VO Weekly Workflow: Switching Sides

It feels like a lot of folks have been publicly pondering switching software. Perhaps reacting to that nagging feeling of the grass being greener over yonder, or they may have been made to feel “less than” by discussion group comments or statements from coaches or even audio engineers about their software choices.

It’s always good to have a reality check in any of those cases. People generally recommend what they are familiar with or have a vested interest in promoting. That may or may not correlate with your experience and needs. What’s important to musicians or studio engineers might not matter in your studio setup.

Just to be explicit – there’s no difference between WAV file recordings made in different software. Some applications use proprietary data structures – for example, Audacity with their unique “.aup3” native format, or any of the multitrack recording environments with “session” or “song” database storage arrays. However, when we deliver files it’s done in a common format. No one would know if you used WavePad or Pro Tools to create your raw recordings. WAV and MP3’s (and a myriad of other audio file types) all open just fine within any other recording software.

Narrators, podcasters, storytellers, and voice actors remain a small subset of those people who record audio at home using their own equipment. The bulk of the product or software development remains geared towards singer/songwriters or home music recording enthusiasts. Our home VO studio requirements remain an outlier.

That means to get our work out the door, we likely only scratch the surface of typical music-recording-focused Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs). Since most DAW features and tools go unused, they are likely stripped when setting up a more VO-specific Template.

Of course, if those simplified setups get deleted or damaged, they must be rebuilt or restored to prevent confusion. The need to “arm a track” or “turn off monitoring” can cause issues. Since many DAWs hold onto every scrap of recorded audio, we need to remember to purge those unused files or find our storage drives getting filled up. Those aspects are are neither good nor bad. They are simply features of utilizing that approach.

My workflow bias continues to be toward quality software that allows us to easily record performances, edit our audio, and automate any repetitive tasks while maintaining a core simplicity. That lets us invest more energy toward the challenges of performance. An editing-focused recording tool – such as Twisted Wave or Adobe Audition – tends to operate with less system load while providing direct control over the elements we need to work with. Perceived negatives – such as “nondestructive” editing – have not been an impediment. The workflow is slightly different than a DAW, but functions reliably.

Obviously not everyone approaches workflow the same way. Which is why I continue to stay current with a variety of different recording systems. I’d rather make sure that someone is using software that makes sense to them – or at least doesn’t overwhelm them. It’s perfectly valid to decide you don’t want to arm a track in order to be able to record.

After all, in our studios, it’s not what an engineer needs to do. It’s not what a musician needs to do. It’s what serves our creativity. It’s worth taking advantage of the ability to explore – whether testing something the free version of Pro Tools or taking advantage of the 30 day fully functional trial period for Twisted Wave. If it makes sense to you, or let’s you focus on what matters, that’s a big benefit.

Have you tested your studio’s audio quality to make sure it 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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