VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

SkinnyJohnny · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:26 pm Post subject: New Mic, New Demo

Hello,
I got a new mic (Telefunken AK 47) and was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on my new demo.
here
Thanks,
John
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John Weeks Voice Overs
www.johnweeksvoiceovers.com

Yoda117 · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:49 pm Post subject:

I like the sound of your voice in this one, but there are two things which immediately come to mind:

1) BG tracks are too loud compared to your voice. At times I had an issue differentiating. Just take it down a few dB.

2) the spot for the phone company. The voice on the phone sounded like the spokesperson to me... it shouldn't. Use some EQ to lower that floor and add some reverb to fix that.

I have to say that while the BG mix for the last spot didn't exactly wow me, I liked how you used it, especially with the panning of the effects (i.e., the barking).

The mic definitely likes your voice... keep using that AK-47
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

SkinnyJohnny · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:54 pm Post subject:

Thanks Yoda for the input! I'll make those changes you suggested.
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John Weeks Voice Overs
www.johnweeksvoiceovers.com

Yoda117 · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:02 pm Post subject:

It's just an opinion, and there are far more experienced VO folk here than I to comment, but give it a shot and let's see what happens.

Still liked the panning of the dogs though... that got my attention near the end (they should be paying attention to you, but you know what I mean Bitchin

)
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

SkinnyJohnny · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:32 pm Post subject:

I'll work on it tomorrow and once I get things adjusted, I'll upload the new file and let you know when it's there. So if you'd be so kind to give it another listen after the changes I'd appreciate it.
Thanks again for all your help!
_________________
John Weeks Voice Overs
www.johnweeksvoiceovers.com

Yoda117 · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:45 pm Post subject:

No problema.
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

SkinnyJohnny · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:14 pm Post subject:

OK, Yoda...
I made the changes and re uploaded the file to the original link above.
I didn't have time to change the music on the last piece, but I'll start looking for something else for that. Do you think the levels are better and out of the way now?
Thanks again!
John
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John Weeks Voice Overs
www.johnweeksvoiceovers.com

Yoda117 · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:17 pm Post subject:

Let's see.

I finding some major static on the demo around 57.4 seconds in (it's from the background track).

I'm still not liking the audio quality of your voice because of all the sibilance I'm hearing. Adjust your mic to suit, use an extra popper stopper, de-esser, whatever you've got to do there.

I applied a small dose of de-esser via one of my Lil' FrEQs and it seemed to do the trick, so it's not a major issue.

I liked the music being less intensive in this case, but still... something was missing. I tried to play my hand with some hard limiting through one of the Trakkers here and with minor futzing around (read less than 2 minutes for everything), came up with this

Maybe it's better... maybe not... what the heck do I know anyway? Smile

EDIT: MEH... I might have just done something bad with the limiting. Sorry about that Bitchin

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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

SkinnyJohnny · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject:

The noise problem will go away when I replace the bed for that last piece. As far as the sibilance, I can knock off some of the high end in my processor. I'm running the AK 47 straight into a Manley Voxbox with no compression, no eq and about a db or 2 of limiting, then straight from the Manley into the sound card (Lynx L22).
Thanks for taking the time and helping me with this.
By the way, I bought the mic from Adam at Mercenary and he mentioned you when I talked to him. Great guy!
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John Weeks Voice Overs
www.johnweeksvoiceovers.com

Yoda117 · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject:

LOL!

It was probably proceeded by that <expletive> Yoda!!

Adam and the guys at Mercenary are great guys, and know their stuff too.

I mean, you sound great on the AK-47, right?

Okay, de-essing is pretty easy... we just want to reduce some of the sharp "s" that we get, especially since there are so many uses of "s" in your reel.

Slightly address the mic to the side. Adjust as necessary and record at -16dB (which will help take some of the bite off). Up the level during the mixdown to something more your tastes.

Almost always, you'll have better results doing this before processing, rather than trying to fox it in the mix.

For imaging I can see using some compression in tracking, but keep it light. Save the rest for later in the process. EQ though is a personal thing. I kind of like to use some light shelving during tracking, some folks don't like using it till the end, and others are somewhere in-between.

Different strokes for different folks, and all that...

oh, and points for another Lynx user. I've got my AD/DA centered around them (clean as a whistle), though I'll be adding a CraneSong or two sometime down the road for expanded mastering capabilities.
_________________
Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

SkinnyJohnny · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:25 pm Post subject:

Adam had nothing but nice things to say about you.
Thanks once more!
_________________
John Weeks Voice Overs
www.johnweeksvoiceovers.com

Yoda117 · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:18 pm Post subject:

Not a problem.

Adam's good people... but you already knew that Wink

_________________
Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones