VO Weekly Workflow Notes: Workflow Determines Studio Gear

When new equipment appears, it’s easy to feel G-A-S pains. Of course, I’m talking about “Gear Acquisition Syndrome”. While new stuff can certainly be cool to consider, those new gear announcements may also make us wonder whether what we have already is enough. We suddenly question if not owning Gizmo X or some Neussacery M403 microphone is the reason for a lack of success in voiceover or narration.

The answer is, of course, “probably not.” But the unlikeliness of that actually being the case does not prevent us from wondering. When encountering new gear, it’s a good time to stop, take a deep breath, and consider things from a slightly different perspective, polishing the lens through which we view the equation.

For starters, a new model rarely renders a prior piece of gear obsolete. That stalwart hardware you already own is probably going to plug along just fine, doing exactly what it’s been doing up until now. It’s really just our attitude towards it that has changed.

Consider audio interfaces. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had more than a few clients ask whether they consider upgrading to a newer model. Some of that may be in reaction to my enthusiasm for the arrival of the new PASport VO. For all the design ideas in the new PASport VO, it’s not necessarily a model I’d recommend to someone just starting out in VO. It’s not wildly “better” in terms of sound quality. Honestly, it’s hard to find a bad sounding audio interface these days. As I always try to stress, the quality of our sound is influenced first by the performance choices we make behind the microphone, then the space in which we record, and third by the way our microphone captures those things. Any quality interface should handle the core “interface” tasks: amplification (gain) with clean, neutral preamps, and the conversion from analog to digital – without distortion or adding circuit noise.

In addition to being a solid audio interface, the PASport VO solves certain audio routing and workflow issues that may not be important to your workflow. That’s a bit trickier to explain. A good way to approach it is to consider the workflow tasks that come up in your studio. What tasks are most common as you prepare auditions and deliver work? Being clear about that helps to define what features we then look for.

Three workflow issues which most of us need to address are: 

• Setting input gain
• Providing some “Guardrails” to prevent distortion when recording 
• Reducing steps in the production workflow.

Workflow Issue 1 – Setting Input Gain

I’ve worked with voice actors who were afraid to even adjust their input gain knobs, and those who were told that input gain “didn’t matter”. Neither approach is ideal – it’s not static but it’s also not unimportant. As I have mentioned before, input is always an equation where we balance between the intensity of our performance and the level of our gain. Historically, we’ve set this manually, so having a dedicated tactile control such as on the SSL2 interface makes perfect sense – easy to find, adjust, and confirm position. It’s one of the reasons I tend not to prefer those “one knob” interfaces that have multiple functions controlled by a single dial. There’s always a moment when you need to confirm it’s changing the right parameter.

The recent breakthrough of Focusrite’s Auto Gain function on the Scarlett 2i2 greatly simplifies the task of setting gain. Pushing the “AUTO” button activates the “listening” mode on the interface. You simply perform into your microphone for 8-10 seconds and the 2i2 sets an optimum level for you.

Workflow Issue 2 – Having Guardrails

Focusrite also provides a “SAFE” mode. I’ve been recommending this for everyone who has it. If you do suddenly get louder than planned, and the input clips (hitting 0 dB Peak), the interface immediately reduces the input gain by -6 dB. This can be a lifesaver during a dynamic character session when you are recording on the local side of a directed session. Rather than finding out after the fact that you’ve been clipping throughout the session, this resets things on the fly so that you don’t lose audio.

The PASport VO takes a different approach to this, first by using a well thought out compression circuit that minimizes clipping and secondly by having the ability to record a second stream with reduced gain as a “Safety” track. Other interfaces like the CEntrance Micport Pro might use a Limiter circuit to control those dynamics.

Workflow Issue 3 – Reducing Production Steps

For certain workflows, it can be helpful to have your interface actually handle some of the audio processing. This gets into a tricky area, as it is very easy to get into trouble if you do something which cannot be undone. For example, using the Focusrite “AIR” circuit, or SSL’s “4K” option will change the tonal balance of the recorded audio. If your client wants this type of EQ flavor, that’s great. But if they don’t…it cannot be undone and you will be rerecording.

A safer option would be using an onboard High Pass Filter such as found on the PASport VO. Reducing rumble is a good idea in any VO recording, and if your microphone lacks this circuitry, implementing it through the interface is a solid strategy. It means one less software step after recording. You can also find some clever noise reduction circuitry (as well as EQ) on the MikeHero DSP from Audio Sigma, making it a compelling choice for those recording on the road.

This is why some choose Universal Audio’s Apollo interface. The Apollo’s onboard firmware plug-ins provide highly specific inbound audio processing – certainly a benefit for super short turnaround work, such as promo work.

What Matters is Workflow

The key question is how the interface does its job and whether that supports what you do in your studio. When considering the additional superpowers of the PASport – specifically the sophisticated routing options – those may not matter for the type of work you do.  We don’t want to adapt a creative workflow to a device. Ideally, we need to decide how we want to work and find a device that will handle it. Considering the process from that direction lets us focus upon which features will directly assist us.

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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