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Voice-over Recording Studio
Tips
Acoustics
Think
how your voice sounds to you when you're in the bathroom or shower. Lots
of reverberation, yes? That's because all the sound waves are bouncing
back to you after hitting the bare tiled or glass walls in the room. If
you were in a room that, instead of hard bare walls had lots of cushions,
duvets or foam, it would sound totally different - there would be no echo
or reverb as these soft surfaces absorb the sound waves and very little bounces of them. If you go into your loft, it may sound pretty dead acoustically
because there's lots of stuff and aren't any parallel walls. The sound
recordist Ty Ford says "Don't use a lot of foam
on the walls. Go for a balance of diffusion (irregular surfaces) and absorption
(foam). Too much foam in a room sounds overly dead and spongy." However, many voice-over artists have wall-to-wall acoustic foam tiles in their booth.
For 18 years I had 9 foam acoustic tiles 40x40cm and 5cm deep to deaden the sound in my studio
/ office where I recorded because the resonance from the walls was noticable
on recordings. On other walls I have shelves with objects on - which aren't
deliberately there, but do help diffuse the sound. I try to record in
small spaces - i.e. not in the middle of a large room, but in a constructed
'corner' where I can control the surface acoustics more. So I have a large
floor standing acoustic screen 1.5m tall by 1m across (pictured left,
next to a door to show scale) which I can pull towards me in one corner of
my studio / office so that it creates a smaller acoustically treated space
which gives a more deadened sound than without it. If I had the space,
I would have invested in a 'room within a room' acoustically isolated
booth which would not only have created a great recording environment
in acoustic terms, but would have also isolated any extraneous sounds
from outside. I've used them in the past and always found them to be excellent
acoustic environments. I also have a desire to go to sleep in one. I'd
have loved to had one when I lived next door to noisy neighbours!
Acoustic Panels
In summer 2018 I purchased 12 large Primacoustics Broadway Broadband and Control acoustic panels from Studiospares to mount on the ceiling and walls of my studio. Instead of the dark grey foam tiles mentioned above, they are a light beige fabric. They are all 2" thick, and the largest panels are 48” x 24”. I have two of these large panels on the ceiling and two on the wall. I also have 8 column panels which are 48” x 12” - four on the ceiling and four on the wall . I also have a single 24” square.

The ceiling of my studio in 2018
Seven of these panels are mounted to the wall, but six are mounted to the ceiling which, as in most rooms (including yours?) is a large area without anything on it to absorb sound and prevent reverb. In all photos of broadcast studios, the ceiling is almost entirely covered by these panels.
Whilst attaching these panels to the wall was simple as mounting hardware spikes are readily available, attaching them to the ceiling was particularly difficult. Nobody in the UK seems to sell the mounting hardware for ceiling mounting these panels. So it turned into quite a complicated procedure, as the panels are made of glass fibre and have no internal structure to speak of or attach anything to. Attaching them to a wall is literally skewering them onto spiked plates, and gravity helps keep them there. So for ceiling mounting you have to attach something like an anchor plate to them that will hold their weight. But it's like drilling into a powdery cushion - there is nothing for any screw or plasterboard rawl plug to get hold of. The large panels stayed up for a week, and one of them fell down through the night. The other one came off the ceiling very easily, so was taken down to be re-affixed.
Ultimately, I discovered these panels are not actually designed for ceiling mounting, as they sell 'Nimbus' panels that are specific for hanging from the ceiling (but are 1.5" thick) but do not have the bevelled edge.
The original method of attachment was using long batons of wood 2” x 1” screwed onto the ceiling. Industrial Velcro was stuck to the baton. Another baton is attached to the acoustic panel using plasterboard rawl plugs, and pink grip industrial adhesive. Then industrial Velcro to attach to the baton on the ceiling. However, this is not recommended on its own - it simply did not work!
In the end, with the help of Gorilla Glue in pilot holes for the plasterboard rawl plugs to grip and bite into on the panel backs (Gorilla Glue expands 2 to 3 times) plus Gorilla Glue along the perimeter of the batons, this made a far more secure hold onto the panel of the plasterboard rawl plugs. There are now eight rawl plugs per wooden baton, so each is under a load of approx 250g. (this load was 500g on the initial installation which may be why it fell down - although I'm fairly convinced the adhesive backing on the Velcro is to blame as it had completely come off the baton upon discovery that morning!).
The thinner columns have not been redone with the Gorilla Glue method as they are lighter in weight and none have fallen (so far!). But of course if doing it again from new, Gorilla Glue would be recommended.
The air gap behind the panel for the batons of wood is proven to aid lower frequency absorbtion as opposed to mounting 'flush' with the ceiling/wall.
I now use the grey acoustic foam panels below the desk line, out of sight, to absorb sounds of computers, etc.
I have a motorised desk that moves up and down at the touch of a button, so I record voice-overs standing up and therefore in a smaller volume of space in the corner of my studio, with the corner being covered in acoustic panels. Standing up is also better as your diaphragm is not contorted.
The manufacturer of the panels, Primacoustics, suggests only 45% coverage is needed for VO booths and is described as "dark". Photos on the Primacoustics' website show almost total ceiling coverage in broadcast radio studios, despite their stating 35% coverage is sufficient for on-air broadcast studios.
My panels are 2" thick, but 1" and 3" panels are also available.
Ten years prior, I
purchased an SE Electronics Reflexion Filter after reading
a number of reviews praising it. It was okay - maybe I need to play with
it more, but you still need some sound absorbtion behind you when recording
as I discovered. I was thinking it'd be an instant fix for recording quick
voice-over sessions with a condenser mic, but alas I didn't feel that. Eventually,
after a lot of tests and contradictory to the reviews I'd read, I decided
I wasn't very impressed by it, so sold it on. I've seen some more recent
advancements in this field, with round shaped acoustic 'nests' that your
microphone sits in which seem most intriguing (the "Kaotica Eyeball").
Mixer & EQ
I've
used a Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro since 2001 which I decided on primarily due to the incredible low
noise pre amps (although now other brands make unbelievably cheap mixers with the
same low noise levels - amazing!). I had used a green coloured Joe Meek VC3Q which
I found impractically noisy (loads of hiss) when used with the comparatively silent AKG C414 for voice
work. The Mackie has 4 mic pre-amps, so I could practically leave all
my favourite voice mics plugged in and correctly EQed all the
time. Their user manual is well and humourously written too.
What follows was written many years ago and it might be an idea to skip to reading the 2018 update.
These USB digital converters that take your microphone signal and put
it straight into the computer are ok, but you really need to EQ (equalise)
the lows, mids and highs of the mic signal to make it sound as nice as
possible before you record your voice. You can adjust it in 'post' (ie in your sound editing software) but I think it's nice to hear it in real-time in your headphones while you're recording. You can take the output signal
from your mixer and use a USB digital converter thing to put it into your
PC without having a snazzy soundcard in it, but when you play it back
you may not hear the full tonal quality (because you've got a basic soundcard
still).
To give a more 'commercial' sound to the end-user of my voice tracks, I
used a Behringer Composer Pro MDX2200 compresser, limiter, expander, gate,
toaster, teasmaid, etc. It worked great - for the price it was really
amazing. (past tense edited in here - it worked for about 14 years but one channel started sounding distorted so I bought a replacement updated version - the MDX2600 - which was not as good by a long way and I would not recommend). I cannot stress enough how important the 'gate' function is - it's an absolute must if you are recording your voice in a place
with extraneous noise (ie a home studio). It automatically mutes the microphone
when you are not speaking, so there's no rumble or PC hum when you're
pausing even for a split second to breathe between words or sentences. You set the threshold yourself so that
it doesn't sound clipped. Gates are available on other processors, but
I would never buy anything without one now. Now discontinued, the MDX2200's
replacement is the Behringer Composer PRO-XL MDX2600 which has even more
features including a de-esser, dynamic enhancer and tube emulator. However, I have personally found that the gate is far too 'choppy', cutting off the end of words with a quiet ending, and there is no longer the control knob to adjust it to have greater sensitivity as you could with the MDX2200. Pressing the 'Release' button doesn't mute the signal quick enough and you hear whirring PCs for less than a second before it fades it down. My unit also seems to 'pump' the fan sound when I'm not speaking, which is just weird and I don't use it anymore. So as there are other units out there I investigated then purchased the dbx 166xs, which is a gate, compressor and limiter. I have so far found it excellent - definitely comparable to the MDX2200, with the two gate knobs for control, but I think a better compressor function. I seem to have to increase the output gain control on the 166xs more than the MDX2200 by about +9db, and I've found it's possibly not as 'quiet' as the Behringer, in that there's a barely noticable hum/buzz on the recording which I would need to gate using the editing software. So I am now (in 2017 - see 2018 update!) using a dbx 166xs Compressor/Limiter/Gate unit which is better.
I'm
not into knob twiddling enough to have enjoyed setting up the ADR F756R Vocal Stresser
which I had bought from a local FM radio station and they'd used since
the late '70s as the main processor for their on-air output, so I sold
it on eBay. The station engineer later told me that they were a bit annoyed because
upon reflection they said it was the best sound processor they'd had in
over 25 years and hadn't found anything that came close to it since - oops! The station has closed now, but I'm certain this did not have anything to do with it...! From what I've read, you'd need to be a fully qualified sound engineer to know how to set one up properly, and may have to replace all the many capacitors in it due to its age.

The old 2200 below the new 2600. The 2600 has a "tube" and "enhancer" button, as well as a de-esser. But it's not as good without the threshold/ratio control knobs of the 2200 so I don't like or use it.
As an aside, I am a great fan of voice-recognition software, and
as I've mentioned on previous pages which mics I use for this, I thought I'd
add here that I use a Behringer Xenyx 502 mixer to give the mic adequate gain
and a little EQ before going into the PC's soundcard. Alas, this particular mixer
model does not have phantom power so I would always suggest you buy one
that does so you've always got the ability to use condenser mics if you wish.
This was my mistake.
2018 UPDATE - IMPORTANT UPDATE ON PROCESSING
In late 2017 after 16 years of analogue Mackie-mixer-to-Behringer-processors (then briefly the dbx processor) to recording on the PC via a soundcard where I can hear in real-time exactly what is being recorded - fully processed and EQ’d, I purchased a USB audio interface device (an Audient iD14) so that there is no need for an analogue sound card - the interface digitises the audio and transfers it in real-time to the PC where it is digitally recorded with no analogue stage. For a while I tried plugging in the dbx compressor outputs into the USB interface, and it worked okay.
But one day I tried plugging my microphones directly into the USB interface input [which has renowned very low noise microphone preamps], and recorded my voice directly into my PC software without any real-time outboard EQ, limiting, compression or gating of the sound. I'm now using Sound Forge Audio Studio in Windows 8.1 after having used Cool Edit 2000 on XP since 1997 (it doesn't function too well on OS after XP). Not being familiar with the Sound Forge Audio Studio software as a user of Cool Edit 2000 for more than 20 years, and being used to having realtime audio processing setup using outboard devices, I actually found it very easy to apply good dynamic processing and a noise gate to the voice track audio I had recorded. In a blind test with one of my brutally honest video producer friends, he said he preferred the software processed version over the outboard processed version. Which sadly does now make a great deal of what I've described above with regards to outboard processors somewhat redundant! Hence this update. Obviously for live sound, broadcasting or streaming, you would need these outboard processors, but for recorded / edited audio, the processing could certainly take place within the software to your satisfaction. Since this moment on, I have not used my DBX 166xs compressor or Mackie mixer with microphones (I now use my Mackie on my desk to control the volume and source of what I listen to through my speakers whilst I work). I had even bought a Behringer Ultragraph Pro EQ and Virtualizer Effects Processor but never got round to setting them up.
I haven't tried any software based EQ yet. The functionality of this, and the missing 'filters' (e.g. putting audio through a telephone band pass) seems lacking compared with Cool Edit 2000.
ISDN
Full
time voice-over artists will have ISDN lines, essentially digital telephone
lines which allow you to 'appear' live in a recording studio or production
house anywhere in the world in digital clarity. They are by no means cheap
to install or keep going. The cost per minute, per ISDN line is 50p, and
you need 2 lines - so a 15 minute session (although it's the production
company who would dial in to you) would cost around £7.50 in call
costs. To convert your gloriously retro analogue audio into digital to
be sent down these ISDN lines, you need an ISDN codec. This not only sends
your audio signal from your mixer to the production studio, but also allows
you to hear them (just like a phone) so that they can direct you and tell
you when they're ready to record. A popular codec is the Prima
LT, which is nice and easy to use and is very high quality (although
the price is over £2,000). There are now pieces of software available
that do the same as the hardware but for around half the price, and AudioTX
is a popular version. ISDN lines give a VO cudos because they are expensive
things to have, show you're serious and allow real-time 'live' directing
from the session producer that recording a WAV or MP3 in your own time
does not. I suppose these days you could simply record the session as a WAV and just Skype with the studio so they hear what you're recording, then send them the WAV when the session is finished. Certainly cheaper than ISDN lines, which I think might be a bit old hat now anyway, since the time of writing this article originally.
 Years
ago, I used to have to record the voice sessions onto Minidiscs first
then record them from MD to the PC to edit. This was very time consuming
- essentially doubling the length of 'real' time it took to record a session,
but my old PC was just so noisy it was impractical to record a voice track
while it was on in the same room, especially before I'd discovered gates. I have since had Fujitsu Siemens and
Acer PCs, the latter being very quiet indeed. I've always liked Minidiscs
since I purchased the MZ-R3 in 1996 (right). I was a real Minidisc advocate, especially as it was competing with the DCC (effectively digital cassette tapes) at the time in a VHS vs Betamax style battle. My
original portable MZR3 doesn't work anymore now. My new portable is the MZ-R37 (pictured
right). The LP2 and LP4 recording modes of MD recorders today are incredible
- you'd be hard pushed to notice any difference. I've found so many uses
for my minidisc recorders that I'm tempted to buy some spares in case
they ever stop manufacturing them! I already have hundreds of blank discs
from a clearance sale item in Sainsburys (5 for £1). I tend not
to record voice tracks onto them now unless the client requests it. I'll
be totally honest here, they never have.
Digital Recording Workstations
I
bought the Tascam DP-02CF Portastudio, which is a digital multi-track
recorder, recording audio onto a removable compact flash memory card.
The idea was that I could record voice tracks whilst my PC was switched
off, and so have even quieter recordings with the more sensitive mics
I have. After a day of playing, I decided it wasn't for me. There's no
denying it looks like a very nice piece of kit, but I think a band or
musician would have much more use for it that me. My main nag is that
when you record a voice track, you then have to 'bounce' it in real time
to create a WAV file on the compact flash card to be able to edit on the
PC later. Perfect for mixing down songs with multiple tracks, but when
it's just recording one track with a mic it doubles the amount of time
spent recording, as you're listening to the entire session again. Without
this snag, I would have kept it. I still had the mic going through the
Mackie mixer and Behringer Composer Pro before the signal going into the
Portastudio - I need the gate function on the Behringer - can't live without
it now. You can change the frequency range that the high and low EQ pots
adjust, which is a nice touch. However, this could only be done in the
bounce stage, so you can't hear in real-time what effects any EQ change
has on the live recording. If the buttons were soft-touch rubber/silicon
instead of the loud 'click' type ones that it had, it would have felt
like a
higher quality product. I didn't get too much into it after realising
the bounce problem, but I can imagine a band or a composer loving this
kit. I was going to buy the Tascam DR-07 portable recorder (pictured right),
but wasn't sure if it was too flimsy and light with no XLR input or faders
so went for the DP-02CF which looks like it meant business more. I sold
my Portastudio to a nice musician in Battersea. I'm not sure whether I
deleted the audio I'd recorded onto it, which may have included me swearing
about the usability of said Portastudio. I'll never know!

Connections on the back of the Portastudio
PCs
It's no longer multi-track tape or DAT - computers, hard disk or even solid state recorders are now the norm for
recording audio in studios. Thankfully, in recent years, manufacturers
are becoming aware that even domestic PC users don't like the sound of
a large cooling fan humming constantly in their studies or living rooms.
This is beneficial to voice-over artists or podcasters because it brings
very quiet computers into the reach of everyone - they used to cost a
fortune! In theory, you can still spend money on having a silent customised
PC built, with a fanless power supply and solid state hard drive (SSD), doing away with fans and whirring
noises altogether. So far, I've gone half-way and installed a fan-less
power supply in my PC. To get it out of the way, I do not like Apple Macs.
They are too expensive.
A. At best - get a silent PC with no fans and a SSD
hard drive.
B. If not, a quiet PC (I've had Fujitsu Siemens and
Acers, they are both fairly quiet (not silent) and have heard some Lenovos
are as quiet) and use the 'gate/expander' section on your audio processor
box or software (see mixer/EQ section above) to automatically 'mute' the background
noise when you are not speaking. Using this when you record, if the
PC is under the desk, you shouldn't be able to hear it at all on the
recording.
C. If this isn't to your taste, extensions for your
mouse, monitor and keyboard so that your PC can be in another room.
Be aware that you'll have to extend your audio signal cable which can
potentially cause increased noise on the audio signal if it is not shielded.
D. The ultimate solution is an acoustically isolated
voice booth with your PC outside, monitor, mouse and keyboard inside.
Do not underestimate the difference a sound card has on your recordings.
I once connected my voice-over recording equipment to a different
computer and tried recording with the same software and equipment but
it sounded awful. The only difference was that I was using the on-board
soundcard that is built-in to the computer. I transfered my sound card
over and it was great again.
Personally, I used a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 which was well priced
and did all I needed. They aren't manufactured any more, but
a good spec sound card will make a difference - maybe even something like the Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5. I have tried other slightly
cheaper sound cards in other computers since then, and I was rather surprised
at the difference in audio quality that I noticed.
Cables & Headphones
I soldered my own 3 pin XLR cables using Neutrik jacks and Van Damme
LC-OFC quad microphone low-noise screened cable. I enjoy soldering and
find it rewarding. XLR plugs are a bugger to solder because you need a
total of 4 hands to do it, so be warned!
I used to use 8 ohm Beyer DT100 headphones, and sometimes Sennheiser
HD 480-13 II / 600Rs, although the Sennheisers aren't closed so if I got
too close to the mic is sometimes fedback if I'm having a 'deaf day' with
the volume up too high. I then used a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M40fs -
they really are superb but the foam ear pads have started to perish with
age. I now use a pair of Sony MDR-7506 (what a catchy model name!) which are one of the more popular pairs aside from Beyer. If only headphones all came with the velour
style pad - too many pairs of headphones with plastic leatherette pads
(or whatever it's called) have perished on me simply through use and it's a real pest. Indeed, the leatherette has split and is leaving black bits all over everything when you handle them. I've also noticed it's quite easy to get flesh from your hands caught in the mechanism of these headphones, which when nipped is really painful and can draw blood!
In late 2016 I was at Heathrow Airport and tried on some Bose QuietComfort 25 noise cancelling headphones. I'd first tried Bose noise cancelling headphones when they released their first pair back in about 2000. The noise cancelling really works and the result is quite striking. Whilst I was standing in the airport shop, it suddenly dawned on me that perhaps these headphones could be used when recording voice-overs to give a more ‘pure’ sound by cancelling out my voice from being heard as much in my ears, so that theoretically I would hear more of the actual sound signal being recorded and monitored than any sound from my voice in the studio. So I bought a pair when I got back home. They were by no means cheap at £230.
Plugging them into my amplifier, or home hi-fi gave an incredible earth hum, predominantly in the right ear. Disappointing. Bose suggested I buy an earth hum remover, but this had no effect. Plugging the headphones into my Blackberry mobile phone, laptop or my WiFi radio (which is mains powered) there was no earth hum. However, after speaking with Bose they explained how amplifiers that are mains powered often give this hum because they are grounded via mains power, and more to the point, these Bose headphones are not designed for use with mains powered audio equipment! They are specifically for Samsung/Android mobile phones and portable audio equipment (despite various comments on the dealer's website (Amazon) of how people have used them successfully with their home hi-fi). The headphones have a 4 contact 2.5mm very thin socket into which you plug the cable which has an in-line microphone and volume control on the cable, and the 3.5mm jack on the other end is also 4 point and is what you plug into the audio source. They are battery-powered, but as with many Bose items, switching the noise cancelling on puts the input audio signal through what can only be described as a Bose equalisation/exciter circuit, which changes the frequency response of the input audio to sound a bit brighter. It works well with Bose speakers -- I have a few Bose 102C equalisation units myself around the house, and they do improve the sound of Bose speakers by EQing the bass and treble, boosting them. Sadly, this equalisation only emphasised the earth hum making it even louder. So alas the experiment failed completely, I had to return them, and I'm now back to using the Sony headphones again.
The padding in the earpads of headphones does tend to perish over time. Why manufacturers are insistent on using the horrendous plastic leatherette material must surely be a decision based entirely on cost. I have found that it is fairly inexpensive to replace these with superior velour replacement pads in various colours, and it's not too difficult to fit these. This then gives life to the old headphones that may look a bit yucky.
Amusing Story: I had to do a voice-over once
for a clever cloggs audio producer who had 'been there and done that'
and let you know about it! As far as he was concerned, he was the bees
knees. But he was well and truly knocked back down to earth when he expected
me to do a session in a studio he'd set up that day. The microphones (Neumann
U87s - plural, because he was obsessed with stereo recording) were pointing
downwards towards the seat I was about to sit on, as if they were end-address dynamics
rather than side-address condensers! There's only so much you can fix
in the mix! I later heard he'd recorded a session with the mics in the
more conventional vertical position, but pointing the wrong way round...the
mind boggles.
TBU - Telephone Balance Units
This may potentially be going off topic a little. For many years I used a wireless headset to take phone calls on my landline so that I have both hands free to type instructions from the caller or to look for something or whatever.
One night I had been watching numerous videos on the excellent California Aircheck YouTube channel which documents American radio personalities in action on video in their studios throughout the decades. Other DJs can purchase the videos to see how it is done in other markets, or to see what it's like to be in the studio where one of their heroes or legends of radio is doing his or her magic.
It suddenly dawned on me whilst watching a video of Rick Party on WGCI in Chicago from 1994 that when he took off-air phone calls from listeners that were recorded to be edited and played back on air that he didn't wear headphones and was listening to the callers through the studio speakers. Yet he was talking to the callers through the main on-air microphone. It was effectively a speakerphone but routed through the main desk. When these calls were played back on the air, there was no hint of echo or feedback or any interference on the recording of the call that had just taken place - the caller audio was perfect. It suddenly dawned on me how great life would be to take phone calls through such a setup - the world's best audio quality speakerphone!
I immediately realised what the purpose of telephone balance units, a.k.a. TBUs, was. I'd heard the term for years, but never thought about them nor how they work, having assumed you always had to wear headphones to use them. They are quite incredible units with very advanced circuitry. It effectively cancels out the audio from the person calling you that is coming out of your speakers that is being picked up by the microphone that you are talking to the caller through. The caller doesn't hear their own voice echoing round your studio as the TBU circuitry cancels it out, and the audio of the caller coming through your speakers doesn't have your voice mixed with it. I immediately bought four units plus a spare - one for each of my incoming phone lines.

Three Sonifex HY-02 TBUs, a VU meter, another TBU and my Tascam MiniDisc recorder.
Sadly, the original units are slightly less popular now as everything moves to VoIP, but I still have two plain old telephone landlines and two VoIP lines and these TBUs do work on both, despite my TBU units being about 15 years old. They aren't the very latest version but rather the previous version of the current model. The latest version is probably a bit more souped up to deal with the longer delays of VoIP calls. I sent all of them to Sonifex, the manufacturer, to be serviced who were very helpful indeed and great to work with. I also built a desktop remote control for the units reusing some expensive Swiss made illuminated push buttons I had salvaged from some old Sonifex tape cartridge players from my local radio station. The other day I saw an air check video of the late-night phone in presenter on this station using the cart machines that these buttons are from which are now on my desk - full circle!
I've taken thousands of phone calls on these units from customers who have no idea whatsoever of the setup that I'm talking to them through, with their voice going through a mixing desk and coming out at some volume through the large monitor speakers, and that I'm talking to them through either a Sennheiser MD431 or Neumann TLM 103 microphone. I've asked friends how I sound and they always tell me it's incredibly clear and strong - better than a phone handset! I can EQ the caller's voice to make it clearer, or turn the level up or down if they are quiet talkers or shouters. Theoretically it would also be very easy to record or log these phone calls where the caller's voice could be in channel one of the stereo recording and my voice could be in channel two. I've been in on some horrendous conference calls over the years with groups in bare, echoey, reverb filled rooms and it's not easy to hear anything that is being said. If only they knew of the TBU - a low cost set-up would immediately improve the call clarity (although not the echoey rooms people seem oblivious to).
I suppose if I was linking this to a voice-over or podcast studio set-up advice, or even a small radio station, the TBU would be very useful if you wanted a client to hear the voice-over session live and be able to talk to you and give you direction on the delivery (which can be fatal!). Or you could have guests on your podcast interviewed over the phone. Arguably both of these applications are a little defunct with Skype these days. But for a radio station, I think they would still be absolutely useful. Not everyone has Skype.

So, cut to the chase - what equipment do I need to do podcasts
/ voice-overs?
I'm adding this section because I had a quick browse through the web
and saw lots of audio supply companies selling 'podcaster packages' of
equipment that were TOTAL OVERKILL and quite frankly a waste of your hard-earned
money! Kits included mixing desks for 8x microphones - crazy.
Below I list the essential equipment you'll need to record your voice
onto your PC so that it sounds nice and professional. Do these new USB
mics work? I don't know, I've not tried them, but you don't get much control
over the sound tone with them - no EQ, no gate, no limiter, no compressor.
Yes, you can do all that in software, but I prefer to hear it LIVE. From
the price, I'd assume they won't sound super-fantastic.
MIXERS -- UPDATE - if you are recording voice-overs off-line (ie not live broadcasting) then arguably, you don't need a mixer, just a good USB audio interface. Some small mixers have a USB connection, so you've got the best of both worlds.
What I used to say in this section was....
If you are only doing basic voice recording
/ podcasts, then you only need a small mixer with one to a few XLR mic
inputs (if you'll ever have guests). Behringer do a range of these mini-mixers.
As a rule of thumb, as soon as the models in the range start using sliding
faders, that's about the top-end of all you would ever need in a mixer.
My mixer is a Mackie 1202 and just has rotating knobs or 'pots' for levels,
as once you're set-up, you rarely touch them. You'll never be 'riding
the faders' like DJs in the 1980s on KIIS FM or Z100 or anything like
that. It needs to have phantom power so you can use condenser microphones.
It will also allow you to EQ your voice before the signal goes either
into a processor or your PC.
MICROPHONES -- Generally, the more expensive the microphone,
the more authentic the sound will be, but also the more of the room acoustics
it will pick-up. So if you're not in a sound proof booth, you'll probably
not want a Neumann that will pick up your dog licking his privates in
the next room! You can buy very respectable large diaphragm condenser
mics for less than $100 these days. They are at the top-end of the sensitivity
range you will likely need. I have an AT2020 and a (probably China-made)
Studiospares S1000 and they both, in my opinion, sound more flattering
than mics I've owned that cost 8x as much. What do I use? If
I'm voicing something for a telephone line, I'll use my SM57 dynamic.
If it's for broadcast on the radio, I'll use the S1000 or AT2020 condenser.
Simple as that.
PROCESSING -- If you have air conditioning, live near a busy
road, etc. do please seriously consider a gate function in your outbound
audio processor that will automatically mute the mic when you are not
talking, thereby muting any fan noise, PC noise, pipes clanking, etc.
Even if you do live in a quiet place (lucky you!) it's worth getting one
so that there's complete silence when you're not speaking. This makes
editing easier. UPDATE - you can apply a gate in most audio editing software these days.
SOUND CARD -- UPDATE - If using a USB audio interface, a sound card isn't so important now.
What I used to say in this section was.... I never thought it would, but a good sound card
really makes a difference. I'm not a person who buys into the 'solid gold
audio cables' for your hi-fi systems or anything, but after trying a few
soundcards, there is a very real audible difference between the cheap
ones and the ones that cost a bit more. So get a good one. 2018 UPDATE: OR get a USB audio interface which converts your analogue audio signal to digital and feeds it into your PC via USB. This is clearly the way it's going now, and I use an Audient iD14 which receives very favourable reviews and I am pleased with. If you don't need to do any real time tonal adjustment or compression, you can plug your microphone directly into it and then fiddle about with the sound in your audio editing software.
Here are the basics that you'll need to be in control of recording your
voice onto a PC:
Microphone |
A Shure SM57 (dynamic mic) should be fine for most voice
work. You'll need the gain on your mixer or USB audio interface cranking all the way up.
Want to sound more crisp / broadcast quality? Then an AT2020 or similar
fair priced condenser mic will be perfect. You may need a bit more
acoustic treatment if you're recording in an empty room. |
Mixer |
Allows you to increase the level of your mic, and change tonal quality
(EQ) so it sounds nice before it gets recorded by your PC. It will
also provide the phantom power for your condenser mic if you get one.
You'll be able to play audio e.g. music, from other sources (eg CDs,
MP3 player) and talk over them if you like. Just like being on the
radio! Heeyyyyy! |
Processing |
Allows you to process the output of the mixer so you sound more
'full' and the levels are kept within set boundaries (limited / compressed).
Also may come with a gate function (highly recommended!), which will
mute your mic when you aren't talking so that any PC noise, etc. is
silenced. Can be done in your audio editing software these days. |
Soundcard |
Get a good one and you'll certainly hear the difference. There are
lots out there with new models being released frequently. Mine's probably
considered realtive antique now. |
|
Instead of the three items above, you can now use a USB audio interface with your PC. |
PC |
I can almost guarantee that you are using one right now to read
this website! No particular suggestions here, but modern PCs tend
to be quieter in terms of internal cooling and power supply fan whirring.
Remember, unless you put it in another room and use lots of extension
cables for the monitor, keyboard, mouse, soundcard, etc.) the PC will
be switched on and whirring whilst you are making recordings! You'll
also need some sound recording software. Lots out there, Adobe Audition
is popular but pricey. There are others that are cheaper (and many
free to download!). |
Headphones |
Get 'closed' type, not 'open' type, then the mic won't pick up what
you're hearing. There are lots of good headphones out there from all
the major audio brands. I find 'over the ear' ones more comfortable,
although they do make your ears warm after a while, like wearing ear
muffs. |
Acoustic treatment |
If you are in a sparcely furnished room with bare walls, you'll
sound echoey on recordings. Simple things such as heavy blankets,
duvets or matresses absorb the sound and stop it bouncing back and
into the mic. Foam acoustic tiles are more aesthetically pleasing,
fairly cheap and could be used on surfaces around the mic to deaden
things. At a basic level, I have recorded with a duvet over my head
and the microphone (you must keep quite still for this to work). |
Here's my studio chain from 2001 to 2017:

Here's my studio chain from 2018 onwards:
My Current Equipment List

Microphones: (letter/number in brackets, see photo above)
RADIO MICS
Micron TX503 hand held radio mic 184.5 (A)
Micron TX203 hand held radio mics - 174.1 (omni), 174.8 (card)
VHF (B,
C)
Sennheiser SKM4031 (D)
Sennheiser SKM5000 (E)
OMNI REPORTERS MICS
Genexxa branded Shure omnidirectional reporter mic (like an RE50) (F)
EV RE50 (G)
EV RE50ND (H)
Sony F-112 (I)
Audio Technica AT804 (J)
Beyerdynamic M201 with windshield (K)
Sennheiser MD421 II (L)
Sennheiser MD441-U (M)
Sennheiser Blackfire 531 (similar to the MD431 below) (N)
Sennheiser MD431 II (O)
EV ND767a (P)
Sennheiser MKH416 (Q)
EV RE20 with 309A suspension mount (R)
Sennheiser BlackFire 511 (S)
Sennheiser BlackFire 518 (T)
Sennheiser MD918-U-T (U)
Audio Technica AT2010 (V)
Audio Technica ATR25 Stereo (W)
MXL 991 (X)
Audio Technica ATM31a (Y)

Audio Technica BPHS1 headset with mic (1)
Shure SM57 with A81WS (2)
Shure SM57 with A2WS (3)
Audio Technica U851R boundary mic (4)
Audio Technica AT2020 (5)
Shure 55SH II (6)
Realistic lavalier mic (7)
Vivanco lavalier mic (8)
Sennheiser MD908U (9)
MXL CR77 (10)
SE X1R Ribbon mic (11)
Shure SM7B (12)
MXL 990 (13)
Neumann TLM103 (14)
Viking Orpheum (15)
Audio Technica AT4040SM (16)
(mics not pictured:
EV RE15
Sennheiser BF518
Sennheiser MD908U
AKG D542E
Studiospares S1000
Audio Technica ATM21
DAP Audio PL07 (an SM57 rip off, not very good) )
Mackie 1202VLZ Pro Mixer
Allen & Heath Zed6 Mixer
Behringer X-32 Compact Mixer
Behringer Composer Pro MDX 2600 processor
Behringer Composer Pro MDX 2200 processor
dbx 166xs compressor/limiter/gate
Beyerdynamic DT100s x 2 headphones
Sennheiser HD 480 II headphones
ATH-M40fs headphones
Cambridge Audio amplifier
Studiospares SN10 Monitor Speakers
Monitor Audio Bronze 2 Speakers
Bose 101s, 151s, 171s, 502A Panaray speakers
Sony MZR3 portable Minidisc recorder
Sony MZR37 portable Minidisc recorder
Sony MDS-JE480 Minidisc recorder
Tascam MD-350 Minidisc recorder
Acousticheck 30 Acoustic tiles
Primacoustics Broadway Broadband and Control acoustic panels
Soundcheck Freestanding Acoustic Screen
Rode anglepoise desk clamp stand
DAP Audio anglepoise desk clamp stand
Floor mic stands
Table stands
I have previously owned, used and sold:
AKG D202
AKG C414 B-ULS
Electrovoice RE20 (since re-purchased)
Sennheiser MD421 II U4 (since re-purchased)
Shure SM7B (since re-purchased)
Shure SM81
Shure SM58
Shure Beta 57A
Shure Beta 87A
Oktava MK319
DAP VM-60
DM-065 'Nostalgic' vocal mic
SE Electronics Reflexion Filter
Tascam DP-02CF Portastudio
Symetrix 528E Voice Processor
Watch (and hear) the late great Don LaFontaine
talk about doing movie trailer voice-overs
Updated -
Thu, 17/08/23
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