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| Voice-over Recording Studio Tips - Page 2 Microphones, continued... Frequency Response Graphs You can see why the C414 is a popular mic.
My current favourite microphones are the AT2020 and the SM81, but if you're starting out or just doing podcasts, an SM57 is an excellent buy. Acoustics Ty Ford is spot-on when he 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." I have a number of foam acoustic tiles to deaden the sound in the room as the resonance from the bare walls was noticable on recordings. 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. 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. The main thing is surfaces such as walls should not be parallel.
Mixer & EQ
American readers can get an MDX2600 for $109.99 or a Mackie 1202-VLZ3 Pro for $299.99 ISDN
PCs Computers 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 customised PC built with water cooling, doing away with fans altogether. A. At best - get a custom silent PC with water cooling. 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. I 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'. I now use a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M40fs - they really are superb. 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 U87-esque - plural because he was obsessed with stereo recording) were pointing downwards towards the seat I was about to sit on, as if they were 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. My Current Equipment List Microphones: I have previously owned, used and sold: Electrovoice RE20
Watch (and hear) Don LaFontaine talk about
doing movie trailer voice-overs Updated - Thu, 9/10/08 Contact me to have your question answered!
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Microphones
- in conclusion...
I
purchased an SE Electronics Reflexion Filter after reading
a number of reviews praising it. It's 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, but alas, maybe not. Eventually, I wasn't very impressed
by it, so sold it on. 
I
use a Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro which I was sold on due to the incredible low
noise pre amps (now Behringer make unbelievably cheap mixers with the
same low noise levels - amazing!). I had used a Joe Meek VC3Q which was
impractically noisy when used with the C414 for voice work. The Mackie
has 4 mic pre-amps, so I could practically leave all my voice mics plugged
in and EQed all 
the
time. To give a more commercial sound, I use a Behringer Composer Pro
MDX2200 compresser, limiter, expander, gate, toaster, teasmaid, etc. It
works great - if I'd been more generous with the spends I would probably
have gone for a FocusRite, but for the price it's amazing. Now discontinued,
its replacement is the Behringer Composer PRO-XL MDX2600 which has even
more features including a de-esser, dynamic enhancer and tube emulator.
I'm not into knobs enough to have enjoyed setting up the ADR F756R Vocal
Stresser which I had, so I never bothered. I sold it on eBay. 
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 aren't cheap to install
or keep going, and BT seem to have a monopoly in the UK. The cost per
minute, per 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 £2000).
There are pieces of software available that utilise your broadband internet
line as if it were ISDN lines, AudioTX is a popular version. ISDN lines
give a VO cudos because they are expensive things to have. I do believe
they are becoming less popular as VOIP / AudioTX type software is allowing
the use of a broadband connection as a digital line. 
I
originally recorded the voice sessions onto minidiscs then recorded them
from MD to the PC to edit. This was very time consuming - essentially
doubling the length of time it took to record a session, but my old PC
was so noisy it was impractical to record while it was on. (Now I have
a Fujitsu Siemens PC which is very quiet indeed). I've always liked minidiscs
since I purchased the MZ-R3 in 1996. I'm very much a minidisc advocate.
The LP2 and LP4 recording modes of MD recorders today are incredible.
I've found so many uses for my minidisc recorders that I'm tempted to
buy some spares in case they ever stop making 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.