Improving your mic sound . . .
As a hobbyist or beginner voice actor, it can be hard to justify spending a bit of money on upgrading your gear. Specifically, your microphone. So if buying a new mic isn’t an option, there are other ways of improving your sound. Voice Acting Alliance member, Tomoyo Ichijouji, has put together a helpful guide: How to Improve your Mic Quality — Without Buying a New One!
Pib Comic animation fun . . .
THAT’S RIGHT! “Pib,” winner of 9 Joel Dryden Awards of Excellence™, has been animated for the first time ever! I was lucky enough to voice “John Mulberry”. Great comic. Check out Pib!
All-in-one Voice Acting Tips Guide
A forum member at Voice Acting Alliance was kind enough to compile a whole whack of tips and guides she found throughout the VAA site and make it available for download. Some of it is geared toward anime fan dubs, but don’t be put off if anime is not your thing. It’s loaded with good advice for all new voice actors. Download link is HERE.
The CAD GXL3000 Mic Mod!
So, I sent my old CAD mic to Oktavamod to get modified. I only did so after reading nothing but rave reviews on their work. They take budget condenser mics and modify them to sound like high-end boutique mics (ie: the Neumann U87). I have to say, I’m totally impressed! My cheap, Chinese condenser mic now sounds all smooth and creamy. I’ll post some samples soon. I highly recommend Oktavamod!
New Projects
Spacebourne – 3D animation short movie. Can’t say too much about this project at the moment, but it should look awesome once it’s done.
Un-named Sci-fi RPG – This one came to me as a referral from another video game maker. I get to voice a few lines as Captain Shepard. Looking forward to playing it once it’s done.
Eight Bit Strange episode 3: These 3D short Metal Gear Solid animations are great! Check out episode 1 and 2. The creator typically uses game sounds rather than voice actors, but needed Ocelot to shout one line. Can’t wait to see the final product.
Unlit – Animated series. I get to play Diego (one of the two main characters). A big, strong, not-too-bright nice guy.
Animal Town – Original animation. Was lucky enough to get two parts in this one. Henrick and Daniel. Haven’t heard from the creator in a while, so hopefully it’s still a go.
Attack of Dr. Madness – Video game. Not a whole lot of info on what this game is about just yet. I’ll be voicing various characters.
Zomb-8 – Video game. Sorta like a Left 4 Dead type game. I get to voice Bobby, the redneck. Fun!
All Hail Victoriana! – A stop motion, steam punk animation. Steam punk! How cool! I get to play Henry the mad scientist. Really looking forward to seeing this once finished.
I think that’s all for now . . . as always, I’ve got a few auditions done and waiting to hear back.
Heading to the East Coast to shoot a wedding and get some R ‘n R. I’ll post a nice big update when I get back.
I’ll make this quick and easy.
– Purchase a CAD GXL3000 condenser mic. You can get it at Musician’s Friend or Amazon.com for $120.
– Go to the Oktavamod website and purchase the GXL3000 modification for $349 + shipping.
– Send your CAD GXL3000 to the nice folks at Oktavamod in West Barnstable, MA (USA).
– Wait about a month (yes, they’re THAT busy).
– Get your modified mic back from them and try it out.
– Your cheap Chinese condenser mic now sounds like a $3,000 + boutique mic. Very similar to the classic Neumann U87.
Yeah, right. A $3,000 microphone for about $500? It’s true. The company does amazing work and struggles to keep up with the demand (hence the waiting list). They mod a wide range of mics include the popular RODE NTA and NTA1 and MXL models. You may already have one on his list.
The nice thing about the CAD is that for a budget mic, it has a some nice extras: three polar patterns, -10db pad and a bass roll off switch. These all still function normally after the modification. Sweet!
Check out the site at http://www.oktavamodshop.com/
Been back for a couple of weeks now, but the first week was a write off thanks to this little gal. She wasn’t very considerate of my need to record in a semi-silent house. Anyway, her stay was only temporary (dog sitting) and I’m now back on the mic with a few new projects on the go.
New projects . . .
Darkin MD – Flash animation series. This is going to look VERY cool. I wish the images were still available in the original post so you could see the quality the producer is putting in to this. Lots of dark humour in a creepy hospital setting. Already recorded my lines for the patient, “Glen”.
Offensive – Crysis single player map add-on. I’ll be doing the voice for “Major Strickland”. I totally dig doing the video game stuff. I’m told this is going to be epic! Sorry, no link as of yet.
Unamed game by NimbleBit – iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch game. This is going to be a physics based game. I’ll update with more details once I get them.
Zero Hour – Machinima series. I’ll be voicing a one-off character named Reese Henderson. An undercover agent fighting the bad guys! No link just yet.
That’s it for now. I’ve got a few auditions on the go as well for some really cool projects. Lots of talented competition, so we’ll see what happens.
Things have been BUSY. Regular day job, voice acting, photography and the usual million other things that pop-up in regular life. Anyway, I’m heading down South for some work-related training and won’t be able to record between the dates mentioned above. Sorry if this inconveniences anyone. I’ll be back on the mic when I get back!
New Projects . . .
Project U92 – 3D Animation short. I get to voice Denver the Exterminator. A battle hardened soldier who is sent in to deal with a ginormous mutant known as, Project U92. Check the link to see some of the preliminary 3D character model renders. They look wicked.
Galaxy Roman Stories: Operation Blaq Wulf – Video game. How could I resist auditioning for a character with a name like Krokodilla? The producer is still casting most of the roles, so not too much to report on this at the moment.
Unexpected episode 5 – Halo 3 machinima series. Produced by the infamous, Angsty Studios. I’ll be reprising my role as Kirkland. Check out previous episodes here.
Portage College – I’ll be doing some ongoing narration for this college’s online courses. I definitely need more narration/corporate voice over experience, so it will be good to get this under my belt.
Slight Character Demo Update . . .
I always say my demo reel is a work in progress. Hopefully, the more I learn, the better it will get. Anyway, I changed the order, swapped one voice and added another. I hope you’ll like the addition. It’s based on a character I recently did for the animation, “V.I.R.G.I.N.”. He’s a sci-fi uber-geek-fan-boy.
The Vocal Cube and Closet Vocal Booth
When I first tried my hand at recording at lines (for requests on freesound.org), I knew nothing about room treatment. The room I do my recording in about the size of a medium bedroom. It’s carpeted (which is good for recording purposes), but has bare walls which happily bounce my voice back towards my microphone. My mic picks up these reflections (echoes) and faithfully sends them to my recording software. Freakin’ annoying because once these reflections are recorded into your voice track, it’s pretty much impossible to remove them in software.
Ambient noise is also another pain in the butt. A furnace, air conditioner, computer fans, street traffic, etc can all hinder your otherwise perfect performance and possibly cost you a role. There are plugins and filters for most recording software to help reduce this, but they can only do so much before they make your voice sound like you’re talking into a glass jar.
Why should you care? Because a nice dry vocal is WAY easier for a director/producer to work with than a vocal that sounds like it’s been recorded in your kitchen with the A/C on. Maybe a director has narrowed their auditions down to you and once other actor. Maybe that other actor’s audition is 5% less impressive than yours, but 15% better recorded. They’ve reduced their ambient noise levels and room reflections and have generally given the impression that they are a little more professional than you.
Like most amateur voice actors, I can’t justify spending a few grand on installing a professional grade vocal booth in my home. But there ARE cheap, DIY ways of improving the quality of your recordings! Here are a couple of vids. One shows how to make your own portable vocal booth and the other shows how one artist turned his closet into a vocal booth using mattress pad foam. Both examples use materials which are relatively inexpensive and easy to find. Feel free to comment and share how you improve the sound in your recording space.
DIY Portable Vocal Booth
DIY Closet Vocal Booth
The DIY Pop Filter . . .
I’m sure m
ost people interested in voice acting know what a pop filter (wind screen, spit guard) is, but in case you’re not sure . . . “A pop filter serves to reduce or eliminate ‘popping’ sounds caused by the mechanical impact of fast moving air on the microphone during recorded speech and singing,” (thanks, Wikipedia).
Pop filters start at around $20 and go up from there. I’m sure most of us can afford to buy a brand name one from the shop, but when you can make your own for $9 that works just as well . . . $20+ seems like a rip off.
I am all about easy DIY projects. Once power tools are involved, I usually throw in the towel and call my dad. Making your own pop filter is an easy DIY project. Save your money and put it towards improving your sound or recording space in other ways.
Check out this YouTube vid for instructions on how to make your own.
New VA Projects . . .
V.I.R.G.I.N. – Original animation. A comedy about three guys who attend their local sci-fi convention and are confronted by a hostile fanboy who hates their sci-fi ignorance. I get to play James Cameron (don’t expect an impersonation) and Trevor . . . the hostile fanboy. Sweet!
Two Steps Ahead (no link) – GTA IV machinima action drama series. I was approached by VAC mod, BigK, to play the role of Walt Hastings in his upcoming flick. I’ve done a couple of GTA IV machinimas in the past and have always been impressed with versatility of the game engine for machinima making. Anyway, Walt is a gritty NSA agent who leads a team investigating terrorists in NYC. Another cool role.
So add these two to my list of current projects, and I’m managing to stay pretty busy with this voice acting stuff. Not that I’m complaining!
Well, I better get to it. Time to focus my angry, inner-nerd!
Nifty microphone guide . . .
Tired of missing out on roles because your gamer-headset-mic ‘s sound quality isn’t up to snuff? Then it’s time to think about upgrading your mic. If you have no idea where to start, then take a look at edgestudio.com’s Voice Over Microphone Selector page. Obviously, they don’t have EVERY mic on there, but plenty to choose from based on what your needs are.
VA Update . . .
I’ve been lurking in the Voice Acting Club forum and snagged a couple of parts.
Dolls (working title) – Live action with static dolls/action figures as the characters. I’ll be voicing one of the main characters named “Joe”. An aggressive drill sergeant-type. This film is a media studies project for a VAC member.
Warhammer 40K mod project – Heaps of ragey, bad guy lines in this one. Should be lots of fun!
A few voice acting sites I visit . . .
Like I said, I found the audition posts for these over at VAC. If you’re new to voice acting (like me), this is a good place to check out. Lots of handy guides and projects to audition for. There’s a few elitists on there, but just ignore them.
Another site similar to VAC is Voice Acting Alliance. I don’t check out this site as often as I should since it’s very anime fandub focused. I’ve really tried to be open minded about anime and the fandub projects, but . . . Ah, I dunno, man. The anime style voices = nails on a chalkboard to my ears. But that’s just my opinion and it means jack, so if you want to get into some anime voice acting, check VAA out.
If you’re having trouble getting parts on VAC or VAA (maybe due to lack of experience), check out Machinima.com. They have a “Help Wanted & Help Offered” section in the forums. There’s lots of new machinima directors on there looking for VA help. A good place to audition, hone your skills and add roles to your portfolio.