Audio Questions
 

Figured I'd put this here, feel free to move it if you think of a better forum. ;)

I've done minor work as a voice actor before, been in a few fan productions, two local radio plays and have been a narrator for a documentary that was also shot locally.

I've been wanting to pursue more audio roles and take up further training in my spare time.

Considering how many audio whizzes we have around here, I was wondering if someone could recommend a good stand alone microphone to use, for recording. All my past work was done at a nice little studio, with all the fancy equipment you'd want.

If I'm going to send in samples and work on other things, I need a much better mic than this one attached to my Ice Mat headset.

Price range $50-100 to start if possible, any suggestions would be most welcome.

Oh, last but not least.. Danny, or anyone else with experience, what are your tips for Dalek voices? Danny's phone message inspired me to try doing that again.

Using a ring modulator, in different programs manages to get.. decent results. Using a sine wave at frequency of 30.. but it just doesn't sound 'right'. Doing the best delivery I can, but it seems.. lacking in sound.

Cybermen are much easier to get closer to for some reason, using a sine wave at around 250-260.

Using HOG as a stand alone ring modulator, but I've also been trying in GoldWave.

Maybe I need to step up to some better editing suite, that works with Windows?

Ugh, I feel bad for posting all these threads asking for advice lately, I shall try and stop. ;)

Danny uses his MBP's inbuilt microphone...

'Tis true, I do, although obviously I didn't use it for that Dalek voice mail message as it was a good two years before I got my MBP. For that I believe I used some cheap crappy headset mic. A proper mic is just one of those things it would be nice for me to get at some point but I just couldn't justify the expense as there's just not enough I would use it for. Especially now, seeing as my MBP's mic is good enough for almost everything.

The best advice I can give is to run it through some distortion first. I used to use either Audition or Sound Forge to do my Dalek voices back when I was on Windows, and the first thing I did was always some mild distortion to give it more character and bite. Then run the result through the ring modulator. Obviously these days I'm using Logic to do my Dalek voices, and I'm quite happy with the settings I'm using now. Here are screenshots of the two plugins I use to achieve my current Dalek voices, as well as a corresponding file to give you some idea of what they sound like.

http://img.skitch.com/20080514-tsmwg...36n9ct314h.png - Distortion plugin

http://img.skitch.com/20080514-828u5...eggx3i8aue.png - Ringshifter plugin

The sound file contains both the original unprocessed recording, followed by the processed version with the Dalek voice effect. I encourage you to use the dry one when experimenting with your own effect. No one quite delivers Dalek lines like Roy Skelton!

The MBP's mic is -that- good? Damn, yet another reason to buy one.

Thanks much for the settings, advice and the dry test! I've needed something like that for ages to play around with.

I'll have to see what I can do with these less impressive Windows programs. ;)

As well as shop for a mic, heh. Love sound, sound design, voice acting.. but I'm still somewhat a deer in the headlights when it comes to the technical side of things.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm sure it's no substitute for a proper high-end studio microphone, but to be perfectly honest, it's far better than I would have expected from a built-in laptop microphone, and it's certainly more than adequate for my needs -- even for the more pro level stuff I do, like occasional voice recordings. I would be confident enough to use it for recording dialogue in an audio play, for instance, although others might not be. Bottom line is that I really don't need anything better in the foreseeable future, even as a hobbyist musician and sound engineer.

You're very welcome! Hope the advice comes in handy. Try setting the ring modulator somewhere between 35-40 hz, and just keep fiddling until you've got something you like. Try to keep in mind that the ring modulator alone may not be all you need. Distortion helps, like I said, and if you're mixing it into something, you'll want some very light reverb and stuff on it as well.

Like I said, I was quite happy doing mine in Sound Forge back when I was on Windows. See if that's viable for you.

I can be a bit of a n00b with some of the technical stuff too... I'm kind of spoiled because my MBP is pretty much an all-in-one sound studio, so I rarely venture far from it when doing anything. But feel free to bring your options and considerations here and I'm sure we'll all do the best we can to set you straight and offer advice.

peh, Skeldon? Gilbert and Messaline ftw :P

I've never used distortion when I record Dalek Voices, I often set the modulator between 30-70 in audacity and they seem ok. If you want to do 80s Cybermen, and this is in Sound studio, I don't know if the names and setting are different for other programs, I flange, set the cycle time at 0.1 seconds, sweep depth at 10.0 msecs, wet mizx at 0 db and dry mix at -9 db. But that's just Sound Studio, like I said, I don't know if Flanger settings will be different on another program. Oh, and if you want to do 70s Cybermen you have to put your hands on your hips and shout into a bathtub.

With or without water in it?

I must say, I've never come across a pair of hips that retain water. The bathtub however should have no water in it. Although perhaps a toilet sounds better.

http://www.supload.com/listen?s=6TZ67MHXS4U7

^ That's a link to me doing a voice with the settings I just described in my last post. As you can hear, speaking into a bathtub makes a lot of change.

Yay! Sense!

Righto, going to check into that now.

Thanks!

That. Was. AWESOME! What is it that you use? I'm REALLY good at imitating Cybermen even without all these programs, but I'd like to be better at it.

EDIT: Oh, Logic, eh? Never heard of it. Where can you buy it and how much does it cost? Please answer.

Thank you!