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voiceover industry – questions
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Todd, et al,
Please tell me which Neumann costs $5k.
While gear is important, what’s even more important is being able to play your instrument. Having teachers, friends, and the pizza delivery gal tell you you have a great voice is one thing, Being able to do something WITH it is something else.
I do VO classes for the AFTRA/SAG local membership. I have had guys walk in with voices so deep they make the couch move when they talk, but they don’t know what to do with it and can’t learn because they don’t really understand the language at a level deep enough to know what to do. Give them a script and they’re dead
Unless you can figure that out, the best mic and preamp on the planet won’t help you. If you can figure out the meaning and bring that to the session, you’re just another piece of meat.
Some folks get the notion, “So I can talk and people will pay me? Cool! Let’s go!” It’s not that simple. If it were everyone would be doing it. It takes a lot of hard work and endless marketing to pay off. And if you’re fortunate enough to lock in some clients that’ll pay scale. Union or non-unoin, please know that there’s always some hosebag who’ll pitch that they’ll do it for less.
There are 8 types of work.
1. Spots
2. Narration
3. Political Spots
4. Talking Books
5. Documentaries
6. Characters (these days for spots, computer games, animations)
7. Real People
8. TV and Radio Station ImagingEach is a bit different.
Can you do this in your spare bedroom? Maybe. Probably not. Why? Because a lot of thought goes into gear and acoustics to get the right sound. Unless you have engineering chops, you won’t be able to make sense out of what you’re hearing so you can do the right thing. Can you learn that. Probably. Will it happen tomorrow? Probably not.
Is there a market for entry level players? Sure. When Clear Channel (with over 1200 radio stations in the US started dumping jocks and using voicetracking, a bunch of DJs got laid off. They know how to talk into mics and record stuff. They have tried to continue to make a living with their voices. They are finding it hard to do because there are so many out there.
I do less work now than I did, but I get the harder scripts. Ones that require interpretation or are technically difficult. They’ve usually tried someone cheaper and found the performance isn’t quite there. The easy scripts go to the other guys and gals where it doesn’t matter so much what the message is. It’s “good enough.”
Regards,
Ty Ford
Regards,
Ty Ford
AFTRA/SAG
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar -
[Ty Ford] “I get the harder scripts. Ones that require interpretation or are technically difficult.”
Right ‘dat! I can personally testify that Ty did a spectacular job voicing one of the most arduous and lengthy projects of my career. He has that rare knack of being able to take difficult terminology and concepts and make them sound perfectly logical and understandable.
One thing I would like clarification on if you’re still with this thread, Ty, is under what circumstances do you use a large capsule mic like the Neumann versus the smaller hyper cardioid Schoepps? I’ve seen you use both and not sure why.
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[Ty Ford] “Please tell me which Neumann costs $5k.”
Wasn’t sure since it has been so long since I looked at them, so I looked ’em up… the new Neumanns I found range from about $700 to $13K+.
In the “Over $5K” category…
M149……. $5K
RSM191AS……. $5,300
USM69iMT……. $5600
RSM191……. $6K
USM69i……. $6K
USM69iMT……. $6K
TLM50-S……. $5,700
M150……. $6400
SolutionD……. $13,300Now, not all those are good choices for VO mics (one or two are shotguns, and one or two are stereo mics), but that’s a quick look at the higher-priced Neumanns.
Older Neumanns also command huge prices on the used market.
Great mics, but definitely cheaper options out there that will serve just as well.
Funny story that I read or heard… I can’t remember which: Audio guy finds one of the super-sweet vintage 20-year-old Neumanns on line at an unheard-of low price and buys it. It was something like a U87i or one of those really sought-after Neumanns. He waits and waits, but delivery seems to be taking forever. He mentions this to somone in his office who says “Oh, that came. I opened the box but the mic looked like it had a couple of scratches on it. I sent it back with a note telling them not to try to pass off a used mic, we’d want a new one.”
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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NIck,
The script thing is a function of practice and experience, I think. There’s a melody and rhythm to most scripts. You have to know what the power words are and what to do with them.
The script I did for Nick was not unlike one I did years ago for the Georgia Nuclear Power Plant System. It was a basic CYA safety video that all employees had to watch and sign off on. In essence the gig was talking shop to guys and gals about how not to injure or kill themselves.
Literature? No. But there is a way to talk to people instead of at them, even when the script has gone though too many lawyers and middle managers. At that point, it’s up to me to breath some humanity back into the words.
LD, SD, Jeeze, Nick, I don’t know. the 416 mentioned earlier is an SD. I use a U 89 a lot. It’s arguably a LD but just a little smaller than a U 87. Sometimes it’s what I have on the pipe (mic stand) at the moment. It’s about the PARTICULAR LD or SD, that’s for sure. Hard to go wrong with a Schoeps cmc641. It’s very much a mic of choice for film dialog. Dialog is usually a bit more natural than spots, but you can get there with a bit of EQ anyway.
When I go into someone else’s studio, I usually use whatever’s up. That has ranged from a Shure SM58 to a Neumann U 87. At some point, with the right voice, the particular mic doesn’t matter. If I need a bit more bottom, I just know to move in a bit more.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar -
Right.
Pretty much none of them used in VO unless you happen to own a big music studio and happen to have them there. Thanks for helping me make my point and sorry to put you to the trouble of proving it.
The U 87ai is considerably less than $5k.
The new Neumann TLM 102 streets at $699.
You can hear it here: https://idisk.mac.com/tyreeford-Public/Neumann%20TLM%20102
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
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[Todd Terry] “Older Neumanns also command huge prices on the used market.”
So, Todd, you’re telling me that those two U-87s that I let go in 1985 when I closed my audio studio are actually worth more than I paid for them in the late 70’s?
[Homer Simpson] “Why do things that only happen to stupid people keep happening to ME?”
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[Ty Ford] “There’s a melody and rhythm to most scripts.”
[Ty Ford] “…when the script has gone though too many lawyers and middle managers.”
I think Ty hit the nail on the head there, those bad overworked scripts are what separates the men from the boys. A good voiceover artist can perform a great script and sound pretty darn good. But a great voiceover artist can read the phone book and make you cry. And make it sound like a story.
I think that’s why Hal Riney was so successful at it… because Hal was an ubersuccessful ad guy himself, and personally wrote many of the scripts that he performed. He knew how to sound his best, and knew how to write for his own voice. I still smile as Hal’s inspiration lives on every week during Tim Russell’s “Ketchup Advisory Board” segments on “A Prarie Home Companion” (“These are the good times, for Marge and me…”). Tim really nails it.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Nick Griffin] “…those two U-87s that I let go in 1985 when I closed my audio studio are actually worth more than I paid for them…?”
Nick, I just found a couple of vintage U87s going for $2K each, and another for $2200. I’ve also seen them higher than that.
I think that fear is why I never get rid of anything. But for some reason my stuff just depreciates to zero. Hmmmmm.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Hunter,
Get your acting chops in shape first. Performance is the key here. All the rest is just perfunctory. If you are a good actor or improviser use those talents to further yourself.You only get hired if you deliver the act.
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