What goes into a studio besides a microphone? Find out how soundproofing helps you get the right sounds.

Welcome back to the Voice Acting 101 series where we’ll be covering various aspects of voice acting and some of the technology behind it. In this edition of the series, we’ll be talking about studio equipment.

These also work if you’re interested in getting into podcasting and not just voice acting.

Headphones

You don’t have to go out and purchase new headphones if you already have some, although having some specifically tuned for studio and audio production could be helpful.

I personally use the Logitech H390 headset for podcasting and doing some voiceovers from home. It’s comfortable, light, and costs between $69-89 on Amazon.

In the Discovery Mountain studio, however, we use the Sony MDR7506 headphones which are studio quality. They cost around $97 on Amazon.

If you want to see a sneak peek of what the actor’s are wearing, it’s the Sony headphones.

Sound Protection

Another great thing to have is some sort of sound barrier or protection for your microphone. Depending on the microphone you go with will depend on what type of barrier you buy. I have the Blue Yeti at home which is a good microphone currently being used by a lot of internet streamers and podcasters.

To protect my microphone from popping and other random sounds or noises, I use a combination of a pop filter and a furry windscreen. This is also what we use here in the Discovery Mountain Studios to help give our recordings the cleanest sound.

This is an example of a microphone with triple pop screen filters on it.

This is an example of a microphone with a double pop screen filters, and a fuzzy windscreen on it.

Also, another item that is really important is soundproofing in the room. I don’t have the ability to do this right now but will write in another blog post about my progress building a soundproof booth at home using PVC and thick blankets. But if this isn’t an option for you, a nice filled closet that can dampen the sound around you is good. Also be sure to make sure you cannot hear something like a fridge, other people, air conditioning, fans, furnace, etc., while you are recording. Otherwise, these sounds will show up in the recording you perform in.

If you’ll notice in the images above, the window as well as all the walls are in a carpet or foam styled protection. All the walls and floors are in a soft material to not only help with deadening the sound but to create an atmosphere clear of room noise. This helps to not have tinny sounds, echos, or anything else that can interfere with the audio quality.

Stay tuned for the next post where we’ll discuss recording software. Until next time, Producer Steve signing off.

Loading...