Tuesday Tech Tip: Sharing Simple Solutions

While helping folks set up their workflows over the past few months, I’ve noticed a consistent thread. More often than not, we’ve ended up removing things from studio workflows rather than adding to them.

It can be as simple as ditching that pop screen once the microphone is shifted to the correct distance and position, or realizing that the noise reduction and de-essing which used to be necessary, has been made redundant by improved isolation and technique. The more we work to refine our craft, the more we achieve with less. Often the quick fixes that seemed necessary when first setting things up become vestigial habits that no longer have a use.

There’s an observable progression to the way newer voice actors set up their studios. Seeking “broadcast quality sound” it feels necessary to implement each tip, hack or system touted online. Many “fixes” simply obscure deeper issues, while others only address particular problems that possibly don’t even exist in your space.

Along the way, the core issues of isolation and treatment may get addressed, but the other stuff comes along for the ride. Those extra bits build up and become habit – familiar, but not really providing any value.

Often, when I ask narrators or voice actors why they are doing a specific step, the answer is “I’m not sure…” Those are the parts which are worth questioning.

For example, when first starting to build my VO skills in classes, I used to work with two copies of the script. The first copy got annotated and marked up extensively. After completing that it became difficult to track the actual printed words in the copy, hence the “clean” version I could actually read. After many scripts, I began to “see” an overlay of beats, changes of tone, pauses, and key focus areas in realtime. That tool of physically writing on scripts became superfluous.

Our skills continue to progress each time we focus upon the process of our work. We improve not just during those moments behind the microphone, but in all the extra steps of the process: reading through the production spec, visualizing scenarios which are playing out, and finding the tone of the language. Each time we go through our steps, it changes who we are as voice actors. With each audition, workshop, session, or class, we become a changed individual from when we first picked up the tool. It’s ok to set it down, thank it for the help, and realize it brought us to where we are now.

Have you tested your studio’s audio quality to make sure it meets professional standards? For a free review of your vocal recordings, please use the upload tool on my Audio Review page.

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