 Hey, it's time for tech talk number 30 Whoa Hard to believe we've this will be the 30th and boy do you guys watch this? You know, I know we have a lot of people that watch it live and we'd love you to ask the questions But a lot of you watch it in the replay and listen to the podcast And we're glad that you're there a lot more people than we've had before and we're here to help you with your home Studio, and we've got stuff to talk about tonight about You know something about Catalina With max got any other tech stuff on your your tray there George Mainly just you know, I just want to mainly answer a lot of questions tonight, you know Because I feel like there's probably gonna be a lot more People still kind of getting it together with getting their source connect going or Understanding what need they really need to do this Do they have to be on ethernet can they still just kind of pull it off with Wi-Fi and good question So we'll talk about that kind of stuff mainly do your questions tonight. All right fantastic We had a lots of them last time and we're glad to have them tonight So let's get charged up. Let's ready to roll get your questions out and tune in now for VOBS tech talk 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 Wittem 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.com 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 voice over 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 Hey there I'm Dan Leonard and I'm George Whidham and this is voice over body shop or VO ES Jack talk talk tech Everybody loves tech talk George It's my favorite. It's my favorite too. I mean offense to our awesome guest bat that was on cuz that's obviously a blast But my first love is talking tech. It is with me as well And we've had lots of interesting talk this week with lots of people who need help with tech And of course, yes, we need to mention that you know if you're new to this show and we know there's a lot more people watching than used to be We're here to help you with your home voice over studio now We've seen the memos from the agencies and the production houses and our agents although it's turned into a giant game of adult telephone where the recording engineers are talking to the producers and directors who were talking to the the Account managers and the advertising agencies and the other things who are then talking to the casting directors who are then talking to The agents and what we're getting from our agents is you need to have something called slice connect and You've got to have this snow tools. We're not sure what it is But you've got to be really good at it and that's where the only and and it's like Now here you got to have source connect pro Yeah, that's not the standard one because the standard one's free. That's right There's so much confusion. In fact, it's so much that I started putting a hashtag on Facebook every time I make a correction to somebody's This information called hash hashtag source connect myths. Yes, there are a lot of them Yeah, which is a subcategory of home voice over studio myths. It's exactly. It's a it's a large volume Anyway, we're here to help you with that. We're here to answer your questions. We're here to solve your problems and but we do it professionally and Every home studio no matter who you are is a unique custom built thing and it's not what people think it is It's not, you know, windows to another studio with guitars and gold records hanging on the wall and And and a 32 track, you know mixing board This is I think George what most people are really fearing Especially if they haven't done a home studio before is there They're used to what they see when they walk into a studio Which is usually well, all right craft service and and the big mixing board and all this You don't have that you're in your closet or you're in a booth somewhere In your home, you've created a setup like that Every room is different every voice is different and every situation is different. So there's no one size fits all Which is why you need someone like Mr. Wittem here Like oh, yeah, this is our plug time. Yes. Um, yeah, you can find me over at george the tech Um, george the tech comm also will work if that kind of makes you twitch a little bit when you hear that domain um, and there's a whole bunch of stuff you can do over there through my Tech support menu. Um, if you're under a really big tight deadline There's also emergency support where I basically open up my my schedule to far more hours at a little bit of a premium Um, you can check that out. Um, and there's also just a lot of information I've tried to compile support videos things on source connect Uh and and the like so go ahead and check that out in book time with me if you need it And also I know dan does a kind of the same thing over at I'm sorry over here home voice over studio dot com And it's uh You know, it's my website. I talk about a lot of the stuff that goes on with home studios and what you need to do Uh, the highlight of my my site is the specimen collection cup Uh, which is a prop box. Yes, and it's it's been very busy lately. Uh You know like it's been people have been submitting their audio saying Somebody says this about this or something Go in there follow the instructions click on the specimen collection cup and for 25 dollars I will analyze your audio and see if it is up to the standards The george and I and a couple of our friends who are production engineers Emmy award production engineer, you know winning production engineers and and top automotive engineers and voiceover engineers guys who really understand What home voiceover studio is supposed to be about? And because as we like to say if it sounds good It is good. That's right. So we're gonna talk about that So the first thing I think you want to talk about in your tech update has to do with You know, I haven't seen it. Uh, I mean, I've probably done the update now I'm I maybe I haven't I'm afraid to do it. There was an update with catalena I'm hoping by this time the fine people at apple computers have figured this one out Well, um, unfortunately, I have a friend who's it kind of an it dude and he'll text me when these kind of things pop up on his radar And he reached out to me on east or sunday and he said beware. There's a new update for mac os catalena That's 10 point 15.4 and the update could possibly Uh crash or take down your mac book um There is um more detail on that from the article that I located online from tech radar The title the article is mac os catalena 10 point 15.4 gets a stability update But reports claim it's breaking some mac books So it seems to be specific to mac books may not necessarily mac minis Or ipads from what I can tell um You know, here's the thing and and I fall victim to the need to update and upgrade as as often as other people do But I I've been really really trying to to drink my own kool-aid here and tell you If your system is running well If it's doing what it needs to do If you can count on it and you feel rely you feel like you can rely on your system the way it is right now Put it on ice Don't update it Okay, maybe there's some exceptions if you need security updates apple does and windows as well Release security updates from time to time And that's a different situation I do recommend in most cases installing a specific security update and it'll say that when you look at your updates But system updates like update to mac the next version of mac os Certainly it almost goes without saying but also upgrades So if you're on mojave going to katalina um, I really recommend avoiding it as long as you can because Honestly, they're always updating stuff. And this is a great reminder as to why it's not necessarily good to be on the most current os This is a prime example of why being stuck back on mojave is a really good idea Apple cannot put out an update that will break mojave because mojave is finished. There are no updates for mojave There are security updates, but no system updates. It's at 10 point 14 point Whatever it is five or something and it will always be there because it's fully baked So this is another thing that just it's a good way to protect yourself to not have to worry about should I update if you're always a One os version behind now one more little tip on that One thing that's annoying about uh apple product is if you want to get katalina, but the next os is now the released os Let's say sometime in november What is the next one going to be? I don't know yet, but whatever it is um Griffith park let's call it that so If os griffith park comes out Um, and you want to have katalina you may not be able to get it easily So what you can do a little trick is download the update or upgrade for katalina from the app store now Just download it and that means you'll have the update or the upgrade application on the computer, but just don't run that upgrade until Griffith park comes out and then you really will be covering all your bases So anyway, just a little warning to all you mac people and you windows people can snicker because don't worry you're You've dealt with the same problem. You just don't want to admit it. Anyway And that's that um right now. I'm kind of playing around on a new floor mat. I just got from uh from Online I think I don't amazon Um, if you guys stand and work at your desk a lot like I do I pretty much go on exclusively standing now My lower back can get sore after a while. Um, I'm not sure if I'm slouching I might need to do some more You know back workouts, but I found this floor mat called the kangaroo. Here's the full title Kangaroo original premium anti-fatigue active comfort mat varied terrain acupressure massage ergonomic floor mats kitchen home work office stand-up desk Well, appearance of standing black That's the whole title the damn thing on amazon um Just look for a kangaroo original anti-fatigue mat. Maybe give it a shot. It's got different surfaces on it It's got some little actually let me show you And now mr. Woodham will demonstrate Took me that long to bend over pick it up Back is still sore. Um, but it's got different um surfaces and different little raised sections on it So it lets you kind of change your feet position and kind of move around It's got this big um thing on the back that you can kind of lean back on and um There it is More comfortable and it's got a really it it's pretty nice. It's pretty nice I'm I'm still working on the back pain thing to see if I can figure out how to get rid of the stiff lower back But um, it's nice being able to change your foot position and have something to Stand on instead of a flat floor. So I can recommend it Last thing I'll mention before we get into the questions and discussing idiot clients um Vanguard v4. Well, we've had this mic on the show before Dan was nice enough to swing by last week and Throw it out the window down He came down He came down the driveway Um and dropped off the vanguard v4 for me to give it a trial run So i'm using that mic tonight in figure eight mode Which I kind of like because it doesn't pick up any reflection underneath Or on the sides of the mic and I've got computer monitors a desk all kinds of stuff going on here I think it sounds pretty sharp. Um, I'll do a proper review of it as well As I promised I would but um, that's what i'm speaking into tonight So anyway, that's my little bit of tech update and what do you got for us, Dan? Well, you know Is this a rant? I'm not gonna I'm you know, I've been ranting all week long And you know certain, you know, there I've I've been ranting with an agent of mine who understands completely what I've been talking about And and I've been talking to es right. What's that initials es Maybe well, no, I I had another discussion with with es Earlier in the week, uh, but we won't get into that. Uh, well, maybe we will The thing is is I'm hearing From a lot of you out there that you're getting certain specs from clients And the impression I get is that the clients that they're working with Are somewhat down the food chain From the actual information And what were you in the game of telephone the tech game of the game of tech telephone? Yes, because what we're hearing is well first off we all know what my most hated phrase in digital audio and that is Broadcast quality What I'm I'm so I'm like they're saying I has to be broadcast quality and my response is usually Could they define that? Um, because they don't know what it means. They can't Uh, I think the best definition for that and then never use this definition again Of broadcast quality is it doesn't sound bad Because we we we always say, you know My favorite axiom that I use all the time is the idea of your home voiceover studio is not to sound great It's to sound like you With the corollary of the idea is to not sound bad And there's a lot of stuff that will make your audio sound bad. And I think what they're asking is What we don't we want it to sound good All right, could you define that we we don't want it to sound like you're in a bathroom in the Versailles Hall of Mirrors or all these other things because people Finally there are people who we've been telling for years and years and years You you you've got to have a home studio. You've got to be able to Record from home And I know there was a client you and I were both talking to this week Because well, I have to get the source connecting and then we'll work on having you know a better studio And I'm like no it didn't work that way Um, so there's there's a lot of miscommunication out there, but I I put in our notes here idiot clients I I'm not saying that clients are idiots. It's That if they they don't know what we do on our side of the glass Because as we like to say you they don't have to see how the sausage is made. They just want to hear it And and they listen to it on different things and they listen to it on laptop speakers Or 1942 zenith am console radio or whatever it is that they have Uh, and it everybody no, I think that's just you what thank you. Uh, there's there's It sounds different to everybody and if you're listening on laptop speakers It may not have perhaps the depth or the lower frequency response that your actual file Has and if they hear it that way They're like well, can you do it? So it's it sounds good on my laptop As opposed to As we like to say if it sounds good, it is good and they may not know what good is So how do you communicate this back to your clients? I think was the The topic that I wanted to toss out there and I know you have to do this a lot to george I always find and people who work with me know I ask a lot of questions Like what do you mean because they'll throw out terms that are Undefinable like broadcast quality. Uh, we want to change the terminology to professional quality Audio because digital audio is completely different from what they used to do on leave it to beaver and the six o'clock news and in 1968 Uh, just watch old, you know watch old tape of the the hunkly brink really report and hear what really broadcast audio Consisted of then because most of the time most none of the stuff is for broadcast it's for voiceover for an engineer or a producer on the other end to take and manipulate the way they want Yet, there are still some clients out there will catch you had lots of compression so you can sound like this guy Well, you can always hire that guy Because you know, but you want to be able to give them what I like to call a tablo rosa You want to give them a a clean slate of audio that they can manipulate? Unless they specifically say do this that and the other thing You also get the I want to sound like I do on this demo. Here's my demo reel, right? This is the context of a demo This is the way a final mix would sound. It's not the same thing Right. Yeah, I actually had I had a client talk to me today about a client was saying Maybe you need a different mic one that picks up bass better Hmm like Well, you know in which case I said just just get closer to the mic. Does that sound a little deeper? You know, um It really is proximity effect. Yeah, we were talking last week with with pat fraley about Proximity effect because he's a master of using a microphone and and how You know, you can learn the basic techniques of working with the mic So that you sound like you're having a conversation with somebody Uh, but there's there's problems with not knowing mic technique But once you learn it then you can learn to play So if you're supposed to be you're dead You know yelling downstairs to the hey, what are your kids doing down there? You learn those sorts of things mic technique is You know amongst the three things that we always talk about the acoustics of your room sound coming in and sound not reverberating around Microphone technique where you are addressing the mic. So you're not, you know, seeing peter piper picked a peck of pickle peppers And and that's and you know, you don't need a pop screen That was the argument I had with es this week is he tweeted on on twitter That there is some person who uh, who out there and he used sort of a you know a derogatory term talking about You don't need a pop screen. Well, I just you know, and then I said thanks a lot You know, I really appreciate a good friend like you saying this is no no no no no If I would have said walrus face doofus, then you would have known I was talking about you He can get away with that. Yeah. Well, he's one of those people that can get away with it. Um But anyway that that was my rant on this because Ask your clients to define their terms because yeah, what we're hearing is This terminology gap they use different terms on their side of the glass than we do things like source connect What what are some of the ones you've heard this week Well, I mean, there's there's definitely some confusion about source connect Standard versus pro what the voice factor needs One major agency is telling people that they need source connect pro when Really, they don't voice actors that need to connect to a studio Only needs to have the standard variation And part of that is really down parts. It's also just because of naming convention Obviously if you're a voice actor The thought would be you'd need the pro version if you're a pro professional and you're connecting to a professional studio But the standard version is completely Fully featured and does everything a voice actor could possibly need. So that's one of the major misnomers You don't need to make that next giant step up and cost to have the pro version Um, a lot of people ask about wi-fi Can I get away with using wi-fi for my source connect sessions? And um, and I always tell them like listen You know, I'll use a dumb analogy, but it's kind of like well Can I get away with driving to the 7-11 without my seat belt this time? Yeah, really, you know, it's like yes that time, but you didn't have an accident, you know, so it was fine So, you know the thing about wi-fi is it does work great a lot of the time Um, but it doesn't work great all the time And you need it to work great all the time when you're doing anything like source connect or IP DTL or source connect now, which runs on chrome Or source stream pro or session link pro There there's a ton of them, right? You need to have a really consistent connection So explain to people why that's so worth it was one of them I got to work with this amazing voice actress over the weekend. She lives in canada now. She just moved there And she had to pull off a live Not live, but it was a source connect recorded Session singing a character voice from some game. I think or a film. I think actually it was a game So she's doing a character singing the part The game was produced by a bunch of fellows in japan So they're watching live on zoom and listening and taking you know giving direction Somebody's translating it and then there's a director who's directing the voices for the video game here in los angeles As you can tell there was a lot going on. It was a pressure cooker situation We had tested the system out over the weekend and wi-fi was working fine But she she took my advice drilled a hole on the wall Poked an ethernet cable through the wall of her house And plugged it in and that was just one less thing that she had to to worry about on that Really important session So um, it's it's a very good idea to do it get get plugged in and you look up something called a power line ethernet adapter That's another way to be wired But using your household wiring to do it. It's kind of an interesting little product. So Check that out as a as a workaround. So you don't have to drill holes through floors and ceilings. Yeah See now i'm going to be fascinated But how this entire situation is going to play out In the long run because me to be stuck behind the barbed wire here in our own homes with our families for forever They're gonna let us out eventually and we'll go back to whatever, but I think everything is forever changed because now People have to have the home studio and they're going to learn the techniques if they talk to the right people You know you you and me And a few other people and trust me. There are not a lot of guys out there that really understand specifically home voiceover studio audio. It's it's a unique environment And you got to talk to the guys that have built hundreds of these things not someone who's an expert in one studio Built hundreds and heard thousands of people's audio. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we've heard a lot of and we've been hearing a lot more of it This last week But I think it's it's going to change the business a whole lot Probably to the detriment of several recording studio engineers who are now like, I mean, I got to do this from home You know, that's the other thing that gets me is that they're demanding that they use all this technology But they're probably at home too Right Yeah, I mean the session this morning the session this morning was kind of ludicrous I mean clearly the the actor could have been just recording um, the person on source connect was just capturing the audio um, and then but you know, there was there was some things going on where After this the take was recorded They would sometimes play it back and they want to be able to hear the playback. So what what goes on is like there's this We're trying to continue having sessions that happen from home Still feel and operate and work the way the client expects them to You know, they they spend a lot of money to produce this thing Um, probably pay the voice actor quite well, hopefully And you know, there's a lot of moving parts So they wanted to feel and operate the way the session would have that they were going into a studio So it definitely adds a learning curve for everybody And uh, that was what was interesting. We're only what a month into this and the lady who was directing the game who by the way I checked out her wikipedia Holy cow She's making a lot of games. Um, she was like, yep This is the way we're doing things now for her. It was like just another session Right, you know for my client the actor. It was a big deal. You know, this was monday morning doing but for the director Just another session Let's get this done and move on to the next character. We got to record for the game, you know So this is normal now All right, so we'll we'll see what happens, you know, and of course we're we invite you to you know to Contact us and tell us what's going on with you guys And what are you experiencing out there? So uh, yeah, and you can write to us at the guys at v obs dot tv If you're not watching this live and you want to inquire to us, we'll be happy to talk to you Uh, also if you've got a question for us right now and you're watching the show Right now You can toss your question into the chat room because george and i are going to take a break And then we're going to come back and we're going to tackle all those questions in amazing detail That you will totally understand what we're talking about and then he and i will try to explain it to ourselves Anyway, coming up next your questions on voiceover body shop tech talk Well, hello there I bet you weren't expecting to hear some big voiced announcer guy on your new orientation training for snapchat. Were you? This is virgin radio Well, okay, we're not that innocent There's genes for wearing and there's genes for working Dickies because 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 the files already. 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 rick Oh, it's your neighbor when hope is lost the i8 from bmw Who said saving the planet couldn't be stylish? Hey, it's j michael collins. I bet you think i'm gonna try and sell you a demo now, uh I think they speak for themselves, but I will give you my email. It's j michael at jmc voiceover dot com Now if dan will stop waxing this mustache for a minute. We'll get back to the show It's now time to talk about harlin hogan's voiceover essentials dot com Now today amazon incorporated shipped its last portabooth pro from their inventory And as you know the demand for many goods and services needed for those working from home has exceeded supplies And both their plus and pro recording booths are no exception Now you may have also experienced long shipping times even for audio equipment. That's in amazon's inventory Now voiceover essentials dot com the manufacturers of the portabooth plus and the portabooth pro And harlin hogan's signature series audio gear is shipping now And they have ample inventory of everything voiceover talent Podcasters and broadcasters need to produce professional sounding audio from home and on the road So if you're in need of home vo studio gear and now that's Everybody go on over to voiceover essentials dot com and see all the great stuff. They have that shipping now Hi, this is bill farmer and you are watching voiceover body shop. It's great over a cord Me Oh, okay Slugger Oh, and we're back and we're back You know, I I think you need to talk a little bit about source connect here, george This is this is one of those things again Because they're all asking for now we've been begging and pleading and Telling these studios. This is the I mean, josep riano has been telling this and you've been telling them and I've been telling them They're like, uh, it's not reliable suddenly That's gonna be the standard Like yeah, no not everybody can afford ISD and so you got to get source connect So what is it with source connect and what should people why should people have? Well, I mean source connect has been around a long time. Um, not nearly as long as ISDN um, but it's been used like Full like I mean as far as I know I have been dealing with the company and their product and making it work for voiceover people for Roughly 12 years. I think now believe it or not And so it's had a really long long ramp up to get to where it is now so they've worked very very hard to make it more stable more reliable and Better features and so and so forth and they've been doing that for quite some time And also in doing so trying to get more and more studios on board with using it And you know, there are people out there that are champions of the technology like pat duke and Joe Cipriano who have told their studios and their clients like guys This is the tool to use the thing about source connect is it's a system that requires a certain level of network Configuration to get up and running reliably you can just install it and You know have your computer on wi-fi Don't do a thing just kind of think of it like skype And uh and and likely you'll be okay But the difference between source connect and any kind of video chat audio chat skype zoom such and such Is that on those platforms? You'll hear little dropouts and bobbles and loss of audio quality from time to time And you just become accustomed to it because it's just a phone conversation. So who cares But with source connect and anything like source connect where you're streaming audio. That's high quality studio Professional quality audio over the internet that needs a very very stable internet connection We're not talking about super fast Doesn't have to be a hundred meg up 100 megabits per second up and down It just needs to be stable. So even if your network connection was particularly slow Let's say you're stuck in the hinterlands And all you got is dsl. There are still people out there. Definitely. You're still using dsl Don't worry because like even if your dsl is only what 720 Kilobits per second upload maybe a little faster download As long as your computer is Dedicated to using source connect and nothing else in the house is using it You're not nobody else in the house is watching Netflix Nobody else is siphoning off bandwidth You're going to be fine. We've been using source connect very reliably on slow internet connections like dsl Like I said for over 10 12 years So it really just depends on the quality of that connection and the stability of it. That's what's going to make it work great so Yeah, it's just I think because they've been At this a long time and have you know really established themselves in a lot of studios That it's really now They're you know, they've all this time they've put into developing and improving it Creating a support network of people to support it Which they do they have several people on staff 24 7 Um, that is now put them in good stead to be able to handle this new demand, you know They're having a little struggle. Don't get me wrong. They get it They're getting an inundation of clients that are using it and the support network that they have is Having a little trouble keeping up. That's why they create a chat Right. Um, if you go to source dash elements dot com Slash chat There's a free chat there and they've created this chat room where people in the community can all You know get together and ask questions and get help to kind of Stopgap the fact that their their own support is a little bit overwhelmed. Yeah All right, we got lots of tech questions tonight and we do we love it when we get questions because that's what makes this show work So we'll start off with jarrod maguire Jarrod jarrod says question for George. Therefore, I shall ask Um, if you use loud max to meet acx specs, does it have any negative effect on your audio file? Hmm You know that plugin dance loud max. It's uh, like it maintains a really loud level up front I would imagine. Yeah, it's like a limiter. Yeah a limiter. Um, it only if it's done wrong jarrod If it if it is being used correctly, it doesn't have any negative effect On your audio file. It just helps you get the rms levels that you need to To get to meet the acx spec acx once your levels your average rms Total rms depending on what software you're using to be. Um, what is it minus 23 to minus 18? That's the range they want the average level to be and so, uh Loud max is a really uh, free plugin and that's really easy to use To just by adjusting the threshold set the the sailing I think it's called the ceiling to minus three So it can't peak above minus three and then you can just slide the threshold slider and the further left You slide it the louder The audio gets now a certain point. It's not gonna sound so great if you overcook it But you cook it right that sauce is going to taste good. Yeah cooked on the loud max But that's the issue. I think with a lot of software and even with external channel strips and all the stuff that does this If you don't know how to use it, you know people think well, I've got this piece of equipment I've got that piece of equipment now. I should be great But you know, if if you don't know where the cold water is and the hot water is on it, you're going to burn yourself I mean you you give a professional an iphone a professional photographer an iphone They're going to take a hat give a lot better photo than you're going to take with their You know $6,000 dslr, right? You know, and that's just the way it is So but no you'll be you'll find your art if as long as it's dialed and tuned up correctly It works great. Yeah always have somebody who knows what it's supposed to sound like Listen to it Yep, I think is you know, it's like you remember what you hear might be different from what somebody else might hear And if you're doing it to satisfy your own ears unless you really know what it's supposed to sound like That can be a bit of a problem Right a question from michelle blanker I'll let you take that one michelle All right. Um, I was doing a source connect test today And I was having slap back. Is there a setting I need to correct slap back echo Loop back feedback all these different turns to use. Yeah, all these things people kind of mix around Um, so slap back. She's probably talking about she was hearing herself slapping back or returning to her So that depends on what kind of test you are doing michelle So if you were doing an echo test Because they have a couple of servers that are basically Computers that just literally have the input and the output connected together. So all it does is loop the audio back um If you're doing an echo test the whole point Is to receive a slap back or a loop back of yourself and that way you know absolutely for sure 100 percent Yes, it is working. That means the audio is going out. It's coming back. It's making it both directions It doesn't sound garbled or sloppy or dirty. It sounds exactly like you. That's a good thing However, if you're doing a test like that with a studio And you're hearing that slap back. That means the studio is not doing it right So whoever's on the other end they don't have their mix minus setup correctly That means they're sending you back to you So if you're on a session with a studio In this new world of studios or producers Plunging headfirst into using source connect Um, then in you hear yourself coming back you need to tell them I'm so sorry, but I'm hearing myself echoing back from you Can you please Fix that or mute your mic or whatever if they can't you know what you do? Okay, take one Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Okay How was that? Exactly Because you kind of be able to get to read in And not listen to yourself. So that'll that'll throw you good luck, michelle Really? Jeff Holman asks and you and I were talking about that this week How important is Certification the 75 dollar for standard version from source connect. I mean I don't know I don't know. I mean, um It could matter to some producer Um, I don't know how they would find out if you're certified unless they're actually searching For your information on the source elements website And then they happen to notice that you have the little c A little tiny c next to your name saying showing that you're sort of certified Or if you put a badge on your email address or what signature or your website or something Saying you're certified. Otherwise, I don't think there's there's a very low likelihood that anybody's ever gonna see or know that you're certified Because when they cast off of your voice That's You know, they're just casting off your acting. They're not gonna know that you're about a certification Right. So anyway, it's 75 bucks. If that's an easy spend for you I think it's a no-brainer. I mean because when you do it, it's not just buying a badge You're actually booking support with them and they actually do talk to you real time Check you out. Make sure you really do have it set up right and they make sure your audio does sound the way it should sound So it does have some value. It's it's not just buying some logo or something right and you and they are You know, some of them are audio experts over at service connect You might think and and they know what it's supposed to sound like and you know Like you and I know what it's supposed to sound like you can you know And we we have our studio certification or at least our studio approval with the world voices And uh people you know take advantage of that and that uh helps as well Or you can send an specimen to either one of us and Or both of us and michelle michelle's Answer to our by comment was oh, yeah Okay. Yeah Yes echo lol I think that tells us right there. What kind of a test she was doing yes It's good Randy mccartan. Yes Um I did a trial version of source connect a while ago. I'm planning on doing a buy out Which is buying the full the full cost of a license for six hundred fifty dollars But don't want to make that six hundred fifty dollar investment until it's needed right I've mentioned that all the time when we do our commercials Is there a lag time between when you purchase and when you can start using it? Very very little. I mean it's it's an automated shopping cart that sends out a license to you So when you make the purchase It then automatically will send you an email with your licensing information in it At which time you go back to the website You plug it in it's not the smoothest easiest thing to do granted But it is pretty immediate And the old days you actually had to wait for a human To do that and that could take a few hours or a day But no longer it's it's an automated process. So I wouldn't do it five minutes before the session I would do it the day of for the day before Um, but no you you can wait. It's it's it's pretty much automated You just have to plug in a serial number on their website. Yeah, we're getting a lot of source connect questions tonight because that's what That's what they've been asking people to do. It's the it's the topic. Uh, do Do week do month What's the french on that one? Really? Oh, yeah, matt simmons asks Does a nighthawk extender? I'm not exactly sure what that is just sit inside my booth Where I can connect a hard line directly into my pc for best source connect sound I cannot move my router from upstairs to my downstairs booth. Please advise appreciate you What is a nighthawk extend? Oh, that's a uh A wi-fi extender a wi-fi extender unit I just googling it to see what that particular product is because I I know the nighthawk brand. It's a net gear Thing that's there. That's there like mega routers the fastest ones, you know They look like alien pods gonna land on your brain and eat it. Um with a bunch of antennas. Anyway, they have an extender so So basically what he's saying is I got the router in one room I got this thing in my studio the two are wireless between each other And then I have a cable going from the extender to my computer. Is that okay? um, well Probably it's still it's still definitely better than just wi-fi from your computer To the router probably because the if the if the extender and the router are designed to work to it with each other and they're clearly on the same company and It should still provide an extremely rock solid network connection um And also because again, it depends on the equipment. I don't know That particular equipment very well, but I will speak to like things like euro and plume some of these other mesh network devices And those systems are designed to not slow down the network when you're using them some of the older cheapy Extenders would slow down the network and maybe cause some reliability issues, but Um, I have to say this is another one of those. I don't know. Uh, your mileage may vary kind of answers But it's still a it's still a gray area I'm gonna say this and I'm not saying, you know, do as I don't do as I do do as I say But I am doing this show tonight 100 on wi-fi And I've done the last three episodes 100% on wi-fi. I've done all my youtube lives lately 100% on wi-fi Um, and that's because I'm the only one here. Nobody is sharing it. I'm not Fighting with 100 neighbors wi-fi networks in a big gigantic condo or in the city So I have very good connectivity But nothing to interfere So in my case it's been fine I'm still not going to recommend it But it's been okay All right Uh, jeff holman our chat room In charge guys is uh, because I think we answered this the new catalina update brick problem Just for macbooks are also macbook pros and macbook errors I think you said it that hasn't been the issue that this is strictly a a macbook Issue. Well, that's a darn good question. So macbook Is a particular model of mac So they have the macbook series, right? They have macbook air macbook pro and then they have macbook So that's what I'm a little bit Trying to figure out. So it says, um A nine to five mac reader observed that it killed a 2016 mac book Apparently it won't even power up and the update has also had problems But the 2012 mac mini which ran insanely slow when it eventually finished installing requiring a store Somebody on avalanche ciders forum. There were reports that this one borked. That's a good word for it This one borked my 2012 iMac And the update also allegedly bricked another Fill in the blank silly word a 2018 13 inch macbook and a 2019 16 inch macbook pro So it ain't just Well, this is again anecdotal need this article the person who wrote the article has been Googling around and reading people's experiences, but Long story short doesn't seem to matter whether it's a mac an iMac or a macbook pro You may have problems. Yeah, so Back your stuff up if you're not already on time machine or something like it You better be because if you do this update and you don't realize it's going to kill you You want to be able to get back to work without a complete rebuild of your system. So absolutely Save your data, you know get a five terabyte drive or a six terabyte drive save it from several computers past Yeah, you know, you'll find stuff like oh, there's that movie of my kids when they were babies 25 years ago That was the funnest thing I did recently was I took an old archive of video and pictures from 12 to 20 years ago Yeah, and I uploaded it into google photo Oh, cool. And so all of a sudden there's like all this stuff. I haven't seen in years In my google photo album, which is kind of fun. Yeah, I've done. It's nice to keep that old stuff Uh, josh keller asks Uh, I have a small isolation booth built soon. I will be having a small isolation built booth built soon What would be your top three choices of mic's type or brand for a cramped space that might end up sounding boomy Well, you know, I would quickly say well, it ain't the mic It's the acoustics of the booth Because people forget that these booths were not designed for Voiceover they were designed not to keep sound Out they were designed to keep sound In And usually so a saxophone player could practice rooms, right, you know or clarinetist You know that doesn't want to bother other people around if you're at a music school or something, right? And so we've sort of reversed engineered this for voiceover, but that reverse engineering requires item number one On what makes good home voiceover studio audio and that is acoustics and small booths cause What we call bass reflex and other things George you've written actual paper that was presented at the national association of broadcasters on small booth acoustics What would you know? I'm glad you brought that. I mean, I figured it was important. I wish I could find that I know it's in some book They said it would be published in a journal like I'd love to find that probably lying under a pile of us magazines or something Um Yeah, no, you can make a small even a very small booth sound not boomy But it does take the right kind of acoustic treatment It usually requires a variety of bass traps or different Thickness of panels that are going to suck up all that boominess it but it is possible I had a client who was in a tiny tiny closet Just big enough to stand in there and pull the door shut behind him You know the monitor was like right in front of his face Didn't seem like it was possible and it sounded good in that particular case. He was on a sanitizer 416. Yeah I find that the shotgun mics can be pretty forgiving in these Really cramped spaces which seems ironic or Doesn't make sense because those mics were designed to be actually a lot further away and out above your head Yeah, so why would you shove it? Well because of the way they're designed they tend to Work out okay in some of those little spaces Even a mic like this the v4 this vanguard v4 It's got because it has the switchable pattern from omni to cardioid to figure eight You get the mic has different personalities and you might find by Experimenting that one of those sounds way better than another in your particular space And it also has a roll-off or a low cut And a mic that has a low cut could also be your friend So if the room has a lot of low end resonance Engaging that will roll it off. So there's a lot of mics with those switches on even at the low end of the spectrum like the audio technica AT 2035 which is by far my favorite bang for the buck entry level Work your whole career voiceover mic that has a low cut switch. So mics with low cut switches are good. Yeah You know, what's interesting and when you're in a booth sometimes play this game And squat up and down Inside the booth. It's amazing further away from the ceiling How how you're approximately to two different parts of the booth will affect the audio and then you might remove it Wow, as i'm you know crouching down in fetal position. It sounds pretty down good So move over even move a half a foot to the left right or a half a foot to the right And do that little dance You might go whoa the sound just changed. Yeah. So yeah, pretty interesting Our last question comes from Ruiz ben or might be ben ruiz depending on He's from belize. We have a listener and a viewer in belize Love it. He says I have been recording audio from 1997 That's that's a long way to try and record something. The sound's got to come around a few times Oh is recording is recording outside for some quick dj voiceover wrong I'm recording outside as we speak Okay, what's wrong or right? But yes, I do the best recording I can great show guys love your vlogs Um, well, that's a good question. Yeah, literally. No, no no boost at all, right? Right Um, you know, I theoretically if it's quiet should be floating outside is a is a space completely devoid of acoustics Of you're not going to have any acoustic problems. Well, maybe not outside in a racquetball court Or a tennis court, but like outside it. Yeah, but outside in like a park or in your backyard Um, if it's you don't have insects or birds where you live I find that hard to believe You could record um outside and it could sound really quite good. You'd be shocked. It's it's gonna just have no reflection No bounce just this very dry immediate sound Um, so it can totally work. In fact, if I design a studio's booth. Well It sounds a little bit like that where you just the sound of the voice just kind of disappears into the ethers You know, you don't get that boxy resonant sound. So interesting shot. Yeah. Yeah, it is interesting I mean, we do this show, you know, you've been recording since 97. So if we And we've been doing this show for nine years never had that question. So yeah, that's first timer. Thanks for watching All right, we appreciate that we appreciate all your questions and we appreciate you watching and uh, if you've got a question for us For a future show make sure that you ask it and uh by sending it to us at the guys at vobs.tv The guy, you know what? I know it's getting lead. Yeah But can I bring up one more a little you better actually you said what kind of things have come up over the last couple weeks? I just something something hit your brain. Okay hit my brain. I'll keep trying to keep it short start the clock um A voice actor client of mine. He couldn't find a place quiet enough in the house with his whole family home to record He had a closet type studio or something, but it still wasn't cutting it So he's like, so here's what i'm doing. I have a hundred foot my cable a hundred foot headphone extender I have a I have my equipment in the house. I've run it out to my garage. I'm sitting in my car in my garage How's it sound? And we were connecting on source connect and I was playing with his audio settings and stuff and he had happened to have an Apollo And I was like man that sounds pretty freaking good So I thought that was a brilliant fix for I can't get a quiet enough spot in my house right now the kids are here It's just there's nothing I can do Go sit in your car and run your cake now I think the running the cable thing is actually not a bad idea because if you were to just bring your laptop into the car The wi-fi is going to be a nightmare. Yeah, it may not work at all. It'd be really spotty. So in his case computers back in the booth in the studio and it's wired in and it was A hundred foot my cable Worked fantastic. It sounded great. So he found himself a little steering wheel desk It literally like a desk a little desktop that hooks on your steering wheel and had his 416 up and on the on a mic mount and There you go. There you go. Any rocket science kids It could help you. Alrighty Well, that's gonna do that for now and uh, we're gonna take a quick break And we'll be back to wrap things up into a nice tight little wad right after this This is Bill Ratner, and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with dan lennard and george wittem V obs dot tv Well, hey there hero We interrupt the award-winning shenanigans of voiceover body shop for this public service announcement 1.5 billion That's how many students there are in the world primary secondary college university 1.5 billion And that's how many were sent home several weeks ago along with the 90 million teachers and professors who teach them And as they left those teachers and professors were all told by their principals and deans Hey, keep teaching your classes from home. Okay, you know how to do that What that facebook live thing and that youtube and that zoom thing you don't have to do that Don't you sure everybody does except Many of those teachers don't even know where to start What camera to use what microphone to use how to set up lights how to use zoom And what makes online classes different from in-person classes But I do I know how to do that I've been doing that for years and I thought well, maybe I can help so I spent day and night for the past few weeks putting together a course on how teachers can do all that and I figured You know what I'll sell it for 49 bucks. Anybody can afford 49 bucks, right? But then At the last minute I decided to do something different I decided to set aside the money and give it away for free So now through may 6th any teacher can have the course forever for free And I've got a favor to ask of you If you're a teacher Or if you know a teacher or two and with 90 million in the world who doesn't know a teacher or two Would you let them know about this? The course is available at teachyourcourseonline.com and I'm going to ask dan and george To make that link available on the v obs website and maybe Mention at a time or two on the air in and the notices that they sent out. Would you guys do that for me? Okay, great. The course again is at teachyourcourseonline.com Help me help teachers be heroes at home as well as in the classroom That's teachyourcourseonline.com Thank you very much As a voice talent you have to have a website But what a hassle getting someone to do it for you and when they finally do they break or don't look right on mobile devices They're not built for marketing and seo. They're expensive You have limited or no control and it takes forever to get one built and go live So what's the best way to get you online in no time? Go to voiceactorwebsites.com like our name implies voiceactorwebsites.com just does websites for voice actors We believe in creating fast mobile friendly responsive highly functional designs that are easy to read and easy to use You have full control no need to hire someone every time you want to make a change And our upfront pricing means you know exactly what your costs are ahead of time You can get your voice over website going for as little as 700 dollars So if you want your voice actor website without the hassle of complexity and dealing with too many options Go to voiceactorwebsites.com where your veo website shouldn't be a pain in the you know, what? Your dynamic voice over career requires extra resources to keep moving ahead Now there's one place where you can explore everything the voice over industry has to offer that place is voice over extra dot com Whether you're just exploring a voice over career or a seasoned veteran ready to reach that next professional level Stay in touch with market trends coaching products and services while avoiding scams and other pitfalls Voice over extra has hundreds of articles free resources and training that will save you time and help you succeed Learn from the most respected talents coaches and industry insiders when you join the online sessions bringing you the most current information on topics like audio books auditioning casting home studio setup and equipment Marketing performance techniques and much more It's time to hit your one stop daily resource for voice over success Sign up for a free subscription to newsletters and reports and get 14 bonus reports on how to ace the voice over audition It's all here at voiceover extra dot com. That's voice over x t r a dot com You are watching v obs dot tv. I don't know why it's crazy what they do here I think i'm gonna go somewhere else and have a cheese sandwich I could use a cheese sandwich right about uh, man. I'm starving Like I gotta say i'm really glad david's doing that. I I had thought how how would I reach out to? All the teachers and educators stuck at home right now and needing to ramp this up, you know, so I kudos to Dhl the 17th for coming up with that idea absolutely. Hey, you know, uh next week on this show we've got Christine oller You know fantastic eventually we're gonna get out of here You know, I'm gonna get out of my booth here out of the out of my studio here You're gonna be able to leave the canyon Sue will be able to join us again here and we'll all get to be together And uh, but we have to start our businesses now from these new paradigms or restart them or or adjust to them And christine is great at helping you sort out your business thoughts Because she helped uh us with tri booth as well Did she the product that we were launching? Yeah, we've been coaching with her about You know how to navigate this. Yeah knows her stuff. She's very she's very good at helping with this kind of stuff Yeah, who are our donors this week? All right, we have some familiar names. We have uncle roy Martha con mike gordon don griffith Harlow rod regus christie burns and brian roush All right, it says another name. I must have gotten cut off. Oh, there it is. Michael currents I'm sorry about that. Michael had my window too small. Yeah, you know, we're right now We're on this very expensive news set that we've that we've built here during this uh, this period of You know tumult Uh, but we'd like to see your booths when george and i are together It looks great when we're sitting in your booth So send us a picture of your booth and you can be the background on our show Uh, do send it however in landscape not in portrait Uh, because then it'll like blank sides on both sides. So we want to see it in in widescreen there Uh, let's see. What else? Um, you want to be in our studio? You can't until this is over So Ah, sorry. Yeah, whatever. Anyway, we need to thank our sponsors like harlan hogan's voiceover essentials voiceover extra Source elements jmc demos of voiceover heroes dot com Source elements to be say them. Yeah voice actor websites boy. We plug them a lot tonight. Uh voice actor websites.com Yeah, all righty, and of course dan the dan and marsy lennard foundation for the betterment of live and recorded webcasting Jeff holman doing a great job in the chat room tonight Sumer lino doing it from home and getting it done Make sure she hits that record button and we're all set and lee penny simply for being Lee penny, you know who you are Anyway, that's gonna do it for us this week. We're here to help you with your home studio Ask your questions. Join us when we talk to our great guests and join us for tech talk And just remember that if it sounds good It probably is good All righty. I'm dan lennard. I'm george widham and this is voiceover Body shop or vio bs tech talk We'll see you next time guys