Recording Voice - What equipment do we need?

[John]

Hi all,
Need some advice on this. We do a lot of voice recording for scripts
of e-training modules developed in flash. We have been outsourcing
the sound recording, and currently are paying a lot of money to have
each of these scripts recorded. I think that due to the amount of
recording we have had to do recently, we would be better off getting
our own equipment.

Question. What do I need? We DO NOT have a sound proof room, but we
do have a very quiet room. I need to know if there is a special type
of mic that I need, do I need a mixer for this? Pretty much what is
the best quality solution to get it from our speaker into my computer
with minimal sound loss and little background noise? (Please suggest
at least a microphone, note that the only current equipment I have is
a number of extremely high end developer computers (dual xeon 2.8). I
am assuming I will need to purchase sound forge also)

Your response is very much appreciated!

John
(if you have a detailed message you want to send to me, you may email
me at . Thanks!)

[Sound Fella]

Hey John,

Go get yourself an RE20 microphone. Then stick it up your ass for taking
work away from studios ASSHOLE! Obviously, you no nothing about audio, or
the complexities of recording. Your product will sound like ****. Oh well
that's what you get. Don't expect any help here. If you had half a clue,
you would realize that the studio who normally does you audio for you, 9
times out of 10 will most likely be very familiar with this newsgroup.

See ya ****wad!

Sound Fella

[Ricky W. Hunt]

"Sound Fella" > wrote in message
...
> Hey John,
>
> Go get yourself an RE20 microphone.

Yes. I've never gotten a "bad" recording with a RE20.

> Then stick it up your ass

The RE20 is WAY too big for this. If you must go this route, try a Behringer
ECM8000.

> for taking
> work away from studios ASSHOLE! Obviously, you no nothing about audio, or
> the complexities of recording. Your product will sound like ****. Oh
well
> that's what you get. Don't expect any help here. If you had half a clue,
> you would realize that the studio who normally does you audio for you, 9
> times out of 10 will most likely be very familiar with this newsgroup.
>

This is ridiculous. People here will help you. Don't leave.

[Kurt Albershardt]

John wrote:
>
> Need some advice on this. We do a lot of voice recording for scripts
> of e-training modules developed in flash. We have been outsourcing
> the sound recording, and currently are paying a lot of money to have
> each of these scripts recorded. I think that due to the amount of
> recording we have had to do recently, we would be better off getting
> our own equipment.

What about talent? Is the studio providing that or does one of your
people read the scripts?





> Question. What do I need? We DO NOT have a sound proof room, but we
> do have a very quiet room. I need to know if there is a special type
> of mic that I need, do I need a mixer for this? Pretty much what is
> the best quality solution to get it from our speaker into my computer
> with minimal sound loss and little background noise?

Assuming you have the talent taken care of (and please, please don't
underestimate this as it's far more impratant than the equipment) here
are some starting suggestions:


A decent microphone which compliments the talent's voice.
EV RE20 is a safe choice, rarely if ever bad but maybe not a magical
as others for a particular voice
http://www.bswusa.com/prod_item.asp?item=RE20


A holder or stand and shockmount for said microphone.
http://www.bswusa.com/prod_item.asp?item=SILENTBOOM


A preamp for the microphone.
http://www.fmraudio.com/rnp/
http://www.mercenary.com/fmrrnmp.html


A professional soundcard.
http://www.lynxstudio.com/lynxl22.html
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/hdsp/hdsp9632.htm
http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/MiaMIDI/


Software such as Sound Forge, Samplitude, or Wavelab

Lots of time to practice learning how to use all this...

[Chris!]

> Need some advice on this. We do a lot of voice recording for scripts
> of e-training modules developed in flash. We have been outsourcing
> the sound recording, and currently are paying a lot of money to have
> each of these scripts recorded.

Are they what you want? Are the narrators good? If the answer is yes, then
you are getting what you paid for.

> I think that due to the amount of
> recording we have had to do recently, we would be better off getting
> our own equipment.

If you are use FedEx a lot, do you think you'd be better off buying your own
jet and a fleet of trucks?


> Question. What do I need? We DO NOT have a sound proof room, but we
> do have a very quiet room. I need to know if there is a special type
> of mic that I need, do I need a mixer for this? Pretty much what is
> the best quality solution to get it from our speaker into my computer
> with minimal sound loss and little background noise? (Please suggest
> at least a microphone, note that the only current equipment I have is
> a number of extremely high end developer computers (dual xeon 2.8). I
> am assuming I will need to purchase sound forge also)

Are you going to record professional announcers or will have the
receptionist read scripts during her lunch? The answer sort of depends on
how much quality you are putting into your product.


--
Chris White, Freelance Advertising Writer & Voice Overs*
Email: Web: www.chriswhite.com
Phone: 757-621-1348
*Your opinion may vary

[Marc Wielage]

And in addition to what the others say, I'd advise that having a good room is
very important if you want professional results in recording voice-overs.
I've had to listen to badly-recorded training films and CD-ROMs before, and
those can be very painful to deal with when there's any irritating background
noise going on, no matter how minor it may seem to be. At the least, you'll
need to move all computers and fans out of the room, and damp out any bad
reflections.

Also, don't overlook the necessity of editing the voiceover track to
eliminate "mouth noise" (lip smacks, clicks, etc.), and also to improve the
read by cutting out flubs, stutters, excessive pauses, loud breaths, and so
on. There's an art to doing this well, and it may not be something you'll
really want to spend time and effort accomplishing. And the cost of the
equipment is actually easier to deal with than the skill with which to use
it.

--MFW

[kooz]

Hi John
Based on what you describe here, you have quite a few options. I
believe the ultimate choice of equipment - aside from budget
considerations, of course - will come down to simplicity and ease of
use, as you didn't mention whether the person operating the
workstation (you?) has any experience or background in audio. I would
think an ElectroVoice RE20 microphone (don't forget the pop filter and
possibly a shock mount) into an audio interface with a decent mic
pre-amp would fit the bill, and then you could choose your flavour of
software to edit the material and burn CDs. Adobe's Audition seems to
be popular, but Sound Forge is an equally valid choice, as are many
others (ProTools, Nuendo, Cubase...). Unless you're doing many voices
at the same time, a mixer isn't really neccesary.
The recording department of any respectable music retailer should be
able to set you up with a minimum of effort (as will your local audio
dealer), as well as being able to provide support if and/or when you
might need it.
Good luck! -kooz


(John) wrote in message >...
> Hi all,
> Need some advice on this. We do a lot of voice recording for scripts
> of e-training modules developed in flash. We have been outsourcing
> the sound recording, and currently are paying a lot of money to have
> each of these scripts recorded. I think that due to the amount of
> recording we have had to do recently, we would be better off getting
> our own equipment.
>
> Question. What do I need? We DO NOT have a sound proof room, but we
> do have a very quiet room. I need to know if there is a special type
> of mic that I need, do I need a mixer for this? Pretty much what is
> the best quality solution to get it from our speaker into my computer
> with minimal sound loss and little background noise? (Please suggest
> at least a microphone, note that the only current equipment I have is
> a number of extremely high end developer computers (dual xeon 2.8). I
> am assuming I will need to purchase sound forge also)
>
> Your response is very much appreciated!
>
> John
> (if you have a detailed message you want to send to me, you may email
> me at . Thanks!)

[John]

For all of those who took my post seriously, thanks a lot for the
advice. For those who came in to post a pitch for "taking away
business from recording studios," please, we have our OWN recording
studio. This is a multibillion dollar company, its an internal
recording organization within our company, so you dont have to worry
about me taking away business from all the small little recording
studios trying to make some money out there. were taking business away
from our own business, so calm down.

As far as the "talent," yes, we provide the people who do the voice
overs. these people are professional speakers, so no worries there.
All I needed was the tools to make the recordings, and we are well on
our way, so no further responses are necessary. Thanks again to those
who gave important advice.

[Raymond]

John wrote
>For those who came in to post a pitch for "taking away
>business from recording studios," please, we have our OWN recording
>studio. This is a multibillion dollar company, its an internal
>recording organization within our company, so you dont have to worry
>about me taking away business from all the small little recording
>studios trying to make some money out there. were taking business >away from
our own business, so calm down.

I don't get it with sutch a large company how is it you can't record a voice?

[Ian]

(Raymond) wrote in message >...
> John wrote
> >For those who came in to post a pitch for "taking away
> >business from recording studios," please, we have our OWN recording
> >studio. This is a multibillion dollar company, its an internal
> >recording organization within our company, so you dont have to worry
> >about me taking away business from all the small little recording
> >studios trying to make some money out there. were taking business >away from
> our own business, so calm down.
>
> I don't get it with sutch a large company how is it you can't record a voice?

Perhaps it's

a. easier to spend capital once than opex multiple times
b. shows a financial saving over a period, so easy to justify
c. gives John a chance to do something more interesting rather than
"outsourcing" internally?

I'd do the same in a heartbeat.

Ian

[Richard Crowley]

"Ian" wrote ...
> Perhaps it's
>
> a. easier to spend capital once than opex multiple times
> b. shows a financial saving over a period, so easy to justify
> c. gives John a chance to do something more interesting rather than
> "outsourcing" internally?

You're 3 for 3 in my experience!

[Steve King]

"Richard Crowley" > wrote in message
...
> "Ian" wrote ...
> > Perhaps it's
> >
> > a. easier to spend capital once than opex multiple times
> > b. shows a financial saving over a period, so easy to justify
> > c. gives John a chance to do something more interesting rather than
> > "outsourcing" internally?
>
> You're 3 for 3 in my experience!
>

I agree. Plus, it is a testament to how audio is perceived by those
creating interactive and internet based training. It is communication,
plain and simple. The files are typically 16 bit, 22 Khz. If there is a
little noise, it is lost in the cacophony of the multiple computer
environment that is typical of the work spaces of these creative groups.
There is no "finding just the right mic for the voice". There is simply
"the mic". Corporate and internet producers seem, to me, not as caught up
in the "if it doesn't cost a fortune it can't be good" syndrome. Also,
computer people are quick to realize that the tools we use are relatively
inexpensive and easy enough to learn to gain a satisfactory final result for
their purposes.

Steve King

[Randall Hyde]

"Sound Fella" > wrote in message ...
> Hey John,
>
> Go get yourself an RE20 microphone. Then stick it up your ass for taking
> work away from studios ASSHOLE! Obviously, you no nothing about audio, or
> the complexities of recording. Your product will sound like ****. Oh well
> that's what you get. Don't expect any help here. If you had half a clue,
> you would realize that the studio who normally does you audio for you, 9
> times out of 10 will most likely be very familiar with this newsgroup.
>
> See ya ****wad!

I can see why they want to do it in-house. Must be a real pain in the
butt dealing with people who have this kind of attitude :-)

Cheers,
Randy Hyde

[Raymond]

>> "Ian" wrote ...
>> > Perhaps it's
>> >
>> > a. easier to spend capital once than opex multiple times
>> > b. shows a financial saving over a period, so easy to justify
>> > c. gives John a chance to do something more interesting rather >>>than
"outsourcing" internally?

OK my bad, I would like to rephrase my question.

I'd think that a multibillion dollar recording outfit would have one person on
its staff that has lots of education and or experience in recording some kind
of voice over or narration.
I ment no harm in asking but I just didn't understand why the poster didn't
know how to do it or what gear to buy.

I'd start out with a great speaker (some one who’s done this before), know
what the subject (lines and setting) is. For instance if I'm recording a plug
for woman’s perfume I may want to use a woman with a sexy voice, if I'm
recording a plug for a mud slinging SUV I may want a gruff sounding lumberjack.
These things may come into play when I'm picking my mics and mic pres, it will
very likely matter when I'm mixing and doing processing.
Again the room may come into play with it to, but I think that a medium (not
all dead but not all live) dead room works good with regular voice recording.
Good dynamic mic (as most of the guys have stated) is fine but maybe I want a
soft sound for that sexy woman’s perfume deal, in comes a cool LDC and a nice
tube mic pre. I like my AT 4048sv for a softer sounding mic, I've not yet used
it with my DBX Mini Pre but it works well with the Aphex 107. The only dynamic
mic I own is a SM57 (maybe soon I can afford a few 421's) so that’s all I've
used on the three spoken work projects I've done.

[Steve King]

"Raymond" > wrote in message
...
> >> "Ian" wrote ...
> >> > Perhaps it's
> >> >
> >> > a. easier to spend capital once than opex multiple times
> >> > b. shows a financial saving over a period, so easy to justify
> >> > c. gives John a chance to do something more interesting rather
>>>than
> "outsourcing" internally?
>
> OK my bad, I would like to rephrase my question.
>
> I'd think that a multibillion dollar recording outfit would have one
person on
> its staff that has lots of education and or experience in recording some
kind
> of voice over or narration.
> I ment no harm in asking but I just didn't understand why the poster
didn't
> know how to do it or what gear to buy.
>
> I'd start out with a great speaker (some one who's done this before), know
> what the subject (lines and setting) is. For instance if I'm recording a
plug
> for woman's perfume I may want to use a woman with a sexy voice, if I'm
> recording a plug for a mud slinging SUV I may want a gruff sounding
lumberjack.
> These things may come into play when I'm picking my mics and mic pres, it
will
> very likely matter when I'm mixing and doing processing.
> Again the room may come into play with it to, but I think that a medium
(not
> all dead but not all live) dead room works good with regular voice
recording.
> Good dynamic mic (as most of the guys have stated) is fine but maybe I
want a
> soft sound for that sexy woman's perfume deal, in comes a cool LDC and a
nice
> tube mic pre. I like my AT 4048sv for a softer sounding mic, I've not yet
used
> it with my DBX Mini Pre but it works well with the Aphex 107. The only
dynamic
> mic I own is a SM57 (maybe soon I can afford a few 421's) so that's all
I've
> used on the three spoken work projects I've done.

I'd sure be interested in the OP's comments on this. I'd bet that the
requirement is for voice recording for internet based training. As I said
in an earlier post, most set-ups for that use a Whisper room tucked in the
corner of the office, where the programming is done. There is one mic,
which fits all. There is no processing required or done. This is far
simpler a task than you seem to be imagining.

Steve King

[Ignacio Simon]

Nobody has talked about compression. I think a sound compressor is
very important if you want to amplify the final result and dont want
it to clip or distort.

Ignacio Simon

[Marc Heusser]

In article >,
(John) wrote:

> Hi all,
> Need some advice on this. We do a lot of voice recording for scripts
> of e-training modules developed in flash. We have been outsourcing
> the sound recording, and currently are paying a lot of money to have
> each of these scripts recorded. I think that due to the amount of
> recording we have had to do recently, we would be better off getting
> our own equipment.

You do need a good speaker - no way around this. You may have one
in-house though - try and listen.

Good mono recording is good enough most likely.

>
> Question. What do I need? We DO NOT have a sound proof room, but we
> do have a very quiet room. I need to know if there is a special type
> of mic that I need, do I need a mixer for this? Pretty much what is
> the best quality solution to get it from our speaker into my computer
> with minimal sound loss and little background noise? (Please suggest
> at least a microphone, note that the only current equipment I have is
> a number of extremely high end developer computers (dual xeon 2.8). I
> am assuming I will need to purchase sound forge also)

I do record sessions of people I want to listen again professionally.
I'm very happy with my Marantz MD-670 recorder (record to compact flash
cards or disks; 16bit direct, mp2 and mp3 recording with settable bit
rate; data can be transferred either with a CF adapter on the computer
or via USB cable, has a small loudspeaker and headphone connector to
check your recording). Advantage: no fan noise, no clicks, no nothing.
Simple to operate. And fast transfer to the computer already mp3 encoded
if you like.

I'm using a Sennheiser K6/ME64 microphone. You will get any number of
different recommendations for that, but it works well for me.

HTH

Marc

--
Marc Heusser - Zurich, Switzerland
Coaching - Consulting - Counselling - Psychotherapy
http://www.heusser.com
remove the obvious CHEERS and MERCIAL... from the reply address
to reply via e-mail

[Kurt Albershardt]

Ignacio Simon wrote:
> Nobody has talked about compression. I think a sound compressor is
> very important if you want to amplify the final result and dont want
> it to clip or distort.

Maybe, but that can always be added later if you get a clean capture.

If you record with a compressor in the signal chain, just try to remove
the compression or change the settings if you don't like your results ;>

[MS]

(John) wrote in message >...
> Hi all,
> Need some advice on this. We do a lot of voice recording for scripts
> of e-training modules developed in flash. We have been outsourcing
> the sound recording, and currently are paying a lot of money to have
> each of these scripts recorded. I think that due to the amount of
> recording we have had to do recently, we would be better off getting
> our own equipment.
>
> Question. What do I need? We DO NOT have a sound proof room, but we
> do have a very quiet room. I need to know if there is a special type
> of mic that I need, do I need a mixer for this? Pretty much what is
> the best quality solution to get it from our speaker into my computer
> with minimal sound loss and little background noise? (Please suggest
> at least a microphone, note that the only current equipment I have is
> a number of extremely high end developer computers (dual xeon 2.8). I
> am assuming I will need to purchase sound forge also)
>
> Your response is very much appreciated!
>
> John
> (if you have a detailed message you want to send to me, you may email
> me at . Thanks!)

Hi John - I'm doing similar things at the multibillion dollar company
I work for. Sorry you had to endure some abuse, a few of the studio
operators just don't get it when it comes to how internal profit
centers work, but then it's simply not part of their environment so
you can't really blame them.

They're right in claiming to be able to do a quality job for you, but
as you've already figured out, by the time it gets encoded for the
net, much if not most of that quality is lost. So IMO, given a decent
talent (which you say you have), editing capability becomes the most
important thing.

If your voice overs are going against screen captures (i.e. you don't
need to synch it up with a face and lips), you might just go get a
free copy of Audigy, which is a wave editor along the lines of Sonic
Foundry Sound Forge, and call it a day. It has good editing
capability for what you're using it for, though it would likely not
satisfy a music studio operator.

If you need to synch it up with true video (i.e. a face with moving
lips), you probably want to look for a true video editing program that
has good sound support. Sonic Foundry Vegas (well actually Sony
Digital Vegas these days) is a decent choice, very powerful and fairly
easy to learn.

Others have made hardware recommendations, and they look pretty solid
to me. The RE20, the FMR brand preamp called the RNP, these are very
good recommendations they've made. You won't find yourself needing to
do it again later going these routes...

[MS]

> If your voice overs are going against screen captures (i.e. you don't
> need to synch it up with a face and lips), you might just go get a
> free copy of Audigy, which is a wave editor along the lines of Sonic
> Foundry Sound Forge, and call it a day.

Uh... Make that "Audacity", not "Audigy"... Sorry about that, I was
on the phone while I was posting...