Quality of voice-over
Thread poster: Gennady Lapardin
Gennady Lapardin
Gennady Lapardin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 15:14
Italian to Russian
+ ...
Sep 26, 2007

A client wishes studio quality of voice-over. Apart from the price, are there any practical standards or references to differentiate in figures between home and studio quality in terms of noise, output level, etc ?

Thank you


 
Yvonne_l11n (X)
Yvonne_l11n (X)
Local time: 20:14
English to Chinese
+ ...
Dubbing Sep 27, 2007

It has multi sound tracks and might be easier to edit if it's recorded in studio using professional equipment and software tools.

 
Orla Ryan
Orla Ryan  Identity Verified
Ireland
Local time: 12:14
Doing it from home Sep 27, 2007

I've done a couple of small voice-over jobs from home. (Nothing more than uttering a few words and/or phrases) and the client has been satisfied with the audio quality. I don't have any special software, just a computer microphone and Windows Sound Recorder. Some times if the client can't hear it well, I do it again and turn up the recording volume. For home recordings, I just charge my standard hourly rate.

But if it is going to be a much bigger job than that, then a studio would
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I've done a couple of small voice-over jobs from home. (Nothing more than uttering a few words and/or phrases) and the client has been satisfied with the audio quality. I don't have any special software, just a computer microphone and Windows Sound Recorder. Some times if the client can't hear it well, I do it again and turn up the recording volume. For home recordings, I just charge my standard hourly rate.

But if it is going to be a much bigger job than that, then a studio would probably be a better option. Studio recordings can take up a whole day. The client would have to consider the reader's hourly rate, studio hire, sound engineer rate, dubbing and editing time as well as burning the recording to disc. It depends on the client's budget. At least in a studio, if you have to do another take, you can do it immediately, whereas it is not always possible to do that at home.
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Luca Ruella
Luca Ruella  Identity Verified
United States
Member (2005)
English to Italian
+ ...
Home vs Studio Sep 27, 2007

Gennady Lapardin wrote:

A client wishes studio quality of voice-over. Apart from the price, are there any practical standards or references to differentiate in figures between home and studio quality in terms of noise, output level, etc ?

Thank you


Recordings done at home can't be compared against recordings done in a studio. A studio has especially soundproofed rooms, very expensive microphones (3000 euros or more) and an engineer who edits the files removing mouth clicks, breath noises etc. after recording. Anybody who records at home will have extremely poor microphones, room reverb/noises and no post-editing not to mention dozens of other problems from a quality point of view. Studio quality also involves the ability of the voiceover artist to deliver professional interpretation, pronounciation, voice control, etc.



[Edited at 2007-09-27 09:49]


 
NGK
NGK  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:14
It all depends ... Sep 27, 2007

Luca Ruella wrote:

Recordings done at home can't be compared against recordings done in a studio. A studio has especially soundproofed rooms, very expensive microphones (3000 euros or more) and an engineer who edits the files removing mouth clicks, breath noises etc. after recording. Anybody who records at home will have extremely poor microphones, room reverb/noises and no post-editing not to mention dozens of other problems from a quality point of view. Studio quality also involves the ability of the voiceover artist to deliver professional interpretation, pronounciation, voice control, etc.



[Edited at 2007-09-27 09:49]


That's a bit of an overgeneralization, isn't it? There is no rule that you can't have a quality microphone at home (and at any rate, you don't need a 3000 euro mic to record a professional voiceover). You can run professional audio applications on your computer, with features like noise gates, equalization, and the ability to edit out unwanted noises in between words. And the skill of the VO artist is what it is, regardless of the location.


 
Ivette Camargo López
Ivette Camargo López  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 13:14
English to Spanish
+ ...
Fully agree with Norbert Sep 27, 2007

Norbert Gunther Kramer wrote:

There is no rule that you can't have a quality microphone at home (and at any rate, you don't need a 3000 euro mic to record a professional voiceover). You can run professional audio applications on your computer, with features like noise gates, equalization, and the ability to edit out unwanted noises in between words. And the skill of the VO artist is what it is, regardless of the location.


Totally agree. You can hear a sample of a PC-based professional recording by checking my profile at http://www.proz.com/profile/3140

Regards,

Ivette

[Edited at 2007-09-27 15:48]


 


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Quality of voice-over







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