A bit of help is needed

[Ethaneth]

I am a noob at basically everything at the moment, but I basically want to do flash, and voice acting. Tips for both would be great, but here I want to focus on voice acting.

I have absolutely no practice nor do I have equipment for it at all, which is why I'm here. At my level what do you suppose I should get, so I can make a list when I get enough money, or what program should I download. Detail would be best here to point me in the exact right direction.

I have been wondering also about doing music but not really interested in it. So any audio tips or ideas of what I should get would be great.

[Mich]

I suggest checking out the Newgrounds wiki page on voice recording/voice acting.

[Ethaneth]

Nice, I didn't see this page.

Thank you, also I still like PERSONAL ideas.

[SugarTheDrummer]

great for the audio like voice acting

[sugarsimon]

At 1/27/11 06:17 AM, SugarTheDrummer wrote: great for the audio like voice acting

nice working like voice acting audio

[Ethaneth]

...Why are you quoting yourself on another account? And...Why do BOTH posts have absolutely nothing to help with the main topic, or actually mean anything at all?

[SugarTheDrummer]

At 1/27/11 07:12 AM, PulsivePanda wrote: ...Why are you quoting yourself on another account? And...Why do BOTH posts have absolutely nothing to help with the main topic, or actually mean anything at all?

that is for my artist and personal account (better that is one)

my account is artist or personal?

[Ethaneth]

Still need personal ideas on this subject, like what in people's experiences seem like the great equipment that they use now. Or possibly things that help them personally. Anything like that would help.

[Rampant]

At 1/27/11 09:17 PM, PulsivePanda wrote: Still need personal ideas on this subject, like what in people's experiences seem like the great equipment that they use now. Or possibly things that help them personally. Anything like that would help.

I can't help you with flash. But for voice-overs, it really depends on what level of professionalism you're going for (and how much money you have).

If you have a lot of spare money lying around, do yourself a favour and skip the cheap crap. Buy a nice Neumann condenser mic -- the U87 is the choice of professionals -- and Pro Tools LE for Macintosh. Those are the professional tools for voice acting. You'll also likely need a mic pre-amp or something similar to an MBox (you can plug in MIDI keyboards and mics and control input/output levels; the mbox itself goes into your computer's usb port).

The Neumann U87 will set you back around $4000. A cheaper alternative is the Shure SM57 -- a good all-purpose mic -- which will only set you back around $100. Pro Tools -- if you don't already have it -- will cost $600 (unless you're in college -- then you should definitely see if your school has an educational discount on software). Finally, the Mbox costs about $300.

If you have a tighter budget, you can record using Audacity (which is free). Buy yourself a small USB-powered mixer -- you can get one on Amazon for around $75 that's pretty nice: it has phantom power (which you'll need if you use a condenser mic), an input for your microphone (1/4" jack), and plugs right into your USB port*. You can get cheaper microphones that might not sound as nice: typically you'll want one that has a bass roll-off switch (stops your voice from sounding too bassy when you're speaking right up against the mic). You can get decent omnidirectional dynamic mics from RadioShack; you can get ones ranging from $20-$80 (generally, the cheaper ones are good enough for recording speech).

*If you don't want to buy a mixer, you'll have to plug your microphone into your soundcard, not the 1/8" mic jack on the front of your computer. Your signal quality will be much better. But, if your soundcard isn't easily accessible, or doesn't have a mic plug (which is true of 99% of all laptops), then you'll need to get a mixer. Plugging a mic into the front of your computer will give you a terrible recording with a low sound-to-noise ratio (that is, when you turn up the volume of your recording to actually hear it, you'll have a lot of noise in the background).

Whichever route you choose, I'd highly recommend getting a pop filter. They cost anywhere from $15-$25, but without one, you will not sound at all professional.

[Ethaneth]

Thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me. I want to hit off a good "career" on Newgrounds with the best possible chances, I am even getting my tongue clipped so I can say things better. And getting a job to pay for everything.

Thank you.

[Rampant]

At 1/28/11 12:28 AM, PulsivePanda wrote: Thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me. I want to hit off a good "career" on Newgrounds with the best possible chances, I am even getting my tongue clipped so I can say things better. And getting a job to pay for everything.

Thank you.

If you're really looking to do voice-over work as a professional career, I'd highly suggest you read these two pages:
http://www.ksanderson.com/voice_over_tal ent.html
http://www.greatvoice.com/how-to-break-i nto-voiceovers (don't bother with any of the 'coaching' or 'products,' they're probably just a scam)

It's pretty hard to get into VO's professionally. But, like anything else, you can succeed. You just have to put time, energy, and effort into it. And definitely practice a lot -- talk at yourself in the mirror, mimic and re-read lines from adverts on the radio and television, mimic DJ's on radio stations. You will need to be very versatile in order to get jobs, being able to read in different styles and not just sounding like 'yourself' all of the time.

Also, I would recommend you start somewhere in the middle of my recommendations, then, if you're looking to do this professionally.

Start with a fairly cheap, mid-level bicardiod mic. Any will do.

Condensers have the best quality for voice, but they're also (usually) the most expensive -- they also have the most amount of electronics, are very delicate, can be broken or permanently distorted if they record very loud vocals, drums, or guitar amps, and they require 48v 'Phantom Power' in order to operate.

Dynamic mics are typically the cheapest, and they're also incredibly durable -- I've seen these things smashed against walls, dropped, beaten up in stage shows, and be generally abused... and they still work. They often have a higher frequency response in the bass range (losing the higher frequencies that condensers can pick up), and the most common ones are omni and directional. Be careful with omnidirectional -- it will pick up any reverb or reflections in the room. (E.g. when you speak into it, some of your voice will hit the wall, the floor, and the ceiling, and then bounce back into the microphone, creating echoes and if you're unlucky, you can get some pretty serious phase problems.)

Ribbon mics are great. They're slightly more durable than condensers, slightly less robust than dynamic mics. They were used from the 1920's up until the mid-1940's. Why would you care? Ever listened to some old, old records? Hear how they have that lovely warm sound? That was partly due to the pre-amp, but ribbon mics (technically, they're still dynamic mics) have a nice warm-ish sound. They're usually bi-cardiod, which means you don't have to worry so much about phase issues. Two caveats, though: they output at an extremely low volume, so you WILL need a mic preamp. Secondly, NEVER use these with phantom power -- chances are, nothing will happen, but if the charge arrives on one side before the other, the ribbon (which vibrates back and forth inside a magnetic field, thus translating your acoustic waveform into an electronic signal) can be knocked out of alignment, effectively rendering your mic useless.

I could talk some more -- I could talk a lot more about where to record, how to record, designing acoustic spaces, some microphones I'd recommend, etc. -- but it's 1:30AM and I'm tired.