VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[mythwoman]

Hey Everyone,

I know lots and lots of VO talent who record at home are self-taught but unfortunately I'm a hands-on learning kind of person.
I've found a Audio Production/Radio course at one of the local junior colleges near me and I'm considering whether or not to sign up.
Right now I use soundforge and I like it a lot. But the college course teaches with Adobe Audition and a little of Pro Tools.

I basically want to learn to record better and not panic when someone asks a question about sound levels, or effects or adding music.

Would some of the VO talent who visit vo-bb, and who are not self-taught, please tell me what kind of training they took in recording or audio?
College courses? Online courses? Recommendations?

Please let me know your thoughts!
Mary

[Edo]

When I started to get comfortable with audio, internet was not yet. So I learned along the way watching people do stuff. I would actually strongly advise against everyone on the net offering courses. Obviously you need basic skills to record audio, but somebody showing you 1-on-1 will always be better. Why not contacting your nearest local radio station and ask whether you can hook up with someone over there showing you the ropes? Or maybe some boardmembers feel like offering a hand. But you're ever so welcome to ask ANY question you might have. Also, there's a wealth of knowledge on all sorts of technically related questions regarding homerecording. Use the search engine on the board and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Else... we'll just help you!

Good luck!

[KaraEdwards]

I learned all of my production skills working in radio. I produced a morning show for a few years, and also spent 6 years working at Radio Disney doing different levels of production.

Perhaps an internship at a radio station? Though most are automated now, you might be able to work with the imaging person- or on a morning show.

(Keep in mind I've been out of radio a while, so this may be a really dumb idea in this day and age...)

Edited to add: Maybe an internship at a local studio is a smart idea. Offer to help with the mundane paperwork in exchange for learning as much about sound design as you can. I've actually considered this myself!
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Threadjackers local 420

Kara Edwards
http://www.karaedwards.com
kara@karaedwards.com

[Bruce]

I learned in radio, which is a path I wouldn't recommend these days.

This is potentially a little risky, but also might pay off. What about placing an ad on Craig's List in your area, maybe under the "tv/film/video" category, asking for assistance in learning home recording techniques. There's nothing like someone showing you on you own equipment and then watching and advising as you try each step. There might be another voice talent who'd be a good teacher. Are you in a big enough city where you might find a friendly compatriot?

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[ricevoice]

SoundForge is a fantastic product for recording and editing audio (I use it myself everyday), but it's pretty cumbersome for full-on audio production so I wouldn't let the fact that the college course doesn't cover that piece of software be a dealbreaker... if your goal is to offer audio production services you'll need to learn multi-track editing with a multi-track editor such as Audition, ProTools, or Sony's Vegas (which I'm a huge fan of).

Since you're already familiar with the Sony software, here's the link to the Vegas page: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiohd/audiotools
It looks like they now offer 4 different versions of varying capabilities/price (I linked to the entry-level one), and the other nice thing about Vegas is it's a great video editor too.

My guess is a lot of what they'd teach in the college course (mixing, compression, eq) would be universal info that you could apply to any platform. And having used both Vegas and Audition 3.0, they're not completely different animals. Ditto ProTools. Once you learn the basic concepts they're very transferrable across platforms.
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Chris Rice - Noisemaker
www.ricevoice.com

[whalewtchr]

Roadie with a band and hang out with the sound guy. (This is the most fun, don't know how much learning would be going on)

Find a local recording studio and ask about an internship...most engineers don't want to be bothered but you never know if you don't ask.

Pro Tools and Audition 3.0 classes, take them. Acting classes take them. Oral Interp take that class it's fun. Hang out in Drama Dept. not Radio Dept.

Our radio station(s) still offer internships and we teach Adobe Audition 3.0 skills, copy writing and basic mic techniques--most radio stations are still PC platform not MAC. Call your local radio station and ask to speak to the Production Director, see if they would take you on as intern in the Production Department not the Promotions Department.

Volunteer to read stories to children at your local library

Get a part-time job at a Music store that sells sound gear and recording equipment...you will learn tons.

Most important. Do it. Practice, make mistakes, do it again.

Hope this helps.
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jonahcummings

[Mike Sommer]

When you're doing nothing, play with the program. That's how you learn.

Record some tracks and practice editing them, adding production. Fiddling and fooling around with settings, this is how you learn. Remember you can't break anything in a program.


Let me also say, almost any course in any DAW will help you. It's all basically the same thing, they just name things differently and put them in different places. If you can learn the basics in one program, you can learn it in another program.

So if you can get a lesson at the local junior college, take it. If you are not sure about it, ask if you can speak the instructor about your situation. I'm sure they can accommodate you.
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Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[mythwoman]

Hey All!

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, ideas and opinions.
I received a copy of the syllabus for the Audio Production class and now I've decided to sign up for it so I can learn about sound and recording techniques. That way if I decide to pursue something like an internship at a professional studio I'll have something to work with. The class uses Adobe Audition but then will go into some basic training in Pro Tools. If I decide to attend the second part of the course in the Spring semester it will be all about Pro Tools.

Thanks again everybody!
I think the class will help me a lot!
Mary