Wring Out!
Today I had the most excellent day of voiceover work in the new studio. My friend and actor/voiceover artist (and there’s a big difference! Just because you can act doesn’t mean that you can do convincing voice work) Adam Creighton came over and we spent about 6 hours wringing out the new booth, new mic, workflow, and everything else that pertains to having sessions here. It was a great experience. Adam got some new additions to his demo and I got to tweak and track down gremlins. It was particularly helpful to have someone in the booth so that I could see what my workflow is going to be. How am I going to interact with the computer and the mixer (which are about 7 feet apart)? How is the workspace in the booth (need a clip-on music stand). Where should the talent stand in order to use the window most effectively? Do I need any more equipment (as always, yes: more auralex, bass traps, monitor mounts, a better talkback mic setup, and a small headphone mixer).
Adam spent about 90 minutes in the booth positively wringing himself out doing all kinds of different stuff. He went from soft Japanese Kanji-Master (okay, you know what I mean, grasshopper) all the way to enraged comic book superhero (wow!) while I tried to follow his levels and get a good setting on the gear. His performance gave the new AT4040 mic a serious workout and convinced me that it really is at the top of the pack for the price.
After the recording we did some editing and comping of the raw tracks, in addition to laying out a good flow for the two 60 second demos. We’ll add music and sfx early next week. I’ll be sure to post the demos here and link to Adam’s demo site.
By the way, if you’re in the market for a really stellar v/o talent, give Adam a call. He’s quite a good actor, as well. He’s had gigs on Friday Night Lights, industrial and training films, and all sorts of other projects. Plus, he’s a real pro and a pleasure to work with. And he likes buffalo wings. How can a guy who likes wings be bad?
I got some good pics of Adam in the booth for the eventual website upgrade/redo. I keep promising to post studio construction pics. Sorry that I haven’t done it yet. I want to do a really good job on the post and that will take awhile.