Is Your Recorded Voice-Over Sound Competitive?

If you are a voice-over artist, how do I know if my voice-over recording quality sound is professional? You might think, how do I know if my voice-over sound is competitive? How do I know if my voice-over recording quality prevents me from winning auditions? In this video, I answer that question for a New York Voice-Over artist named John Carhart.
Here’s what I look for. A good raw recording is key. A great raw recorded voice-over sound can be optimized with processing. A poor raw recording sound can only be partially “fixed” with processing, which offers a less-than-optimal sound. A poor raw recording sound is usually due to the microphone capturing reflected voice sounds in addition to pure voice. This causes frequency imbalances. A great raw recorded voice-over sound is “reflectionless, from the microphone’s perspective, in all frequency spaces.” How do you resolve a reflection problem? You can usually improve a poor raw recording by adding acoustic treatment, re-configuring the mic position in the room (rotation and/or distance from any walls or hard surfaces), or increasing the room size (smaller spaces are often the biggest offenders).
I describe the factors that make a voice-over recording sound professional, competitive, and effective. This can be subjective. However, the following is my opinion, and I find it helps boost a voice-over artist’s confidence. The most important job of any voice-over is to translate emotion to the intended listener. It won't be effective if a voice-over recording doesn’t “move” the listener (e.g., drive them to act, feel a certain way, or do something). The best way to get a voice-over recording to translate emotion (as an audio engineer) is to capture pure voice (no reflections) and use processing (like EQ and Compression) to emphasize that emotion from the storyteller. Processing should be mostly transparent. It should be used to amplify, sharpen, and detail the emotion of the audio. So, when I feel that a raw recording is pure enough to allow processing to do its job, I can safely say that a voice-over recording can be considered professional, competitive, and effective.
Finally, I walk you through my custom processing setting for John on his Rode NT1 microphone. Then, we compare John’s before- and after-processing sound.
See my training course, including free lessons and instructions on how to submit your voice for a free demo of my custom processing on your voice at www.lennyb.com
▬ Training Course Links ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Optimal Recording Levels for Voice-Over
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Acoustic Treatment For Voice Over Training Course
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See All Training Courses From Lenny B
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▬ Custom Processing Link ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Submit Your For Voice www.lennyb.com...
▬ Equipment Links ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
John’s Microphone: Rode NT1 (5th Generation)
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John's Audio Interface: Focusrite Scarlet Solo
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Waves F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ Plugin
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Waves Scheps Omni Channel Plugin
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Lenny's microphone used in this video: Roswell Mini k87
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Lenny's Preamp used in this video: Neve 1073spx
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Lenny's Interface used in this video: Apollo X6
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▬ About Lenny B ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
I help content creators make a stronger connection with their audience. Voice-over artists, actors, musicians, and performers worldwide come to me to help improve their production quality, expand their influence, grow their audience, win more auditions, and get more work. Some of the links on this page are links to affiliate websites, and I receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links. My affiliates include Sweetwater, Roswell Microphones, Gik Acoustics, Waves, and Amazon.