A Fun Evening At The Voice Over Work Out Lounge!

I was honored when Roy Samuelson invited me to be a guest speaker/director for his Voice Over Workout Lounge. The VOWOL mission is to provide actors a safe place to play and workout, with guest speakers, in a fantastic recording/production facility.

I had a blast!

I’ve often found Thursday night workout groups to be a little problematic (quick tangent: why do so many actor workout groups take place on Thursdays?), it’s so late in the week that people are often already set to check out for the weekend, and I completely understand. After working during the day, it’s sometimes a bit much to ask someone to further challenge themselves at night.

I’m really glad that the VOWOL folks were game. It makes the evening flow so much more smoothly. They were curious, asking questions, taking notes, ready to play, and ready to be directed.

They kept me on my toes too. I fielded questions on mic/recording technique, casting expectations, script analysis, and performance method.

Big thanks to Tony, Craig, Iris, Susan, Stephanie, Wendy, Dean, and of course Roy for a fun night, and major shout out to Soundelux in Hollywood for the use of their fantastic facility and providing Justin the Engineer who was great to work with!

Can’t wait to do it again!

On The Set of Movies You May Have Missed 2.0

As you may or may not know, in addition to directing voice over sessions, I also produce a little web series movie review show called "Movies You May Have Missed". We've been on hiatus for a while prepping what we hope will be version 2.0 of our show.

I was able to snap a few pics of the process, camera, studio, audio kit, and you can see the whole gallery on my Smugmug account.

If you're interested in checking out some films that may have passed you by, or if you have recommendations for films you love that NONE of your friends have seen, check us out at http://MYMHM.tv

Black and White Glamor Shot of the AKG C414 XLS

Another week, and another glamor shot of my favorite studio work horse mic, the AKG C414.

Have a great weekend!

Spielberg Nears A Deal With Reliance

This is kinda huge.
Spielberg appears close to signing a lucrative package that would make India's Reliance Communications a 50% owner of his DreamWorks studio.

Here's the part that got me from the article.
What happens with DreamWorks Animation?

A Tale of Two DreamWorks

Spielberg still considers Universal his second home, say those close to him. The Twentieth-Century Fox studio (NWS) is considered a long shot to house DreamWorks. Whoever wins the contest to house the producer will likely strike an agreement with him to distribute the new DreamWorks' films in theaters, on DVD, and on the Internet. Spielberg's company maintains a long-standing relationship with HBO, which would continue to distribute DreamWorks films on its premium TV channel.
The new DreamWorks will be a private company separate from the publicly traded DreamWorks Animation (DWA), which was separated from the live-action unit in 2004. The newly created company being funded by Reliance would likely be nearly 50% owned by Spielberg, with his top production executive, DreamWorks CEO and Co-Chairman Stacey Snider, owning a small equity piece as well. Snider, a former Universal Pictures chairman, is considered key to the transaction and was also allowed to leave her Paramount contract as part of a "key man" provision that permitted Spielberg to take top executives with him when he left.

read more | digg story

Recording Booth on the Cheap!

So my friend Erik was having some problems recording auditions from home.

He lived in a very modern apartment with nice hardwood floors, off a fairly busy street, and the only space he could dedicate to a microphone was a tiny little closet.



The quality of his auditions was ... lacking ...



Off the advice from a friend, he started trying to put up foam (as you can see in this picture), but actual acoustic foam can be kind of expensive, and that really wasn't his problem. His auditions suffered from a boomy echo, and foam wouldn't help that very much.

Here's an example:





The problem with closets is they become low frequency echo chambers. Low frequency sound loves to bounce around, and hard flat surfaces set at 90 degrees just help that sound bounce around. The ridges in most foam treatments aren't really big or deep enough to properly diffuse, and the foam itself is rarely thick enough to properly absorb that kind of bass energy.



What Erik needed was to subtly change the shape of his room, and try to reduce the hard reflections he was getting. I told him to try hanging two packing blankets in half circles behind him and his mic, and made him throw down an old carpet scrap on the floor. I then also had him pass his audio through a low-cut filter.

It's ugly, but the setup cost less than $30 (also less than what he spent on foam).



Here's what his audio sounds like now:





Not a bad jump if I say so myself (which I do).



And if you want to hear Erik in action, here's a link to a Funny or Die vid he did during the writers strike. Very funny!

someaudioguy some audio guy help how to recording home recording voice over voice acting recording booth sound proof auditioning actors

Angry Jack Palance in: "BURNOUT"

This is the best presentation of an angry "Star" in an audio booth I have ever seen, and it's almost a year old.

I just now found it.

Better than Shatner.
Better than Deniro.
Better than Orson Welles!

Ruliarch presents to you, Jack Palance in BURNOUT!



...simply awesome...

Check out this Studio

Recording studios seem to be a reoccurring theme here.

Here's another story about another studio bucking the trend of setting up shop in a studio heavy area.

Steven Kocich said he started Monkey Tree Records in 2003 while he was playing lead guitar in the rock band Dayburn. At that time he noticed the lack of professional studios in the area that didn't specialize in rap and hip-hop.

"It's sad that people from here have to drive to Baltimore, Rochester or New York City to record a quality album," he said.

And I agree! While recording studios decentralizing makes me nervous, I'm happy to see that people still realize there is value in having a qualified engineer working with you.
someaudioguy some audio guy recording voice over studio voice acting music mixing mastering