microphone and was rattling when I was speaking into it, and the way to fix it, he said, was by yelling into it. Needless to say, I was surprised by his solution. I was even more stunned when it worked and the rattling went away!
I quickly finished recording my lines, and my peer began recording his. While I watched and listened to him recording, I was able to look at recording from a different perspective. The whole time I had been recording, my professor and classmate had been giving me suggestions and redirects on potential approaches to the material I was reading. It was my turn to do the same for him.
I really do love it when an experience is multi-faceted and allows you to look at the same thing from multiple perspectives. In this case, I got to view the recording booth as a performer, technician, and director--three birds with one stone!
wow, what a great learning experiences. Performer, Technician, and Director, good stuff. Thanks for posting.
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