VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[juliaknippen]

Say you have ~$5K to spend on outfitting a 150 square foot space that is half sound booth and half control room - to be used to self-record and for a sound engineer to record others. Assuming you don't have to buy any soundproofing or sound absorption materials, and you already have a computer and a 416 but no other equipment, what else would you buy to outfit a professional, fully-functional voiceover recording studio (as opposed to an audio-post studio)? Projects to include broadcast TV/radio commercials, promos, audiobooks, podcasts, and other narration work. Capabilities to include phone patch, SourceConnect, ipdtl, and possibly ISDN, mix-minus playback for remote-directed sessions, control-room to booth talkback. What would your dream-gear be for those demands on that budget? Specifically looking for recommendations for mics, mixers, and pre-amps to have some flexibility for making adjustments to record voices other than my own. I've got some ideas but really want to get the most bang for my buck.
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www.juliaknippen.com
Her Voice Will Grow on You

[Rob Ellis]

If you will be generating income by recording not only yourself but others, I would say go with an industry standard mic like a U87ai. If you shop right on ebay they can be had with shockmount for around $2500. For voiceover you already have one industry standard, the 416 but if you will be recording others it would be ideal to have a U87ai around as well.

Then throw in a John Hardy M1 preamp for around 1K, an Audient ID22 if you need an interface for about 5-$600 and you should be good to go .........if you need a mixer you could get a Mackie 802VLZ for around $175.....and still be about $750 under budget.

This is ALSO assuming that your recording space is up to snuff for an extremely sensitive condenser mic such as the U87ai.

Can't wait to hear what the rest of the crew has to say.......

[juliaknippen]

Thank you, Rob! Exactly the advice I'm looking for
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www.juliaknippen.com
Her Voice Will Grow on You

[Bish]

Rob's ideas are pretty solid. The Audient iD22 and the Mackie should get you out of any routing/patching problem. I may push up to the 1202VLZ as it has more flexibility for not much more cash... (you can never have enough ins and outs and knobs to twiddle!). If you are entertaining others, you may want a couple of pairs of good headphones (there goes another couple of hundred bucks)... and I saw no mention of control room monitors... M-Audio, KRK... there are plenty to choose from (I like the KRK Rokit 6 at the moment). Headphone amp in the booth? All these things add up... especially when you connect everything together with GOOD cables (and some spares on-hand).

Sounds like a great project... and don't worry... we all love to spend other people's money
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

[juliaknippen]

Thanks, Bish! I'm definitely looking to get control room monitors, headphone amps for the booth and several sets of headphones. And lots of good cables!
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www.juliaknippen.com
Her Voice Will Grow on You

[Jason Huggins]

If you wanted to save a couple hundred, you could buy a used iD22 from a fellow VO here on the BB

Check out these XLR cables:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KWINE9Y/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Much cheaper than Mogami or Monster, yet just as good in terms of sound quality and durability.

For a headphone amp, the Presonus HP4 gives you 4 solid channels of clean gain.

[Rob Ellis]

[nick]

Hmmm, guess I will start with saying that I am a newbie in this so everything I say must be scrutinized by those who are more informed. However, I have an audiophile background and used to build stereo speaker systems as a hobby, so I know a little about sound.

I think one needs to ask themselves more questions before picking components, such as ... what is my signal chain going to look like? So, will it be mic to preamp or mic to channel strip? Where will signal processing be done? This is an area where I need some guidance myself.

Right now, I have a channel strip and I lightly use the de-esser that is built in. However, I found that (at least at this point) I prefer the compressor/gate that is part of the software included with my audio interface because it is less evident in the final result. I guess I could use some type of post-processing but I have yet to investigate that. So, do you want a mic preamp and a seperate processor, or do you want them combined in one unit?

Anyway, here is a link to some top picks for voiceover preamps and channel strips. http://www.mixwerk.com/news-blog/430-best-voiceover-preamps.html

When choosing an audio interface, you will want to consider what type of I/Os are available and what type of computer you have. Do you have a PC or MAC? Do you need Thunderbolt, Firewire or USB connectivity? At the same time, it could be important to know which DAW you will be using. Some hardware is purpose made for certain DAWs. An example is that if you will be using Cubase, the logical choice might be Steinberg's Recording Package 1. Some audio interfaces include a DAW when you purchase them. Something else to consider.

You may want an audio interface that also controls your studio monitors and headphones. A couple of examples are...

Mackie Big Knob
SPL Creon USB Audio Interface

Yes, you will need at least one pair of studio monitors and a couple of pairs of headphones: closed back headphones for the VO talent (so that they do not bleed into the mic) and open back headphones (for richer detailed sound) for the control room. Here is an industry secret, these are some of the flatest, most detailed headphones you can get for a bargain price... Fostex T50RP (semi-open) and Fostex T40RP (closed back). Yes, I know what the "industry standard" brand and model is for open back and closed back headphones and I would not own either one of them.

Monitors: You need at least a 5" diameter woofer, do not get anything smaller. You need to spend at least $1000 to get GOOD monitors. Everything in your signal chain needs to be golden. If you have a U87 mic, do not run it through $200 audio interface and $200 monitors. That does not make any sense. Your monitors must be up to the standard of your overall system. Look at Neumann KH 80 and KH 120, Genelec M030 (or better). If you must stay under $1000, here is the low price alternative: the Focal Alpha 50 or Alpha 65. I personally have the JBL LSR305s and they are by far the best sounding in their price range (only $300/pr) but in the end, they are still "budget" speakers and if I start making money with VO, the Neumanns will be high on my priority list of upgrades. [Oh, and yes, I will be building my own monitors one day, when I have the time. I already have the parts.]

One lesson that I "thought" I had learned many times is that upgrading is very costly. Why do I not follow my own advice. It is cheaper to get what you want/need the first time. As they say -- cry only once. And yes, yes I did go ahead and get Mogami cable. It may not make ANY difference but... see above.

[todd ellis]

[juliaknippen]

Hey Nick - welcome to the VO-BB! Thanks so much for the detailed info. FYI - I'm on a mac. Twisted Wave is my DAW of choice, but I'm thinking I may need to have ProTools, Reaper, or something more bona fide on hand for pro sound engineers that utilize the studio.

In my current, tiny whisper room setup, I have a Rode NT1A going into a Scarlett 2i2, going into a Mackie 802VLZ, going into the computer. I don't do any processing going in.

I'm open to tools that add processing via the signal chain, but I can't go nuts with my budget, obviously. I wondering if there are one or two standard boxes that engineers use often for VO recording on the input side.

Todd - good, quality cables. Yes!
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Her Voice Will Grow on You

[Bish]

Be careful... this thread has the propensity to descend into a pre/post processing discussion

I'm firmly on the side of post-processing (if needed) after getting as clean a signal down as possible. This is why I think the iD22 is a good idea... the preamps are really clean and add no colouration (to my ears)... plus the in/out capabilities are quite comprehensive. If you start taking suggestions for channel strips and pre-amps to go with your 416 and (possible) u87... well, that way lies madness, with as many options/opinions as there are purchasing opportunities
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

[FinMac]

+1 to what Bish wrote about the iD22. It has nice, clean micpres, and you can use another micpre if you prefer to, and bypass the internal micpres.

It is possible to set up a mix minus with it as well, and it has great converters, a step up from your Scarlett. The only thing I don't like about it is the HPF is set to 100 Hz. It does not have a talkback mic, so you will have to find a way around that.

The headphone amp on the iD22 is great as well, but it is for one set of headphones.

Some studios that I have worked in use the Avalon 737, which is an expensive option, while my favorite studio uses either an A Designs P-1, or a Focusrite ISA 428 MKII as their pre of choice. This studio has different mics for different recordings, such as using a couple of CAD e-100s for four voices, or the Neumann TLM 103 for some voices, and even an old AKG C414 on my voice sometimes.

Another studio has a vintage U87 that sounds great but I don't remember the micpre they use.

Hope this helps!
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www.scottsvoiceover.com - An American voice in Finland

"If you want to get to the top, you have to get off your bottom". (Unknown)

[juliaknippen]

Thanks, Scott and Bish! I pulled the trigger and bought Jason's ID22, so cross that one off the list
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www.juliaknippen.com
Her Voice Will Grow on You

[Jason Huggins]

And I thank you for that

Scott, you actually can set up s Talk back mic with the iD22 and use a button on the hardware unit and button on the software mixer to trigger it. I used it as a cough button on my main mic so I could just click it in the booth and mute my output. You could set up a second mic on channel 2 and set it as tailback. Then you just have to route it into the headphones and your golden.