VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Bill Eshelman]

Hi all,

Yes, I am a lurker who never really introduced myself to the BB so I will.

My name is Bill. I come from a production background and love most things audio. While producing radio and tv spots the inevitable "can you just read it until we hire the talent" lead to "hey you aren't too bad" Next thing you know I have these visions of grandeur. Well, not really because I am my worst critic and thanks to lurking here have learned just how long the road to success can be. Although I am getting several reads a month now I am at the point where I'm ready to find some coaching of some sort.

All that said, I just want to thank all of you for all the subtle, fun advice you give here and it is very appreciated.

Oh, and I have a question to throw in...
Is it proper when submitting auditions and/or finished reads to use eq and compression? I know if you use a ton it would be overkill but I mean enough to give the read "a sound"

Thanks for any suggestions.
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If you want to go further in life, take bigger steps.

[Bruce]

Welcome, again, to the board. We had this discussion many moons ago and I believe the general consensus was:

- for auditions EQ and compression are acceptable in that they sound more like the finished product and some buyers don't have the imagination to hear you "beefed up".

- for finished reads going to a professional studio the word is dry, dry, dry. Let them do what they want to do.

- for finished reads going to end users who don't have much idea of what EQ and compression are, then adding your own is probably a good idea. The trick is to guess who wants what. You can always send the opposite if that's what they wanted.

Diverging opinions are welcome.

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. .

[Mike Harrison]

What Bruce said.

My two cents: When you'll be sending your work to an established production facility, yes; dry. But it's always a good idea to ask them their preferences with regard to specs: file format (wav, aif, etc), sample rate (44.1 or 48kHz) and maximum peak level. The less they have to change/convert, the more they'll like you.

Most video houses that I've worked with prefer 48kHz and a max peak level of -6db. This, along with unprocessed audio, gives them the most flexibility to shape the sound to their needs. I've not worked with anyone who's asked for anything over 16-bit, but that's not to say they're not out there.

There are some eLearning clients who want their audio delivered not as a single file, but each "frame" or "slide" in a file of its own. And, using some of my clients as an example, they like each file to begin and end with a full second of complete silence.

Some clients won't know what you're talking about (or won't care), but when you ask the established places for their preferred specs, they'll appreciate your attention to detail.

And we like clients like that.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[Lee Gordon]

In my opinion, if you add processing, there are only a few possible outcomes, most of them bad. If you know the recipient is a production house, you know from personal experience to send those dry because adding the processing is their job and they don't want you doing it for them.
If you don't know if the recipient is a production house, sending them something processed will probably be bad, if it turns out they are.
If it's just Joe Blow Retailer or Sally Smith, in-house Corporate Video Producer, their idea of what sounds good may not be the same as yours -- if they even have an idea, which you may never find out.
The once instance in which it could be beneficial to send something with a bit of EQ and/or compression is to make your demo stand out when compared side by side with another one. However, that would only work if they like your read exactly as much as the one it's being compared with. If they like Bruce's read better than yours and he sent his flat and not even normalized, they're still going to pick him over you (or me), regardless of how much yours (or mine) jumps out of the speakers.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[Frank F]

+1 to Lee.

I follow the KISS system (Keep It Simple Silly). Send it without processing all the time, therefore you are not likely to make a mistake and send someone who does not want processing a processed file.

Always send out work YOU can be proud of presenting. Good high quality audio, no clicks or wows, nothing which would detract from the message you are sending - even the subliminal one which says "I am d#%& good, hire me".

Be a professional.

Live up to your own hype.

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[heyguido]

I've said it before, I'll say it again...

Luvs me some Frank.

... and some Lee.
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[Lance Blair]

I send auditions with 2:1 compression to reign in the peaks and keep a more consistent level and then a slight bump (2dB) at 2kHz and a dip from 250-400 Hz (again 2dB).

I will do the same for e-learning and corporate clients that don't do much post work other than chop & paste and take out any clicks and ticks for them if they're there and duck out any big breaths (with a quick fade over it to -15dB) to taste.

Everything else is sent dry.
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Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

[Ed Fisher]

I know of some VO folks who will routinely send it BOTH ways and they report that "most of the time" the processed one is chosen.

But, this way, they still give the producer the choice.
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"I reserve the right to be completely wrong."

[Bill Eshelman]

Well, this all sounds like good advice but it's all different advice. My feeling was to eq just a touch for my own liking and only a touch of compression when necessary so that falls in somewhere between the suggestions. I do like the "send both" approach idea and may try that too. Thanks for the knowledge everyone!
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If you want to go further in life, take bigger steps.

[Kristin Lennox]

I send both. I have no idea which they prefer, but it takes me literally 2.5 seconds to apply my settings to the raw audio, so I consider it added value to send both.
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Always look on the bright side of life.

Dee doo. Dee doot doot doo dee doo.

my website

[Bruce]

Dan-O of this board had a post on FB some time ago about a read he did for a national client....great stuff to put in a demo or as something to point potential clients to. However, they did nothing to the audio. It sounded flat and lifeless.... unusable for his purposes. He was p.o.'d to say the least.

So asking first, or sending both may be a good idea if you don't already know it's a professional studio.

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. .

[Lee Gordon]

Asking and/or sending both makes sense once the deal is done, but for auditions, I'd stick with dry. There are occasions, however, when the specs of an audition seem to indicate that it would be up to me to apply a specific effect (i.e. robot, guy on a megaphone, Darth Vader, etc). In those cases, I usually send both, along with an explanation that that's what I had done.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[Bill Campbell]

If its going to TV stations directly, I pump it up. Most of those TV station producers don't know audio. Never had a complaint.

I also process for all non-pro end users, elearning, web stuff.

Audio production houses, send dry .wav files.
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www.asapaudio.com

[johndavenportvo]

I like what Bill Campbell said. I have sent dry stuff before to TV stations and the audio did not come through like I had hoped. I like to send both when I can.
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John Davenport
Johndavenportvo.com

[D Voice]

I agree with...everybody.

[Of course in discussion like these, I find it amusing that especially the guys with the voice of god/ "golden pipes" will of course always tell you to send it dry. Not sure that applies to us mere mortals]

The big crap shoot- (gotta love the double euphemisms there)- is we can't be sure what the people deciding our fate are listening on.

Ideally we would be sending our clean, dry .wav files to the client, who would listen to our auditions in a studio control room with great acoustics and monitors, and an engineer who says. "I know exactly what this one needs", and he would set tweak and sweeten, and the client would be comparing one optimal sounding audition with another.

As we know, the problematic reality is, most times the client is an agent, or quite often somebody lower down the totem pole at the production company, who was told to "pick out 5 and bring 'em to me". They are more likely than not listening on their laptop, maybe with one that has a pair of external speakers while they are responding to email, doing paper work or on some social a- i.e. possibly limited attention and imagination.

Unfortunately most of them are not aware of compression or normalization levels, and just think that louder, somehow "sounds better" and pops out. So if you are comparing with yourself somebody else who's audition is louder and you are sending one at a lower level and dry- DEPENDING on what they are listening over- too much volume or compression, and they will just turn the volume way down, the way your mom used to do when "that darn noise" was on the radio/stereo.

That said, nowadays, I mostly send them dry, but when I do process, I always make sure to mention that I have done a bit of processing but to let me know and i can send the dry file immediately if that is what they prefer.