Minimum setup for voiceover recording/editing

[BevvyB]

Some friends of mine are about to embark on a talk show internet radio venture

I've been asked to spec some suitable equipment for them to get going on, they are toal beginners at recording and editing

They already have PC's

What would be the best thing for them to get? I guess some good but not great mics (some cheap AKG's on offer would do I guess) and perhaps the M-Box with Pro Tools LE? Or perhaps a cheaper alternative like Sonic Foundy XP with some input gismo?

They need something not too complicated but good enough for easy edits, some cool features should they get into them, and easy compatibility with the rest of the world

Thanks

Bev

[pounce]

an mbox and a decent mic/pre are enough to start. that covers all the 2 track editing as well as laying muisc beds and fx underneath. how about an fmr RNP and a shure ksm44, or at least a tlm103 or something. get one decent mic for sure.

oh, and think about getting enough acoustic foam to do a decent booth type area without many reflections. i have one of those maxwall kits around my space, the kind with 4 walls and the little window, and they are all movable. they can act as gobo's are are very convenient. a good thing to get into to round things out for controlled sound.

[Bob Olhsson]

Their biggest challenge is probably going to be ambient noise unless they've got 10 or 20 grand to drop into a room treatment. The best mike I've ever run into for eliminating it is the Beyer M-88. A less pricy solution is the good old SM-57. I'd make those my priority even if it means ProTools free. A high fidelity recording of trucks going by or of different levels of computer fan noise at edit points is a nightmare!

[adamcal]

I have set up a few voice over guys/girls on the super cheap.

1. Studio Projects C1
2. Behringer Ultravoice
3. Echo Mia or Audiophile 24/96 card. (or similar)
4. wavelab/sound forrge/cool edit/ect

proven over and over again, Plenty good enough for national broadcast voice over work.

The bigest problem is getting the room dead enough. Either use the usuall means or the the cheap ass way (donna over the head)

This is bottom of the range, get the job done stuff, you can double, triple, multilpy by 10 the prices and still get the job done.



Of course here at gearslutz we live by a different standard. So instead id recomend

1. Neumann 147 or 149, Korby Convertable, AEA ribbon, Manley gold, The Brauner VM1 Klaus Heyne Edition,AKG C12 ETC ETC

2. GML 2020, manley Vox Box, PENDULUM Quartet,Avalon VT-737, Focusrite 430, ETC.

3. PTHD, Soundscape system, Fairlight, AMS system, Sadie, Sonic solutions ECT

yeah thats more like it. up to about 30K+ now.

[littledog]

Originally posted by Bob Olhsson
Their biggest challenge is probably going to be ambient noise unless they've got 10 or 20 grand to drop into a room treatment. The best mike I've ever run into for eliminating it is the Beyer M-88. A less pricy solution is the good old SM-57.

I've never dared to question Bob before, but...

The M88 is a great mic, but I always thought of it as really susceptible to handling noise, proximity effect, and low frequency floor vibrations transmitted through the stand. I would think if you use it you'll want a rock solid stand and/or a preamp with a really good HPF.

Or maybe the ones I've used were atypical...

[SaxonSound]

For compatability, Cool Edit Pro is the way to go for radio.
It's used by more production directors and v/o people than any other software.

As for the rest of the stuff, I wouldn't overspend. A lot of the nuances that make the expensive gear so expensive are lost over the reduced fidelity of the radio. Even more so for internet radio.

FWIW, my cheap v/o chain is:

AT3035 -> BlueTube -> RNC -> Audiophile 2496 -> CEP.

[Bob Olhsson]

Originally posted by littledog
...
I would think if you use it you'll want a rock solid stand and/or a preamp with a really good HPF.

I'm pretty much of a nut on using shock mounts for ALL mikes so I never ran into that problem.

Being the original home recording guy, I've tried everything under the sun to get rid of noise on vocals outside of a studio. The M-88 is utterly amazing at a foot or so away and the top-end is smoother than most cheap condensers.

[pounce]

Originally posted by littledog
The M88 is a great mic, but I always thought of it as really susceptible to handling noise, proximity effect, and low frequency floor vibrations

i don't think the ones you've used would have been atypical. however, you could get a suspension mount for any stand cheaply and easily which would work with the m88. i got two over at the guitar center recently. that should alleviate most of the issues you are concerned about. proximity effect will still be to taste, but the handling/vibration issues can be eliminated without too much hoo ha. dynamic mics like the 421 or m88 or sm7 are reasonable vo choices (only the m88 would work in the elastic shockmount i mentioned) while still helping to minimize room tone.

i continue to recommend things like the maxxwall kit for adding a little bit of isolation and creating a bit of a iso booth for the vo and you are set.

[BevvyB]

Great input, thanks folks !!



P.S. Lol adamcal's '2nd' list

[JBlake]

I run a little talking book facility. We've been using AT 4033's the DBX 286A an Echo Mia and Sound Forge XP. Sounds good for most voices. I'd love to have a variety of mics (The 4033's can be pretty brittle on some people) but we're funded by the state gov. I'm more of a GearCrackHo.
The Mia cards are the best $180 I've spent. The drivers are rock solid and they sound great.
We're entirely volunteer based so the software has to be easy to learn. Sound Forge is nice and simple without too many bells and whistles. CoolEdit looked pretty good too.
Hope this helps.

Jon

[Jay Kahrs]

I'll back up the Sound Forge suggestions, it's pretty simple to learn and use. PT might be a bit confusing for them with the different windows for mixing and editing. For mics, if room noise is going to be a problem maybe an SM7 or RE-20, otherwise pick a condensor that sounds good on their voices. Last week I put up four mics and within 5 minutes I picked the TLM103 and started falling asleep...uhhh...make that recording.

[chessparov]

How about considering these too?

1) EV RE20 (or cheaper PL20)
2) EV 666 (if they feel adventurous-EV no longer has elements)
3) EV RE16
4) EV 635a (worth a try I guess!)

Thinking that these would be easier for inexperienced talent to
use-like the last two at home are for me. Less concerns over
proximity effect/working the microphone because the first three
are variable-D, last one is omni.

Thoughts?

Chris

P.S. Is there really THAT much of a difference using low cut EQ
to counter a M88's proximity vs. "au natural" on voice?

[Curious G]

damn you Bev, you ate my brain!

And just as I was going to give you the sage wisdom of a mook with 20 years in the voice-over pit!!!

...the RE-20 is a good idea (or an MD421 if you want it a little crisper). In any event you might think de-esser and compressor/limiter in the chain to smooth out the artifacts internet radio is likely to introduce to the signal.

[Berolzheimer]

Sennheiser 416s are used commonly for VO work, & being short shotguns they have good noise rejection. But of course they're not cheap.
I did a VO session here a few days ago & used the 416 for some pieces, an sm-87 for some, & an ADK LD mic for others. All in all I preferred the ADK but each had their good qualities.

Don't forget too that they'll need to feed headphones, & have some kind of talkback system.

[pounce]

ya know, i have a sennheiser short shotgun that i got for a couple of commercial shoots i worked on. jeez, it' mostly hangs out nowadays near it's fishpole and all of that jazz in the corner of the studio. i should break it out in the studio more often. those short shotguns sounded great in the field. i've understood that they were often used in adr to match up with the qualities of the location recording sound while looping. i hadn't used it in a regular old vo session, but they'd be a good choice there.

[Fibes]

The room is the most important...

Re-20-421- Ksm 44

Decent pre---

DBX 160 or RNC

....and Soundforge is the best low cost solution. Get the best A/d/d/a after that...