Dan Lenard, Author at Voice Over Gear

Voice Over Recording Terminology

By Dan Lenard
The Home Studio Master

And now,.. more confusing terminology- Whats the difference between Sound Proofing and Sound dampening. And is Acoustical treatment the same as those two things.

I get a lot of e-mail from people who still don’t get this.

With a home voice over studio, from an acoustical perspective, you have two big challenges.

Keeping outside noise out, and keeping the noise you make reading all those commercials and audio books from bouncing all over the room and back to your mic.

Lets start with the harder and more expensive “sound Proofing.”
The term ‘soundproofing’ is rather misleading, because truth be told, especially with a home voice over studio, you can cut down on sound leakage but without expensive and specific building techniques, you can’t get rid of it altogether. Soundproofing, is specifically designed to increase the degree of acoustic isolation between the studio and the world outside — cutting down on noise that leaks into or out of the studio. Sound isolation works the same both ways, so there’s no difference in approach to keeping sound in or out.

So lets change some terminology in reference to you, at home. Lets start using the term “Sound isolation” instead of sound proofing. That means finding a place to record that is farthest from outside noises and the noise caused by the mechanicals in your house. Thats why interior closets, if they’re big enough make the most sense. If you have no walk in closets, you may have to improvise. The simplest way to block sound is to put a solid wall in its way — the more solid, the better the isolation you’ll get. As a rule, if you double the mass of a wall, you halve the amount of sound transmitted through it. But you have to be surrounded on 6 sides in a square room. And that includes a door.

Acoustic treatment, in the context of a recording studio, generally deals with the acoustic quality of the room from a listener’s point of view. In other words, if you monitor in a control room that has been designed using the correct acoustic treatment, what you hear is likely to be more accurate than the same recording played back over the same speakers in an untreated room.
Soundproofing, on the other hand, is specifically designed to increase the degree of acoustic isolation between the studio and the world outside — cutting down on noise that leaks into or out of the studio. Sound isolation works the same both ways, so there’s no difference in approach to keeping sound in or out.

Q: I’ve heard that sticking egg boxes or acoustic foam to walls will help soundproof a room. Is this true?
Egg boxes can make a marginal improvement to some aspects of a room’s acoustics by breakingup reflections from hard surfaces, but they are virtually useless for soundproofing. The same is true of lightweight suspended ceilings, acoustic foam and even Rockwool (Rockwool tends to be used for acoustic treatment or for damping out resonances inside partition walls. All these materials have their uses, but they’re mainly for acoustic treatment, not for soundproofing).

For more information on how to set up a a home studio, contact Dan Lenard at http://homevoiceoverstudio.com

By Dan Lenard
The Home Studio Master

We’ve talked about how its not the mic. But what about another critical part of your Audio chain? When it comes to Digital interfaces, (that thing you plug your mic into?) How it handles its duties can make a big difference in your sound. Most of it bad. Its amazing how one little thing can grind your voice over business to a halt.

They come in all shapes and sizes, and from simple to complex functionality. Also from dirt cheap to taking out a second mortgage. (PC MAC iOS.) Just remember, more bells and whistles something has, the more that can go wrong with it.

For some reason, people are having trouble with their digital interfaces. We’re hearing buzzing and humming and what I like calling Cyloning.

It worked great yesterday, why is it going nutty today? Its easy to say its a bad unit, take it back. But thats the rare exception. Usually its something quite simple.

But lets go back and talk about what your digital interface does.

Its job is three fold. First, its a microphone “Pre-Amp.” It takes the low level signal from your microphone and amplifies it so it can process a louder signal. This is probably where the manufacturer makes the biggest difference with these units.

The second thing it does, is take that amplified, analog, modulated signal and converts it to ones and zeros. The language your computer understands.

It also directs the amplified signal and routes it to your monitor speakers and/or your headphones.

Usually a DI can handle these chores day in and day out without as much as a hiccup.
And then something goes wrong. And its usually something simple.

Then we have to troubleshoot. First thing, change the USB cable, especially if your not using the one that came with it. Also make sure that you don’t plug the USB cable into an external multi-port adapter or Buss. They don’t like that. another way is to try a spare (Which you should have) like a mic port PRO and see if that works. That at least tells us it is the unit. And miraculously, especially with PC’s when you reconnect the old unit, it starts to work. some time it just needs reminding.

Experience tells me that 9 times out of ten its the cable. if your convinced its the unit, call the manufacturer or get on their support website. They’ll give you specific parameters to play with like buffering or bit rates.

Thats why I say keep it simple. 1 and zeros are ones and zeros, and a high priced Digital interface makes little difference in how your sound, except if its broken or not set up right.

For more information on how to set up a a home studio, contact Dan Lenard at http://homevoiceoverstudio.com