VAM 114 | The Computer Skills and Audio Knowledge You Need to Be a Voice Actor, Part 1
Welcome to episode 114 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
In the next few episodes I want to discuss the technical skills you need in order to succeed as a voice actor. It wasn’t so long ago that voice actors did not need to concern themselves with the technical aspects of recording and manipulating audio. Up until the late 20th Century, most professional recording equipment was far too expensive for individuals to own. The majority of voice actors didn’t have their own home studios, nor were they expected to have the expertise to run sophisticated recording equipment, so most of that was handled by studio engineers. In the 21st Century, that’s all changed. With the advent of the internet, digital audio, and more inexpensive home recording equipment, every voice actor is now expected to be able to record themselves at home on a professional level and to be able to manipulate and distribute audio files online to casting directors and clients.
This means that if you want to be professionally competitive as a voice actor, you need to master some technical skills in two important areas: Computers and Audio Recording. I’m going to spend this episode outlining what you must know about Computers in order to thrive in the world of voice over. In the next episode, I’m going to discuss the ins and outs of Audio Recording and what mistakes to avoid when trying to record professional level audio.
I realize that some of you may be nervous about learning technical skills. You may find computers and professional recording equipment confusing or intimidating. Fortunately, it has never been easier to learn how to use this technology to help advance your career. In addition to this podcast, there are classes online, instructional videos on YouTube and entire online communities of people working to learn the same skills you are striving to master. So don’t despair! Instead, I encourage you to imagine the satisfaction you will get from mastering these technical skills and the confidence you’ll gain from knowing you can handle all the technical aspects necessary to further your voice acting career. Such knowledge is cumulative: once you learn the basics, it’ll get easier for you to understand any new developments in the worlds of computers and audio recording. So I hope you’re as excited to learn these skills as I am to share them with you!
As always, you can check out the Toolbox section of this website for my recording software and hardware recommendations.
I also reference some Macintosh utility software in the episode.
For bootable backups, I recommend SuperDuper.
For maintaining a health disk directory, I recommend Disk Warrior.
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #114 Here (MP3)
14 Responses to “VAM 114 | The Computer Skills and Audio Knowledge You Need to Be a Voice Actor, Part 1”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- VAM 115 | The Computer Skills and Audio Knowledge You Need to Be a Voice Actor, Part 2 | Voice Acting Mastery: Become a Master Voice Actor in the World of Voice Over - […] the last episode, I outlined the basic computer skills you need in order to be able to record professional…
- VAM 116 | The Computer Skills and Audio Knowledge You Need to Be a Voice Actor, Part 3 | Voice Acting Mastery: Become a Master Voice Actor in the World of Voice Over - […] the first episode of this three part series, I outlined the basic computer skills you need in order to…
Great episode. Most of this stuff I learned on my own through trial and error. When replacing something is never an option, you gotta find ways around it.
Right now the set-up I got is a Sterling Audio ST51 FET Condenser Microphone and a M-Audio MobilePre USB Interface.
Thank you for your time and wisdom.
Glad you were able to discover this information through your own research! That’s how I figured it out myself!
Huh. I’ve always heard that the more higher end recording software usually sound better when played back, so it’s interesting that you say that the program isn’t better, the quality of the equipment determines the output. That is a gem of info. I love and use audacity for my recording. It’s fantastic!
Also, is there any file types that are standard within the industry? Other than .mp3 and .wav? or is that it?
Thanks Crispin for the extremely detailed info.
Looking forward to the next one!
It’s not the software that makes the original audio file sound better, it’s the converters that make the difference, both the analog to digital and the digital to analog. I’ll be covering that issue more in the next episode.
Certain programs give you access to fancier plug-ins to modify the sound of your recording, but the original, untouched file will sound the same. When I record something in ProTools as an uncompressed WAV file, it sounds the same playing in ProTools as it does in iTunes, assuming I’m not using any plug-ins to modify the sound. And most of the time, you shouldn’t be using plug-ins to modify your sound! Almost every production house wants raw audio that they can modify themselves.
I’ll also be discussing the different audio file types in future episodes! Great minds think alike!
While some of the basic computer tech I was aware of, you did go over some very interesting points about taking care of the computer so it doesn’t disappear to that great electronic store in the sky. I’ll have to look into some of what you mentioned as back-ups, as my old, stubborn laptop is showing signs of maybe croaking in the near future – not a pleasant event for an audiobook narrator who works primarily from home.
I look forward to Part 2 next week (or two days from now, as it were). Your podcasts are always entertaining and informative.
I’m glad you found my insights helpful. I hope you’re able to work out your computer challenges.
Thanks again Crispin. Been listening for years. Would really like to try my hand at voice acting one day. Do you think you could interview Johnny Yong Bosch sometime? I know ya’ll worked together on Last Exile. Take care.
Glad you’ve been enjoying the podcast. Thanks also for your interview suggestion.
It’s taken a long time to get to where I can honestly say I feel good about staying on the journey as a voice over artist. There had been a time a few months ago, scared even to think that the journey to be a voice actor would take me to a place that I really didn’t want to be. Well, after listening to episode #112 of the podcast I really needed to think about where I was as an actor. Aside from taking a few classes in college several years ago and being in a school play when I was a kid, those are the only real times that I could say I was an actor. For those few moments. I had thought I didn’t really want to do voice acting because I wasn’t really trained for it or I felt like I wasn’t cut out for being an actor. Be it remembering lines or whatever was the case. I really do have to thank you Crispin because while I haven’t been to any of your classes I had listened to the podcast for so long that I felt that there had to be a reason to why I listened for so long. Well, it wasn’t a big opportunity that happened. It was actually quite small. There was a friend of mine that was running a abridged series and they sent me an email one day saying they wanted a voice to fill in a part for a video that was to be used for a contest. So I thought, why not? So, I dusted off my AKG c214 microphone, turned on my equipment and started to get to work going through the script. I remembered what you had talked about with Richard Horvitz and Steve Blum. Those two come to mind anyway. Making the character come alive. Even if it was just for comedy I wanted to at least see what the character would be like. The character was named Junya for what they called “Gundam Try Fighters” The character looked serious, cool, calm, basically everything I could imagine him being just by the picture of his expressions. I decided to go with my natural voice for the character since I figured why not? So, when the recording was done I waited about a week for the results. I think I’ll never end up giving up on myself as a voice actor. It always seems to be a thing that I’ll keep coming back to it and loving every second of it. Anyways, if it’s alright, I’d like to ask if you’d take a look at my performance to see how I did and if there’s anything I could do to improve on my acting ability. I’m still grateful for everything that you’ve put into the podcast and I can’t wait to see where this journey will take me to next. A thank you never seems enough, but thank you, for keeping me inspired and knowing that there’s always more to learn.
https://youtu.be/jEaF0pD1Ty0
I’m glad you found the podcast so helpful when you had the opportunity to work on that parody project. Congratulations on that.
While I understand your desire to have me give you feedback on your performance, it’s not really feasible for me to give acting advice over e-mail or blog comments. In order to be effective as an acting coach, we need to work with each other in real time. Otherwise we just end up talking about acting rather than practicing it. You’re more than welcome to take one of my classes if you’d like, or else find acting opportunities in your own area.
Thanks for all of the information!
Some questions:
-Are all of the recommended microphones listed in the toolbox section of this site “plug n play”?
-Are there windows equivalents that you know of for Super Duper and Disc Warrior?
-I’m not sure if this is good blog etiquette, but a good site I’ve found for computer maintenance help was the Major Geeks forum. They also have a good set of free programs to help with prevention of problems. They bailed me out of a problem a few years back. Just be sure to follow all of the rules they specify, so they can help you easier.
-Also, in hearing the archives of another voice over podcast Talkin Toons, Rob Paulsen gave you a shout out as one of his favorite podcasts, in episode 72 at around the 27 minute mark.
I hope I could help out.
Let me see if I can answer your questions.
I’m not sure how to answer your question about “plug and play” microphones. If you’re referring to the USB microphones, ideally those microphones should conform to ASIO standards and should be able to be used without the need for drivers. But I can’t say that for sure on every possible platform. You may need to download some sort of driver to make the USB mics play nice with your system. Professional analog XLR mics are not software based so I’m not sure how your “plug and play” question applies to them.
I don’t know of any Windows equivalents to SuperDuper or DiskWarrior but I’m sure they must exist. I just don’t work on Windows.
I’m glad you found the Major Geeks forum helpful. Hopefully my listeners might find them useful as well.
That’s nice that Rob gave me a shout out.
Hope that answers your questions.
That’s a great piece of advice. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to that this time. I had a blast making the video. And therapeutic may be a strong word, but it was helpful to write a post about my experience. Writing really helps me digest things.Thanks
What computer/laptop specs are best for voice over work. Is 8GB RAM enough or is 16GB ram a must have? In regards to storage how much is needed 1TB, 2TB? What laptop/computer models do you use Crispin? Overall what is the best Laptops/Computers for Home Recording studios? Thanks, love the podcasts very helpful.