Advice on gear for Spoken word recording

lukedlb

I often do voice overs for companies or audio supplementary scholastic material. One company would like to make a small investment in a simple recording set up for their product videos. 
They already have a recent apple macPro with the complete Adobe software set.
Can you please suggest the following:
Microphone
Audio interface
Headphones (one for engineer, one for speaker)

Please also mention anything else that I might have missed from the following items:
Mic Stand
Spit guard (what's it called that goes in front of the mic?)
Mic cable
Interface cable
Music ledger/stand

I've always worked in isolation booths. To what extent can a small quiet room provide a decent dry recording? We will be using a small office. Would it be best to stand in the corner of the room facing the corner? I have some spare sound insulation foam panels that we could tape to the walls. This will only be temporary for 3 or 4 days. Something that can be set up again in the future without any hassle. 

I prefer not to read while watching the video; instead I prefer to provide the complete audio at 2 different speeds, leaving the editing up to the engineer. This means I won't require any extra video gear, nor have to worry about extra noise.

Working in two separate rooms could be helpful but not absolutely necessary.

I'm sure there are many aspects I've failed to consider. I've only ever been the talent. If this works out well, I might even invest into my own gear.

octatonic

lukedlb said:

I often do voice overs for companies or audio supplementary scholastic material. One company would like to make a small investment in a simple recording set up for their product videos. 
They already have a recent apple macPro with the complete Adobe software set.
Can you please suggest the following:
Microphone
Audio interface
Headphones (one for engineer, one for speaker)

Please also mention anything else that I might have missed from the following items:
Mic Stand
Spit guard (what's it called that goes in front of the mic?)
Mic cable
Interface cable
Music ledger/stand

I've always worked in isolation booths. To what extent can a small quiet room provide a decent dry recording? We will be using a small office. Would it be best to stand in the corner of the room facing the corner? I have some spare sound insulation foam panels that we could tape to the walls. This will only be temporary for 3 or 4 days. Something that can be set up again in the future without any hassle. 

I prefer not to read while watching the video; instead I prefer to provide the complete audio at 2 different speeds, leaving the editing up to the engineer. This means I won't require any extra video gear, nor have to worry about extra noise.

Working in two separate rooms could be helpful but not absolutely necessary.

I'm sure there are many aspects I've failed to consider. I've only ever been the talent. If this works out well, I might even invest into my own gear.

I've done a fair amount of VO work, as the recorder and the talent.

Microphone: Shure SM7b is a good first VO mic. I can suggest about a dozen others if you want but start with this.

The 'spit guard' is called a 'pop filter'.
It isn't for guarding against spit, it is for reducing plosives.
Audio interface: Focusrite or Audient make several low budget options that sound good.
Don't overthink this, but driver support matters.

You might also want to budget for a de-esser plugin, or hardware unit.
Does the Adobe suite have any EQ or Compression plugins in built?
If not then you will need a decent EQ and compressor (look at Fabfilter but there are free options too).
 
The room: Also don't overthink this. Anywhere that doesn't have too much external noise interfering will be fine.
A dynamic mic will reveal less of the room than a condenser mic (which is why I suggested one).
Don't face a corner, bass builds up X3 in corners (with floor and ceiling).

lukedlb

thanks @octatonic . The client will probably buy everything new from a local music shop, which is part of a chain with very good prices here in Italy. I'd like to propose two budgets: low and medium. I'm also considering buying a similar setup myself with the extra option of recording guitars from a cab. For the time being, I'd like to identify the shopping list for those two budgets. I've written a list of items that follow from the speaker all the way to the exported file. Please feel free to add items missing from the list and especially please recommend a product for a low and medium budget.

lukedlb

Music Stand
Pop guard
Microphone
Microphone stand
Mic cable
Mic pre amp
Audio interface
Interface cable
Mac pro
Audio software (plus de-esser and compressor and reverb plugin) 

Musicwolf

Some good articles re Voice Over here;

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/producing-professional-voiceovers-home-part-1 

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/producing-professional-voiceovers-home-part-2 

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/recording-voiceover-on-road 

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/session-notes-recording-voiceovers-sea  

lukedlb

Please bear in mind that I am a complete luddite when it comes to recording, both analogue and digital. The simple mention of Driver Support has me at a loss. I assume the driver is the software that manages the conversation between the audio interface and the recording software.

lukedlb

Musicwolf said:

Some good articles re Voice Over here;

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/producing-professional-voiceovers-home-part-1 

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/producing-professional-voiceovers-home-part-2 

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/recording-voiceover-on-road 

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/session-notes-recording-voiceovers-sea  

Thank you very much for suggesting these articles. I'll read them now.

Danny1969

I did shed loads of professional recording for software companies. Basically  actors \ actresses doing the dialog for games, everything from speaking lines to gargling noises for murder scenes ... also did loads of audio books and pod casts for various artist ranging from poets to practicing witches. I learnt a few things along the way 

You need isolation and you need broadband absorpsion. The faint hum of an AC unit or network router in the corner might not seem a problem until you need to heavily compress a softly spoken voice. Then it can be a big problem.

Too little absorption across lower mid frequencies results in something called chest hump and this is again made worse by the effects of compression. To get over both these problems we made a booth lined internally with 100mm rockwool and then covered with thick black material. This was cheap to make and worked superbly. I fitted wheels to it, a light and an external XLR and headphone feed socket. 

I got a lot of good results with an SE2200 which is quite a cheap condensor mic .... a quiet pre amp on the audio interface is a must as you may need quite a lot of gain on softly spoken talent ..

lukedlb

Danny1969 said:

I did shed loads of professional recording for software companies. Basically  actors \ actresses doing the dialog for games, everything from speaking lines to gargling noises for murder scenes ... also did loads of audio books and pod casts for various artist ranging from poets to practicing witches. I learnt a few things along the way 

You need isolation and you need broadband absorpsion. The faint hum of an AC unit or network router in the corner might not seem a problem until you need to heavily compress a softly spoken voice. Then it can be a big problem.

Too little absorption across lower mid frequencies results in something called chest hump and this is again made worse by the effects of compression. To get over both these problems we made a booth lined internally with 100mm rockwool and then covered with thick black material. This was cheap to make and worked superbly. I fitted wheels to it, a light and an external XLR and headphone feed socket. 

I got a lot of good results with an SE2200 which is quite a cheap condensor mic .... a quiet pre amp on the audio interface is a must as you may need quite a lot of gain on softly spoken talent ..

This portable booth seems ok.: https://voiceoveressentials.com/product/porta-booth-pro
I've always required a well-lit script behind to the left of the mic (so my vocal projection doesn't hit the pop guard straight on). 
Do you think a DIY approach with 5 sides of foam duck taped together might work? Did you make your booth a walk-in booth with one side open or was it something closer to the link?

lukedlb

Is Audiofuse from Arturia a little overkill? 

lukedlb

The DIY booth at the bottom of this page under Gearing Up could be good:
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/producing-professional-voiceovers-home-part-2

octatonic

lukedlb said:

Is Audiofuse from Arturia a little overkill? 

I wouldn't buy an Arturia audio interface personally.
It isn't their main thing- who knows how long it will be supported for.

Honestly, stick to the established brands- Focusrite, Audient, RME, Uaudio etc.

lukedlb

Anyone ever tried the Eyeball?
https://www.kaoticaeyeball.com

octatonic

lukedlb said:

Anyone ever tried the Eyeball?
https://www.kaoticaeyeball.com

Again, stop overcomplicating things.
A mic with a pop filter, a decent audio interface.

lukedlb

octatonic said:

lukedlb said:

Is Audiofuse from Arturia a little overkill? 

I wouldn't buy an Arturia audio interface personally.
It isn't their main thing- who knows how long it will be supported for.

Honestly, stick to the established brands- Focusrite, Audient, RME, Uaudio etc.

UA Apollo Twin?

octatonic

lukedlb said:

octatonic said:

lukedlb said:

Is Audiofuse from Arturia a little overkill? 

I wouldn't buy an Arturia audio interface personally.
It isn't their main thing- who knows how long it will be supported for.

Honestly, stick to the established brands- Focusrite, Audient, RME, Uaudio etc.

UA Apollo Twin?

Sure, good interface.
Can get expensive with plugins if you go all in with UA.

Also look at Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Audient iD4.

Danny1969

lukedlb said:

Danny1969 said:

I did shed loads of professional recording for software companies. Basically  actors \ actresses doing the dialog for games, everything from speaking lines to gargling noises for murder scenes ... also did loads of audio books and pod casts for various artist ranging from poets to practicing witches. I learnt a few things along the way 

You need isolation and you need broadband absorpsion. The faint hum of an AC unit or network router in the corner might not seem a problem until you need to heavily compress a softly spoken voice. Then it can be a big problem.

Too little absorption across lower mid frequencies results in something called chest hump and this is again made worse by the effects of compression. To get over both these problems we made a booth lined internally with 100mm rockwool and then covered with thick black material. This was cheap to make and worked superbly. I fitted wheels to it, a light and an external XLR and headphone feed socket. 

I got a lot of good results with an SE2200 which is quite a cheap condensor mic .... a quiet pre amp on the audio interface is a must as you may need quite a lot of gain on softly spoken talent ..

This portable booth seems ok.: https://voiceoveressentials.com/product/porta-booth-pro
I've always required a well-lit script behind to the left of the mic (so my vocal projection doesn't hit the pop guard straight on). 
Do you think a DIY approach with 5 sides of foam duck taped together might work? Did you make your booth a walk-in booth with one side open or was it something closer to the link?

It was 3 sided .... very heavy but so cheap to build 

Hopefully this googledrive link will work so you can see pic

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzNXTSNmOkbMZUlPYWs1Ukp5VFU/view?usp=sharing

lukedlb

octatonic said:

lukedlb said:

Anyone ever tried the Eyeball?
https://www.kaoticaeyeball.com

Again, stop overcomplicating things.
A mic with a pop filter, a decent audio interface.

Early work was done at a desk and then in a cupboard before we moved to a proper isolated recording room. The engineer said they all sounded good. However, a little isolation would help, wouldn't it? The eyeball could be an easy and small solution for the company to keep in their cupboard whenever they need to record audio for their products. They're 150 quid new. I've seen one used for 80.
Other than the Shure, which mics would you recommend for VO work?

octatonic

lukedlb said:

octatonic said:

lukedlb said:

Anyone ever tried the Eyeball?
https://www.kaoticaeyeball.com

Again, stop overcomplicating things.
A mic with a pop filter, a decent audio interface.

Early work was done at a desk and then in a cupboard before we moved to a proper isolated recording room. The engineer said they all sounded good. However, a little isolation would help, wouldn't it? The eyeball could be an easy and small solution for the company to keep in their cupboard whenever they need to record audio for their products. They're 150 quid new. I've seen one used for 80.
Other than the Shure, which mics would you recommend for VO work?

You could also try:

Neumann BCM104
Neumann U87
Neumann TLM103
Blue Yeti
Rode Podcaster
Rode NT1a
EV RE20
Audiotechnica 4040

lukedlb

Danny1969 said:

lukedlb said:

Danny1969 said:

I did shed loads of professional recording for software companies. Basically  actors \ actresses doing the dialog for games, everything from speaking lines to gargling noises for murder scenes ... also did loads of audio books and pod casts for various artist ranging from poets to practicing witches. I learnt a few things along the way 

You need isolation and you need broadband absorpsion. The faint hum of an AC unit or network router in the corner might not seem a problem until you need to heavily compress a softly spoken voice. Then it can be a big problem.

Too little absorption across lower mid frequencies results in something called chest hump and this is again made worse by the effects of compression. To get over both these problems we made a booth lined internally with 100mm rockwool and then covered with thick black material. This was cheap to make and worked superbly. I fitted wheels to it, a light and an external XLR and headphone feed socket. 

I got a lot of good results with an SE2200 which is quite a cheap condensor mic .... a quiet pre amp on the audio interface is a must as you may need quite a lot of gain on softly spoken talent ..

This portable booth seems ok.: https://voiceoveressentials.com/product/porta-booth-pro
I've always required a well-lit script behind to the left of the mic (so my vocal projection doesn't hit the pop guard straight on). 
Do you think a DIY approach with 5 sides of foam duck taped together might work? Did you make your booth a walk-in booth with one side open or was it something closer to the link?

It was 3 sided .... very heavy but so cheap to build 

Hopefully this googledrive link will work so you can see pic

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzNXTSNmOkbMZUlPYWs1Ukp5VFU/view?usp=sharing

Looks great. I’m betting there must be an alcove somewhere in the company. Although the factory floor noise is bound to cause problems. 

Pablo

No practical experience myself, but this might be some use:

https://marco.org/podcasting-microphones

I’m assuming recording podcasts might have something in common with recording voiceovers.