Equipment Essentials for Voiceover/Narration?

Chakra5films wrote on 6/11/2005, 11:40 AM
Hey Guys -

I'm just starting to learn the audio end of things. I had initially focused on learning my NLE (vegas), but now is time to get more into audio, so I need some help:

I need to record narration/voiceover into a documentary I am doing. I have a standard Windows PC (2.5 1Gb RAM) with a standard crappy souncard. Because of budget constraints, I am trying to get away with using a short-shotgun (AT 897) to do this, but I am not adverse to buying a budget condenser if y'all think it's crucial and have a recommendation. Other than that I have a few other questions:

Should I replace the soundcard with another internal, or get something like the M-Audio firewire solo? I have no need to record music, just vocals.

Also, If I do get M-Audio Firewire solo, must I also get a mic preamp? Any recommendations there would be helpful as well. I do already have a Beacktek, but that will not help me here as far as a pre-amp, correct?

So, to sum up - I have a windows based PC, an OEM crappy soundcard and a Beachtek. What do you recommend as far as a decent set-up to record good audio into the computer? Also, if you have any opinions on using a stand-alone audio recorder for this purpose, I would welcome those as well.. :)

Thanks in advance to all of you on these great forums. Any limited knowledge I do have in this interesting field is a tribute to all of you here.


Marc
chakra5 Films

Comments

Nat wrote on 6/11/2005, 12:07 PM
I've been recording narrations with an Audio-Technica 3035 microphone for almost 4 years and I'm very happy with it, great sound, not too expensive.

If you record only narration the FireWire Solo looks like a good choice, you can use the built-in mic preamp which should give good results.
seanfl wrote on 6/11/2005, 12:25 PM
I'd consider trying the current card and seeing if it sounds horrible or acceptable. I've done voiceovers that have run on national tv using a dell laptop built in sound card. Did it sound as good as the 700 card I usually use? nope. but it passed and thankfully wasn't noisy or grainy.

You could consider getting an all in one mic processor that would provide phantom power, expansion, eq, and some compression. Those are the keys to having a voiceover that will sit well over music or at least have some presense in a mix. You *can* do all of that internally with vegas. Sometimes it's easier to start with nice sounding audio up front.

Sean
Nat wrote on 6/11/2005, 12:34 PM
I agree with sean, joemeek does an inexpensive preamp with a compressor, the threeq, quite nice.
Spot|DSE wrote on 6/11/2005, 12:52 PM
Essentials:
Good mic pre (critical for professional work)
Shotgun or large diaphragm mic, depending on the sound you're going for. The mic and pre are where your main costs will be.
Good soundcard-you don't need one with a mic pre if you get the pre separately. However, some sound cards, Echo, M-Audio, a few others have decent pre's built into them, for V/O work, these pre's should be fine.
Quiet room, or room that has been treated properly. (You can also make a fairly inexpensive voice-over box)
Quality cable
Good chair/stool that doesn't squeak
Music stand that is non-metallic for best audio. A clip/paper hang work well for this.

Vegas is great for V/O's because not only is it fast, but you can apply FX on input for monitoring, but still modify them later. So, you can work on getting "just the right sound" with EQ and compression, and then record, keeping those settings. The EQ and compression/FX aren't recorded to HD, so you can modify these at any time.
Chakra5films wrote on 6/11/2005, 1:14 PM
Thanks for the input guys - I might just get like an Audio Buddy pre-amp and try and fool with it in Vegas...

Spot, one question on applying the FX for monitoring: Are you saying that if I fool with the settings, get something I like and then record, then those settings will be recorded? That those settings will be part of the .veg file, and not the sound file itself?
Spot|DSE wrote on 6/11/2005, 1:19 PM
Are you saying that if I fool with the settings, get something I like and then record, then those settings will be recorded? That those settings will be part of the .veg file, and not the sound file itself?

This is exactly what I'm saying. In fact, if you want to set it up so your projects open with that exact sound each time, you can do that, too.
Chakra5films wrote on 6/11/2005, 1:31 PM
great - could you be so kind to tell me how to do that? It would be nice to have that kind of automoation.

Spot|DSE wrote on 6/11/2005, 1:57 PM
Set up the track so it sounds the way you'd like it to sound.
Right click the track header, and select "Set Default Track Properties" and whatever is on that track's parameters will be stored as a default. You'll see what you can/can't check off in that dialog. The presets for the track won't remain behind, and you likely don't want them to, but you can recall the presets at the touch of a switch.
GlennChan wrote on 6/11/2005, 11:40 PM
If you're interested in this thread, the author has cross-posted it at the dvinfo.net forums where there's different responses:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=46069