(Part 2) Top products from r/VoiceActing

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We found 42 product mentions on r/VoiceActing. We ranked the 146 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.

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Top comments that mention products on r/VoiceActing:

u/JohannesVerne · 6 pointsr/VoiceActing

Ok, strap in because there is a lot to cover here! And before I get started, remember that there is rarely one correct way to go about any of this, and everyone will have their own experiences and thoughts, and although different (sometimes very different) that doesn't mean that they aren't both valid.

​

I'm going to get started with the gear, as it's actually one of the easier parts to cover.

You will want your own gear. Studio fees get pretty expensive when you are doing a lot of work, and buying your own gear will pay for itself in the long run. For those starting out (with a low budget) I recommend the MXL V67G, Behringer UM2, XLR cable, pop filter, mic stand, and shock mount. This isn't the only setup,and if you can find used gear you may be able to get even better quality stuff cheaper (or the same price). You will also want to spend some money on sound treatment if you can, but it's easy enough to use a closet or make a blanket-fort if you need to. Just remember, the thicker the material the more effective it will be, and layering works wonders when improvising a booth. I have a furnace on the other side of one wall by my booth, but with a layer of insulation, and three layers of heavy blankets, almost none of that sound reaches the booth (and what does can be cut out with a bass roll-off). Just remember to factor the treatment into your budget when you look for gear. You may be able to use materials you already have, but try to figure it out beforehand.

​

Now, the harder part: Where to actually get started?

The first place to look is voice coaching and acting classes, if you can afford them. Having someone dedicated to helping you grow as a voice actor can make a world of difference. As far as going out and getting jobs though, I do have a bit of advice.

Personally, I would avoid radio. While it can help get you used to he mic, radio announcing typically use their own style of voice that currently is avoided with voice over. Many agents are hesitant about hiring former radio hosts. But, in the end it's the quality of your voice that matters, so going into radio isn't going to kill your career before it can even get started.

There are various ways you can get in, but typically you will start out doing unpaid fan projects and stuff to get practice and experience (not necessarily resume experience, but personal experience with your setup and gear to work out any kinks). This is usually animation/character voice over, and can be pretty fun, especially if that's where you want to end up. Audiobooks are another entryway, as there isn't a huge barrier to cross before getting started. There are also far more books out there to be read that there are narrators reading them. On the other hand, there is a reason for that; it's usually low paying, long hours of recording and editing, and there is rarely much feedback to help you improve your voice.

You can also try and find small, local businesses that are just getting large enough to start advertising, and strike up a conversation with the owners. Get to know them, and their business, and let it be known that you do voice acting. If you do this enough, you will find yourself in the right place at the right time as they need a VO for a radio commercial, and start landing jobs that way. Unfortunately, for this you will need a demo.

​

The Demo:

For finding local work, it's perfectly fine to use homemade demo (so long as it's good). There is a lot that goes into one though, so I'm going to try and break it down.

*SCRIPTS***: You will want to find, at a minimum, five or six commercial scripts, preferably actual commercials and not "stock" practice scripts. Those are fine for getting feedback from other VO talent, but actual scripts work better for a demo. Preferably, find ten or more so that you have options. You will want them to have different tones, different pacing, basically ones that will allow you to show off a wide range in what you can do. The next step is to practice. A lot. And then some more. You want these to be perfect, as they are what people will be listening to when they are deciding to hire you or not. Sub-perfection won't cut it. Record them, and get feedback. Practice some more. Get more feedback. Keep doing this until you think you are ready, and get feedback on your final recording as well. If the overall impressions are good, then use those recordings. If there is still quite a bit of critiquing being done, especially on major stuff (background noise, hiss, or the read itself) keep practicing.

MUSIC
: There are a lot of sites out there that provide royalty free music to download, and these will be your friend. Find tracks that mach up with your reads, that fit naturally with what you already have recorded. If need be you can always re-take a script, but it's easier if you already have something that fits to work with. You may already eliminate some of your takes at this time just from lack of a good music track, but that's why you have extra!

Mixing
:* Here is where you find your best takes, and the best sections of those takes. Go ahead and trim them down (keep the original file too, just in case) and start putting the best pieces together. You will want them set up so that no two takes that are back to back use the same style if at all possible. Keep it varied, and let them be distinct. You will want the takes trimmed to about 10 seconds, 15 at the most, before moving to the next take. You may also want the audio to overlap some. Put the music tracks with their respective takes, and work to set the volume. Too loud with the music and it drowns out your voice, too quiet and it doesn't do any good. This part is mostly played by ear, but get feedback before showing it off to prospective clients.

There are other things you can add, like sound effects and stereo mixes, but keep it simple to start. If you try to do too much, it's easy to get things messed up without knowing what is causing the issue. For local clients, just music will be fine, and not even all pro demos go overboard here. The goal is to highlight you
voice, not mixing skills.

​

Professionally produced demo:

When you think you are ready for an agent, you will need a pro demo. Most agencies won't even consider you if you don't have one. They cost a lot, but the return is well worth it. You
will* want to ensure that you go with a reputable studio; there are a lot of scams out there that will take your money and don't care if you have the skill for a good demo yet. Ask around and do your research to find the right studio. Listen to work they have done, and get other voice actors' opinions of them.

They will provide you with scripts and do all the mixing for you; all you do is read the lines to the absolute best of your abilities. Again, the point of a demo is to showcase your voice and talent, not the mixing. That's just a part of it so that the client knows how you sound in a full mix. The audio engineers making your demo know this, and it's their job to make you stand out. The quality of a demo is only limited by your own abilities.

​

I know I covered a lot, but hopefully you can find at least something useful in there. It's not a full guide to getting into voice over, but it should work as a starting place. If you want to listen to my demos to get a feel for what I am talking about, you can find them here. Feel free to ask any follow-up question!

u/Limro · 2 pointsr/VoiceActing

Continuing the answer, /u/talbayne:

As mentioned above, XLR is a way to get super clear sound - more than USB.
The reason for this, is because the hardware converting the analog (actual) sound waves to digital input, called Analog-to-Digital-Convert (ADC), is better in a preamp, than inside the a usb-microphone... Or at least they used to be.

The ADC is actually just a small chip - or a part of a small chip - which are inside a regular computer chip. They have a number of input pins to register to register the sound from the actual microphone, as seen on this picture of a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 - the bigger, black chip, reading XMOS upside down.

16 of those small pins come from the first XLR-input, and 16 from the second. This is because it's a 16-bit preamp, which you can also see from this screenshot.

Now - these ADCs used to require quite a certain amount of power, but do no longer. They can now be powered by 5 volts (to convert to 48 volts) - the output of a USB-port. Or... at least some of them can, and quite a few of them do a pretty decent job.

----
Time for examples in the USB-section:

  • The Røde NT-USB ($169) review.

    I have a friend who uses this, and I have a hard time not hearing it being just as good as my own microphone (longer down the list).

  • Bill Dewees talks about the Apogee MiC 96k ($20).

    That man knows his shit - pro dude, who makes 4k a week doing voice over.

  • The Excelvan BM-800 ($25) is in the opposite price range. How can this cheap thing work? Well, like the XLR-microphones it needs what's called phantom power, which is 48 volts - this comes pretty cheap ($20)... or you plug it into your desktop (laptop won't work, I've read).

  • The Blue Snowball Ice ($45) being compared to a few others.

    This one is extremely popular with YouTubers - for a good reason.

    ----

    Well, that's all good and nice, but what about the XLR options?

    When you go XLR, you need a preamp, which provides the 48 volts I described before - also known as phantom power.

    If you'd asked one year ago I'd say 'get the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2', but that was what I knew worked.
    Today you have two other options (from the same company):

  • Scarlett Solo - $99.

    I takes only one input - but you only have one microphone, right? It converts upto 24 bits (where as my own only goes to 16 bit).

  • Scarlett 2i2 (gen 2) - $149.

    This takes two inputs, so when you plugin your guitar you get a separate channel for each... It is also 24 bit, where as my gen 1 is only 16 bit.

    Are there others? Yes - plenty, but I don't know them.

    -----

    So microphones with XLR?

  • I have a Røde NT1 (as a kit) for $269.

  • The Blue Yeti Pro ($245) are spoken of as the next step up from its little brother (USB-microphone, mentioned above).


    Steep price for a starter, right? Well, the sound from it is not too bad, and this is where you need to remember what I wrote in my previous post - Your clients want clear sound. You can get clear sound from the USB-devices as well, but there will still be some quality loss between them. Decide for yourself what you want, and how much you want to spend on it.
    This list can go on forever, but it's getting late right now, so I'll holdt that here.

    ----

    I talked about sound treatment, yes?

  • /u/sureillrecordthat has a great YouTube channel, where he posted a "booth" to record in (hear the actual recording at about 13:03.

  • If you don't have a walk-in closet, you can do as I already posted and make sure you cover the microphone from reflected sound waves.

  • If that's not an option, put up cheap panels to absorb the sound waves. They work SO DAMN WELL.

    Best of luck with your adventure :)
u/TheUncleShow · 2 pointsr/VoiceActing

You have TWO options

1)If you have cheap motherboard and dont have add-on sound card and you dont want to buy any equipment, the BEST one bar-non, praised in every review is Samson Q2U, it has both USB interface [so you dont need to buy anything extra] and XLR port so you can upgrade if you want like buying 50-70USD Mixer or USB Audio Interface or if you have good sound card 10$ XLR to 3.5mm cable and record directly to sound card in 24bit/48hz, you should Yyoutube search its model name and see big YT channels benchmark it and listen to their vocie.

On Amazon USA, its 59.99 for microphone with cable and there is "secret kit" for 62USD with free Samson Studio headphones and anti-wind ball

Mic: https://www.amazon.com/Samson-Handheld-Microphone-Recording-Podcasting/dp/B001R747SG

Bundle for just 3$ more: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FWN32HI

2) If you have good sound card, or you want even better sound for same price then the 20$ Behringer Ultravoice Xm8500 Dynamic Vocal Microphone is the best in this category, its not worst then Samson Q2A it just dont have USB, nor cables bundled so its cheaper, its just the microphone and plastic box, you can also search in YT and listen to reviews.

Then you also buy 40USD BEHRINGER Audio Interface 1x XLR/TRS 1x 1/4" 2X RCA USB, Black 1-Channel UM2, and for 60USD you have the best cheapest combo possible, just dont forget XLR to XLR cable, they go from 6 to10-15USD depends on length, Amazon Basics cables is great option, quality, but you can buy whatever you want, but amont cheap cables Amazons are known quality, no gamble.

So i guess it all comes to 70USD with the cable and youll have semi-pro beginner setup.

In any case, if you going to record on your desk and will do keyboard typing you want some space, you may add 23USD Microphone Boom arm that screws on to the table and has your MIC on it, you can lift it up when you dont use, also microphone "improves" sound quality because you wont have to touch the mic and it wont pass your touching noises or keyboard typing to the mic and it comes with Pop filter bundled.

Personally I was going to buy the first one but decided to buy the second one with XLR to 3.5mm cable since my sound card is good and will allow me 24bit/48hz and even 96hz recording

Also if it wont be good trough my sound card sicne it was so cheap i can always add good USB Audio interface.

Mic: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002KZAKS

Cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QMIT1YK

Audio Interface: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EK1OTZC

Microphone arm/Boom with Pop filter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JHCL3KS



P.S. No matter what, DO NOT BUY ANY MICROPHONE TYPES Except Dynamic! Otherwise you'll be cursing yourself.

Dynamic doesn't need phantom power [its a separate headache that most mics need 48v phantom power] and its the least sensitive type made for Voice, when you talk it will record just you, all others, especially the USB popular Blue brand mics will record your scratching, air conditioner, your cat, your neighbors and mouse farts across the street, they all good to use-in Audio treated room, when people isolate the room for audio or audio booth, in regular peoples room, Dynamic mics is the Best way to go.

u/DeadDillo · 2 pointsr/VoiceActing

First thing is to not just be good, but to be unique. Do you have a distinctive voice or do you sound like every other voice in the "25-50 year old American Male English no-accent" category?

Second is to have the skills. You have to know how to be able to deliver the copy exactly the way the client is going to want. That means that the thing that represents you - your demo - has to show without any question that you have the chops.

Third, realize that agencies like William Morris/ Endeavor are considered the top of the list for talent agencies. That means that their rosters are filled with some of the best names in the business. That also means that these agencies are flooded with emails from new/ aspiring talent hoping to be signed by them on a daily basis. You are going to have to get past the gatekeeper to get heard. And they've heard it all.

I seriously doubt that there are graduates of this voiceover class that have signed with WM. Unless these people were already professional talent that have skills already established - and were just taking the class as a refresh, I find it hard to believe that the top agency in the business would sign an absolute untested beginner. But Im not an agent, so I could be wrong.

Next, you should pick up a book called "How To Agent Your Agent". Its a great book that gives some insight into the life of a agent. Its a very useful resource.

And finally - you should not put your eggs in one basket. Being part of an agency means you get access to auditions that you wouldn't normally get on your own. But it means you're now swimming in a very big, very crowded and very highly skilled pool. I know a voice artist that has 14 agents and he still gets most of his work from his own effort in marketing. Having an agent is not the be-all, end-all it once was.

Good luck to you, though!

u/_bthehuman · 3 pointsr/VoiceActing

Learn IPA (international phonetic alphabet) and identify your accent sounds and dipthongs. Pick up Speak with Distinction by Edith Skinner, and start with the most simple warmups. Learn all the pure vowels and consonant sounds before going into dipthongs and triphthongs. Note that you should aim to learn the Trans-Atlantic accent, which is widely considered as 'neutral' for English and used for most classical work.

Record everything and listen to how you are doing to be able to a) identify sounds you're making and b) diagnose things you're not conscious of doing.

Tongue, soft palate and hard palate exercises will help with your ability to make different sounds. As you learn IPA and can pronounce each sound, from vowels to stop-plosives and affricates, make sure you're expanding your warmup to include these. Do your warmups and exercises every day. You'll be surprised how quickly these muscles go out of shape.

In addition to being super helpful, being able to read and pronounce IPA will help you pick up any other accents.

That's for the phonetic/sound part. Other things to think about are vocal placement and speech 'patterns'. Different dialects are placed differently. Speech 'patterns' refers to how natives speak the language, and the sensibility and melody behind it. This is very subtle and often only native speakers of the language can notice that you don't quite sound like you're from there. The understanding of how culture and attitude informs speech patterns is what will help you get a genuine, non-stereotypical accent that you can express yourself freely with, using vocabulary and idiomatic expressions of the dialect.

EDIT: Also the other tips are great for actual practicing. Make sure you are always practicing whatever you are learning, and make sure you're practicing deliberately. This is the key to making something second-nature.

Source: Not American, trained at an American acting conservatory with the aim of working in local markets and now people are shocked to find out I didn't grow up here.

u/Loki77515 · 2 pointsr/VoiceActing

If you really think you want to be a voice actor, then I would recommend you either read this:

http://www.amazon.com/Voiceovers-Everything-About-Money-Voice/dp/1932907904/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406763796&sr=8-1&keywords=terri+apple

Or this:

http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Over-Voice-Actor-What-Behind/dp/0984074007/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406763812&sr=8-1&keywords=voice+over+voice+actor

These both do a good job of explaining what it really means to be a voice actor (turning yourself into a small business).

Taking regular acting lessons is probably your best bet. There isn't really a "voice acting school" that you can go to besides something like Voice Coaches http://voicecoaches.com/ (who are actually pretty good and have a bunch of online courses for you and help you make a demo [a demo being recordings of you reading things so clients can hear what you sound like]).

Also, you need to learn how to "read conversationally," which basically means being able to read in such a way that you don't sound like you're reading off a script. I would actually say that simply being able to read conversationally is more important than being able to act, since a majority of voice work is not for movies or animated features, its for things like commercials, instructional videos, automated messages, etc.

u/GandalfTheTartan · 3 pointsr/VoiceActing

A few years ago when /r/RecordThis and /r/VoiceActing first started, I was rendered completely mute by acid reflux. It was terrifying and I was disappointed by the books on the market that focused mainly on restoring the voice through 'positive thinking' rather than physical exercises to help rebuild and ultimately strengthen a voice. This sub has given a lot to me over the years, so now it's my time to give something back.

I've therefore put the last four years of my life into writing probably one of the most comprehensive vocal building exercise books specifically tailored to voice actors: 'Speak and Be Heard: 101 Vocal Exercises for Voice Actors, Public Speakers and Professionals'. It requires no specialist knowledge or lengthy reading. In fact, you can start the exercises from page six!

As a thank you to you all, the Kindle edition comes free with any order of the paperback. It's also available worldwide and will be offered for free on the weeks leading up to Christmas. If you want a copy now, I hope it gives you a voice that people enjoy listening to!

u/Trifax · 1 pointr/VoiceActing

That would definitely be advisable. There are other good options of course, but this is the industry standard for commercial/promo voiceover. So I don't know what your endeavor into voiceover is, but I'd recommend a solid investment in a mic that fits your voice well, an interface that offers enough gain staging (otherwise, you need a mic preamp, which is yet another investment. The sm7b definitely needs one of these), and a pair of headphones that offer flat, accurate frequency response so you can listen back and mix well.

u/JokerEvoker · 2 pointsr/VoiceActing

I'm assuming by "box" you mean audio interface.

If you're looking to be cost-efficient, I personally would suggest starting with an H4N Pro (or the cheaper non-Pro variant) and a mic such as the MXL 770. You'll also need an XLR cable.

The H4N, if you take care of it, will last you a long time and will give you many a good recording. It has built in mics, as well, and they are good quality, but external mics are typically better to have, if possible. However, if you're on a budget, you can easily use just the H4N and its built in mics without any issue, so long as you also get a windscreen. Be sure to have an SD card (I can't remember if it comes with one on its own as I purchased mine as part of a kit that came with a few accessories) as well, to record your files to.

u/Endurlay · 2 pointsr/VoiceActing

The quality of your PC is more important for editing work than it is for actually taking input from a microphone. Any computer nowadays can do the task of recording input from an audio device.

That said, the quality of the microphone does impact the quality of the information that the computer receives to record.

The Newwer 700 appears to have an XLR output. This kind of connector is not typically compatible with consumer computers; the only computers I've ever seen with the ability to connect to an XLR cable with no converter were made explicitly for stage work.

Microphone output is analog data. As such, you will need an audio interface (Scarlett is a common manufacturer of these, but far from the only one) to convert the analog output of the microphone to a digital signal that your computer is equipped to work with.

Take the advice of others here. Don't buy a Yeti microphone. You already bought a microphone, and you can make it work with the money you would spend on the Yeti.

Finally, consider your recording environment beyond the microphone in your calculations. I have a setup at home, but it is generally not ideal for actual professional work as my apartment is located on a major roadway. I do most of my work out of a local recording studio which has real sound booths. If the background noise in your space is above a certain level, or you have too much of an issue with echo, you will need to find a solution (which may cost you some more money). You could have the nicest voice in the world, but your work will be unusable if the recordings aren't clean.

All that said, you have the information you need to build a setup that will enable you to learn about how to record, even if it isn't quite suitable for recording at the present time. Get familiar with your audio editing program of choice; if you do audiobooks, you will be spending a lot of time using it, more time than you actually spend on the recording step. Start making some of your own recordings; listen for potential problems with your speech that you don't notice when you're speaking. Find an author whose work you enjoy reading (quietly) and start reading their work aloud. Test your vocal endurance; your recording sessions, if you "make it", will be several hours long.

Don't forget to have fun with it.

u/GiggaFlicka · 2 pointsr/VoiceActing

Based on what you mentioned as your budget, I'd recommend purchasing a USB type of condenser microphone. Unfortunately, anything under $40 isn't going to sound too nice when recording. Your best bet is to up the $40 to $50-ish and get a Blue Snowball.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Snowball-iCE-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B014PYGTUQ/ref=sr_1_21?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1519757795&sr=1-21&keywords=condenser+mic

It's a nice mic and it'll do you justice over any other mic in the price range. As for headphones, I'd buy these: https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-201-Lightweight-Headphones/dp/B0007XJSQC/ref=sr_1_12?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1519758135&sr=1-12&keywords=studio+headphones

u/GoRedBad · 2 pointsr/VoiceActing

I have a great little book called "Ideal Voice and Speech Training" by Ken Parkin, that I cannot recommend enough. It's full of excercises of Monophthongs, diphthongs, triphthongs etc., and has a lengthy section of tongue twisters and other challenging passages, such as Major General, and The Chaos. There's also a list of Shakespeare speeches for various moods and emotions.

I should also recommend the work of the late and vastly talented voice artist Vivian Stanshall, who wrote and performed Sir Henry at Rawlinson End. If you know the album, or even if you don't, you can practice with this transcription of the complete piece, which features many different-voiced characters and is presented episodically.

u/tattedspyder · 1 pointr/VoiceActing

That's what I tried and it still wasn't dense enough. Acoustic foam isn't all that hard to find, music, sound, and home improvement places are good places to check for it.

Here's an example of what you need. I'm not endorsing this stuff specifically, just giving an example of the type of foam you need. There are plenty of places to find stuff like this cheap enough to work for you but if you just try to go with mattress pads my experience says it won't work.

u/vanteal · 1 pointr/VoiceActing

You can get away with a much better quality/sounding mic for much cheaper. I use a Samson CO1 with a Focusrite 2i2 I found at a pawn shop that wasn't even used for less than $50. And I just got done having my virtual d*** sucked by every team member in the overwatch match I was just in. Which happens every match. And one of the most common reactions is everyone saying how perfect my microphone sounds.........Also, the free program "Voicemeeter Banana" is an extremely useful tool for some on the fly basic EQ....Also, the behringer interface I started out with sucked. And it had a terrible hum/hiss, which I guess is common with them.

u/PhantomV48 · 1 pointr/VoiceActing

My friend John Robinson co-wrote a children's book, "There's A Zombie In My Treehouse!". I read it out loud, recorded it, and editededed it. First time doing a thing like this (audiobook reading type of stuff), so please let me know what I did; wrong, right, and otherwise.

u/itsthevoiceman · 1 pointr/VoiceActing

I use two tongue twister books by Dr Seuss:

Oh, Say Can You Say?, and Fox in Sox.

Got both for Kindle so I can take them anywhere using my tablet or phone. Takes about 15 minutes for both and then I take on a lot of water. Really helps, especially with Shakespeare.