Popping Problem? Probably Positional Placement.

Every once in a while I’ll pop a “p” and have to do some editing to fix it, or even a redo, but plosives have not been a real problem for me. It is the sharp “s” that seems to be my biggest issue.

I have learned to hear the worst of my sibilance issues as they come out of my mouth and do a quick adjustment to my articulators (usually tongue placement more than anything else) and the next pass is usually sans-sibilance.

But the popping “p” doesn’t present itself until I listen to the recording. So preventing them from happening in the first place is the best plan of attack.

Dan Friedman, working voice talent and author of the book “Sound Advice,” is a frequent contributor to Procomm’s Voiceover Industry Articles. This one is all about that popping problem that plagues many voice actors.

2018-02-06T06:48:21+00:00September 6th, 2011|Categories: Recording, Technology|Tags: , , , |

Talk about your work around!

Well, as I posted last week, stuff happens.

This week I started hearing a little BobCat driving up and down my alley. And when I poked my head out to see what was going on, I saw the tell-tale signs of upcoming concrete demolition. The road was covered with colorful spray painted arrows and initials detailing the underground path of gas pipes, water and sewer lines.

And a day later the truly irritating sound of a concrete cutter combined with a jack hammer – followed by large back hoes and dump trucks. Even when the concrete cutter wasn’t actually cutting, the generator truck was constantly running in the background.

I trudged down the alley yesterday to find the foreman to ask him what the “schedule” might be. Along the way, I navigated around and over large piles of dirt and was careful not to step in the new trough being gouged out along […]

2018-02-06T06:48:21+00:00August 31st, 2011|Categories: Musings, Recording, Technology|

Hey, it’s cold here too!

A lot of my clients are snowed in. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to get around in all that snow and ice and just plain cold. It’s been a long time since I had to scrape a windshield. And this week I have had a number of sessions, calls or emails where the subject centered on them wishing they were able to transport themselves to sunny San Diego.

Please know that, while there is not 12 inches of snow on the ground – I did have ice this morning in a shaded area of my backyard – and I am presently sitting in my studio with a turtle neck sweater, a sweatshirt, scarf and gloves. It is pretty chilly here too!

In fact, the temps here in San Diego have been much cooler than normal over the past year or so and I have been thinking about moving somewhere closer to […]

2018-02-06T06:48:35+00:00February 3rd, 2011|Categories: Musings, Recording|

When Software Burps

Workflow is a time sensitive thing. We have delivery dates for the work we do and part of our job is to anticipate potential time-sucking issues that may impact a timely delivery.

I am getting pretty good at balancing my daily forays into Social Media, but we all have other areas that need attention.

  • Family (my increased time with my mom needs to be figured into the equation)
  • Exercise (oh, brother, this is high on my list of things I don’t get around to – do my weekly tap classes count?)
  • Home and Garden (my yard is a MESS – my counters are getting mightly cluttered – and there is a leak in the big bathroom that needs to be attended to – not to mention I am stripping an old door for a remodel project)
  • Volunteering (my work with MCA-I has increased recently due to some major changes in the association requiring more time as […]
2011-01-27T10:32:45+00:00January 27th, 2011|Categories: Business, Recording, Technology|

Free Music

Is there such thing as a free lunch? Occasionally. And occasionally there is free library music suitable for production.

Just got the information about a Free Royalty Free Music website, where right now everything is Free. They just want a link on your website somewhere. They will have stuff for sale at some point, but there will always be some free stuff too.

http://www.JewelBeat.com/

A quick look at the titles on the first page shows some pretty dark themes! Angel of Darkness, Armies of Doom, Attitude Gone Wrong, Bad Consequences and so on. But dig a bit deeper and there is a lot of other stuff with some Country, Beautiful, Clubbing, etc.

They have some free “sound effects” too – which are mostly little musical stings using various instruments.

So enjoy some free music – and go buy someone lunch.

2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00November 1st, 2010|Categories: Announcements, Recording|Tags: , |

Car Noise Reduction

Controlling random noise in a studio is a constant challenge if you don’t have a heavy duty floating walled recording space. Even if your space is treated acoustically and your tracks end up clean and noise free, sometimes there is a lot that ends up on the cutting room floor to achieve that result.

While it may sound a bit odd, I have two recording spaces. One inside a small closet in the main house is primarily for my ISDN projects. The other – the spot where I do most of my work – is out in the back yard in a separate structure. There is a small recording space and another larger area for the rest of the work we need to do when we are not recording.

I’ll tell the story of the two spaces sometime, but right now a growing noise issue is on my mind.

The bulk of my […]

2010-10-03T08:56:39+00:00October 3rd, 2010|Categories: Recording, Technology|

The Audiobook Journey

Well, this is a bit after the fact, but I had the opportunity to take a journey with Pat Fraley and Scott Brick this past weekend here in San Diego – a journey to discover my potential recording audiobooks.

I’ve been keeping my eye on Pat’s workshops for a while, but just wasn’t able to carve out the time to spend the weekend in LA, so when they were looking for participants for a workshop in my neck of the woods, I jumped – as did 11 others from around the country – including Hawaii.

My focus was Fiction – looking for the right kind of pieces for my voice and brain. Long form non-fiction is something I do on a regular basis, but Fiction has been on the back burner. So getting a chance to work with two pros on several excerpts and ending up with a good marketable fiction demo was worth the money. (And being […]

2018-02-06T06:48:37+00:00August 30th, 2010|Categories: Musings, Recording, Techniques|

Mixing Business with Pleasure

So, this trip to Europe that I just took – two weeks traveling around Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland – was part pleasure and part business. I was visiting my brother in Munich, but was headed to Italy to meet with a client. My mic and pre-amp were not on my packing list, because I knew I was going to be traveling quite a bit, and didn’t think I would have time for jobs or auditions.

As it turns out (see earlier post), my brother’s practice room was actually a sound booth, so I could have worked while I was in Munich – and a good audition did appear in the In Box. But there was a lot so see and do there before I headed off to Italy to meet my business associate.

I did check for jobs and auditions each day – had a loaner BlackBerry with global service – and was able to postpone most of […]

VO Booth on Wheels

My virtual good friend Philip Banks posted a video recently of his VO Booth on Wheels (he calls it the Voice and Go), but I think the technology in this article from Studio Daily tops it.

Perhaps a bit more pricey, but seems to be working for those busy celebrities who need to do some VO work in between takes on the set of their latest series. Complete with ISDN, this mobile recording studio helps prevent those pesky and expensive “no show” sessions.

It’s called Voice Over There.

Here is the article about it – http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=3148

2018-02-06T06:48:41+00:00May 3rd, 2010|Categories: Announcements, Recording, Technology|Tags: , , |

Sense of Direction

I remember a session very early on in my career where I was just NOT producing what the director wanted. It was a horrible experience – and I was dismissed knowing that I had not been able to understand and deliver. I knew this because I heard the producer on the phone with my agent asking if she had to pay for me. Really horrible experience.

 A few years later, I was in a session with 6 producers – each offering different bits of “advice” for the read – and was able to find the “right” read that satisfied them all. Was it simply my added years of experience? Are there any standard words of advice that veteran voice talent can offer a director to help the session run more smoothly with successful results when all is said and done?

My friend and fellow VO talent Peter O’Connell sent a link […]

Go to Top