VO Studio Tech: Give Your Gear Some Respect

Does anyone else regularly thank their gear? It’s not that I necessarily think it’s going to answer me, it’s just that I like to encourage it with a bit of positive feedback on a regular basis. Perhaps I remember how finicky and sensitive our equipment used to be back in the not-too-distant past. Amplifiers which overheated, computer drives hiccuped, and certain hardware always caused us to utter a quick prayer before flicking the ON switch. These days, most of the stuff we rely upon in our home voiceover studio manages to show up every day, stable and consistent, ready to work. I think it deserves our respect for that.

Granted, there are always a few production units which fail. A sub spec part might sneak through, or a weak solder connection could crack at the wrong time. However, those are outliers these days. Which brings me back to the initial question. How can we thank the hardware we rely upon to get our recording work done?

Be Kind To Your Headphones

A few months back, I stopped hanging my headphones on the door handle of my booth. It had seemed the perfect place – within easy reach at all times and visible from every angle – but it had a drawback. There was just enough of an edge on the handle that it quickly wore through the top-of-head pad cover of my Beyerdynamic DT770’s. Once that material started to split, it did so rapidly. I began accumulating an increasing number of little black flakes in my hair each time I wore them. The first time it happened, it seemed related to normal wear and tear. Then I noticed a crease that appeared almost immediately in the new replacement pad. While I don’t mind investing in a set of new ear covers every year (for that new kittens-for-your-ears feeling!), there was no reason to intentionally stress the other components.

Conscious Cable Coiling

Cables often get little respect in our studios. We tend to shove them out of the way time and again, perhaps with the best intentions of going back and tidying them up later. The cables pile and tangle and twist, often becoming part of a jumble of wires containing digital, power, and analog signal connections. Those three different types of cables typically do not play well with one another, and often weird interferences or data misbehavior can be traced to the the tangle of what appears to be an octopus wrestling match. I’ve talked about routing cables before. It’s one of those things that is easy to overlook but makes everything else run much more smoothly.

One other thing about cables – XLR and other audio cables have multiple separate wire strands inside the housing. To get those types of cables to coil properly, you need to throw a little “turn” into it as you loop it around. It takes a quick 180 degree twist that’s much easier to demonstrate than explain. It should neatly coil when you do this. If your XLR cable wants to go every which way, you aren’t doing it right.

“What about Mic?”

We stare down our microphone each time we step into our booth. It spends so much time set up in front of us that we may never remove it from its perch. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if we switch between different microphones, its worth making sure that the mic is protected. While I wouldn’t call large diaphragm condensers “delicate”, they don’t like impact or dust. It would be a shame to see them roll off the desk onto a hard floor, or sit uncovered in an exposed location. Many models come with a rigid carrying case, which is a nice bonus, but that’s something a manufacturer may omit to hit a price point. I recently swapped out my Rode NT1 Generation 5 and realized it only included a thin cloth bag for the mic itself. While I compulsively save my gear’s original boxes, those are awkward to both repackage and transport. I ended up investing in an inexpensive hard case for it, using the sectionable foam inserts to neatly position the various bits – sort of an early birthday gift for that microphone.

A Room of One’s Own

Your “booth” – whether a repurposed closet, collection of blankets on a frame, or a freestanding commercial unit – probably deserves a little TLC. Given the amount of time we spend sequestered inside that space, it can impact our health if not periodically refreshed. The “open” surface of acoustic foam or treatment panels provides plenty of nooks and crannies. Dust and debris can settle inside when we leave, only to be kicked up again as we jump in for an audition or a session. I try to vacuum the walls, ceiling and floor of my booth every week (ok… at least every other week!), and will run a portable air filter overnight.

Though it may seem like extra tasks on our “to-do” list, I like to think of these as “thank you’s” to the gear that I rely upon.

Wondering if your audio quality 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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