Aliso Creek Voice Over Blog

The Clock Is Ticking! Nail that audition and move on!

If you are performing online auditions, eventually you’re going to need to speed up the process.  Nowadays we voice pros wear a variety of hats.  When you’re auditioning you’re the talent, the booth director and the engineer.  Well, now throw in efficiency expert for good measure.  So what do I mean?  I’ve had conversations with budding VO talent that take hours to hone one audition.  Let’s say it takes you an hour and a half to record, edit, export a file and upload it…

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With Magic Jack Plus you can have a phone line anywhere you have high speed internet

New technology has proven to be extremely beneficial in the emergence of voice-over home recording studios. So it is not surprising that the industry has jumped on the use of voice over IP gadgets.

The name may be a bit misleading as VOIP’s don’t really have anything to do with voice overs. VOIP is technology that allows users to send voice and data files over broadband internet. For our purposes in the voice acting industry, VOIP technology mated with a phone patch is perfect for communicating when performing a job with a director many miles away. So then, how can a voice talent take advantage of this technology? Continue reading →

Use the Amazon Kindle or a tablet to read copy for auditions and jobs

While the demand for voice-over talent has grown dramatically in the past few years, so has the increase in competition. That is why in today’s VO industry, whatever you can do to cut down on the time it takes to work through auditions will increase your chances of striking gold and booking the job. One way to increase your audition efficiency is by using digital tablets such as the Apple iPad or book readers like the Kindle to transfer, store and then read copy for auditions. Continue reading →

KRK Rokit RP5 Monitors are one example or near field monitors

You can record and evaluate your voice over performances with a good set of headphones but at some point you might want to add a set of monitor speakers.  Monitor speakers allow you to hear the audio in the natural room environment  that it is likely to eventually be played.  So, how do these monitors differ from the run-of-the-mill speakers you’d find in your buddies surround sound set up?  And how do you sift through all the technical jargon to find a quality, yet affordable, set of home studio monitors? Here are four qualities and a tip to keep in mind when looking for a home studio monitors. Continue reading →

Quality studio headphones are important to check your recording and performance quality

When it comes to listening back to your home-recorded voice over auditions and hearing every nuance of the recording and performance, one tool to use is a pair of high quality headphones. However, as you start looking into purchasing a set, the search can start to get pretty dizzying with the long laundry list of features and pro’s and con’s.   Studio quality headphones, while serving the same purpose as those headphones you would use to listen to music, have a few more unique characteristics you will want to look out for when looking into purchasing a set.  Here are the top four qualities to look for when investigating home studio headphones. Continue reading →

Use Audacity Software to Record Auditions and Jobs

When it comes to submitting auditions to pay-to-play internet voice-over sites, there are a few key tools needed for success: You need a computer, a USB microphone to record the audition, some sound control in your audition space, and an application that gives you the capability to record and edit your auditions and jobs. Audacity is an open source (that means free!) recording software that will give you the ability to record and tweak your auditions into the best representation of your voice. Continue reading →

Moving blankets provide very inexpensive sound control

Joining a pay to play voice-over website is a quickest and easy way to hop into this most exciting and rewarding careers of voice over. However, with the ease of auditioning from your home comes the challenge of turning a nook in your house into a personal home studio. Last week we touched on one of the important tools needed to audition from your home, a USB microphone. This week we continue to help you build your perfect home studio by controlling any unwanted noise. Continue reading →

Yes, you can pursue a voice over career with only a USB microphone and a  computer.  Gone is the equipment of yesterday–no tape, no cassettes, no CDs.  With your USB mic, your computer and Audacity recording software you can produce broadcast quality audio files and send them anywhere in the world in minutes.  The newer USB mics have two major improvements. The first is variable gain control on the mic to allow you to adjust the mic level. The second is a headphone jack on the mic that lets you hear your voice in your headphones without any delay or “latency”.

Finally the latest mics use new 24 bit/96 kHz A-to-D converters to provide pristine sound.  These mics start around $100 and range up to $300 so you can get started on a low budget.  Check out my updated chart of microphones–and other valuable information–on my home voice over recording page.  Take a look at ‘em

When you log into Facebook, the first thing that you see is the “news feed” of all your friends talking about getting frozen yogurt or posting the latest picture of their adorable kid. While this is all and fun when keeping in touch with your long lost high school buddy, we need a social networking site that cuts to the chase. In the plethora of social networking sites, LinkedIn.com remains to be one of the few that is strictly for your professional network. Here are the top three ways to get the most out of http://linkedin.com for your voice-over career. Continue reading →

The emergence of more niche-based sites has made voice over self-promotion easier than ever. One niche social networking site that is a must for voice artists is Voiceover Universe. In this article we will walk you through five easy steps to get up in running and promoting your career on VoiceoverUniverse.com. Continue reading →