A Full Template For Your VO Recordings – Tuesday Tech Tip

Audio Templates Make You Faster

Some recording/DAW software allows you to create a “Template.” With that tool, you set up everything exactly how you want it to work and then save a “snapshot” of those settings. When you begin a new project, opening the Template presents that same layout. 

This is commonly found in more complex software – for example Studio One – as it allows for specific setups to be used for various recording tasks. When running a full studio, one session might record a single drum set with multiple mics on separate tracks, another would be mixing a large music project, followed by capturing the performance from a singer-songwriter with only a couple microphones. This ability to recall the complex routings and connections keeps things organized.

More importantly – you don’t waste time repeating those setup tasks.

For example, the Studio One template above is for live remote sessions. It allows me to have other studios patched in so I can record their audio as well as my booth microphone. 

Voiceover Templates Provide Quicker Workflow

In fact, I use one on every audition.

If you are using Twisted Wave (or almost any DAW) and have not changed the basic settings, it will open an “Untitled” document each time you open the application. If you need to get an audition out the door, you would have to start with that Untitled file, add any Metadata appropriate to the audition, navigate to your “Auditions” folder, name the file and save as a WAV or AIFF audio file. None of that is particularly time-consuming. But, generating 5 auditions per day, that could add five or ten minutes to your work tasks. Which is maybe an hour each week. That’s 50-plus hours in a year. Ouch

Pre-saving a blank file for each type of project you generally create lets you simplify that. I have four basic file setups I use for online auditions or those through my agents. I’ve pre-entered the metadata with the appropriate contact information and have chosen my file type for recording.

Then I save that as “ template_JimEdgar_AGENT” into my “Auditions” folder. (One agent always uses underscores to separate names, while the other uses dashes and spaces between first and last name, so theirs is named “ template-Jim Edgar-AGENT”). 

Notice that in both cases, I’ve used a SPACE for the first letter in the file name. I then navigate to the Finder (MacOS) and “Locked” the files through the “Get Info” (under the FILE menu) so I can’t overwrite them. (At the beginning of the year, I unlock them, update the year information in the metadata and lock them again.)

While this may seem like kind of a laborious process, it allows me to add all my metadata only once and then not have to worry about it again. Because I’ve named these templates with a SPACE as the first character, they always sort to the top of the list in my “Auditions” folder (if that causes trouble for you, you can always use numbers or one of the characters like “#”, which also sort before letters). Since I’m usually opening one of these during each recording session, they generally appear on my “Recent Files” menu.

Back in Twisted Wave, I’ve used Preferences so it opens “Nothing” on startup. Then I simply select the template from the “Recent Files” menu or “Open” from my “Auditions” folder – with all my templates sorted right at the top of the list. 

Because I opened that file from “Auditions”, when I do a “Save As…” to rename it, it’s already going to save it to that same folder. No navigation steps.

Create Efficiency in your VO Studio

All of this falls under the heading of “Simple Steps I often Repeat” – as with keyboard shortcuts (and refining keyboard shortcuts). These small increases in efficiency let me focus on the performance and getting work out the door. 

Resources for this article

DAW = “Digital Audio Workstation” or the generic term for recording software on your computer. 

Even Faster Using Aliases – If I wanted to streamline even further, I can save an Alias for that template on my desktop (both MacOS and Windows support this feature), and just double-click the Alias to open it. I personally like to have an icon-free desktop on my computer, so this is not for me.

Twisted Wave is unique in allowing you to open “Nothing at startup” – set through the TW Preferences. Neither Audacity nor Ocenaudio allow this specific control. Ocenaudio does essentially open a blank workspace on startup, which is pretty close. 

Each week, I send a “Tuesday Tech Tip” to my email community. It includes technical tricks I’ve come across, refinements for voiceover workflow, and insights gained as a working voice actor and VO technical audio consultant. If you would like to receive these as soon as they come out, please take a moment to sign up here.