Converting closet to pro recording studio

Pretty good tutorial. Quite a budget still. That's what my sound director is trying to do currently.

After 23 auditions...tips for basic issues 4 online Voice actors

Recruiting for Cat's LadyStar anime project...

After 23 auditions... 3 for Devin Brook which i am still trying to figure out what it is and where it's from...
20 of those for LadyStar....

Thanks to everyone who recorded, spent their time and do work to the best of their ability, and those who took the time to put together a reel and such.

Now... I do have to say... 90% of these don't meet professional standard, but I do feel a good 10% did meet it, and another 20% of the people who auditioned have a good chance to be tweaked to professional standard.
Most are good for hobbyist and fun projects online, but can't work for professional recording quality. I do feel we need.... a tutorial.... just to make sure to bring up average audition levels... It is better than 2 years ago on average, but not yet to enough pro level work ratio.
It all has to do with sound knowledge.
As a VA at home, you MUST have the right set up, if you don't, your voice recording just isn't clean enough to be considered in a professional production. (its fine if it's for fun, just that no one will pay for it.)

GREG~~~~~~!!!! PLEASE MAKE A TUTORIAL! It will spare us from all the basic problems for start up productions. >.< I can't take it anymore~~~ OTL

OK... what I need people to do in the future.... as a favor for those who are listening... please please please:
(You can tell I'm going nuts here... pardon my tone, I am just going to vent it out)



1. Check your room tone:
An easy way to check for your room tone is to record your room without you speaking into it, then compare it to your recorded lines. (OUT LOUD on speakers on all highest volume setting! Not just your headphones! That's how we check if it passes for surround, professional production has to pass surround sound test.)

If you HEAR your room noise CLEARLY in the back drop against your voice, it's no pass, it's not clean enough.
If you hear slight room noise in your voice, but its not big.... perhaps we can tweak it a bit and try to cover it up. That's doable.
Do not, and I repeat.... DO NOT attempt to clean your lines yourself unless we want you to do it. It will change your voice quality if you don't know what you are doing or if you don't have the right tools. And there's issues with combining it with other voice actor's lines as well if their quality is slightly different from yours.

Make sure you can minimize any room noise to the minimum! If you simply don't have a quiet environment at home, please go to find a friend who has a studio or a school studio.


2. Clipping, peaking:
Basic problem NUMBER 2! The one I hear most! Everyone's peaking at yelling, louder lines. Yelling lines in anime doesn't mean "YELL" it means "express yelling." Your volume should not change! Study some anime for this, and watch it with volume up on speaker on their yelling sequence, and then compare to yours. You will notice their volume is still flat like any normal speech.

If you need to do an yelling line, do me a favor, record yourself yelling from a distance for practice, RECORD yourself. And STUDY your yelling, study the heck out of it, the expression of it.
Then FIGURE out how to say the exact same feeling without raising your volume in the official recording.


3. GET POP FILTERS!
This is a slightly more minor issues, but a lot of people have no pop filters, I know because plosives like P, B, T, S go crazy being breath into the mic. Get your pop filters if you want to get paid for doing this, or learn to eliminate your plosives and raise the quality of the recording. Some of you who have a strong voice might need double pop filters to do the job. Try to figure out what you need and get your suitable pop filter.

-----

With these three issues taken care of, so many more people can be considered into professional production.
It's a regret many auditions just fell through because of these basic issues not resolved.

I am not a voice actor I can't do this like you guys do, so for you who are interested in doing it, get serious, get the tools you need, and then you can get paid for it.

Japanese music radio online

Japanese/anime
http://xn--fhq987i.xn--kprr8wbte154d.com/2010/01/animenfo-radio.html

Taiwan radio
http://www.hitoradio.com/showtime/onair_2.php

saving this link here for myself. XD

Self made sound both for cheap

Someone's tent set up: http://homerecording.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=3432883&postcount=3

Homerecording.com

Note from Greg, the sound engineer:
"Better if the blankets were fuzzy or like fur or carpeting. the strands tend to take sound energy and revert it back to kinetic (physical)"

Recommanded equipments for perfect sound

Our team's recommended equipments for at home recording for perfect sound delivery:

A perfect sound Audition:
Must be in WAVE or AIFFs
Must have no pops, no noise, no hitting red zone.
Must all have clarity of dialogue, and expression. 
No BGM, no added sound effects unless requested. 


Roles: You are welcome to pick any characters I have that has not been cast if you think you fit their voice. Just act off any page with their lines on my manga. Or you can just send me the best Demo you have. Make sure you meet our requirement, other wise you will not get response.


Vocal recording quality:
Regular lines record at -3 db
No louder than that, or you will peak into red zone.
CLEAN record is MUST. 
MUST have clarity of dialogues, believability of character and acting.


Yelling and Shouting lines- Record at -6 db, peak no more than -3 db
Focus on the acting of the lines, not volume, the volume will be artificially raised afterward.



Other things to pay attention to:
Vocal with effects- (robots, flash backs, TV) Record at -6 db to -3 db range (you can go from -6 to -3, if you fall out of range you need to redo the lines)
Clean record is must, pop filter is must.
No plosives (p, s, ts) no sibilance, unwanted reverb,  noise will be more recognizable)
If you spit or have ps, tiks, sound easily, you must use pop filter.

Vocals with ambience or music: (don't need to do this unless directed)
Record on Average of -9 db, to -3 db.
 Once you picked a voice level, whether it's -9 db, -6 db, or -3 db, you must stay consistent on that voice level, you can only have 3 db fluctuation. If you go more than that it will not work with the rest of the sound and have to re-record.

Other notes:
Do not have your mic backed to a wall, keep it in the center of a room. Keep it away from any reflective surfaces, pile fuzzy blankets around because they take away sound. Normal smooth blanket will still bounce unwanted sound into the mic.




Ear phone: (studio quality headphone our sound engineer Greg Lim recommends, it will make all imperfect recording obvious to your ears)

Mic: (mic price range is around 50-99 USD.
*Accessories like pop filter will perfect the sound further, but not required if you can deliver clean sound without it. )
Blue Snowball= great for instruments
Samson usb= good for singing, but picks up room noise easily, pc friendly with usb port.
Blue Microphones Spark Condenser Microphone, Cardioid: *newest recommendation* is best.

Speaker: (around 100 USD) Recommended by Greg Lim, for sound testing.

Recommended foam: (for serious sound people who wants to make their own studio)

Building a foam box with the mic, recording in a quiet room, gives fairly professional result.

















Program:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Free ware, free to download.



Record in your padded closet, use clothing and foam to block out all sound.

Reference set up I found

Do not record in an open room nor a corner of the room, it tends to get reverb, any reverb disqualifies the voice recording for our production. Our production standard is for official products and DVD playable in surround sound setting, so all sound delivery must be perfect.

 Music Stock:
http://audiojungle.net/