recording studio Archives - Dane Reid Media

I Used To Steal Software and Plugins For Voiceover

audio, Studio, Technology & Voiceover, The Studio, voiceover, Voiceover Career

I used to steal software and plugins for voiceover. I started my career with Cubase LE which came as free software with my Emu 1616 audio interface. As I realized the limitations of that software, I wanted to grow but I didn’t have the money to grow. But having friends in audio engineering, I found out that there were ways to get what was called cracked software.

My first cracked software was a Cubase SX. There was a company that was famous for cracking audio software called and I used to find their software either online or through a friend who had it. Cubase 2.1 was how I really learned to produce commercials. But a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) is only as good as the plugins. So for that, I had to find more cracked software.

Free Plugins? Or Digital Piracy?

The hot plugins of the day were waves plugins. Waves were really good and really expensive. Of everyone that I knew who did audio, maybe only one of them actually bought any of the waves plugins legally. Waves plugins could run 10k for a bundle. Being who I am I had to have the best bundles. I had the waves platinum, mercury and gold bundles at some time in history.

As my career grew, I never really considered buying the actual plugins. They were still out of my reach in price. Plus, what was the point? I was getting them for free. Free beats cheap any day. So I perfected my skills with free software and even upgraded as more cracked software replaced the older versions. I went from Cubase SX to Cubase 2.1. Then I moved on to several Nuendo versions for a few years. Meanwhile, voiceover and commercial orders piled on. I had a nice workflow.

I never shorted on hardware though. I bought my first Neuman for $1500. UA LA 610 for $1400. I owned several computers. A Mac and a PC and a PC laptop. I had travel gear and swapped out several audio interfaces at that time.

The Day It All Went Bad!

So what happened? Well, one morning I got up to do my work. I had several commercials in the pipeline for the day. I fired up my computer and my trusty Emu and then started Nuendo and BAM. Nothing. It wouldn’t start. I tried it again and still nothing. So I restarted the computer hoping that would help. Nothing again. I tried a few times and no result. I was in a bad position.

I called a friend and fellow talent to ask if I could come to his house and record this work and he asked me what had happened. I told him. And his response was something I didn’t expect. He said to me “Why don’t you just buy the software?” I had never thought to actually buy the software. So I did. I bought my first version of Cubase, which was Cubase 5. It cost me $300 at Guitar Center. I came home that morning with my dongle and installed the software and BAM…. Nothing!!

At this point, I’m even more panicked. Installing and getting up and running was much easier with cracked software. So I called Steinberg to help me. I went over several things troubleshooting with the tech before I finally had to admit to the tech that I previously installed unauthorized software. He went silent for a second, and in a judgemental tone said “Well then you have to wipe your entire computer clean and reinstall windows to install Cubase properly.

You can imagine my horror. But I had work to do and the day was coming to a close by now. I got off the phone, backed up as many of my files as I could, and wiped my hard drive. I realized that I had to change at this moment. I did put the plugins back on the computer because I needed them at that moment but over time I began to buy them. I didn’t buy all of them but I bought some.

Pay The Money. It Will Pay You Back!

Over the years I replaced Cubase 5 with Cubase 7 Artist. I also bought Cubase 8 Elements for my mobile rig and then upgraded to Cubase LE AI Elements 9.5. I also bought Cubase Artists 9 for my desktop home studio. That version made all of my 32-bit plugins obsolete so now I had to buy all new plugins. That’s when I bought the Apollo Twin and then the Apollo Arrow with all the plugins for those machines. Now, I can’t steal plugins. I buy them. I also fell in love and buy the Izotope plugins. I have several of those bundles for mixing and mastering. I continue to buy software and plugins for voiceover. For Christmas, I bought UAD’s Manley VoxBox and Valley People Dyna-Mite.

Where To Find Free Software

You don’t even have to steal software and plugins. For plugins, there are literally thousands of free ones online. All you have to do is google free audio plugins. For a DAW everyone knows about Audacity which is free but you can also download a free version of Mixpad which seems better than Audacity.

In my opinion, I get the fact that starting a business or learning a new craft is very expensive, but with free software and plugins for voiceover available now, don’t steal. Don’t steal anything actually. People work hard designing this software and they deserve to make a profit for their efforts. I left some links in the description for Mixpad and Audacity.

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And if you need software and plugins for voiceover or music production, my Rep at Sweetwater is Jason Koons 260-432-8176 ext 1389. Give him a call

Building A Mobile Voiceover Studio – Unboxing UA Arrow

audio, Studio, Technology & Voiceover, The Studio, Travel, voiceover

I started working on a plan to create a full-service, professional mobile voiceover and production studio comparable to my home studio about a year ago. It began when I purchased my Universal Audio Apollo Twin and began tweaking it to get the best sound of my career. Once I realized that Universal also made the UA Arrow, I began planning how to get the best sounding commercials out of a mobile voiceover studio.

Voiceover and audio professionals are very particular about their sound. While it’s the talent that gets you the VO gig, a persons sound can quickly ruin for them. Throughout my career I’ve had moments of sound issues. There have been times when there was noise from the background, or reflection from the room. But in all those moments I was able to fix those issues, except when it came to my mobile voiceover studio. Those issues are much harder to fix.

Because I travel for both business and frequent adventures around the world, it’s important to be able to record wherever I go. I have been caught off guard and had to even record a radio imaging voiceover in the bathroom of IAH moments before I boarded a 10 hour flight to Brazil. I had no other options. It was me, my cell phone and an echoey bathroom and a job that had to be turned in before I landed. I also once recorded in the parking lot at the airport in San Jose, Costa Rica with my mobile voiceover rig. When I listen back on the sound of those recordings, they all sound bad. There are various problems with a mobile studio. The first of which is that you can’t control your environment.

Most talent aren’t recording in the bathroom of an airport. They are recording in a hotel room when on vacation. And mostly these environments are out of the control of and unknown to the voiceover talent before entering the situation. We use things like pillow forts and kaotica eyeballs to get the best sound but I’ve never been able to get the same sound that I get at home. I think part of the reason is that the home studio isn’t mimicked by the mobile studio.

Even though I have a better environment at home, I also have better equipment that filters the environment. At home for example, I have a DBX 166 exclusively to gate noise. As you can imagine, carrying that around “on holiday” would be quite awkward. So instead, whatever hardware I have for the mobile voiceover studio has to do the same as the home studio, but in a much more compact form.

I’ve tried the iRig Mic Studio, the Steinberg UR 22 and most recently the Focusrite 2i2 recording bundle, but none of them gave me the same warm compressed sound that I get at home. And none of them offer the same plug-ins. So when I found out that Universal Audio created a thunderbolt compatible smaller version of the Apollo, I was super excited. The only problem is that my PC was not thunderbolt compatible. So in September of 2018 I bought a Dell XPS 15 (9575). I loved the big bright screen and the portability of it.

I then purchased a gently used Rode NTG3. At home I have a Sennheiser 416 but didn’t want to carry that around with me everywhere I go. It’s a tough piece of gear but it’s also expensive. I was able to get the Rode NTG3 from eBay for only $300. Additionally I purchased several plug ins by Izotope like RX 6 and another Plug-in which cleans up audio that my good friend and colleague Jean Francois Donaldson swore me to secrecy about. Now all I needed was the same interface.

The UA Apollo has grown in popularity among voiceover talent over the past few years. I purchased mine in 2016 at the recommendation of an old High School friend who is now a world class engineer. The plug-ins that come with this thing are incredible and duplicate the sound of some of the greatest analog hardware in the history of gear. Plus the dedicated DSP chip processes the audio on the Apollo itself, relieving your computer of the strain.

The UA Arrow does the same but with one less DSP chip for slightly less power out the box. It offers the same on screen interface to allow you to control your studio like a pro studio. None of the other audio interfaces that I’ve tried had the same level of control. And out of the box, the UA Arrow has the same plug-ins that I mix with like the Precison Rack Strip. The Arrow also has the DBX 160 plug-in and the UA 610 which both recreate the effects of hardware that I use in my home studio. In fact included in both the Arrow and the Apollo are the:

UA 610-B
UA 1176LN Legacy
UA 1176SE Legacy
Ampeg SVT-VR Classic
Marshall Plexi Classic
Precision Channel Strip (Precision Mix Rack Collection)
Precision Reflection Engine (Precision Mix Rack Collection)
Precision Delay Mod (Precision Mix Rack Collection)
Precision Delay Mod L (Precision Mix Rack Collection)
Pultec EQP-1A Legacy
Pultec-Pro Legacy
Teletronix LA-2A Legacy
Raw Distortion
RealVerb Pro

It’s still early. I haven’t fully tested the system with all of the components in an uncontrolled environments. But the elements are there and this is the best hope I have for having a mobile voiceover studio that sounds like my home studio. If you’re an established voiceover talent, please share your experience with the Universal Audio Arrow or with the mobile gear you use. I am always keeping my eye open for new audio tech.

Recording VoiceOver In The Big Voice Over Studio

About Voice Over, Blog, Technology & Voiceover, The Studio

Your agent gives you a call and says that you booked a job that you auditioned for weeks ago. If you are anything like me, you auditioned for it and totally forgot about it, so the call is a welcome surprise. But then you are told that the recording is scheduled to take place at an outside studio. “Ok” This is different but as a pro, I’m ready to record wherever I need to.

But this still takes me for somewhat of a loop. Back in the day recording voiceover almost always took place in big time studios. Some talents were even flown in from whatever city they lived in to record in NY or LA. Some of that still exist but far less than ever before. Technology has eliminated the need for talent to come into “THE BIG STUDIO” as often. Things like ISDN, Source Connect and now new technologies like IpDTL have made giving talent direction in the comforts of their homes a lot more convenient.

And convenience is the name of the game in my voiceover business. I’ve spent a lot of money and time building a home voice over studio with great sound so that I can turn work around quickly to clients. But sometimes clients want VO talent to focus on voicing work and not engineering. That’s when the “In Person Studio Sessions” comes into play.

What To Expect?

When you get into the studio there are several people who may be there. There is the sound engineer, producer, client, copywriter and sometimes other talent. This may vary but you should understand the role of each one of these people in the process. There me be a lot of chatter around you as each person discusses the script, the sound and the voiceover read. Try to pay attention so you can get it just right for everyone in the room, although only one person will give you actual directions. It’s also good to know who everyone is because there may be an opportunity to network here.

Also there will be a script laid out for you, most likely in the booth. You should have received this script before the session but be aware that sometimes there are last minute changes that happened before you got there. Sometimes these changes occur while the client, producer and engineer confer about your read. You won’t always hear what they are saying and this can be nerve wrecking, but be careful not to let this unnerve you. A tense body is never good for your reads.

You Should Be Prepared

Preparation starts before you get to the session. You may get instructions from your agent. Be sure to follow them carefully. Know your lines if they have been given to you. Go back and listen to what you submitted for the audition. You may have recorded several takes and don’t know which one booked so get familiar with all of them and consider new reads just in case. Google the directions to the studio. Know where it is and how long it will take to get there in heavy traffic. Just like with a job interview, you want to get there 15 to 30 minutes early. And just like with a job, be familiar with the product before the interview. You won’t be asked questions about it but it will help you with the read. In the video I recorded related to this blog, I recorded for bump patrol, a product that I actually use.

Lastly remember that you are not recording voiceovers in your own studio. You are in someone else’s territory. Don’t touch anything!! Even if you are familiar with the kind of equipment in the studio, it is not yours. And also remember to dress appropriately. You want to be comfortable but not bummy. I wrote an entire blog on image that you may want to check out. This may be your chance to network for future work. When doing so, be cool about it. People do business with people they like. If they ask you for a card, have one ready, but also remind them that you work through your agent.

Have Fun

With everything to remember you keep in mind that this process should be fun and relaxed. If you spend most of your time in your own studio recording yourself, here is an opportunity for you to record and not have to do any editing. Use your body when needed to get the job out. Ask for feedback. You never get that at home alone. And remember that you booked the job above all other talent who auditioned so there was something they saw in you that got you in the door. Don’t Worry. Be Happy!!

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Networking For Voice Over- The Atlanta Addy Awards

About Voice Over, Blog

In any business, networking for voice over work is important. But because Voiceover Talents work from behind the microphone, I believe often they may neglect the sunshine and the rain. From your soundproof closet or booth, its sometimes hard to remember that there is a whole world out there where people shake hands and kiss babies.

It’s a world where you are not just heard, but seen. I often hear from other talents that your demo is your calling card but I disagree. Its a handshake that’s your calling card. For this reason I spend much of my time reaching out to actual people, and shaking their hands.

So much is made of who you know or what you know. But the key to networking for voice over work is who knows you. For a long time Voiceover talent never wanted to connect their faces with their voices. Demos and online presence was never associated with pictures. This was to keep people guessing about your voice type and not pigeonholing you based on your appearance. But when you run a voice over business, that traditional thinking may go out the window. Its important that people remember your face when a project comes up 6 or even 12 months later.

There are several things that I arm myself with when networking. The first one cost me nothing. Its my smile. I’ve been complimented on it for years. And when I realized that it was an asset in my business, I started to use it. In fact, just smiling helped me break out of my introverted vocal booth mindset to make networking more fun and effective. People remember it and respond to my apparent friendliness.

But the smile is only part of it. We’ve all heard the legends of the the voice talent with bummy sweats, dirty sneakers and ruffled hair who went into the studio and walked out with a $10,000 check for 10 minutes of work, right? After all, that was the selling point that I was told. But I discovered when I got out into the world of decision makers, that that guy was an urban myth. Or at least this wasn’t going to be my reality any time soon. In fact I had an incident that proved the opposite. I was out with friends at a restaurant when a client I had been wooing saw and approached me. He looked me up and down and said “You look quite prosperous.” I gave him that smile and a handshake and received a call from him a few weeks later. Since then, he has been my client going on 2 years now.

So what does a voiceover talent look like? For me it means looking comfortable and stylish. Its a cosmopolitan look. It’s look that says “I do voice over work and I’m successful at it. And I’m comfortable in life.” After all, people like doing business with people who are experienced. Because of this, people believe in my product before they even hear it. But recreating “my style” and image won’t be effective for everyone. YOU must choose your look but remember that people will think of that look as your voice type, or as your level you are at in your career. So I recommend that you at least dress in something that will draw positive recognition.

The last thing to remember is that going to one event gets you invited to others. This will build your network of potential clients and friends. I sign myself up for list so that I can be notified of upcoming events. Exposure, Exposure, Exposure. This is your key.

Voiceover Talent available at DaneReidMedia.com
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Vacation & Voice Over In Thailand

Demos

When you work hard, you should play hard. But this playground was 22 hours awayfrom my doorstep. Thailand! A place I loved so much I had to visit twice in 7 months.

Thailand is an alluring place. I met an ex US soldier in Tokyo who said to me that he had been all over the world but Thailand was his favorite place. So much so that he had moved there. And I see why.

My tour guide to this constitutional monarchy was Jackie, a beautiful 32 year old woman who I met hanging out with some friends. Jackie was from Chang Mai, and is the daughter of a Thai mother who passed and an African American US Army father who she had never known. We had great conversations where she shared what Thai life was like. She also surprisingly knew a lot about US culture with great accuracy. She agreed she would pick me up from my hotel room and take me around Pattaya to find voice over work.

I did a lot of research about voice over in Thailand before I started knocking on doors. Many of the doors were closed and one was even slammed in my face but I found a be gentleman who ran a
local tv and radio station who spoke to me. I talked to him for quite a while and kept in touch but found that the rates for doing voiceover, at least in Pattaya Beach were quite low.

On my next trip I some more networking but this time in Bangkok. But Bangkok is also a big city with lots of tourist attractions that I took full as anywhere of. From the Kings Palace to the river ride to the market, I really took it in.

From there it was of to Phukett in the south of Thailand. Phukett is a beautiful pace far from the hustle and bustle of the capital, Bangkok. It’s relaxing and the water and landscape are breathtaking. Phukett is famous for being one of the places in Thailand where the the tsunami hit and over 10,000 died or went missing. Now there is a clearer evacuation plan and early warning systems in place to help residents and tourist survive possible devastation.

From Phukett back to Pattya beach where I ran into that ex US soldier by coincidence.

We hung out for a few days and he really explained more in detail why he loved this place. It was also in Pattya when I started checking my email and realized that i had missed a few voiceovers and auditions. But I was prepared.

In anticipation of doing actual voice over in Thailand I brought my Harlan Hogan potabooth to see if the old thing still had it. It still had it. And i still had to squeeze work in to playtime. I guess as a working voice actor there is no such thing as a real vacation. But Thailand is one hell of a workplace.

Portabooth available at voiceoveressentials.com
Sennheiser 416 at Sennheiser.com
Voiceover Talent available at DaneReidMedia.com

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Why I Love Being A Voice Talent

About Voice Over, Testimonials

Have you ever gone to work mad? Do you hate mondays? I used to too when I was a working 9 to 5’er. Over the years I have had many jobs but none was so satisfying as being a full time voice talent.

Throughout my employment years I have worked my tail off for less than stellar money in jobs I didn’t enjoy. I was fired as a substitute teacher. Fired as a security officer when my employer physically assaulted me. I woke up for months at 3 in the morning to work for the IRS processing plant. And I washed and shuttled cars at the Atlanta Airport to make it through college. But all of these jobs were a drag and made me realize that I was giving my energy to employers who weren’t interested in seeing me thrive. There were no benefits to working for someone else. But there are definite benefits to being a full time voice talent.

As a self employed voice talent and small business owner, I make my own schedule. I’m driven and self determined. I get paid daily, monthly or weekly depending on the nature of the voice over I’m working on. My commute to work is just a few feet to my home recording studio. And there is no one who can fire me from my job or assault me at work. lol.

Voice work has also afforded me many opportunities like frequent travel. It allows me to take my portable home studio anywhere in the world that there is an internet connection and work. And its a great conversation piece when meeting new people. And its pretty cool hearing your voice on the radio all the time. Its just what I imagined, in 2004, when I decided that I wanted to be a Voice Actor.

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