Help! What's missing from this v/o?

[Dayo]

I posted this in the mastering forum, but it was suggested I might find more advice over here; so here goes:

Please have a listen to this short soundfile:

From this to this.wav - DivShare

You'll hear a short piece of voiceover, firstly recorded in my studio followed by the same from a famous London studio. Ok, they are different performers but it serves to illustrate the point.

The London sound (second one in the file) is my holy grail, but as you'll hear, I'm missing a trick or two and I can't figure where.

There's a weight and authority to the London clip that is missing in mine. What gives the London clip that body (low mids?) I can't seem to find it with EQ. Can anyone nail down what is going on?

And what am I hearing in the London clip that I like so much? Is it the quality of the convertors? Some transformer saturation? Can it be the room? Different mic and pre certainly; they are probably using a U87 - but I can't believe that's the whole story.

FYI my mic chain was a Joly modded Rode (U67-ish) > Fearn VT1 > Distressor > Fireface 800

Any clues from anyone would be most welcome. Thanks so much for your time and you ears!

[nucelar]

Hi, this may be totally subjective, but I dislike the slightly nasal tone in the first voice (in comparison). Also the second voice has a certain "air" your voice lacks.
Try finding the nasal frequency using a fairly steep peak EQ and then notch it down. I would also try a gentle "smile" EQ (boost lows and highs)
In tems of dynamics, they are both quite similar. There is a certain "roughness" in the second voice you won't be able to replicate, unfortunately
On the other hand, don't get too obsessed, your recording is perfectly fine.
Cheers

[soundfx]

Dude, its all in the voice mostly.

[Max Holland]

I have recorded a lot of VO, of famous VO artists, not so famous ones.. actors and actresses. Usually a guy or gal with a good voice just sounds good, not much to make it better. Someone who is OK or not very good at all will sound OK or not good no matter what you do... its performance!

[georgia]

1. VO talent
2. Mic selection
3. Mic placement
4. Mic pre
5. Room
6. Recording System/Method


those are starting places and until you can record the exact same person in your room as in your "Holy Gail" it's hard to pinpoint WHY it is different.

How it is different: VO Delivery, Sonic Quality, Frequency range of Voice...

cheers
geo

[Fumblefingers]

Would it be a totally ******** suggestion to consider throwing a mastering plug like Izotope's Ozone 4 on that VO and mess with the paragraphic EQ or the multiband dynamics and harmonic exciter to try and fatten it up, give it some girth? Or even experiment with some impulse responses from a convolution reverb plug like MellowMuse IR1A, to try improve the space around the words?

Other than that I agree with everyone else about the quality of the 2nd voice as well as the equipment used to record it with.

[matt82aust]

Talent and performance is definitely the key factor for me in the difference. I would also say, if you find yourself needing to massively compress / EQ / process a voice too much after the record, then you should try and record it better

[Jfriah]

Yeah, pretty much comes down to 'the voice'.
Myself, I've had a couple gigs on the other side of the microphone but my 'trailer voice' only happens in the middle of a really bad cold (like today!) or after a night out at the bar trying to talk to the person next to you.

So I can only work a couple days a year.


Jeff

[santacore]

Like everyone else said, voice and performance. I think both samples have positives and negatives. The bottom line is, an experienced talent can get really good results from most mics.

[kk@jamsync.com]

It's 90% the VO talent, but you might try an RE20 if you can find one. It has some lower mid-range chocolatey goodness that makes me hate it on female vox and kind of like it on male spoken word.

[danno812]

The second one sounds like Philip Banks and he just has a great voice. I'd be surprised if it isn't him.

Anyhow, it looks like you have some nice gear and you should be able to get good results. Your situation is different therefore your results will be different. Not necessarily better or worse... just different.

Dan
Voice Talent :: ProComm Studio Services - Voice overs with male & female voice talent

[kk@jamsync.com]

Originally Posted by danno812

Voice Talent :: ProComm Studio Services - Voice overs with male & female voice talent

Some amazing talent on that roster, for sure! Terrific stuff!

[georgia]

good call on the RE20 kk.




cheers
geo