Spooky VO Tech Tip! 10 Treats for You

Note: If you receive my direct emails, this landed in your inbox on October 31st, 2023.

Since this message went out on the last day of the tenth month – “All Hallow’s Eve” around these parts – I thought I’d pick ten “treats” that had been languishing in my notes.

In no particular order:

• The lowest note on a standard piano is A0 – “A” in the “zeroeth” octave. That note vibrates at 27.5 Hz (cycles per second) and sits well below a frequency that anyone I know can hit with their voice*, which is why we can generally use a 60 Hz High Pass Filter to remove the rumble in our space. 

          *Well, maybe Candi Candido can hit that low A… 

• File organization feels boring (but will pay big dividends when you are trying to track stuff down under deadline.) Think of it as a gift to your future self. 
   
• A few weeks back, I linked to an article citing higher than expected drive failures with a specific series of Sandisk SSD models. There’s now a class-action lawsuit against them. Hopefully, that’s not the drive you are using to back up your data. 
   
• Fabrics matter in the voiceover booth. A wise voice actor organizes their closet by the amount of noise a garment makes. If you are wondering what that weird “swiffy” sound might be in your recordings, it could be your shirt.
   
• The most common microphone error is still speaking into the wrong side of the mic.This has been given new life by the fact that Rode suddenly decided it would be a good idea to move their logo to the back of the new NT1 Generation 5.
   
• The length of a 60 Hz audio sine wave (at sea level) is ~18.3 feet. The “60 Hz” means that it occurs sixty times per second. That should give a sense of why it’s so hard to absorb the energy of lower frequency sounds. A two inch thick piece of lightweight foam does almost nothing to a sound wave that long.
   
• Izotope RX10 Standard went on sale late last week – then jumped back up to full price in under 12 hours. It is now back on sale at half off. If you have been waiting for a deal, this is a good one. 
   
• Though most voice actors get very excited about shotgun microphones, there’s a potential hidden super power in many models of Large Diaphragm Condenser mics. A “Figure-8” pickup pattern can often help to isolate a microphone from environmental sounds occurring to the side, while adding depth and detail. If your mic has that option it’s worth giving it a try.
   
• As much as I enjoy the tech, gadgets, new tools, and clever software solutions, the studio exists as a sacred space to allow us to focus on the moment of creation.
   
• Finally, if you need a bit of the scary and gruesome this All Hallows Eve, head over to Julia Norton’s “Dark & Twisty Tales” podcast archive and enjoy. This is one of her favorites.

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