LEADS AND READS - WEEK OF 09/03 thru 09/09

Colin Campbell · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007, 01:43 (GMT) Post subject:

That's why I started putting them at the end. Plus if it is tight, it makes sort of a watermark.

Marilyn Taylor · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007, 01:44 (GMT) Post subject:

scott, thanks for taking time to listen to my recent posting...at the risk of sounding like a total idiot....instead of just a partial one...what do you mean by db...is that short for something? I probably know but I just want to be sure...you've told me before my volume is low, but it doesn't sound low at all to me..maybe I'm adjusting the worng thing-a ma-bob...

now, back to mtv and to check out your gig...see ya!

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007, 01:59 (GMT) Post subject:

Connie Terwilliger · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007, 02:23 (GMT) Post subject:

It's more than how loud it sounds - it's also how loud it looks! What recording software do you use?

When you playback the files you can see the waveform on the screen can't you? Along side one edge of the screen you should see some little numbers that - starting from the center line of the waveform - go from Infinity (if it is set at decibels) or Zero (if it is set a percentage). There is another thread recently that included a lot of talk about how "loud" things are - http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic3365.html. It was about normalization, but there was a lot of talk about capturing proper sound level.

And Scott is right about learning this stuff. If you have a home studio and are selling your services as a voiceover professional, knowing how to capture clean audio that meets certain minimum specifications is part of being a pro.

It's part of the process of knowing when you are ready to market yourself this way. If you are in a market where you can go into the studios to record and there is an engineer to fuss over these details, then simply hire someone to come in and get your "audition" studio ready. But if you are marketing to the ethernet, you are doing yourself a disservice if you aren't ready to compete at a certain level (no pun intended).

It took me some time to get my digital studio working correctly. But I read the manual and did the tutorials to make sure I knew how to deliver high quality files. And I still get my more technically savvy friends on the phone to help me trouble shoot things when they crop up. I have the darndest time getting the right buttons pushed on my Phone Patch system, because the kitten keeps stepping on some of the buttons when I'm not looking. I have a cheat sheet now to double check if I can't hear myself, or if the client can't hear me.

Marilyn Taylor · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007, 02:34 (GMT) Post subject:

Thanks Scott and Connie, I'll go to the manual to figure it out...soon as I figure out how to get the microwave to stop beeping...seriously thanks for the helpful info....can't wait to get into it all...tomorrow Very Happy