- Audio Repair & Recording Tutorial Resources

This is an unpaid recommendation
Groove3.com  Mike Thornton iZotope RX 5 advanced tutorials for #audio repair are great.
They also have a full range of tutorials including ProTools.
Lynda.com also has really great video tutorials

Know Your Voice and Get More Work

The importance of knowing your own voice: We can't be what we aren't, so we must know what we can do and not do. Too many of us try and do absolutely everything and that never never works out for us, then we get depressed because we aren't successful. How can we succeed if we decide to flap our arms and fly to the moon. There is plenty that every person can do with out trying to set ourselves up for failure. There is no reason to try and do the impossible. That isn't trying to succeed it is really trying to fail.
We can't do everything for everyone.The key to our success is inside the compass of our voice and personality. We must know what our limits are so we don't accidentally set ourselves up to fail. Our best chance of getting work is to be ourselves, our best selves our most skilled selves, our most prepared selves.

Some Thoughts On Reading Inspirational Copy

Aside from all the regular corporate narrations, voiceovers for How To Videos and commercials, there are Inspirational Narratives. We spend a lot of time pitching, talking and explaining everything from healthcare benefits to how not to get your arms ripped off while using certain machinery.
All of those voiceovers serve a necessary function. An even more important human necessity is inspiration.
There is a vast market for reading inspirational copy. The source may be religious, new age, leadership, communication, relationship, or success. The important thrust is always inspiration to live a more spiritual life, a more fulfilling life, a more complete life, a better life and whatever that means to you personally.
When we receive the copy for one of these projects it's important to really think through who the audience will be. How do they view life and their own hopes and dreams. No one likes to be lectured or talked down to, we all want to feel like we are in it together and the ideas are being shared. The tone of voice used in sharing great ideas is never condescending or patronizing. It is always warm, friendly and very personal.
In order for the message to be "heard" we have to be the story teller who is devoid of any affect. Everything must be "idea driven" and sound like it's the most reasonable conclusion.
There is hardly anything more important or a voiceover job that is more satisfying than inspiring or comforting people with uplifting text that contributes to their spirituality and peace  of mind while they navigate their lives.

- Working the Mic

Generally  you'll want to be 8 to 10 inches from the mic. But if you're yelling you need to be farther back. If it's a very personal or intimate read, you need to be very close. It's very important that you learn to work the mic so you know what  the right distance is for you when you're doing different kinds of reads. Don't wait until you have a job that reveals you haven't experimented with distance and tones of voice. Knowing how your voice works under different conditions with your mic will put money in your pocket:)

- Reducing the Amount of Editing Time by Rehearsing Before Recording

I've had a number of inquiries from VO Artists regarding how to reduce the amount of editing time on long voiceover projects. This was interesting to me because it has a direct relationship to how much money can be made. If it takes a person 6 hours of work to deliver one hour of finished narration/voiceover, that isn't as good as spending, say 3 or four hours, to get one finished hour of narration. Now of course, everyone has their own way of working and there are a million ways to prepare and finish a project.
Here is my process that I use to minimize editing time and get the best reads from myself.
When the script comes in, lets assume its a 20 minute read ( approx 2800 to 3000 words), I lay on my office couch with a large glass of juice and cold read it out loud. I circle the spots where the cadence isn't right and/or I have handled the phrasing incorrectly. When I have finished the first read, I then go back to those trouble spots and work out the phrasing issues. Then I go for a walk on the property and read it out loud while I'm walking to make sure I have the phrasing, cadence and tone of voice the way I want it. Then and only then, I go into my booth and record. I do this with the intention of taking the time I need to try and read it perfectly the first time. I don't start recording while I'm figuring out what I want and how I want to read. In other words, I don't do my rehearsing while I'm recording. I figure out what I want first and then record. This really minimizes the amount of editing time I spend and maximizes how much I can make an hour. Have fun out there folks.

- Studying Voiceover Skills Improves Success in Any Profession

The ability to persuade determines our financial success. In fact, everything in life is about vocal presentation. We connect with people, get hired, teach, and close deals based on the effective use and clarity of our voice. Whether you’re a teacher, receptionist, lawyer, salesperson, politician, program coordinator, CEO, team leader, doctor, negotiating or interviewing, it is our voice that carries our ideas to people. Success is a voice driven activity and studying voiceover skills can give you the vocal tools to achieve it.

Rapport with people isn’t magic, it is composed of certain elements in a person’s presentation. Are you ever frustrated because the training you’ve had doesn’t give you the results you want? Whether the training works or not depends entirely on delivery. The secrets for achieving your ambitions are contained in your own voice. All of success in business and personal relationships depends on your tone of voice and your vocal presentation. 

- How To Get Rid of Mouth Clicks/Noise Before or After

This happens to all of us at some point. There are mouth clicks that we notice when we play back our recordings. Sometimes they're are none and sometimes we wonder what the heck is wrong with our mouth. Lets start with minimizing them to start with. Generally the clicks start appearing if our mouth is too dry. When you are speaking, you are loosing over a liter of water an hour because the humidity in the lungs is close to 100%. Keep taking sips of water while you're reading. By the time you feel dry it's too late for that moment because it takes time to re hydrate. The next issue is how to minimize the noise on the spot. Every body chemistry is different so you have to experiment with what works for you. Having said that. Apple juice is an amazing moisturizer for the mouth. Mixing some honey with water works for many. Some people I know swear that some molasses in water is a great cure.
If none of this helps then the post production fix that I love is made by iZotope. It is their RX4. It has a DeClick filter that is just magic. Scroll down to Declick and you'll see how specific it is.
iZotope RX 4: Features | Audio Enhancement & Repair Tool

You can by either the $349. version or the advanced $1199. version.

iZotope RX 4: Complete Audio Enhancement & Repair Toolkit

Om shorter pieces you can of course just do surgery and cut the clicks out, like we've all done but iZotope is magic.

- Success = Record and Play Back, Record and Play Back - A lot:)

One of the most important things you can do to improve your ability to read copy and create variations, is to be a maniac about recording yourself and listening to those takes. Try and listen to your takes as a director would. Is it authentic? ... or does it smack of "Hard Sell"?  Does your delivery have "The Most Reasonable Conclusion Sound"? There are many, many ways to do successful voiceovers. You will discover what's best for your voice and personality by recording and playing back your voice endlessly. The built up familiarity will bring you revelations about how to create more effective deliveries.

- Why It's Important To Practice Cold Reading

I get a lot of questions about why anyone should practice cold reading. Here are some thoughts on the matter. It's easy to get used to the idea that most voiceovers are short and you always have the copy in advance. The problems start when you're doing  longer narratives for corporations. The copy is often 20 to 80 pages or more. Another area is audio books. Even if you read these longer pieces 20 times, you still have no idea what's coming up next. It's important to develop a sense of timing so you can do clean good reads page after page. Your eyes should always be 2 to 3 words ahead of where you're speaking so you're delivering ideas and not just saying words. Time is money whether you are in some one else's studio or your own.

- Very Real Sounding Is Often Very Dull. It Still Has to be Compelling.

People will rightfully tell you that you have to sound more real, more like the person next door. Well of course that makes sense. The person directing the project wants the voiceover artist to sound sincere and honest and authentic. But there is a funny flip side to all of this. I hear a complaint from many pros that I coach, that people will say to them... “No its gotta sound more real!” and then they tell me about their frustration that when they try and sound more real, they then often get criticized for sounding lackadaisical or uninspired, or unenthusiastic about the topic.

So what the heck is going on? On the one hand a director says be more real, more conversational, on the other hand they then seem to be complaining about the tone of voice when the person follows the directions that are given.

The answer is this: Often when a person backs off to become more conversational or more real, the energy drops so much that the pace is a little too slow... the cadence looses its bounce... and the melody a little too flat...

Because it’s a wholesale drop in energy it really just does sound unenthusiastic. So it seems like the read has lost all of its life.

When a person tries to be more conversational, not hard sell or not announcery, the effort should focus on smoothing out the delivery and tumbling the speech more so it feels a bit more like a stream of ideas. 

This makes the energy in the vowels and consonants more even and that is exactly what makes us sound MORE REAL AND CONVERSATIONAL.

When we try and become more conversational we are often just backing off on the energy we are using. This usually flattens the amount of rise and fall in our voices, which is what happens when we aren’t passionate about something. 

So the proper approach is to talk at low levels but to maintain a slight urgency. There is a greater rise and fall in the melodies we use when we are excited about a product or story. This will usually restore the rise and fall of the voice.

- Microphone Techniques - Finding the Sweet Spots for Your Voice, with Your Mic

It's not just about setting up your session, hitting record and the laying down some voiceover tracks.
Whichever mic you use, try recording at different distances and at slightly different volumes with your voice. Do many different takes where you speak louder and then slightly softer, while you vary the distance. Take a good tour to keep refining which sounds you like better. The interaction between the electronics in a mic and a specific voice involve many variables, so you have to experiment to discover the many different sweet spots for the various tones of voice you might want to use. When you speak softer and closer to the mic it's obviously more intimate AND there is more saturation in the sound that is recorded. Speaking softer and then using more "Head Room" in your spoken tone will give yet again a different effect. The important thing is to become very familiar with your own recording set up and how to best present the sonic identity of your voice based on each job.

- More on Studio Behavior

I'm still getting input from casting directors and some agents that want Rob Actis and myself to emphasize in our VO BootCamp Workshop for VO artists that there a lot o lot of talented people that seem unaware that people hire people they are really comfortable with.
Some Issues:
Do you dress nicely but casually? Don't go to a VO session in a suit and tie.
Be well rehearsed ! You aren't there to do your homework on other peoples time.
Remember to stay 8 to 10 inches from the mic.
Don't debate any direction you're given. Just say "OK, let me try that for you".
Thank everyone on your way out
Enjoy yourself don't look like you're struggling.

- Masteringvoiceover Class YouTube Channel Fun Clips from Class :)

Mastering Voiceover - YouTube

- Here's The Follow up Exercise To Using Beat Changes

A beat change is the change in tone of voice to set up new ideas.
Find a piece of copy you like that's not too long. It can be a commercial or short descriptive narrative.
It should have at least four Beat Changes/Change in directions in the copy...places. that require beat changes:) Record yourself and vary the cadence to set up clear Beat Changes.  Try and create 20 versions that are more related than not. Yes 20 versions. This creative exercise will help develop control over the voice and tone of voice as well as improve creativity.

- Reading Copy With Beat Changes So You don't Sound Like You're Reading Copy

It's an interesting task to read copy and have it sound idea driven and spontaneous. When we are talking to a friend there is a tumbled quality to the words because the words are idea driven. Each new idea or development in the text has a natural "Beat Change"... a change in the tone of voice that marks the shift in ideas. We never really think about the musicality of this in daily life because it's a natural part of the harmonic language that we use to communicate clearly to each other. Becoming more aware of beat changes can take the quality of our voiceover work to a whole new level. I hear casting directors say things like "Nice voice, but doesn't mean it." This seems to be shorthand for the person just sounds like they're reading copy. Our reads have to sound like we're talking to a friend in a focused but conversational manner. Beat changes are simply one of the elements that help us read into a mic and not sound like we're reading into a mic.

- Success - It's Not How Smart You Are, it's how Smart You Are About Other People

The development of social intelligence is an important element in achieving success in any field. We are concerned here with the field of voiceovers. I hear a lot of stories from producers and engineers about the wide variety of behaviors they witness from voiceover artists in recording sessions. In many cases they say they can't believe how socially inept some artists are when they come to a session. Common complaints are: Talking too much, interrupting people as they are setting up, apologizing for being late because of traffic, apologizing all the time for flubs, being too happy to meet everyone, taking too long to "get going", asking for too many definitions of what they mean when giving directions about what they want in the read... it goes on and on.
Here are some simple thoughts about how to behave.
Be on time. No one cares about your excuses. The rule is, "if you're not early, you're late".
Allow for the worst traffic possible. Obviously no one wants you there an hour early, so if that happens, just park and explore the neighborhood.
Don't talk too much. Keep the greetings simple, friendly and short.
When the session is over, LEAVE. Some people think it's ok to hang out, it is not.
If they are telling jokes, by all means laugh, but this is not an invitation for you to tell jokes too.
When you flub, just say pick up and go back to the top of the sentence. Do not apologize or explain why you flubbed, no one cares. Just fix it.
Be a good listener. Observe how the people behave and conduct themselves. They are there to do business as are you. Everyone wants to do good work and get good work from the voiceover artists. We can contribute to the projects success and our own success, by watching, listening and being smart about other people.
Have a great week.

- A Great Way to Practice and Develop Voiceover Skills

One of the best ways to develop your ability to read copy is to pick any piece thats at least 5 or 6 pages long and cold read it. Take the time you need to read it perfectly. Remember to scan ahead with your eyes as you take a breath for the next sentence. Your eyes should always be 2 or 3 words ahead of where your mouth is speaking so you can deliver ideas and not just the words.
There is something amazing that happens to everyones talent when they spend a lot of time reading out loud, they get a lot better.
Happy  4th everyone!

The Hobbit - Nicol Williamson - Great Audio Book Work

Here is a very wonderful reading by the great actor Nicol Williamson. He seems to be seeing everything he's talking about.

Nicol Williamson » The Hobbit

- William Shatner's Best Voiceover Work Ever - Mars Rising

William Shatner  is famous for a lot of great things. His narrative voiceover work on the Science Channel for Mars Rising is really wonderful.

Here's the link.

Mars Rising : Videos : Science Channel

- Going from good reads to Great Reads

Reading a sentence and getting it worked out so it sounds idea driven is fairly straight forward work.
VoiceOver artists from pros to beginners learn to do this pretty well. The real work begins after a person can do this.
Multiple takes in a studio are done to find different shades of meaning and nuance. They are not done to figure out the meaning of the copy, all of that should be done before the session.
Time is money in a studio or anywhere else for that matter.
It's relatively easy to do a good read, it's much harder to learn to do great reads. Repetition is the main ingredient. Once it's a good read, repetition will reveal nuances and other possibilities that make the read naturally persuasive. Many times a client isn't sure what they want, so it's up to us VO artists to keep giving them variations until they jump up and say "That's great, do it like that again".
Our ability to hear nuance and variations will develop as we learn to rehearse over and over. Record and play back, record and play back. Greater awareness and artistic control are a direct result of how much flying time we log.