How I Recorded A Commercial In The Airport

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As a voice-over talent and producer, my life is a constant balancing act between travel,recording, and producingcommercials. People often ask me if all this travel means I’m on vacation. NO!!! I’m always on the clock. Even though I catch flights, flying isn’t my superpower. Nor is the ability to shoot laser beams from my eyes; it’s the ability to be always prepared. Just like Batman, I carry my essential tools with me everywhere I go, because wherever I am in the world, that’s where my studio is. That’s the Batcave. This commitment to my craft ensures my clients know that no matter where I am, they can count on me. My work is my passion. I’m a professional voice actor, not a part-time hobbyist, and just like an IT professional can work from anywhere with an internet connection, my studio is always with me, ready to go

I once voiced a radio imaging job in a bathroom at Houston’s IAH airport just before boarding a flight to Brazil. I recorded it on my phone, sent the file to the client, and the completed promo was on the air by the end of the day. This is a common occurrence in my world. My travel schedule, which includes an annual trip to Colombia for the Petronio Alvarez festival, means I often find myself in crazy recording environments. Whether it’s a hotel room or a bustling airport, I get the job done.

How I Set Up My Mobile Studio

My secret sauce to recording on the road lies in a carefully selected and compact mobile studio. The core of this setup is my Tumi bag, which holds everything I need to produce broadcast-quality audio. It includes my Rode NTG3 shotgun microphone, an excellent shotgun mic (comparable to the Sennheiser 416 but with a bit more boom) for isolating my voice in noisy environments, along with my Apollo Twin X Quad audio interface, which allows me to process my sound in real-time. Paired with my Dell XPS 15 laptop and Status Audio CB-1 headphones, I have a powerful and portable studio, no Mac needed. I’ve even worked with Jerry Pelletier and Steve Kett—the “VO on the Road” guys—to perfect my mobile workflow, and with George Whittem, to create a specific sound profile that matches my home studio.

Mobile Studio Thailand — Ironing Board Studio In Thailand

I recently put this setup to the test during a 9.5-hour layover in Barranquilla, Colombia. As you can see in a video I shot of the experience, a client had a rushed deadline for a commercial, and I had to get it done on the fly (pun intended). I found a quiet corner with power outlets in the airport, set up my gear, and went to work. The main challenge was not being able to raise my voice or yell as I might in my isolated home studio, plus the crappy way that I had to crouch down in the seats backward to record, but I survived it. After all, I’m a Gen Xer. Don’t cry for me.

How Do I Produce Commercials With So Much Background Noise?

Even with the best gear, the reality of recording in non-ideal locations means that some background noise will inevitably seep into the audio. My go-to plugins are to fix the noise are Izotope’s RX, along with Waves Clarity VX Pro and Waves NS-1. The industry-standard C-Suite is also a key player in my toolkit, although I record at 192 kbps and have to export my audio and re-import it to make it work.

My new favorite, however, is Accentize plugins. They have become my go-to for the past year, as they make cleaning up audio faster and more efficient than ever before. People always wanna know the secret to recording on the road, and these plugins are a huge part of it. Nowadays, you can even find free tools online that separate the voice from the background for you. With these tools, a quiet place isn’t necessary anymore. I’m so confident in my ability to remove noise that one day, I might just demonstrate it by recording in the middle of Times Square. I love my work, and my remote setup allows me to do what I love while traveling the world, whether I’m in Cali, for Petronio Alvarez Festival or Medellin, Cartagena, or Barranquilla.