Dazzling Temptations: Tools in the VO Studio

Like you, I tend to be susceptible to the limited time offer, promotional sales approach. However, I had worked in retail purchasing long enough to know the schtick pretty well. Curiously, all the major long weekends, seasonal changes, and special holidays all seem to coincide with a big weekend savings event featuring “super low prices and one-time only deals…” Those special prices and deals pop up with amazing consistency.

Every few weeks, it seems that a big-name Effect plug-in goes on sale, causing fervent group discussion threads and private emails. “SuperDuper Vox FX Three is on sale,” someone will observe. “Should I get it?”

While the question might seem to be “Is it any good?”, I don’t think that’s the ultimate test. As with most things in our voiceover studio, we live in a time of riches. Most of our tools work effectively. Instead, it might be more useful to ask, “Will this be good for my workflow?” That query could be boiled down further to “Should I invest the time to learn this well?”

That’s really the crux of the matter. We don’t really lack for decent tools these days. But time? That’s a precious commodity.

I’ve never really found a tool that didn’t take a bit of effort to use well. Waves Clarity Vx might be one of the outliers to that statement, as its simple control interface lets it work quite impressively right out of the box. But after using it for a year, I’ve found subtle changes and different approaches that generated improved results.  Years after first using Izotope’s RX Mouth Declick tool – which has all of three sliders – I continue to find different effective approaches. Playing only with the curve of a simple High Pass Filter can yield very different outcomes.

You might be getting the most incredible box of voice effects in the universe for thirty bucks, but the real question is “can you afford the time it takes to use it well?” Default settings are rarely the best, yet that’s frequently where most voice actors leave things set. In some cases, the default settings are doing next to nothing. Tuning those tools for your specific needs is where we gain the most benefit.

Through recommendations, free trials and impressive demos, I’ve managed to accumulate more plug-ins than I’ll ever have a chance of using in my own workflow. That’s because I’m always on the lookout for something which works simply and reliably in VO workflow. Over the years, that has led me to Loudmax, the highly versatile NOVA EQ, Waves Clarity Vx, the useful tools from Melda, and more. When a new plug-in works better, it can be rotated into a core selection of specific effects. If a new tool is equally effective, that provides the security of an alternative should an “old reliable” disappear or cease to be supported. Redundancy in our home voiceover studios is a good thing.

When that dazzling new Effect shows up on sale, it can be a good time to take a moment and evaluate whether what you are using right now is simply the product of habit and convenience. Would that new tool allow you to be effective? Or, will you invest the time and effort to learn its intricacies only to end up more or less where you started?

Want to receive these resources (and more!) the day they come out?
Each week I send out a new article to my email community focused on creatively using recording technology in your home voiceover studio, and how to balance those technical challenges with the need to be brilliant behind the microphone.
If you would like to join in to receive those emails the day they publish, please take a moment to share your contact information through this sign up form.
Thank you!

If this resource has been helpful to you, please consider sharing it with one of the buttons below!