Equipment required for voiceovers Thread poster: Daniel Gold
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Daniel Gold 
Israel
Local time: 14:53
Italian to English
Hello fellow translators. When I lived in Italy, I did countless voiceovers for a local agency. Then, I moved to the US and since then never considered doing them, as I was satisfactorily engaged in translation. Now, I'd like to expand my services to include voiceovers, but am at a loss about the type of equipment/software you need. Can anyone give me an idea? Thanks.
| | | | WolfgangS
France
Local time: 13:53
Member (2007)
English to German
+ ...
| Equipment for voiceover | Nov 29, 2020 |
Daniel Gold wrote:
Hello fellow translators. When I lived in Italy, I did countless voiceovers for a local agency. Then, I moved to the US and since then never considered doing them, as I was satisfactorily engaged in translation. Now, I'd like to expand my services to include voiceovers, but am at a loss about the type of equipment/software you need. Can anyone give me an idea? Thanks.
Hi Daniel
could it be that we met sometime in some studio in Italy (Milan)? I have worked over there as a German voice talent from 1976 until 2003 (now I live and work in France).
Anyway, what you need is a good mike (Neumann mikes are sort of unaffordable, a good Røde (condenser mike) will do the job), a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation, ProTools, Cubase or something similar (Audacity, a free DAW, is a very good software), a good external sound card (Focus Rite, or any other good brand, I use UAC-2 from Zoom), a noiseless computer (I have an iMac) and a noiseless and echoless environment. Possibly someone who turns the buttons while you are recording. Do not even think about putting a mike on your desk in front of the computer, every slightest tap on your desk will produce a noise in your recording. You will also need (closed) headphones.
Good luck.
Wolfgang
| | | | Daniel Gold
Israel
Local time: 14:53
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
I don't think we met, as I lived and worked in Friuli (Gorizia). I did spend a few weeks in Milan to try what it was like, but did no voiceovers at that time.
Thanks for your detailed answer. It will really help get me started.
All the best.
| | | | | Training course | Nov 30, 2020 |
Hi Daniel,
I am currently near the end of this training course https://training.proz.com/spotlight-training/voiceover
and have just started offering my services for voice-over - I'm not very much experienced and haven't even fully finished with the training yet, but I've recently accepted an offer (translation + voice-over), that's a start. There are certainly man... See more Hi Daniel,
I am currently near the end of this training course https://training.proz.com/spotlight-training/voiceover
and have just started offering my services for voice-over - I'm not very much experienced and haven't even fully finished with the training yet, but I've recently accepted an offer (translation + voice-over), that's a start. There are certainly many aspects of this training that you wouldn't need since you already have some extensive experience but a large part of the course is about the equipment and a very practical introduction to software (for instance, how to remove breath sounds, EQ, compression, noise gates etc.) so you could possibly find some information in it. I understand that you were possibly doing that under the supervision of a sound engineer previously?
I've bought a Røde NT1-A microphone + a Focusrite starlett sound card + a sound shield + studio headphones - but I find that the most difficult point is to find the right place to set this up, with no noise from the outside and no reverberation. It needs to be well thought out and requires some work, for the time being I can only record properly after midnight when there's no traffic outside at all until my little DIY project is finished. As Wolfgang said, even the noise from the computer is a problem so I'm using my laptop for this, which is very silent but it still makes some small noises and clicks so I put it as far from the mic as possible (under the desk). There are some "barebone" fanless computers that may be ideal for that purpose.
All in all that "starter" configuration will cost me about €1000 - €500 for the sound equipement and €500 for soundproofing a room, obviously it will cost three times as much or more if I ever want to up my game in the future with a better microphone, better room etc. In any case I needed a bit of diversification after more than 20 years of "pure" translation so I found this course a nice opportunity at the right moment. ▲ Collapse
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Sarper Aman
Türkiye
Local time: 15:53
Member (2019)
English to Turkish
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| WolfgangS
France
Local time: 13:53
Member (2007)
English to German
+ ...
| Some more tips | Nov 30, 2020 |
[quote]Wolfgang Schoene wrote:
Daniel Gold wrote:
Hello fellow translators. When I lived in Italy, I did countless voiceovers for a local agency. Then, I moved to the US and since then never considered doing them, as I was satisfactorily engaged in translation. Now, I'd like to expand my services to include voiceovers, but am at a loss about the type of equipment/software you need. Can anyone give me an idea? Thanks.
When looking for an external sound card go for one that has the software (DAW) that comes with it. My Zoom UAC-2 came with Cubase 8 LE which was great as Cubase has the one feature that voice over speakers need, that is, preroll with replay. This means when you have to retake a part of your speaking, your fix the insert point where the new recording should start and make a preroll back for, say, 5 seconds (my setting) and you must be able to hear your previous recording in the headphones until the starting point of the retake. This is paramount as it is very important to hear your voice in order to know where to start with the retake and to get the right "pitch" of your own voice.
Cubase has this preroll feature, ProTools has it, but AFAIK many others (like Apple's Logic Pro) do not have it.
One more advice: do not go for a subscription-based DAW software unless you record tons of voice overs on a regular basis. I gave up on ProTools when it became subscription-based as this would be definitely too expensive.
And the last one: As for the environment, get double-/triple glazed windows, it helps a lot. I have double-glazed windows and am lucky to live in a relatively calm environment (as long as my neighbour is not making her noisy housekeeping)
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| Get a "silent mouse" | Jan 11, 2021 |
It's a thing and it actually works. Normal mouse key clacks are truly thunderous on some mic setups.
Also, make sure to research whether just the main buttons are silent, or the mousewheel too.
| | | | WolfgangS
France
Local time: 13:53
Member (2007)
English to German
+ ...
| Silent mouse | Apr 16, 2021 |
Adieu wrote:
It's a thing and it actually works. Normal mouse key clacks are truly thunderous on some mic setups.
Also, make sure to research whether just the main buttons are silent, or the mousewheel too.
Best would be Apple's Magic Mouse, it clicks, but no scroll wheel, only silent finger wipes
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jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 07:53
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
I don't think I understand it.
You said "I did countless voiceovers for a local agency", and then you asked very basic questions about what equipment/software is needed.
Is voiceover in the States different to that in Italy? Or did I miss something?
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 13:53
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
jyuan_us wrote:
I don't think I understand it.
You said "I did countless voiceovers for a local agency", and then you asked very basic questions about what equipment/software is needed.
Is voiceover in the States different to that in Italy? Or did I miss something?
I am not sure, but it appears the agency provided/supplied a studio with full equipment. Then he just walks in and has a technician to take care of everything during the recording. If he's working on his own now, he's learning about the equipment from scratch.
[Edited at 2021-04-16 21:47 GMT]
| | | | Daniel Gold
Israel
Local time: 14:53
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
In fact, I did just walk into the agency and used their complete studio equipment.
| | | | WolfgangS
France
Local time: 13:53
Member (2007)
English to German
+ ...
Daniel Gold wrote:
In fact, I did just walk into the agency and used their complete studio equipment.
When still in Italy and working most of my time as a speaker, I used to walk into the studio, do my job and walk out. Today, DAWs have reasonable costs, we all have computers and most of pro speakers know what the business is about and have their own Home Studio, it's corona-safe und time/cost saving.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 13:53
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| My experience as well. | Apr 19, 2021 |
Most agencies dealing with or specializing in audio-visual content, voicer overs, dubbing, etc. have their own fully equipped studios.
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