Voice Actor's Guide to Recording at Home and On the Road [Paperback]

Jeffrey P. Fisher (Author), Harlan Hogan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 16, 2008

For many years, recording voiceovers was the exclusive domain of commercial studios. Even a simple voice audition meant a trip to a studio, an ad agency, or an agent's office. Today voiceover actors are increasingly producing voice tracks for corporate narration, radio spots, animation, games, and other dialogue projects from their own home studios. Many have learned that to survive in this highly competitive field, they need to learn and master basic home recording production techniques. "The Voice Actor's Guide to Recording at Home and On the Road, Second Edition" shows both aspiring and established voiceover actors how to set up and effectively use their own inexpensive -- but professional-sounding -- personal recording studio to make professional-quality home recordings quickly and easily. Everything is covered to help you get auditions and jobs, from setting up your studio with the right hardware and software, recording at home, and production basics, to promotion, podcasting, and advanced production. This new edition of this bestselling bible for voiceover home recording has been completely updated to cover all the exciting new technology and delivery options currently available.

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: Artistpro; 2 edition (October 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159863433X
• ISBN-13: 978-1598634334
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #253,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive Introduction to Voice-over Recording, January 4, 2009

By 

Randall Black (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Voice Actor's Guide to Recording at Home and On the Road (Paperback)

I was looking for a book to explain how to record one's voice on a home computer. This very practical, easy-to-understand guide to voice-over recording comes through loud and clear, with excellent signal-to-noise ratio. Best of all, these guys "get" direct-to-computer USB recording, mixing software, the Internet, and other modern technologies, integrating them with timeless recording advice gathered in real careers.

Hogan and Fisher tell you what works, and why what you think might work, won't. Rather than showing off their geek-speak chops, they use regular English and even poke fun at the technical lingo in the process of demystifying it. Other home recording books lavish excessive technical verbiage on how to pad your walls. These guys offer practical solutions (including "move") and even show how to make a portable acoustic foam-lined mic box. You will discover exactly what you need to buy -- although the USB-audio-interfaces section is surprisingly short -- and how to use it. They won't tell you exactly what mic to buy, though, and it's for your own good.

Warning: the jokes are abundant, mostly terrible and distracting, especially the comments from "Prunella," whose parenthetic remarks, although they mercifully trail off, are the editorial equivalent of lip smacks. (The full harshness of this comment will be appreciated upon reading the otherwise excellent text.) Failed humor notwithstanding, the tone ends up being warmly self effacing and encouragingly user-oriented. These guys take seriously the job of helping you, including a strong index and glossary, and plenty of URLs.

Chapter 12, Advanced Production Techniques, is alone worth the price of the book. Embedded in an economically worded step-by-step script for editing recordings are the exact frequencies to manipulate to address problems such as thin sound, dull recording, and sibilance. You end up feeling as though you have two buddies in the recording business; telling you every tip they know, and hammering on mistakes that could ruin your project. Don't let the light tone fool you: this is a seriously great book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best help for VO, March 26, 2009

By 

Charliebob "Chuck" (Arlington, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voice Actor's Guide to Recording at Home and On the Road (Paperback)

This is the best Voice Over beginners help book I have found. My only criticism was on the advanced production techniques. Since I am trying to learn how to use "Pro Tools" their advise left me in the dark when they only discuss procedures using other audio tools. But other than that, the book was very useful.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first and last word in home recording, January 10, 2009

By 

S. Loew (Chicago) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Voice Actor's Guide to Recording at Home and On the Road (Paperback)

I'm a voice over and director of a training program. I was never trained as an engineer but to be competitive today, you have to have some technical knowledge of how to record at home. These guys have made it fun to learn how to do it and have done a very thorough job of laying it all out in a very easy-to-understand way. Plus they offer very clever ideas for home and on the road recording.