Studio Signal Flow – Understanding the Parts – Tuesday VO Tech Tip

Last week I talked a bit about clearing out the cruft, simplifying and identifying those things that truly matter in our workflow. It’s always instructive to take a few steps back and ask whether any particular part of the process is really necessary. Extra bits and indirect steps always manage to sneak in when we’re not looking. The end of the year is a good time to consider what’s actually needed. 

After we tear everything down to the studs (metaphorically or literally), it’s an optimal time to consider how our “house” is built. Is the foundation solid? How much load can the walls bear? Is there a simple piece of hardware that could simplify things?

After upgrading my booth lighting for workshops and classes, I found that I was having to detach the battery powered light cubes to recharge them, then reattach the lights before using them again. It was not an onerous task, but it required that (a) I remembered to do it, and (b) I actually did it. In the flow of the day’s task, it often got neglected. By adding a powered USB hub and some appropriately long cables, the lights no longer needed to be removed. The hub has illuminated switches showing when power is supplied to the light cubes, which gives me one less thing to wrangle. It makes me shake my head that I put up with it for a couple months before simplifying things.

The result may be that steps are reduced and efforts are more focused. In that case, give yourself a hearty “Huzzah!”  Along with that celebration comes the confidence of knowing things are dialed in. 

These steps may also expose weak points in your workflow. A number of voice actors first reached out to me because “something broke” and their recordings suddenly sounded bad. In many cases, someone else had set up their gear years before, sometimes for a workflow which was no longer even used. Stripping things down will help to expose needlessly complex parts which may not need to be there.

I repeatedly find myself asking: 

“What are the fewest number of steps necessary to deliver the quality of audio I need?”

That tends to nudge me away from less direct setups or boutique solutions. Being able to go in and remove or bypass specific steps gives me the ability to keep working. That goes hand in hand with backup approaches, or “redundant systems against failure.” That “first” microphone or “extra” interface can be cheap insurance – letting you quickly swap in a functioning piece of gear so you can keep recording.

When you have everything pulled apart, it’s also worth considering “What’s next?” Maybe you have more sessions where directors want to interact with you while in-booth, or you’ve started doing more dubbing work. It could just be that you finally need to dial in your Source-Connect setup, or explore more appropriate options for connecting with clients for a higher quality session experience. 

Then when things go back together, they are fully supporting the next phase of your voiceover adventure. 

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