i'd like to get into voice work. looking for advice.

July 3, 2023 12:51 PM

specifically, i'd really love to do non-fiction audio book narration but open to other kinds of voice over work. i'd love some advice on equipment i should consider as well as advice on how to get started and anything else you think would be helpful for me to know. ty!
posted by violetk to Work & Money (8 answers total)

If you're going to record yourself, you'll need:
• A decent microphone
• An audio interface
• Recording software
• A mic stand
• Pop filter
• A completely dead, quiet room

The completely dead, quiet room is the most important, followed by the microphone, Everything else comes down to personal preference. For microphones, the Shure SM-7 is very popular choice, but you can hear all sorts of mic comparisons on the Booth Junkie YouTube channel.

There are tons of ways to make room sound dead (i.e. no reverb) for varying amounts of money, and you might be able to get away with using a closet full of clothes if there's enough room. But making it sound-proof isn't easy or cheap. If you've got airplanes, traffic, talking, etc. coming into your recordings, they're ruined. If you can't guarantee a good recording in your own space, you'd be best off going to a studio and working that into your price.
posted by jonathanhughes at 1:52 PM on July 3, 2023

I know some people who take classes here and like it. I think they're online, but on West Coast time.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:00 PM on July 3, 2023

You can also try auditioning for ACX or volunteering for reading for those who can’t see, but as show biz production is down, there’s lots of people wanting these sorts of gigs.
posted by Ideefixe at 2:32 PM on July 3, 2023

I've done some classes thru Seattle Voice Academy and enjoyed them, though I haven't done the audiobook one. I'm currently using a sE Electronics sE2200 mic and am pretty happy with it, paired with a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface and Sony MDR-7506 headphones for editing in Adobe Audition. These are definitely on the cheaper end of the equipment scale, though starting out you'll probably want to use Audacity software as it is free, and you'll only need a single input in your interface instead of two. Besides that, jonathanhughes is right on regarding soundproofing vs. acoustic treatment, so figure out where on that spectrum your comfort level is.
posted by sapere aude at 4:47 PM on July 3, 2023

For audio book narration, you would want to use an ipad rather than paper manuscript, so you can turn pages silently. It can be an old ipad since you just need the display of a PDF to work.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 5:23 PM on July 3, 2023

Also be aware, I'm told by a woman friend who does voice for books-on-tape, there is a movement to have male characters voiced by males, females by females, instead of one person doing a whole book.
posted by falsedmitri at 6:06 PM on July 3, 2023

Author’s Republic is Libro.fm’s suggestion for people looking to get into narration as a career.
posted by soelo at 7:35 PM on July 3, 2023

Learning some basics of audio production will help your demos stand out (and with low budget stuff, you might end up being expected to handle all the production yourself). A few things to make sure you understand:

1. Normalization - bringing up the quietest parts of a recording relative to each other. You know when a podcast has a separately recorded intro from the main part and it's significantly louder or softer? They didn't normalize.

2. Compression - the type that reduces dynamic range, not like mp3 data compression. A little bit will go a long way to smoothing out your performance and making it sound more professional. But the wrong settings will be very noticeable in a bad way. If you get skilled with it, you would eventually want to experiment with multiband compression but as a beginner, stick with just basic compression.

3. Equalization - Very often, there's a frequency around 600-800 Hz that if you pull it down a little will make vocal mics sound a lot clearer. You always want to be doing this in post-production, not while recording. To find such a sweet spot, using a sweepable EQ, set it to about a -4.5 dB drop and slowly sweep the frequency from 400-1000 Hz. If you find a spot that seems to make the vocals sound clearer, try backing off the drop to -2-3 dB.

In general, you want to have compression before the EQ but you can try it both ways.
posted by Candleman at 7:35 AM on July 4, 2023