Voiceover Studio Mindset: No Apology Necessary

When it comes to deciding on recording software, voice actors seem to make a wide variety of choices. I think that’s a great thing. As I’ve said many times, no software records better than any other. Your audio quality remains a direct result of the room in which you record, the input chain of microphone and interface, and your performance. Once sound goes “into” the computer, it becomes data that the recording software organizes and presents to you. Now, I do feel that certain software helps us visualize audio more clearly, usually by providing a sensible user interface and removing needless complexity.

However, I often encounter voice actors who attempt to apologize for continuing to use software they learned on. Others feel pressure to “upgrade” to a more complex recording package for their studio workflow. For someone who learned recording on multitrack tape systems, there’s a certain familiarity to be found in music multitrack software. It doesn’t mean that it’s right for everyone. If it sounds good, and you reliably get auditions and work out the door, you should not be made to feel “less than” for working in a way that makes sense, produces consistent results, and feels logical.

A broader perspective helps here. What we do in our voiceover studios is a narrow niche compared to requirements of a full blown production recording setup. With rare exceptions, we select tools designed for different tasks and apply them to achieve the results we desire.

For example, as pervasive as Izotope’s RX application is within the VO community, most of us only regularly use a few tools out of the many that have been developed. On a daily basis, voice actors reach for RX Mouth DeClick, Voice DeNoise, maybe the DeEsser… But there are loads of other gadgets included in RX which never get touched. That’s because the app’s core user group is post-production film and broadcast studios. We’ve really just coopted those key effects that matter for our practice.

We sift through the tools and find the jewels, adding key functionality that helps solve specific problems. Again, there’s no reason to apologize for taking only what we need if it helps us solve an issue and focus on further refinement. Sometimes, the tool we have right at hand is the best choice.

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