 Hey, it's time for voiceover body shop tech talk number 68 where's that 68 there it is Look at that graphics. How do how have we done this without you? We could not do that. Thank you Absolutely, we're gonna continue with our audio masters roundtable for tech talk this week We've got Cliff Zellman and Uncle Roy and Andrew Feliciano and Jordan Reynolds all guys that know The stuff we're all supposed to know as voice actors So if you got a question throw it in the chat room because these guys know how to answer it if you're live If you're live, otherwise, you're gonna be writing and it's gonna go Why are they ignoring me? And if you're not live then oh boy am I full from that Thanksgiving meal? All righty voiceover body shop audio masters round to round table tech talk coming up right now From the outer reaches they came Bearing the knowledge of what it takes to properly record your voice over audio and Together from the center of the VO universe. They bring it to you now George Whidham the engineer to the VO stars of Virginia Tech grad with the skills to build set up and maintain the professional VO studios of the biggest names in VO today and you Dan Leonard the voiceover home studio master a professional voice talent with the knowledge and experience to help you create a professional sounding home VO studio and Each week they allow you into their world making the complex simple Debunking the myths of what it takes to create great sounding audio Answering your questions showing you the latest and greatest in VO tech and having a dandy time doing it Welcome to voice over body shop tech talk Voice over body shop tech talk is brought to you by voice over essentials comm home of Harlan Hogan signature products source elements remote studio connections for everyone voice actor websites.com where your VO website isn't a pain in the butt VO heroes.com become a hero to your clients with award-winning voiceover training J. Michael Collins demos when quality matters and voiceover extra your daily resource for VO success and Now live to drive from their super secret clubhouse and studio in Sherman Oaks, California Here are the guys Well, greetings and good evening or good afternoon or whatever time you're watching this Especially if you're watching right now. I'm Dan Leonard and I'm George Whidham and this is voice over body shop or VO B E. S. Tech talk tech talk That's right. Tech talk baby. Tech talk and right now we're gonna be joined by The audio masters roundtable George and I like to do this, you know every year when we get we haven't had a chance during the Pandemic it was you know, we just forgot about doing that because we were just busy trying to do what we could and No, it's amazing how long it's been but I'm so glad we we did it again These are the og og guys right here. Yeah, they absolutely are and they they're the ones that get your audio They're the ones that you know, you know There's probably only a handful of people on the face of God's green earth that actually understand what we're talking about The light, you know people who are just getting into voice acting and they're learning their the technology and stuff It's really really important That they not just watch YouTube videos from everybody, you know, who was like, oh, here's how you build a booth And here's how you do that. There are professionals out there and they're here with us tonight Talking about it But you know to lead things off. It's important to know that this is really what George and I do Professionally, I'm a full-time voice actor But I also help people with their home studios and I've been doing it for a long time and George's Yeah, you were really one of the first people to really, you know talk to people about you know getting home studios up up and running you worked with a lot of people here in Hollywood and That's because I worked with Don LaFontaine like in 2005 and he said nobody does this And when Don LaFontaine tells you nobody's doing this voiceover home studio tech support stuff you listen So if you want to work with the guys that actually know what they're talking about Aside from these guys who are you know It amazes me some of the stuff that some people throw out there Oh, you got to have all this heavy equipment and because that's what the engineers want and we're gonna talk to some actual engineers here They're gonna tell you exactly what they want. Plus we want to have you know your questions answered But if you want to work with George, where would one go if they would like to Learn from you and be supported by you Professionals know you head on over to George the dot tech. Yes, that's the complete domain George the dot tech my name is my address You can check out the drop-down menu on there for all the different types of services I provide some of those are as simple as a soundcheck or as complex as let's design your dream recording studio in Cheyenne, Wyoming Whatever sure we'll be ready to help you And we've got a team of folks also here to support if I'm booked up a couple of them are here tonight actually specifically Andrew Feliciano Also is on when I tech team and Dan Leonard is in there too because we work together When there's an emergency and I can't be reached. I've got backup. That's an amazing thing. Yeah, my beaker goes off It's not always easy But we try our best to deal with emergency tech support requests when they do come up, but that's it and Dan What's your home on the web for tech support and everything home studios for voiceover or vicey-voicey? It's pretty simple. It's home voiceover studio calm. Yeah, I got that URL If you go over there, you'll see the services that I offer and you know, I do a lot of I Like teaching one-on-one if you really don't understand what you're doing and now you're a talented voice actor You really want to get into it What I'll do is make sure that if you're auditioning your audio is not going to be the thing that's going to prevent you from getting work so You know, we'll teach you all the things about You know mic technique and getting your room set up properly and how to set levels Which apparently no coach out there seems to understand in any way shape or form and George and I end up mopping up after a lot of these people. So Go on over to the home voiceover studio calm most importantly if you've got your studio set up and you want to get your audio analyzed Scroll to the bottom of the page. Although we're reworking the page We're gonna move it up to the top of the page and that's my specimen collection cup which gets filled up with all sorts of interesting audio and I will give you a very thorough analysis for $25 and tell you your audio either is Outstanding or it like we need to probably talk a little bit further So go on over there. All right, let's proceed with our audio masters round table and introduce our guests once again If you were here with us last week director of talent development at ACM talent automotive Cliff Zellman cliff welcome back. Thank you. Great to be here. Thank you. Thank you Yeah, voiceover coach killer demo producer and home studio expert at Antland Productions Uncle Roy Yolkelson Never be too safe with the pandemic Because you know, where's what are we 6,000 miles away apart? So you can take your masks off now kids What's the right EQ curve, Uncle Roy? Oh to get It depends on how many layers That corner now it sounds like a 58, you know Our other panelist a voice actor audio ninja to ask him about that Celebrity impressionist and demo producer the one and only Jordan Reynolds Jordan. Welcome. Hey good to be back It's been a long time. Alrighty And we've got the owner and general manager of an actual Hollywood recording studio voice tracks West Andrew Feliciano Andrew welcome to our show. Thank you very much. Glad to be here. Jordan. I want to hear your invitation of cliff Now he said he said celebrity. I might yeah, he said Damn Cliff is just always so happy and just always has so much Yeah, when he talks to you, you know, you never feel bad after talking to cliff Oh He makes me very happy every time I hear him talk That's very talks about his bagels and he brings me great joy. He's one of my good friends and he doesn't suck now But mark your script dammit Yeah, absolutely my bad One of the things yet one of the things that that George and I wanted to talk about tonight was People doing their demos because everybody produces demos Roy you produce demos Jordan you produce demos Andrew you produce demos over VTW cliff Definitely because he produced some of mine when people are getting their demos together because Somebody called me the other day somebody. I don't like very much and hopefully he's not watching And he and he's like what does it cost to do a demo? I did one like three years ago and will someone do one for like 200 bucks No, I mean what I mean, what does a demo cost these days? I mean at least 1500 to get a good commercial demo done, right? Now we're up in the 2400s. Yeah, we're kicking it up a little bit And Michael also, you know demo demo production a lot of people realize the amount of time involved I mean, we're producing six five six seven full-on spots We're licensing the music. We're spending hours and hours in editing music selection Mastering which a lot of people that you know think they can do their own demos have no idea what mastering is Sequencing writing the scripts I'll tell you know, I do five to six to seven normal broadcast spots a day But it's the demos that we you know Don't know my clients but it's demos that we really dive into and it's a legacy It's something that's gonna last a long time music licensing alone is not cheap and we do this to protect you But it's it's it's a lot of work Yeah, and it's a huge responsibility to because we're saying we're gonna make you the best you can be and we're gonna give You a tool to help you in your career. It's a lot of work when it's done, right? Yeah, yeah, there's too many shortcuts to licensing that music as Cliff was saying is ridiculously expensive, but Big that's why we have the entire Chevrolet libraries you have Warner Chapel. I think is what we're mostly using There are others but They're constantly adding I don't think I've ever done a demo where I use the same piece of music as somebody else's demo and script choice wise I interview the people and find out what makes them tick and they tell me about their three-legged dog And then I write it, you know dog food commercial about their limping dog or whatever Because the spots should be about you You have to be ready and we all We're all gonna say if you're not ready. We're not gonna do it. We don't want your money It's a waste of your time and money. It's a waste of our time our time is valuable Our name is important, too. We that's right. We put our name on your and When I kind of produce a crappy demo and put our name on it and then there there we go We had an interesting discussion where somebody brought up the term Demo ready. What does it mean to be demo ready? And I think it's very simple book ready When you're ready to book you're ready to do your demo and and no time if you're not ready to book You're not ready to do your demo, but how does one, you know get out there and put their work out there If they don't have a demo They have to make the demo. What's that say that they have to be ready to make the demo you know with with the huge amount of of Resources online for people to really in a very short amount of time can really build up their skills They can build up their knowledge very very quickly what they can't build up is their portfolio so guys like us we're here to help you build your portfolio and It's legit You know the spots on your demo should look like broadcast spots. I don't do my Demo's like I said earlier any different than I'm doing broadcast or demo but It's let's let's get your portfolio up to the level of your skills And if your skills ain't there then your portfolio shouldn't be there either. There's plenty of time Yeah, Jordan. What do you think? What exactly was the code demo ready? Yeah, how do you get out there? Yeah? How do you get out there? How do you how are you considered demo ready? Give us your definition of demo ready It's I totally agree with Cliff and and but how do you gauge that is where it wildly varies But my opinion is if you've gotten a blessing right from at least one and preferably two respectable Coaches slash or even like, you know, just some sort of Voice talent who is working at a high level in the in the genre that you are attempting or that you want to get a demo made in if you can just just a handful of people not five or ten and you're just gonna everyone's too much opinion but Just with that that small range if you need to get some sort of gauge me like Hey, do you think I like if I was auditioning with my current skills skill set Do you think I would have a chance to be in the considered pile? I might as my skill that good, right? And if you're getting into that pile if you know again, it's all subjective That's what's so hard But if they would if they say yes to that then you are definitely ready to make a demo But not wouldn't just trust that one coach you worked with for two years and they might love you and say yeah Now we can make a demo. Yeah, just just get maybe one other opinion Rott do some read some reads for them and see how it goes Andrew, I know you guys do those over at BT. Yeah, yeah, we do yeah do a lot of demos I mean just echoing everything that said here and and also there there is a time if you've been working at it and and you feel you're ready like you've worked with coaching you've done that and At some point You need to make a demo and we've done somewhere where someone was maybe they've coached a good long time You know, they're they've maybe hit a point where they're but they want to get out there and they really want to do it They're ready. They have the money You know, they're serious about it. They're gonna continue working on it, you know, and we'll move into that demo cautiously And because at some point you need to make a demo You don't need to wait till things are perfect and it can be this may be your first demo That you will maybe update as you get better. Maybe add a spot. Take one away. There wasn't the strongest and You know that that's sort of an approach there too because they're there, you know, you could wait too long because really You know getting out there and starting to audition if it's pay-to-plays or things like that, you know, that's part of the work and In practicing doing real things, you know, not just sort of reading the same script over and over again You know, I would it's not like it's not the same as practicing guitar where you can just kind of noodle. It's similar And so if you can get out there auditioning But there is a base level that you want to be at Before you make that demo that you're ready enough And you know potentially maybe don't wait too long either, you know, get that advice, you know from the coaches You're working with and I think we'll be working with a coach. I think enough people know. Oh, it's just me I think enough people know To be aware of the demo mills who say seven coaching sessions and a demo or two demos Who's to say that after seven? Could take a year Could take more could take less if you're really really really good if you take direction if you have a big range But be careful of somebody trying to sell you a package, I don't do packages Cliff doesn't do a package Jordan doesn't Andrew doesn't Alrighty Be ready with you know, it's gotta have your demo. I know there's people out there that like well, I've You know, I've recorded some stuff. I've done a few commercials Make sure you get permission and you know get that down But you know, if you've been able to get hired without a demo That's pretty good But I think people forget that this is a an entrepreneurial business It ain't up to you other people to find you work. You got to find it yourself Here's an interesting question since we're all wearing our headphones No, well the first asks I would love to know what everyone's favorite headphones are Not just for sound but comfort. Let's go around the horn here on this one Cliff My favorite headphones are focals I'm wearing them now. I think they're built Okay, I think they sound incredible. I also have focal monitors when I take my headphones off It's the same thing that I'm hearing through my speakers after very slight little, you know A couple of minutes of your adjustment But I think they're very very comfortable. They're not too tight. I have a pair of Sennheiser Over there in the corner that I just squeeze my head. I can't wear them too long. I love focals I think they sound great, but but oh my god. Have you guys heard the Neumann's? $500 Neumann headphones. Oh, yeah. Oh Oh my god, I put these on I said, this is the most comfortable pair of headphones I've ever put on and they sound Unbelievable they're expensive 500 bucks. Well, yeah for 500 bucks. They better damn well. Yeah, pretty good. These are you know These are 350 400 bucks. Nothing is like those those Neumann's. Oh my goodness. You win the lottery or You win a lawsuit. I don't know check them out. They are Unbelievable has anybody in the group heard those used them. No, I'm Jordan. I'm intrigued Yeah, what do I think? Yeah, they are definitely amongst the most comfortable. I've worn Mm-hmm. I love how they sound generally like it's a very pleasing sound. Mm-hmm, but Accurate not so much. It's it's got it's very it feels very nice to listen to especially Because it's got a nice scooped out mid-range. Yes, and the top end is so they're heavily colored Yeah, not I would probably they are yeah, but but they're you know So good for maybe mixing or doing some music stuff But and maybe just doing like general like listening for noise floor and stuff like that But if you're gonna be making EQ choices, right or like, oh, do I have too much sibilants? The top end actually is not very bright at all. It's it's a really smooth So I like the top end mid-range is too scooped So it it sounds like it might be a little too soft and muffled than it really is And there's a little bit too much of a bass bump which makes your booth resonance sound a little too heavy But I'm kind of but that's I love how I love them though overall. We know it's not accurate Sounds like you're describing my DT 770s when you describe this or my DT 770s. Give me started don't remind 990s There's three endorsements for buyer dynamic DT 770 pro 80 ohm or 990 Is it pro and yeah Yeah, pro. Yeah, these are 250 ohm and and we just the difference being that these ones are open so we can hear What's behind us as when we're engineering that took a little getting used to it because I was used to these ancient That was used to these ancient Sony's that are 35 years old that just sit on and that sound great But one band in the yellow the the AKG's and I have those yeah the open air the radio station And there'd be somebody's makeup on but John John from Long Island voiceover takeover has very sensitive Ear lobes or something and so these squeeze him too much. So everybody started then talking about the Audio Technica ATH 50 X M 50 X So I bought them based on okay, I Put them on they're a little bright So I said well brighter isn't always better unless you're getting old and you can't hear highs anymore or something If I need to brighten something I don't want to wear headphones that are already bright because then I won't do it and Ann Ganguza said she texted me and said I'm sad that you don't like my headphones Jordan what are you wearing right now? Those are the Jordan you have the ascent eyes are 85 80s or what are this? No, these are the 650s. They're open back Nice, they're totally open back meaning They don't put to the voice actors listening meaning literally sound when they are speaking and I hear them in my headphones And when I'm speaking a lot of that is bleeding out almost as if not like it's a speaker But like it's just kind of leaking out where as closed back headphones like the audio Technica's that Uncle Roy was talking about these are closed back Which are much more preferred Well highly for track when recording but for doing also But if you want to use these your room you also not only does sound leak out of it But the room leaks into my headphones so I can hear my AC a little bit on right very transparent But that's what's great about them. They sound more Realistic how we are human ears here sound in the world We don't we don't hear everything like through this which is what a closed-back headphone does it just cups it off So you have to be in a quiet room to listen to these on Recording with them is much riskier. I have everyone quiet right now if I turned it up We I would get feedback and a wheel so interesting. That's that's what's just where I'm right now just because they're honestly These and probably the noise. These are really more comfortable than the Neumann's Really? I love how come probably not good during a music session where you're overdubbing and you're playing back music And the music is leaking out into the microphone. At least it's the same song. I use these for If I if I'm doing if I'm doing like mix checks or like lately actually my my new acoustic panels are like four months on back order It was why my room sounds so bad. So from the mixing I've been doing I've been relying on these because they're really They're not colored. They're very smooth across the board. Yeah, I feel like I was from a three-letter acronym company What does the acoustical panels are they coming from a three-letter name? Yeah. Well, yeah There's two three-letter company At least yeah, George. Did you say you thought that the 770s were were flat or colored? I think they're a little bit colored. I think they're a little bit more hyped on the top end, but You know, it's Jordan's done a lot of critical listening. I've done some I think whatever it is you have to be comfortable wearing them and you have to just trust them And if you've learned like I've been wearing this pair of headphones And then the ones that I had before which are really really thrashed and worn out Since I worked for the Eagles football network in 2001 so I just know these dang headphones so well I'm so familiar with them, you know, and he's got some one of those the HD 25s What are the so those are the Sony 100s? What are those? Yeah, that's the V This is the MDR V 150. Yeah, that they don't make any more, but not comfortable man They sound good. No, they were comfortable there. Really? It's not too tight when you bought the later ones. They they made the band tighter But then these are comfortable and sound great. Yeah, there you go No minor minor So tight now me. I I got my Harlan Hogan's here. They're they're flat They're comfortable. I can wear these for two three hours, and I don't even notice I love them too. They're a little lacking in the low end Well, yeah, and the fact is is I don't mix music and I don't do a lot of mixing I just I hardly actually ever wear headphones when I'm recording. I don't wear headphones You know, I want to hear myself in the environment in which I'm working If you happen to live in a home with a lot of other people or somebody else who does not want to hear your studio monitors Yeah, it's good to have a good pair of headphones. These work great for for me But you know, I always I generally mix using my monitors and so I don't worry about it too much Let's see what other questions we got here This is a good one from Douglas voice guy, what a great name Any new finds or discoveries regarding sound treatment both homes and rental apartments in the way of material Technology, etc. Anybody seen anything new that they're They're particularly excited about or consider what we've been saying about how people's you know acoustics don't seem to be so hot I've been curious about the these felt things. I don't know if you've seen these like if it's like Yeah, that's like these tiles and they have something in them and there's like felty and I don't know I feel like they're maybe aimed at offices more than things, but I Don't know anything about like them. You know how how they work or if they're good. Oh, oh, yeah, maybe yeah Yeah, I think yeah, totally I don't know. What's the what's the deal? These are a prototype from source are from studio bricks. Oh, they're doing they're trying to print their own in-house And these are made out of PET So they look how they look felt their face up to it and go See what kind of They're felt now That that that that will lick it George lick it They the nice thing about these is right out of the box zero odor. Oh That's a plus zero odor and and Performance-wise I haven't been able to try them other than have they ship me literally that one panel Why don't you just smell it? Well, they did they wanted me to smell it. Unfortunately, they shipped it in the same box with a foam panel They're also producing and the smell of that was in the box. So I was like oof These are supposed to have no odor So once I unboxed it and left them alone for a while pick this one up and it is yeah, absolutely non-nonsense George, what about a little plug for your tri-booth there? Order is it over for odor-free is how you're asking? No No, environmentally, I don't mean can you recycle it? No, I mean, how does it how does it make it sound? Acoustically, it's it's pretty it's pretty dead. It soaks up a lot of the room reverb time It's not a hundred percent So if you have an extremely reverberant room, you may not find you're getting quite enough Out of it if you're in an average room or an average bedroom or living room or situation It does a very nice job. I find that just throwing another Comforter blanket whatever on the floor and then putting it on top That's the last percentage that you most people would need and it does a really fine fine job And that's just a very heavy-duty moving blanket type Treatment and and cover your desk if it's a hard surface anything. It's real hard and real close to the mic Yeah, yeah, put a towel or a blanket on your desk Yeah, that's one of the biggest things I hear in a lot of booths and my mind included like my voice I have a lot of mid-range and hi. I'm Jordan and And it just it my voice and hard surfaces don't go well together. So I Have a glass window I cover the glass door with a curtain when I go in and my monitor is the smallest I can get it and I'm the as far away as I can be and still see the screen It's only 22 inches. So if you have like some big 24 inch or 27 inch Which is really they're all affordable now in your booth and your mic if like here's your mic And then your screen is right here, you know for that far apart and you're only a little bit further from that mic Depending on your vote of your voice type and the other hard surfaces in your recording space that monitor can create a Too much liveliness and too much of a harsh Ring to it. And so I suggest people like literally my screen is tilted down facing the rubber on my desk So but I can still see it. It looks weird just looking at it But I've gotten used to I can read the text just fine because it has a good viewing angle But when I tilted that that made a huge difference also your ceiling your ceiling is not your friend Unless you've got, you know, there there you go Cliffs got the clouds. So his voice does not hit the ceiling and bounce back There's a co-cow monitors Oh one more thing real quick talking about to piggyback Jordan if you're using a music stand You have a hard flat surface throw a towel over it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah And you can tell you can tilt that back a little bit too that that that sometimes helps it towel it when I listen to critical mixes I've got two monitors. I throw towels over and turn them off and push them as far away as I can That's why I like the the music stand that doesn't have a flat surface on it. Yeah Yeah, it's a cheaper to yeah 10 bucks. Yeah, we got lots more questions here We're gonna do a speed round after this and we're gonna take a break and We'll be right back with our audio masters round table with uncle Roy Jordan Andrew and Cliff right after these mess This is Arianna Ratner, and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with Dan Leonard and George Whittom V. OBS dot TV Let's face it if you're a voice talent not everyone in your family or close friends really understands what you need for your home Voiceover studio you want a what well voiceover essentials calm has the perfect answer when it comes to birthdays and other gift giving for us voiceover folk new for the first time ever after countless requests Voiceover essentials calm is thrilled to offer the voice over essentials gift card You pick the amount you want to give and they take care of the rest The recipient will receive an email with their digital gift card and gift code to use on anything They offer on voice over essentials calm give them or give yourself the gift of getting exactly what you want Like the Harlan Hogan VO1 a microphone the port-a-booth pro or plus Harlan Hogan signature series voiceover optimized headphones I want a what go to voiceover essentials calm and click on shop and gift cards and choose the amount gift cards now at voiceover Essentials calm. Thanks, Helen Well, hello there. I bet you weren't expecting to hear some big voice denouncer guy on your new orientation training for snapchat This is virgin radio. Well, okay. We're not that innocent. There's jeans for wearing and there's jeans for working Dickies cuz I ain't here to look pretty. She's a champion of progressive values a leader for California And a voice for America. It's smart. It's a phone. It's a smart phone, but it's so much more It's a the files are ready. Don't forget to pick up the eggs. What time is hockey practice check out this song It's the end of the road for red When hope is lost the I8 from BMW Who said saving the planet couldn't be stylish? Hey, it's J. Michael Collins. Bet you think I'm gonna try and sell you a demo now I think they speak for themselves, but I will give you my email. It's J. Michael at jmc voice over dot com Now if they will stop waxing this mustache for a minute, we'll get back to the show Well, it's that time because there's a camera on me to talk about source elements and the Toolset that they bring along to the table source connect being the main one That's the one that the vast majority of voice actors want to have available in their Toolset they make many different systems and tools that allow productions to work collaboratively around the world and it can be used on the post-end for Playing back mixes to the client who's someplace else and even multi-channel or surround And it can also be used to just simply record the voice talent Maybe you from a long distance away Directly into their timeline now something that's really cool about source connect That's been in there for a really long time, but most don't know about it's called Q manager And what Q manager does is it records you the talent? Automatically in the background so you're actually always being recorded during the session You don't have to worry about rolling a backup Q manager is doing it and what it's doing is Doing a few magical things not only is it recording you it can also automatically fill in the audio If there is a network dropout in the middle of a session, which is pretty magical stuff It just happens automatically in Pro Tools But it can also completely replace the audio track in the session with the raw or un processed non-lossy AIF or wave version of the audio and it can do all of that totally Automagically it's pretty amazing stuff And I wish more sessions would use it because it just makes the talents life all that easier and the production flow is so smooth Anyway, if you want to get started go over to source dash elements calm get yourself a 15-day free trial Get your iLock account set up learn how to make it work and be ready when you're called upon to do that big gig That requires source connect. Anyway, thanks a lot. Let's get back to all those questions time for rapid-fire round This is Arianna Ratner and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with Dan Leonard and George Whidham VOBS dot TV And we're back with our audio masters round table. Somebody's got their echo on Okay We've got Cliff and Uncle Roy Andrew Feliciano and Jordan Reynolds with us on our audio masters round table It's still got time for a few questions here. We're gonna do a speed round as George and I like to call it This is something we talked about last week a little bit from somebody else who's one of those Two handfuls of people that actually know something about home voiceover studios Jim Edgar who's on YouTube Speaking of connecting how much are we you guys seeing session link pro or session link dub showing up? I know I'm doing a lot of dubbing work right now and some of these companies have it seems to have their own platforms They're big companies. So it's like karaoke and stuff But are you guys seeing session link pro or session link dub or any of these any other things showing up now? I Think connection open is one of those companies where you can do remote looping or ADR and oh Andrew Danish has been using it a lot and we just got to get the studios and the clients to Embrace that particular platform besides Source Connect or the things you're mentioning. I think session link pro is gained traction in Europe to German product So German clients are gonna probably use it more But anecdotally very very rare, but I had a troubleshooter client last week with an Apollo She was trying to use Mike channel two of the Apollo to run into session link pro and Long long story short. It didn't work very well We just physically plugged your mic into channel one of the Apollo and everything went great after that so No, it's that was the first time. I think I've troubleshooted a session link pro session Ever I I love it. I love session link pro. I think it's I think it's one of the best web-based products out there Why do you say that? They've I mean so they they have a few products that all basically do a similar thing But they aimed it like it at like dubbing, you know And they end the way that they integrate the video is really nice And you know where you can kind of have You know, I'm gonna get sort of technical, but you know they have a Way where you can split audio or Or have the guest and the talent talk to each other With the studio or you know, so there's a lot of flexibility in how the the studio can sort of manage What what people are hearing and what you're sending to who also with sending video And you can have Or for instance, I've done it with zoom on For the clients and session link pro for the talent and I can separate those things But then have video shared on both of them And yeah, I think there's been a great it's one of the better. It's one of my favorite of the web-based Platforms Out there and you know, it's not it's not cheap. It's a professional tool But it doesn't cost anything for the talent. So how much how much is that? I Think it's maybe 40 bucks a month, which is not it's not no no maybe more than that Maybe I forget the dub it. There's different tiers because there's a few different versions of it But it's very reasonably priced right for for if a studio is using it Yeah, I feel like it's been a good a good product Although I know they did go down right when I was using it one day because it was they must use the Microsoft cloud Because it was the same day the Microsoft cloud went down But it's only a couple of hours, so that'll do it fascinating that we're actually talking about this now Since it wasn't that long ago when it was like when's ISD n gonna die and now it's like it Who's using ISD and a whole lot anymore? We still have it, but we have we use it as a phone patch. It's like yeah um, I have five numbers and like only two of them have lines in them, but Yeah, it's dead like my my zephyr hasn't seen a lecture at the electricity since like the first obama administration My zephyr museum graveyard Got a whole wall of them. I think it's a great finding goodwill I couldn't get anyone to to buy it or even take it. I just dropped it off at goodwill. It's really You know some nerd walked in there like it was into cb radios or something. Yeah That's really cool, you know for 10 bucks if you need a two inch a two space rack filler And you still have the buttons all my buttons have popped off. I know here's what I want to do I'm gonna I want to hook them up And put them in the lobby But hook them up to all the rooms with a feed of just what the master boss off the off the mixer just like whatever and and so you Just see bouncing And you'll see like what's happening in the rooms, you know Because you can just turn them on and you can send them signal and then the meters will just bounce Um, I yeah those meters aren't cheap. Yeah. Yeah. Do you still need the uh ISD n subscription? No, you wouldn't you can just turn it on without anything It'll take you 1100 bucks a month. Just quite a lot like this, you know. Yeah. Yeah I still have my Gettner. Uh, I do too digital hybrid phone patch. It was probably 1500 bucks new and it weighs a ton And it works great. I just yeah Here's a question from George Maguire, uh, hey guys external preamps versus audio interface preamps. Are they worth it? Don't ask the nail that don't ask it don't ask cliff Yeah, it depends. It depends exactly the stuff today is pretty darn good You know, you you can get quality preamps and interfaces um you know You know a big question was a to d converters, you know and and a da's, you know or da c's actually And I think the answer is, you know from mid-range up to a billion dollars. They pretty much sound the same So you really don't need to have like and people like I got to have a grace 101 or I've got to have You know these big expensive things I love none of this stuff is going to make you perform any better No, but man pride of ownership of a grace That is awful cool, but you can also put you can also put it on your website. Look what I have No, I have two avalanes. So, you know, I I'm a bit snobby when it comes to that stuff But I use my avalanes from from music as well Yeah, that's what I think a lot of this here's the thing All of this stuff the majority of the equipment that we use as voice actors None of it was designed for voiceover They're not sitting in some boardroom somewhere going You know, we need to have a voiceover mic. We need to have a voiceover of this You know, we're we're an afterthought. I think the podcasting overcame that too people like oh, we got to have a podcasting mic now growing up and Growing up in the studio and I think cliff can agree with some of this poor poor us all I had was 247s and 248s no, that's it All of them none of them were designed for voiceover. They were meant to capture music. Yeah all of them And I think people tend to get confused by that because they'll they'll talk to recording engineers who record music Like well, this is what I use And they're like, well, I've got to have that but having it isn't the same as the 20 30 40 years of experience We have knowing how to use it. Yeah. Yeah, hydrating the the old with the new You know, it's very valuable Yeah, I'm I'm I'm one for two if you if If it's part of your experience And and you and you love it and you love gear and that gets you going Um and can afford it do it It's it's dumbo magic feather. It doesn't it doesn't take away from needing to perform as well. You have to do both Of course for sure right of course But but if it's if that's something, you know, if you're a gearhead And and that's part of your experience then then go for it get the good stuff learn how to use it and and perform Well, number one. Um, yeah, uh, those those are those are first, you know, number three would be um, uh, you know the gear but Yeah, have to go for it if you want to have one of us dial it in for you. Yeah Absolutely. Well, that's why we're here. Yeah, uh, jhoris black asks Specifically for george because you were talking about this a couple weeks ago You mentioned an inexpensive webcam And stand for helping to get the eye line more centered when doing zoom sessions Do you have links for those items? Unmute I don't find my mute button I haven't I haven't updated my links page in a while, but I will make a pledge to do that Tonight. Um, and so if you go to home vo studio now dot com That is my horror show of a link page Which you can go there and everything I usually recommend is on that page and those will be on there also I promise So that's great. I would like to know what that is to george because as a voice actor who attends a lot of zoom workshops um, I love my fellow voice actors, but man A lot of you out there. I know it's hard to get webcams in the right spot But some of your webcam angles are ridiculous Like I love you all but you like if you have someone like, you know, I this is just sitting in my monitor right here But if you can find a way to velcro. Yeah Like the top of your head But not even that like I'm talking you'll be in the frame But some voice actors it'll be like And it'll look like this the whole time and then they're like They're looking up their nose like they look like a little kid There's this one this is one guy He always looks like a little boy and he's probably in his 40s But he's just like this because his camera's like mounted to a ceiling or something Just try to get it at eye line It just looks so much more professional But just a lot more natural right for you to engage with the the casting director Like the people you're trying to get hired by Just try to make like just get a decent light and and I can't wait to hear what this Stand is that george has because I This is my eye line camera. I I just rigged it up real quick and yeah It's just a $25 arm that you can clamp to the desk and then Clamp your $20 webcam to it and there's a million $20 webcams now Um, and this yeah, this is a $20 webcam. It's not as accurate as the other one I'm using obviously But it's sharp. It doesn't focus. You don't have to worry about it auto focusing And um, I'm telling you guys there's a there's a million $20 webcams now, but I will I will link the one I'm actually Using try to make I think we all look great on camera today Talk to the green dot Anyway, uh instead of doing it yourself. Yeah, um trinity is pagan. There's an interesting Um from youtube any recording software for linux that you can recommend. I certainly don't want to use mac 2 Any of you guys into linux at all? Like I have a linux hat I think I like that. I'm pretty sure a dacity works on linux. You're driving a linux, aren't you? Yeah Like this never mind Yeah, a dacity a dacity works on linux I suggested reaper in the chat reaper. Yeah reaper. Yeah reaper works, too Is is reaper linux? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Here's a reaper school Yeah, I know a lot of people using yeah, I like using uh using reaper But but you know, it's like well, I'm a snob about my my operating system They all sound the same. I don't quite get Uh second part of her question tossing up between rota ntg 5 and the vo1a voiceover mic Well, I'm talking on a vo1a right now And I sound at least as good as you guys I think um ntg 5 george is that you're using what are you using that's a shotgun, right? Yeah, which one is that? That's this is the ntg 5 Okay, well, she's comparing you versus me. What sounds better Sorry, we're both fight. We're both using some processing. So it's going to be tough to really Make a good judgment call on that, but um, okay. I'll I'll I'll play I'll switch off my processing All right. This is just now you're in my left channel. Oh, yeah, now you're out of phase I've been meaning it's I've been meaning to address this This is going to be in my review for the personas eureka, but I mean personas revelator. I are 24 this sounds good though I don't know why this happens when I sometimes off the processing you would think turning on processing would cause Weirdness, but if I turn it off That's what happens turn it back on and now it sounds normal again. It's a lot right The middle again. It's the ms thing going on. It's really weird that it does that on that channel But uh, yeah, it's cool music The road in tg 5 is a very nice alternative to a 416. It's not quite as bright and crispy So I have mine hyped up a little bit to sound a little bit more 41 60 But uh, it's a dying down good mic if you can get it if you can if they're in stock If they're not on a boat how much what's the price of that versus the thousand dollars for the 416? These are this is a 500 dollar mic generally Unless you're paying a price gouge price on amazon because it's not in stock or something Yeah, I I even said but this this might look I look as looks 416, but it's actually the synco d2 That I kind of bought it to try it and it's uh, you know, it's pretty good for 200 bucks. Yeah, it's kind of flat Yeah, it's it's yeah. Yeah, I mean it's similar, but it's yeah, yeah, but it's been it's been fine I want to hear this. Yeah, go ahead Okay, all right. I'm gonna keep it real please Well, I know you will like what george said and it sounds like what andre's saying too It's the synco d2. This is nothing against it's for for $200 It's a fantastic sounding mic But there are some comparisons out there that are like, oh, it's pretty much a 416 I cannot hear the difference and it's just And I'm not just saying for my snobby audio ears. It just know it they just because they're both shotguns And they're in the color black doesn't I know it's not why they're saying that but it reacts a little different Um, yeah, it has this is the best way I could describe it And I've I've had probably four or five audio clients who um, they've got a console with me and they want me to optimize their sound And who have this mic and a great sounding room, right? varying rooms different voices female male And all of them have had the same theme which is It the best way I could describe it is that it just sounds like there's like a light paper towel over the whole thing It is just so like I agree Yeah, yeah, that's where you describe it and I like a lack of transparency Yeah, but I like neutral right and transparent I'm all that's all I talk about all the time like when I teach my course is like you want flat neutral But there it is just so like it doesn't even take a cue as good as I would want it I I even mixed a demo. I agree. Anyways, okay, so it's not bad I just don't think I just want people to not think they're gonna get really close to a 416 sound Because it doesn't have the cut and the bite and the the the clarity that a 416 the reason you use a 416 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this room I'm in is is an a space people do auditions out of and so it was like, you know So I was like, oh, that's a great place to try it for the money. Yeah. Yeah for sure I think they're terrific for the money. Yeah. Yeah for a shotgun mic at that price. They're super quiet But they just have they just so they're just really dull They're just really dull for that price if you don't have to go shotgun if you're gonna go for in that $200 range I would get the uh stellar X2 x2 It's a large diaphragm condenser. So it's gonna take more of your room, but that mic for the price Oh sounds so good. It doesn't have that. Yeah, so self-noise is a little high on that but is it from that? Oh, I need it. I need to get one up my hands on one. I thought the samples I've heard a really Oh, I'll give you mine. No, it's Speaking of rapid fire around shall we try to squeeze in one more question? Yeah Let's see one here Seeing as all of you are demo producers There's a great question here from Gerard McGuire. He says uh demos the fashion for vos has changed The non-vo voice over is the non voice over voice over Okay, is often requested often. You see don't sound like an announcer Or relatable guy girl next door. Have you demo guys had to change your direction for the new fashion in? announcer voiceovers, I mean I have I have a regular commercial demo which cliff knows and I have an announcer demo where it's the styles are very very different What are you guys doing? What what's really the hot thing that people are trying to get done right now? As far as demos are concerned Cliff well first of all rule number one the read is determined by the script All right, it depends on what you're talking about and it depends upon the genre of voice over Um, I think that I have seen a lot of sessions where the client says we want We want conversational. We want boy next door. We want this we want that and as the session progresses Okay, that was great. But can you hit this a little bit harder? Okay, that was good But can you give me a little rise here? Can you give me a little bit more than just that conversational read? So there's you know Whether they want to admit it or not, there's always that especially if we're talking commercial We have to be compelling. We're selling something We want you to get excited about it if I'm going to talk to you about something like this You're not going to get that excited about it. So, you know depending upon what the script calls for Every read is valid be it announcer automotive. Goodness gracious, you know, please But covet has has softened a lot of what we do Um, we're not really hitting it hitting you quite so hard We're a lot of the spots that I'm producing and writing are what what can we do for you? How are we we here to help you? Um But again, I I think the general rule is the read is dictated by the script Andrew um Either the you know, obviously we've all here on the scripts the you know, you know You know conversational not an answer. It's like and I don't know I call it kind of voice over conversational Right, which is not quite conversational. It's not the it's not the super super soft Like just real real real read which you know a good voice actor can just give that and that's often not what they want Um, but the voice over conversational, you know, you're selling something, but it's casual um, and uh, um, but and so they hear that. Yeah, we want that voice But then as what cliff said they ramp it up during the session. Yeah, but I find they want to hear the voice over casual Uh, the the selling casualness of it because they'll pick you for that and then pump you up in the session Yeah, I see them all Yeah, and so Jordan your thoughts on that. No, I completely agree. It's it's really hard and confusing for newer voice actors You know, it's something I've learned the hard way where um, and it's only gotten worse as far as the the Where where what they expect you? Conversational wise to audition as to book it and to and to also what what they expect on your demo There's this deep raw level not every spot But at least a few where they want it genuinely like how I'm just talking right now where I'm just like You know, I'm just like I'm just talk like like cliff was like But um, but where you know if I'm just kind of talking like this and you might have a spot You know, you're just kind of talking off the cuff and you might book Uh a burger spot like this And then you book the session because you you've trained and spend all this money And you're so good at it and then you get in the session and then they're like, yeah punch this up a little Oh, can you a little bit more energy? And then by the end when us voice actors who did maybe didn't book that gig Who gave that really subdued read that was in the spec then you hear it on on a youtube pre-roll ad and you're like What the hell that's super announcer II didn't But the actor probably did it just as good as you did or better Even more neutral and they pumped it up in the session. It happens all the time Not as a experienced voice actor, but I've seen it cliff seen it in sessions. I've seen it I've ran this question past casting directors and agents. It's very common in commercial So the expectations you have to get the skill really good, but they're just gonna more often than not hype it up in the session It's kind of messed up because it's like it feels like a way sometimes like why do I have the skill? If we're not going to use it other than to get the job It's the basic. I think the one thing that we really have to stay away from here in 2020 Can you guys see that it's a sign, right? Okay. This is not a sign wave. This is the conversational read killer for you and your family Anytime you put in that That will kill the conversational thing thongy Yeah, but you know if you are looking and Try to avoid that. It's so 2000, you know 1995 to melodic. Yeah For you and you're if you're looking get Don't hit the pronouns. Don't hit the ands. No or no We it's just flatten out out Cliff knows better than anybody because automotive has such a range within itself. Oh, yeah, and and as he directs for his spot Then it comes really comes down to what is the script who is the dealer? What have they done in the past that's successful? I'd say to help you find that conversational read put a pre read on it Hey, cliff and you know, hey cliff, you know what you know what and then read and then read the script We'll keep it more conversational. Who are you talking to put that person's name? Talk to your cousin the one that you like Yeah, another tip is when you get your script for the first time Print it out sit in a chair read it in your head Three times don't read it out loud never read the script out loud when you're laying up at night You're reading your james missioner novel you're reading in bed Perfect interpretation in your head sit down quiet read it in your head three times I've heard coaches say stand in front of a mirror. I mean, that's crazy You know, how many distractions do you need? Hear it in your head first three times then read it. It's gonna be A lot smoother a lot more conversational and you already know where to go. It's muscle memory. Yeah, and on that note that's gonna bring our Our audio master's round table 2021 to an end thanks to uh, jordan reynolds And andrew flesiano Uncle roya yokelson and cliff zelman all you guys are fabulous. I miss you all We all got to get together soon You know, there's guys out there. I don't like but you guys I like We're in the club. Oh, yeah All right, george, and i'll be right back to wrap things up right after this wrap it up Before time began there was v obs dot tv watch or else Hey there, it's david h. Lawrence the 17th one of the things that I am most thankful for is a guy By the name of patrick tucker who's that he wrote secrets of screen acting And it's a book that changed my life both as an on-camera talent and as a voiceover talent Uh, I had a chance to do a podcast with him 300 episodes of a podcast that will add to your knowledge base Like crazy whether you're doing on camera voiceover or both It usually sells for 279 dollars, but for the next week week and a half or so It's yours for 149 dollars. So that's nearly 50 off, but i'm going to sweeten the deal I'm going to give you the actual book secrets of screen acting and The audiobook for secrets of screen acting All of those things will benefit both your on-camera work if you do that and certainly your voice work If that's all you do go to vo heroes dot com slash cyber That's vo heroes dot com slash cyber. It's a limited time offer do so soon and I hope that helps In these modern times every business needs a website when you need a website for your voice acting business There's only one place to go like the name says voice actor websites dot com Their experience in this niche webmaster market gives them the ability to quickly and easily get you from concept to live online In a much shorter time when you contact voice actor websites dot com Their team of experts and designers really get to know you and what your needs are They work with you to highlight what you do Then they create an easily navigable website for your potential clients to get the big picture of who you are And how your voice is the one for them plus voice actor websites dot com has other great resources Like their practice script library and other resources to help your voiceover career flourish Don't try it yourself. Go with the pros voice actor websites dot com where your vo website Shouldn't be a pain in the you know what This is bill radner and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with dan lennard and george widham vobs dot tv And we're back to say goodbye. You know, it's december already george. I mean Believe it or don't this is the worst worst time of the year for me I mean, it's great. But thanksgiving My anniversary on the 27th My wife's birthday on december 5th and my birthday on december 28th It can be a very pressure factor of the year Oh Oy vey, is that the appropriate time to say that exactly on monday. I can see that that's true Uh, anyway, uh next week on this show I'm not sure what's gonna happen, but we'll have another great guest on here. Although it's gonna be tough to beat Last hour, that's a great bunch of guys going on my note. Uh, who are our donors this week Oh boy, we got so many good ones. I gotta go find them again because I got too many Browser tabs open here. Would you close all those windows? Man? I got too much going on shana Shana pennington bear. She was in the chat tonight. I'm hoping I'm saying her name right after all these years And yes icon productions martha con don griffith Steven chandler sondra man willer robert leadham Uncle roy, you're still sending us money. Okay, what a guy He knows we're gonna say his name. That's why he sends us money every way he sends us It's top of mind folks. We say your name every episode. You never know Where your name's gonna stick in someone's brain. Yeah, I heard that name on the end of vlbs I don't know if anybody's ever said that they got cast that way. But anyway, it's worth it. It's worth a few bucks Yeah, uh tonight, uh, we need to remind you that george and I do this as a profession Well, like our guest tonight as well If you need help with your home voiceover studio and you would like to work with mr. Whittom Where do they go? They go to Well, especially this week they got to go to george the dot tech slash cyber monday because when you see this This air is right on cyber monday or the night before And now's your chance to grab some deals at george the dot tech slash cyber monday So that's where you go to find me dan. Where do they go to find you? They go over to home voice over studio dot com I know it's there somewhere. Come on. So there it is right there home voiceover studio dot com Happy to help you out love talking to people one on one and teaching you what you need to know to record properly Uh, we need to thank our sponsors harlan hogan's voiceover essentials vio extra Source elements vio heroes dot com voice actor websites dot com and jmc demos Our thanks to jeff holman for doing a great job in the chat room tonight lots of great questions Lots of people watching and that we love having you here when we do it live If you're watching and replay just as good you get the same information Uh, our our one and only Technical director is the one and only sumerly, you know, thanks sue for getting it done tonight and lee penny for being lee penny Well, that's gonna do it for us this week You know getting into voice over is not easy once you're in it. It's not easy But when it comes to your audio if it sounds good It is good. I'm dan lennard. I'm george widdum and this is voice over body shop or vio b As tech talk talk tech talk that tech talk tech talk. See you next week. Have a have a wonderful week