Quick Room Check

Hey Reader,

Sometimes you may encounter a strange sound or aspect of your recording environment that didn't seem to be there previously. Or maybe you've moved to a new place or new location in your home to set up a recording environment and need to dial it in and eliminate anything that can potentially degrade your audio quality.

Before you spend hours trying to fix bad audio in post-production, try this quick, pre-record routine to protect your sound at the source (which is always the best place to dial in professional level audio quality).

1. The "Clap Test" (Check for Flutter Echo)

Stand right where your microphone lives, clap your hands loudly once, and listen closely to the tail end of the sound.

• Do you hear a sharp, metallic "zing" or a rapid ringing sound right after the clap?
• That’s flutter echo, and your microphone will pick it up, making your voice sound hollow or boxy.
• To address it: Consider repositioning or adding to your acoustic absorption, try to break up parallell reflective surfaces as much as possible. For VO, pretty much the more absorption the better.

2. The "Freeze & Listen" (Check your Noise Floor)

Put your headphones on, turn your preamp gain up to your normal recording level, and just sit perfectly still for 30 seconds. Don't breathe heavily, don't move your feet. Just listen to the silence.

• Is the refrigerator hum leaking through the wall?
• Did the HVAC kick on?
• Is your laptop fan spinning loudly?

If you can hear it in your headphones, a casting director or client will hear it on your track.

If it is coming from something that you can simply turn off or turn down, then that's the place to start. Otherwise consider creating more isolaton between your recording space and the source of the noise. As a last resort, there are great noise reducing plugins available today that can take care of hum/hiss in your noise floor quite effectively.

Why This Matters

Taking these steps to audit your physical space before you open your DAW saves you hours of frustrating editing later. Plugins like de-reverb and noise reduction are great tools, but nothing beats capturing a clean, dry, professional signal from the very start.

-Michael

Check out all of the past VO Pro Tips here! VO PRO TIP ARCHIVE​

Hope you find this useful! Feel free to reach out with any questions! And if you find these emails helpful - please share VoiceoverRoadmap.com among any VO groups your part of - Facebook, Reddit, etc... or just tell others about it!

Thanks so much!

Curious about my own personal VO Work?

​www.MichaelLangsnerVO.com​

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