Got this last night from the Twitters:@jordanreyn
Random Q: Do you see anything wrong with NOT wearing headphones while recording VO in a non-directed session (alone)?Hey Jordan!
Not at all! Go NAKED! WOOHOO!!!
In all serious, I think even your headphones can fall into the "right tool for the right job" category.
What do I mean by that? Well there's a time to reference or monitor your recording, and there's a time where some spontaneity can be just what an audition needs to take it up a notch.
In fact, during MOST commercial castings I work on now, I tend to not supply headphones for the talent. I want them to tell ME a story, not to be considering how THEY sound. I think that can be a helpful tool to employ occasionally for the home audition-er as well.
Above all else I would just recommend being comfortable with headphones, without, and using headphones on one ear. Might as well cover your bases right?
As always, if any of my advice, rants, or videos have helped, consider buying me a cup of coffee on my donation page, or using my affiliate links before shopping on Amazon (you'll find links for both to the left)! You're support helps keep me on the web!
Great stuff as always!
ReplyDeleteWoa, I didn't see this post until today! Thanks for answering in a blog post!
ReplyDeleteWell your answer makes me happy and I agree that I shouldn't ditch headphone monitoring forever. That would be a bad idea. Ideally, I would prefer to record with headphones on one ear - best of both worlds. But unfortunately I'm nearly deaf in my left ear so this method doesn't work out so well :).
You make a good point with "I want them to tell ME a story, not to be considering how THEY sound." As you know, I am very technical and can have a hard time over-analyzing my performance in real time. Monitoring in headphones only makes this worse. However, my primary benefit to monitoring with headphones is microphone technique. When you hear your subtle proximity changes and inflections you're able to really work that microphone when the copy calls for it.
I'm done rambling. I believe this is the ramblings of SomeAudioGuy not Jordan's brain.
Thanks again Juan!
-Jordan Reynolds