VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Fireside Grizzly]

Firstly, thanking the powers that be for adding me. I am a newby. I've recorded my demo tracks and I'm in the process of having them produced/engineered. For the past 4-5 months I've been working with a VO coach and using Audacity for practice. I know a few people who use Reaper and really like it, but I've also read a positive reviews of SF Audio Studio (not SF Pro). In this process of getting equipment and sound treatment for my recording space, I don't have lots of $$ to spend on a DAW, and I'm not sure I would need anything more powerful than SF Audio Studio or Reaper. Wondering if anyone out there can tell me the pros and cons and contrast the two options to give me a bit of perspective. My VO interests are primarily narration and audiobooks. Thanks in advance.

Bek

[Jason Huggins]

Welcome!

I've personalty never used SF Audio Studio. I know Reaper is pretty powerful, has decent plugins, is relatively easy to edit and record in, and does punch and roll recording.

[georgethetech]

I'd dig in to Reaper, way more powerful than SFAS, and if you learn the PnR technique you'll really be flying along. However, SF will have a shallower learning curve initially. The SFAS processing tools are pretty limited in comparison, too.
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[Fireside Grizzly]

Thank you both for your advice & opinions. Of course I like the idea of a easier learning curve, but I'd rather learn with a DAW that I can use long term with the most efficiency.
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[ccpetersen]

I use SoundForge on my studio and editing systems, Audacity on my traveling rig.
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[petenewman]

I just started using Sound Forge Audio Studio but can't seem to figure out how to split up a long form file into smaller files...can CC or anyone else that uses Sound Forge help?

[chrisvoco]

To save a file in Sound Forge into some number of smaller segments:

1. Create regions in the big file (easy way is to highlight the desired segment, then hit the 'R' key).

2. After creating all regions you want, go to Tools->Extract Regions, and then choose a path, set filename options, etc.

The individual segments are then saved as separate WAV files (if there's an option to set a default file format other than WAV, I haven't looked into it). What I generally do is then use the Batch Converter to convert the clump of files as necessary.
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[petenewman]

thanks Chris....the 'R' key creates a segment but when I then go to Tools...there'sd no 'extract regions' option?

[chrisvoco]

Eeek, I missed the "Audio Studio" part. I'm in SF Pro. A million times whoops!

According to what I can find online, the Extract Regions business is in the Pro versions only.

Darn it! Disregard me, please.
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Finally, Ford stops starting to say things and starts.

[chrisvoco]

The manual way to do it, then:

1. Highlight area, hit 'R' to make a region. Repeat as desired.
2. Double-click within region to select it.
3. CTRL + X to cut it out (or CTRL + C to just copy), then CTRL + E to paste as new file.
4. Save new file as desired then close it.

Quite a bit slower, but I don't think you can do it in Audio Studio in an automated fashion.
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Finally, Ford stops starting to say things and starts.

[petenewman]

It worked....thanks so much Chris for helping me out...
GAWD I LOVE THE VO-BB!!!

[chrisvoco]

You are quite welcome. Sorry the automated way can't be done, but glad you're at least semi-satisfied!

I like this place, too. All the folks here seem pretty neat.
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Finally, Ford stops starting to say things and starts.

[ccpetersen]

Sorry, late to the party here, but Chris got it. I tend to NOT make long recordings, and on a couple of projects have saved it in smaller bite-size chunks for editing. But what Chris suggested works, too.
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[chrisvoco]

Since this thread is also about Reaper, here's the manual equivalent for it:

1. Move to each point where new region should start, then hit 'S'.

2. Hold SHIFT and double-click each newly created item, then hit SHIFT + R to make it a region. Repeat as desired. The beautiful thing here is you simply keep the SHIFT key depressed the *whole time*!

3. Hit CTRL + ALT + R to invoke the Render dialog; choose "Project Regions" from the Bounds dropdown, set name prefix and render options, and click the "Render X Files."

...no, it doesn't render X Files - 'x' here is the number of files you'll get...

Also, in Reaper, you could automate the process, but once you get the muscle memory down, you can go pretty blasted quick using these steps.

Comparing this to the SF Pro equivalent, my preference is Reaper, only because I like the workflow better anyway and like to see as much of everything on the screen at once - SF is much more "modal," I guess I'd say.


And now, to do this same thing on the Orban DSE 7000... well, don't because you'll just wind up with a bunch of busted buttons and a poor engineer who curses you through clenched teeth.
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Finally, Ford stops starting to say things and starts.

[captain54]

I don't know if it still holds true, but Reaper could be run off a jump drive because of its low resource requirement.. Basically you could take it with you have it in our pocket to run off any computer anywhere. .pretty cool.
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