VO Studio Workflow: Don’t Reinvent Stuff – Tuesday Voiceover Tech Tip

Through our practice of voice acting, we continually hone our ability to invent stuff on the fly. In sessions, for auditions, whether bringing characters to life, or just challenging ourselves to bring additional nuance to our storytelling, each new moment behind the microphone is the opportunity to build on skills we have developed. Being open to the “next step” allows us to continue to improve. 

The urge to create can also cause problems. It can add the potential to “creatively” mess things up by reinventing systems for no clear reason. This urge be spurred by a well-meaning article or enthusiastic webinar, or just an intrinsic desire to shake things up. While there’s a time and place for revising processes, when we’re talking about our studio setup and workflow, channeling your “inner CPA” can be a better approach. 

CPA’s are effective because they tend to favor tried and true systems. For example, different expenses go into different groups. By following this structure, things end up in the right place. It may not be exciting, but it provides a necessary framework.

As creative individuals, our tendency is likely to be the exact opposite, reinventing processes and systems more frequently than necessary. 

Storing Audio Files

The inclination to reinvent often shows up in how we save and archive our audio. Many of us have work spread out across computer desktops and assorted drives. It sometimes makes tracking down the correct version into an extended forensic analysis. However, if we commit to putting everything into one of four folders that are always in the same place, then we will spend less time looking in the wrong place. We can then create system shortcuts that jump directly to those locations. I talked about this in another post a while back, and it’s a good analogy for how we might approach other potential variables: Set up a simple system which supports your needs and trust that things will be there when you need them.

Protecting Your Projects: Iterative Saves and Safety Copies

“Iterative saves” are a way of maintaining a “fallback” copy at various points in the production workflow. If an audio file gets lost or damaged, having a separate copy of a version from just before that point can save a project. It can be as simple as doing a “Save As…” and adding a standard description or number whenever you don’t want to have to do something again. For example, I”ll always save my “_raw” recording file as “_working” before I do anything to it, because I don’t want to have to rerecord my performance. The specific steps are documented over on the Voiceover Answerbase page – just search for “iterative” and it will jump you right to it. There’s also a handy Twisted Wave undocumented “Save a copy” trick which I go through in this video.

“Safety Copies” just refers to having a useful version easily available to you. Even with a “non-destructive” system, it’s a good idea to have archived recordings which do not depend upon ProTool’s, Reaper’s, or Studio One’s session/song structure. For example, I recommend exporting a contiguous WAV file from the “punch-edited” raw audiobook version that may live in the track of a multichannel DAW. This provides a single clean file which can be loaded into any audio editor or restoration suite.

Setting Up Your Recording Space

While file storage and backups will simplify workflow processes for you, setting up your recording space in a consistent manner will pay huge dividends. As I mentioned before, a dedicated booth – whether in a closet or freestanding – allows us to lock down mic position and our working distance so that it’s consistent from day to day. 

If we must break down our recording setup each time, that simply means that taking time to make sure everything is positioned correctly becomes a part of our “make ready” process. Creating consistent recordings that sound the same day after day lets you engage automation in your workflow. You can use stacks, racks, macros, or batch processing to apply the same set of processes to your raw audio. Doing so cuts down on the amount of time needed to make different recordings match, both in longer form production work or shorter projects which need to sound the same as audio provided to a client.  Those moments checking measurements and angles will be well spent. 

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