Archives for 2012

FaffCon4… the Faffterglow

April 3, 2012 by Dan Friedman

In the past, I’ve tried to write Fafftermath blogs much sooner than a week and a half after the event. But, over the last week, I was still working on FaffCon; editing and working with the recordings we did with Dean Panaro for Voicebank. Between jet lag and all of my regular responsibilities, it was slow going. I’m pleased to say that I’ve finally wrapped it all up.

Listening back to all of the recordings has been a great experience. Like Dean mentioned several times in the session… it is all about the playback. While I work with several of you on a regular basis, it is pretty awesome to get to know nearly all of you behind the microphone as well as face to face. It really is a special privilege and just one of many reasons why I love being a part of FaffCon.

Like all FaffCons, each is very different… and they just get better and better. While I’ve been bringing audio gear since FaffCon2, this was the first time I was an official member of the staff (it was actually the first time we had an official staff). Being a part of planning and creating the experience was amazing. I can’t say enough good things about the people who help make it all happen and let me tell you, more time, effort and attention to detail goes into it than I ever realized. That being said, I’d like to recognize the people who’ve shared in the planning over the last six months.

Amy Snively (and Paul and Devon), Pam Tierney, Connie Terwilliger, CC Heim, Natalie Stanfield Thomas,Kelley Buttrick, Lauren McCullough,Bob Souer (and Karen, Eric and Cinda), Peter O’Connell and Corey Snow. What can I say that I haven’t told you all in person or written in the past. You are all amazing and I thank you for the wealth of experience, generosity and talent you’ve shared with me. It has been great getting to know each of you better, talking with all of you week after week and watching our efforts come together to make it happen. I simply can’t thank each of you enough for your friendship. I love you all!

….and now some other special mentions.

Marc Cashman – You are as nice as you are talented and I meant what I said in closing circle; (paraphrasing) while I would’ve been a part of FaffCon no matter what, knowing you were going to be there brought my level of excitement and enthusiasm to new heights. Meeting you exceeded all of my expectations.

Cliff Zellman – I appreciate your experience, talent and support. You’ve become a great friend and I look forward to many years of sharing the craziness we see and hear.

Doug Turkel – We never seem to get to talk enough at FaffCon, but I like the fact that when we do, we always seem to be on exactly the same page. I know we’ll be talking a whole lot more very soon.

Liz deNesnara – Within seconds of meeting you for the first time at FaffCon 2, you’ve been an amazing friend. You are genuine… and I always enjoy hanging out with you.

Amy Taylor – Working with you is always a pleasure. Getting to know you better and being able to call you a friend… even more so.

George Whittam – It was great to meet you and share stories with you. Who knew we had so much in common? I’m certain we can help each other and simultaneously help everyone in the industry.

J.S. Gilbert – While you’re wealth of experience and talent make you a force to be reckoned with…it was great getting to also see the softer side of J.S. Gilbert. Thank you for sharing your experience, your stories and the many characters you do.

Tim Keenan, Steve Cunningham, Steve Sevanyu and Dan Lenard – It was great being on the “Ask the Audio Guys” panel with each of you (along with Cliff and George). I hope we get the chance to do it again sometime.

Diane Maggipinto– I was thrilled to give you a tip that earned a “Golden Nugget”. Thank you!

Andy Curtis – It was a pleasure getting to know you and I’d love to hang out with you more… especially in Australia!

David Goldberg – Okay, we barely had the chance to hang out this time other than at breakfast, but it is always great talking to you. I’m thinking a trip to New York is in my future for this summer… I hope to see you then and I’m sure we’ll talk even sooner.

Colleen Collin and Ashley Russo – Colleen, I always enjoy working with you (and Courtney) and I can’t thank you enough for all of your kind words and support. Ashley, you are fantastic. I’m really excited about the future possibilities and opportunities. YOU BOTH ROCK!

Dean Panaro – Major thanks for going the distance with all of us on Friday night. I loved your insight and especially how emphatic you were about the importance of having good gear. Thank you and I hope we’ll work together again in the future.

Thanks also to: Trish Basanyi, Bobbin Beam, Lisa Biggs, , Matt Cowlrick , Melissa Exelberth , Tom Dheere , Larissa Gallagher , Lee Gordon , Mara Junot , Randye Kaye , Fran McClellan , Chris Mezzolesta , Bruce Miles , Jay Patrick , Jenifer Platt , Talmadge Ragan , Mercedes Rose , Monk Schane-Lydon , Kitzie Stern , Leslie Wadsworth , Dave White , Janet Walton and everyone else at FaffCon4.

I look forward to seeing you at FaffCon5 in Charlotte, NC!

FaffCon 4 Is Almost Here

March 15, 2012 by Dan Friedman

At this time next week, I’ll be on my way to Ventura Beach to start my FaffCon experience… and let me tell you, it really can’t get here soon enough. Like past FaffCons, I fully expect that this one will exceed all of my expectations. It will be educational and inspiring. The talent will be stellar. I’ll have fun with old friends and make many new ones.

If you are a pro and have never been, you should put it on your list of things that you must do. If you’ve already attended a previous FaffCon then I’m sure you will be back again and I will see you there because…

I LOVE FAFFCON!

As always there is an incredible list of talent and sponsors who help make it possible. Please visit them and support them.

Now… I’m going to go pack.

Voicebank.net
Bob Souer – Professional Story-teller
Edge Studio
Mara Junot – Professional Voice Talent
Audio-Technica
BSW (Broadcast Supply Worldwide)
Voice Actor Dave Courvoisier
Liz de Nesnera – French and English Voice Over Talent
GA Voiceovers – The Voice of Technology
Get Rich – Rich Owen | Voiceover Talent
JS Gilbert -Professional Voice Talent
Bobbin Beam – ISDN Voice Actress | Female Voice Talent
Voiceovers by Moe
Melissa Exelberth – Bilingual ISDN Voice Talent
Harlan Hogan’s Voiceover Essentials
The VO-BB.com
VoxMan – Corey Snow Voice Actor
Word2Wav An Automated Audio Recording Application
Source Elements
Lynda.com – Online Software Training Videos
D3 Voiceworks – Diane Maggipinto Female Voice Talent
Sound Advice – Voiceover from an Audio Engineer’s Perspective
Voice Over Xtra – The voice-over industry’s online news, education and resource center
The Dallas Voice Acting Meetup Group

Recording Magazine’s Room Acoustics Series – Part 9

February 24, 2012 by Dan Friedman

Recording Magazine sends out a newsletter to its subscribers every few weeks. The newsletter is (coincidentally) titled “Sound Advice” and this month it features the ninth in a series about room acoustics. Room acoustics is one of the biggest concerns for Recording Magazine readers. I know that this is also a big issue for those of you in the voiceover world. I asked permission to reprint this newsletter (and will ask to reprint the others in the series as well) so that those of you with home studios can also benefit from the information. I want to personally thank Brent Heintz, VP/Associate Publisher for granting permission, allowing me to share this great information with you.

Please visit Recording Magazine‘s website and their Facebook Page.

Here is the ninth newsletter in the series on Room Acoustics:

Welcome to Sound Advice on Acoustics! We’ve started off this e-newsletter with a long multipart look at the basic concepts of acoustics and room treatment. In the coming months, we’ll have a variety of shorter articles on all manner of important acoustics ideas, reinforcing the basics and adding tips and tricks you can use in your room. But for now, let’s wrap up our primer with a few final notes, shall we?

This article has focused on control room acoustics, but the issues in the live (tracking) room are the same, though treatments will reflect the different usage of that space. Room modes introduce the same problems, and the same solutions apply. Additionally, being familiar with whatever standing waves may be present in the recording space can help the engineer in determining where to place instruments and microphones (to avoid a mic ending up in a null, for example).

Controlling reflections is also desirable in the live room, but here the criteria may be a bit different. In the recording room we might be more forgiving of colorations and echoes than in the control room. Rather than being a reference environment, the live studio space needs to support the sounds of singers and instruments, and here the acoustics may benefit from some “pleasant coloration” and enhancement of sound, though we certainly want to maintain control.

We may want to have different areas, some more ambient, some more dry (damped), to suit different recording situations, but this need not be implemented as rigorously as in the control room. One common approach to providing varying acoustics in the recording space is to mount two- or three-sided panels with different degrees of absorptive and reflective materials on the different faces. These panels can then be rotated individually to create the desired degree of ambience for a particular session.

In our discussion of control room acoustics we focused on early reflections and ambience, and didn’t really look at reverberation in detail, other than to point out the desirability of a diffuse sound field. In control rooms there’s very little reverb tail by design, so as not to overshadow the ambience and reverberation in recordings. In the live space, however, a good reverberant sound field is an asset, imparting a natural richness and dimension to recordings made there.

Had we focused on live room design, we’d have spent a lot more time discussing how to measure and control various aspects of the reverberant sound field via design criteria and room treatments. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of reference material available on this topic (see the recommended readings, and we’ll almost certainly get to this topic in a future installment of this e-newsletter!).

And there we are, several months after we started, with hopefully a good grasp of the basics. This article has tried to provide an introduction to the complexities of room acoustics, with a few practical suggestions for remedies and treatments. Anyone who plans to really get involved in designing and tuning the acoustics of a recording studio will want to delve much more deeply into the relevant physics and math. An excellent textbook on the subject is the Master Handbook Of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest, which contains both theoretical and practical information in great detail. Two other books that present practical design templates for DIY studio construction are Sound Studio Construction On A Budget, also by Everest, and How To Build A Small Budget Recording Studio From Scratch, by Mike Shea and F. Alton Everest (he does get around, doesn’t he!).

There’s also plenty of information to be found on the Internet that could be of help to any would-be studio designers out there (try the websites of some of the companies that make studio acoustic products, for starters). And to anyone who is designing and building their own recording space, large or small, good luck—it can be daunting, but the results will be worth it!

There’s lots more to learn and lots more to share… come back next month as we bring you more Sound Advice on Acoustics!

I believe that as an audio engineer, voiceover talent and author, I have a responsibility to you and to the voiceover industry to provide the best and most accurate information whenever I write a blog or am asked to share my expertise. I believe that I have a responsibility to my clients and to those who recommend me, to be the best voiceover talent that I can be. I believe in helping newcomers who have a true passion for voiceover and are willing to work hard to be among the best, as well as those who have earned my respect by demonstrating that they believe, as I do, in raising the bar for this industry. I believe in helping my friends. I believe that being a voice talent and audio engineer is not just about earning a paycheck, its also about the love I have for doing it, the pride I take in doing it to the best of my ability and the joy I get from being a part of this great industry. I believe in earning credibility through accomplishment. I believe in speed, accuracy and efficiency. I believe in being positive and I believe in honesty.

But this post isn’t about me, I promise.

So… why am I telling you what I believe? Because I also believe that many of you could be an unknowing victim of those who are self-proclaimed experts, gurus, coaches, trainers and whatever else they claim to be, when in reality they are either:

– At best, unknowing purveyors of bad information.
– At worst, knowingly trying to capitalize on people’s inexperience, emotions or desires.
– Somewhere in between

Whether you are a pro or just starting out, the possibility exists for you to lose a job or miss opportunities because you were misinformed or misguided by the ignorance of others. Worse than that would be to lose the money you already have to people who are deceptive or trying to take advantage of you.

This past weekend several pros sent emails to me that contained links to things that were either completely inexplicable or simply despicable. While we shared some laughs about what we were witnessing, the prevailing feelings were those of disbelief and frustration. For me, it is disheartening to see, read and hear things that are contradictory to ideas and concepts that I post about regularly in my blog. But what is more concerning is when bad information is being shared that, if mistakenly taken as fact, could hurt someone’s career. I don’t expect everyone to believe in the same principles that I believe in, but some of what I was reading and hearing was outrageous. In at least one instance the information being shared contradicted the laws of acoustics. 🙁

I know what you are thinking, WHO? SEND ME THE LINK! I WANNA SEE! I WANNA KNOW WHAT AND WHO YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!

As much as I would like to share these things, I believe that it is important to let my “keep it positive” and “praise publicly, criticize privately” mantras prevail. But because it is important that everyone understand just how unbelievable some of this stuff is, without naming any names, I will share one thing to illustrate my point.

If you are one of those folks who is currently seeking voiceover coaching by searching the internet, you might just feel as though you are walking through a minefield. Whether you are new to the industry or a working voice talent wanting to further your training, the choices for coaching are vast. Type “voiceover coaching” into google and you’ll see what I mean. I see over 2 million possibilities. Even if 1% of those are relevant, that is a big number of sites to deal with.

One of these coaching sites had a post that stated it was okay to make mistakes and perform pickups whenever necessary. In the audio presentation, the speaker encouraged it. It was suggested that this could help your delivery. The “coach” actually said, “If God hadn’t wanted you to make mistakes… he wouldn’t have invented editors, editing software…(etc.)” WOW?! Now, even if this was said in jest (and I didn’t get the impression that it was), is this the kind of idea that makes any practical sense at all? If you want to share your paycheck with the editor… it might be.

A proper coach teaches how to deliver a script with all of the feeling, emotion and communicative skills required, without needing pickups to do it. Obviously we all need to pickup from time to time, but that isn’t the point. Imagine what the engineer (or editor) is thinking if your attitude as a voice artist is, “My coach told me that I can screw up as often as I need to, because the engineer will put it together.” Believe me, knowing that there is job security in working with you, will not make the engineer want to work with you even more. Not to mention that more editing requires additional studio time and that will cost your client more money. This is the antithesis of what it means to provide good customer service. Do you think this will put you at the top of the booking list?

Is this the sort of thing that a voiceover coach should be teaching? Do acting coaches teach that it is okay to forget a line or miss a mark because someone else will fix it?

What I’ve just shared with you is absolutely true. But sadly, it is also only one example of bad information out of several I could share. Furthermore, this and the other examples are things that could effect anyone at any level of their career… there is plenty of bad information to go around.

There is not much any of us can do to stop this activity and it certainly is not limited to the voiceover industry. We all know that the internet is full of both good and bad information. Complicating things even more is that the people sharing this information probably don’t know or believe they are wrong, or were just lazy and didn’t do the necessary research before making their presentation. In the example I presented above, its a matter of perspective. The “coach” is only thinking about what seems to be good for the talent (in the short term), not for the engineer/editor and definitely not for the client, which will only end up hurting the talent in the long term.

So what can we do? First, don’t be fooled by slick marketing, websites and web videos. These don’t reveal the whole story. They only reveal what the creator wants you to see and believe. Second, do some research (a seemingly lost art in this country). Usually, a little bit of additional research at undeniably reliable and factual websites will reveal whether someone knows what they are talking about or what they stand for. Use your ears. The best thing about being in voiceover is that there is usually some audio available that can help to confirm whether someone is who they say they are, that they know what they are talking about or whether they can deliver on what they promise.

Generally speaking, I don’t believe that back and forth battles in chat rooms, social media groups and forums are all that productive. Too much context can get lost and intentions can be easily misinterpreted, which has the potential to create even more and greater problems. So finally and most importantly, talk to people with first-hand knowledge of (and experience with) the people you are interested in working with, or from whom you are getting your information. Many people share the mantra “praise publicly, criticize privately” and valuable information will be revealed in private conversations. Communicate with people you trust and don’t forget to trust your own instincts as well.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what I believe or what anyone else believes. It only matters what you believe.

FaffCon4… the Faffterglow

FaffCon 4 Is Almost Here

Recording Magazine’s Room Acoustics Series – Part 9

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