VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[mcm]

My troubles didn't really end when I got the new AT4060 and Symetrix. But I think [fingers crossed] that they ARE over now. I will tell this story to help anybody who might ever be in the same situation.

The Symetrix arrived first, so I had it set up with the Rode mic and was feeling ever so powerful with all those EQ settings and compression and noise gates.... YOW!! So cool. After the new mic arrived, I found my volume fluctuating a LOT. I'm thinking, what, is my technique so lousy with this mic? Do tubes not play nice with my voice? So, ladle on the compression. Still not enough so I had to add compression with software. The majority of the work I do these days is commercials, since all I got is a commercial demo, so nobody complained about the compression. Then a week and a half ago a narration client asks for some work, I do it, and their editor calls and says, what the heck are you doing to your recordings, I can't make them do what I want!!! That was the beginning of 10 days of hair-pulling. One of our board wizards way west of here (who shall remain nameless to protect his privacy since his phone would be ringing off the hook if everybody knew the lengths to which he would go for his VO cyber friends but he knows who he is and he knows how much I love him) listened to endless mic/processor tests for me and also Kevin GoldenEars Genus provided an opinion at a critical juncture which was an acoustic breakthrough... (not worried about Kevin's privacy, he just won't answer the phone 'cause he thinks it's that pizza delivery guy he shafted last summer)

Long story longer: the AT4060 cannot tolerate any noise gate - at least with my voice. And it sounds FAR better with no processing whatsoever, no de-essing, no compression, no equalization, nuttin'. I may have lost a gig over this, but I hope not - I re-recorded everything and sent it off and will not charge for it - but at least I've learned some valuable lessons about processing - ask the client what THEY want. Duh, you wouldn't think it would take a year to learn that, but I AM kind of slow that way.

Equipment Conclusion: the AT4060 is working out just fine for me. The Symetrix - not sure why I spent close to $500 for a volume controller.

What I find so funny about all that I've been through, is that I've been looking for equipment that would make me sound better than I am. When I finally got a good sound out of this equipment, I realised it was because it sounded like me. And I like that. Kinda cool, huh? Especially considering that my 4th grade teacher taped us kids reading the Wind in the Willows and when I heard my voice reading the part of the Mole, I just wanted to die, I had never been so embarrassed in my life, I kid you not.

Moral: Look for equipment that brings out YOUR best. And good luck finding it.

And thank-you, dear Wizard, for all you have done for me in the last year.