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Oh what a night! The DLF VO Lab Grand Opening wrap-up

George — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:22:39 +0000

What else is there to talk about except “How was the big party on June 25th for the DLF Voice-over Lab!?” Everyone seems to want the scoop on the big night, so here it goes.

My wife Amy and I arrived just after 7pm and felt like a couple of celebrities at the Oscars. Well overPhoto by John Taylor 300 people were in attendance at the SAG Foundation so everyone was quite cozy in the corridors with nothing else to talk about except what a stunning achievement the lab turned out to be. Reps from Marshall Electronics, Sennheiser-Neumann, and Tim Schweiger, BSW president were there and beaming with pride for the installation. It was almost hard to believe the night had finally arrived and the Lab's doors were opened to the world. People were getting excited to be the first ones to try out the Don’s old Sennheiser 416 shotgun mic in the solo booth or his Manley preamp in the classroom console. (Joe Cipriano took that honor June 30th while I engineered a session for him.)

Jo Beth Williams and Nita Whitaker did the honors cutting the big blue ribbon on the Lab door with camera phones and flashes firing off like the paparazzi! Guests took turns posing for photos in front of the donor wall and sign in the reception area. Even a few iPhone 4's made appearances, but I digress...

There were quite a few people watching from home as well because ERS and SAG Foundation streamed the event on-line (recorded feeds available on the website). Screened at the Actor’s Center and Voice-over Lab were video loops of presentations produced by Red Wall Productions and Casey Lewis with Jeff Reed. But the photo by Zurekhighlight of the night was when Paul, Joe, and I addressed the capacity crowd with our gratitude for a job well done and loving memories of Don. Almost the entire DLF VO Lab board was in attendance and shared the stage for a big round of applause. Great job everyone!

Promo videos for the DLF VO Lab at SAG Foundation

George — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:16:06 +0000

Recently I was interviewed as part of a series of videos promoting the Don LaFontaine Voice-over Lab, along with fellow co-founders Joe Cipriano and Paul Pape, as well as many of the other board members.

Here are the clips available so far. Even Entertainment Tonight and The Insider got in on the action!

Enjoy the videos, and if you are moved into action, please donate to the cause.

The first entry in our Video Blog, or Vlog: traveling VO tech tip

George — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:59:05 +0000

Recently I was commissioned by voice actor Chopper Bernet to assemble VO2GO kit for his trip to Europe. He gave me the special challange to keep the amount of equipment to an absolute minimum, since he and his family plan to check no baggage to make their lives easier and relieve the concern of lost baggage, which seems to happen more often than ever. While the equipment list I choose has become pretty standard (416, MicPort Pro), the mic stand choices are many.

As I was cleaning my office I re-found a cool camera tripod called the UltraPod, and an idea was born. Why not use this tiny, fly weight and versitle tripod as a mic stand, too? Not only is it as stable as the compact desktop tripod I usually provide, but it weighs less and can be strapped to poles, chairs, tree limbs, lamps, bike handlebars, ski poles, the list goes on! However, using a camera tripod to mount a microphone posed a problem: How to adapt the 1/4-20 thread to a standard 5/8" microphone clip? A bit of searching found my answer.

Why read when you can see in motion picture? Check out the Vlog post!

Friends I met at NAB

George — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:46:45 +0000

Luckily my visit to NAB wasn't 100% steeped in business. While in Las Vegas I finally got to meet the venerable Harlan Hogan and his writing partner Jeffrey Fisher, signing their book Voice Actor's Guide to Recording at Home and on the Road. Harlan just happened to have a Portabooth Pro he was happy to pass on to me, so stay tuned for my full review on his new product in the coming weeks. We'll have Portabooths along with us at VOICE 2010 to demo and purchase, as well as the Harlan Hogan VO: 1-a voice-over microphone. I grabbed a quick video of Harlan and Jeff, check it out.

Next up is Tim Schwieger, president of BSW and just all around great guy. Tim came to the rescue by way of his friend Joe Cipriano when we began searching for equipment donations to the Don LaFontaine Voice-over Lab. I cornered Tim to give us a short message on video about his motivation to become involved in our little project.

Finally, on my way out of town, I had the good fortune to time my visit with Dave "Courvo" Courvosier just right and witness his live news anchor gig at CBS 8 studio, just down the street from the convention center.
After the 5 o'clock news, I received a guided tour of the entire TV station, including a stop by Dave's desk where he posts a daily video report of the day's upcoming news reports. Dave explains how he gets a good looking video posted to Youtube.

NAB wrapup: YellowTec Intellimix, Tieline Report-IT Live

George — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:06:41 +0000

At the last minute I decided to make the pilgrimage to the NAB convention, held April 12th-15th and occupying the entire Las Vegas convention center.
My primary motivation for the trip was to make contacts with manufacturers who might be willing to make equipment donations to the Don LaFontaine Voice-over Lab project. While Tim Schwieger of BSW is stepping up in a HUGE way and providing much of the equipment we need, it just seemed like a good idea to approach some of the companies in person we've already decided to use and perhaps take a bit of the load off BSW. Once we have commitments, SAG Foundation will announce the manufacturers and their contributions.

I did have an eye open for cool tools that may someday become the next big thing in voice-over.
Some new on the market, some just new to me, here are few standouts that managed to catch my attention.

Tieline's "Report-IT Live" for iPhone/iPad

For any traveling voice-over artist it seems the holy grail is a way to "ISDN a session" directly from an iPhone. Imagine traveling with nothing but your iPhone, a shotgun mic, and a gadget to connect the two, like the Alesis ProTrack. That reality is one step closer thanks to the efforts of the engineers at Australia based Tieline Technology.

Their name may not have the brand recognition of Telos or Musicam in the US, but they make a very fine and affordable ISDN/IP codec device of which I've assisted in the installation twice. The Tieline Commander G3 Field unit can speak IP, ISDN, GSM, POTS, 3G/4G, Satellite, WiMAX, whatever technology you have available to you. It's lightweight, portable, and its built in mic preamps sounds remarkably good. But traveling really light means not bringing a dedicated piece of gear like the G3 Field.

"Report-IT Live" lets you connect to a Tieline codec like the Commander from anyplace with an Internet connection, either WIFI or 3G. It streams the audio to a Tieline Commander, as well as records the audio locally to the phone. You can send that audio via FTP to a server, or play it back later as a stream. If your location doesn't permit streaming, you can just record audio using the record function. It's possibly the least complicated and least expensive portable IP based audio codec in existence that is capable of sending FM quality 15kHz bandwidth audio.

Caveats: The other end must have a Tieline codec device and the audio quality doesn't quite match ISDN's L2 Mono 128kbps (but that will improve with updates).

YellowTec's Intellimix

Another lessor known in the US company surprised me with some interesting products. Most impressive is the Intellimix Versatile Desktop Mixer. It combines the best of all worlds: A simple user interface, a very compact control surface, fantastic audio quality, and powerful features.
At first glance it looks too simple a design to have all the functions a complete voice-over studio needs, but that's the beauty of it. It's all in there, just hidden away inside the brain, a single rack space base unit.

Select Features include:
    * Ultra-compact 3 fader desktop Control Unit (190x290mm footprint/height 110mm)
    * Selected control elements for intuitive operation
    * Alphanumeric display for easy navigation
    * Level (PPM/VU) meters
    * Smart Card for individual user setups
    * Small-sized Base Unit (19''/1U)
    * 14 digital and analog inputs
    * Two high quality mic preamps
    * Multiple digital and analogue outputs
    * Two mix-minus feeds (phone patch and ISDN)
    * Full on-air light control
    * All digital signal path
    * Powerful Windows Configuration Software
    * I/O labeling (custom named input sources and output destinations on the mixer display)

While it is admittedly out of reach to some, it's approximately $3000 price can be justified by its future-proof design flexibility, lack of confusing buttons that can interrupt your work, built to last 20 years construction.

Also from YellowTec comes the PUC2 professional USB sound card. While most every USB audio interface made is designed for musicians to connect mics and guitars, the PUC2 is a professional broadcast-grade solution. Balanced inputs and outputs with AD/DA conversion at 24 bits up to 192 khz, and AES I/O for direct connection to an ISDN codec or digital mic preamp, it doesn't sacrifice your signal path. PUC2 also provides zero latency monitoring directly from the unit.

Did YOU get an iPad? Tell me how you use it

George — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:50:49 +0000

OK, the iPad buzz is getting pretty heavy and almost unbearable.

I want to know how REAL people like you are using it and if it lives up to your expectations.

Did you find a use you never imagined?

Do you find the display easy to read for extended periods of time?

How is it more than just a big iPhone to you?

Does the battery last as long as you need it to?

What would YOU like to be able to with your iPad that you can't now?

Please leave your thoughts as comments below.

Thank you!

The iPad- What is it good for? Save some trees for starters!

George — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 07:11:02 +0000

I've had me ear to the ground around all the speculation and excitement (and disappointment) about Apple's iPad appliance, hitting the streets this coming Saturday. No one doubts it will be a cool gadget, but few really seem to know how it could be make useful in the context of a voice-over user's daily process. However, while talking about this new must have "toy" from Apple with one of my clients, Scott Rummell, it suddenly came to light one of the most useful functions the iPad can serve right out of the box.

Many voice actors have adopted the idea of reading copy from a computer screen, rather than paper. While it works great in some scenarios, others may keep users from doing away with good ol' paper just yet. What about being able to make a quick change to the copy with a pencil, for instance? I see the iPad as being the ultimate way so far to receive, display, and mark-up copy in your voice-over booth.

Here's the high points:

Very compact, will rest on your copy stand, but large enough to read easily
Completely silent operation
No paper shuffling noise when "turning pages", just scroll with a finger
Copy can be displayed immediately from an email, no printing or waiting for a fax
Ability to mark-up copy with touch screen interface using an app like Rehearsal
Apps like ProPrompter excellent for reading a script live on camera (bonus!)
Ease of installation compared to an LCD monitor/keyboard/mouse in your VO booth (totally wireless)
Will eventually be useable to record and edit audio
Remote control your studio computer to start, stop, monitor levels and make markers while recording with RealVNC or similar app

And the low points:

Even the base model at $500, still kinda pricey
May be a little less comfortable to read than paper for long days

While looking for apps to support this post I stumbled upon Rehearsal. While I am still a Blackberry stalwart, and therefor have no way to test this app first hand, I can say from their introductory video and reviews that it could be a killer app for voice actors. It has some surprising features I would never have expected. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Recording direct to iPhone, a good article...

George — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:48:17 +0000

I found this article today giving the pros/cons of recording to an iPhone directly.

The two hardware options considered are the Blue Mikey and the Alesis Pro Track, which I reviewed last year.

I don't think I could have written a better article myself, so that's why I am sharing this one in my blog.

We are close to this being a viable option, but I don't think we're quite there yet. One important problem with the concept of something like Source Connect on the iPhone is the fact that many audio interfaces require you turn off the network connection to keep the radio from interfering and making nasty noise on the recording. Maybe the iPad will become the weapon of choice, but it's way too early to tell.

Tungle.me is THE way to schedule meetings

George — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:22:13 +0000

Being self-employed forces one to be very resourceful, especially when you have to coordinate your schedule with a LOT of clients. I just stumbled upon a FREE web application that is bound to save you and your clients a lot of time and frustration. Tungle.me is not a calendar, but rather an enhancement to the calendar you already use. If you are scheduling in any of these environments: iCal, Entourage, Outlook, Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Xing, Ning, iPhone, then you are ready to use Tungle.me with minimal setup effort.

I happen to use Apple iCal, but in actuality Google Calendar is what powers my scheduling. iCal just connects to Google through its "Accounts" feature, which can connect to any online calendar system that supports the CalDAV protocol. The beauty of using Google Calendar is it can connect to so many different services, and it syncs flawlessly with my Blackberry over the T-Mobile's data network. I don't have to wait until I get home to plug my USB cable in to get calendar updates. I do a similar procedure for all of my contacts in Apple Address Book, as well.

OK, getting back on topic, what Tungle does is fascilitate the coordination of meetings between two or more people. You can establish the meeting, or any one else who has access to your Tungle.me link. Ours is tungle.me/vostudiotech, go ahead and take a peek. The user can propose multiple dates and times, invite multiple attendees, set the duration of the meeting, topic, and so on. Then, Tungle sends an email to the list and invites the others to chime in with their prefered meeting time. Once the time is settled, Tungle automatically places the meeting into the calendar that's synced to it, and notifies the attendees.

When you setup Tungle, you establish what default openings you want to make available each day of the week. If you place something in your Google Calendar, Tungle knows and makes that time unavailable for meeting. Tungle makes it impossible to double-book anything, and eliminates what can seem like endless back-and-forth emails to lock down a schedule. We're putting it to the test right now, and I can say that so far it has worked flawlessly!

Surprises in under $50 headphones

George — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:12:18 +0000

I like a bargain, and I like headphones. I once made a joke with my wife that everytime she buys a pair of shoes, I get to buy a pair of headphones. I currently own two Beyerdynamic DT770-pros, a tattered Sony MDR-V6, AKG 240M's, Koss PortaPro's, Sennheiser PX100's, Sennheiser HD201's, and custom molded IEM's (in hear monitors).

Bargains that impress me with great sound quality:

Sennheiser HD201- Available for under $20 from Amazon, I find these comfortable with really good fidelity. Featuring a circumaural, sealed design, they reduce outside noise, create minimal bleed into a mic, and don't press on my pinna, which can really hurt after awhile. They aren't very bass heavy, but for monitoring voice-over recordings that is a good thing. They don't get terribly loud with an iPod, but I am far from deaf so that's fine, too.

Sennheiser PX100- While they look like your classic cheap "walkman" headphones, looks are deceiving. These $50 beauties (or less) sound shockingly great. They come folded in a nice hardcase with wire caddy to keep everything well protected in your laptop bag. They are soon to be replaced by the PX100-II's, so you might find some deals. Then again, they were so well loved it could be hard to even find them for sale at all.

Koss PortaPro- Koss is unique in the business with a lifetime warranty on all of their headphones, and these you'll want to keep around for a long time. With sound very similar to the PX100's, and a unique headband with adjustments for the amount of tension on the earpads, the Porta Pro has stood the test of time. They fold down pretty small and slip into a small satchel. They sell for $50 on the Koss website and can be found for much less. Get spare ear pads for them if you use them a lot, they eventually fall apart.

Have a pair of headphones you just can't live without? Leave a comment and share!