Recording Voiceover: The Spoken Word in Media

by Tom Blakemore

Overview

The only book on the market to specifically address its audience, Recording Voiceover is the comprehensive guide for engineers looking to understand the aspects of capturing the spoken word.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415716093
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/17/2015
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Tom Blakemore has been an active audio engineer for over thirty years, working in film, television, commercial, and corporate communications as a supervising sound editor and mixer. His film work includes Emmy Award winning documentaries, Academy Award nominees, Directors Guild of America Best Documentary winners, and Audience Award winners at the Toronto, Chicago and Amsterdam Film Festivals. Tom lives in Chicago, where he is an adjunct professor at Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy teaching film sound, and is a member of the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) and the Audio Engineering Society (AES).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
1. A Life in Sound
2. A Bit About This Book
3. The Making of a Superior Voiceover Recording
4. A Short Case Study

2. The Voice in Media
1. Information Theory
2. The Beginning of Digital Audio
3. Historical Precedents
4. Psychoacoustics
5. Reverberation
6. The Disembodied Voice
7. Recording Foreign Languages

3. Room Acoustics
1. A Word on Project Studio Acoustics
2. Studio Design and Acoustics

4. Microphones
1. Fundamentals of the Human Voice
2. Microphone Design Types
3. Polar Response
4. Frequency Response
5. Microphone Experiments
6. Dynamic Microphones
7. Condenser Microphones
8. Digital Microphones
9. USB Microphones

5. The Engineer
1. The Engineer at Work
2. Collaboration – Communication – Responsibility
3. Multitasking
4. Building a Sense of Trust
5. Preparation
6. The Team

6. The Studio
1. A Few Simple Truths
2. Lighting
3. The Script Easel
4. Seated or Standing?
5. Monitoring
6. Video Monitoring
7. Keep it Organized
8. Additional Considerations

7. The Session
1. Documentation and Notes
2. The Co-producer Role
3. Working With the Voice Talent
4. Some Tips and Tricks
5. Documentation (Part II)
6. Studio Weirdness

8. Your Personal Recording Space
1. The Basics
2. The Space
3. Modifying an Existing Space
4. Custom Designing a Studio
5. Prefabricated Voice Booths
6. Hardware
7. Software
8. Delivery – The Remote Session
9. Additional Costs
10. The Matter of Trust

9. Recording for Commercials
1. The Dictatorship of the Clock
2. How Long is Too Long?
3. The Commercial Session
4. Insert Lines and Redos
5. Editing and Intercutting
6. After the Session
7. One Final Word

10. Recording Long-Form Narration
1. The Long-Form Session
2. Documentation
3. Recording to Picture
4. Further Thoughts on Long-Form Narration

11. Recording for Games and Animation
1. Game Voice Recording
2. Recording for Animation
3. Watch Your Levels!
4. An Experiment in Voice Recording

12. Recording Interviews and Roundtable Discussions
1. Interviews
2. Video Interviews
3. Boom and Shotgun Mic Techniques
4. Recording Roundtable Discussions
5. Live Mixing of Roundtable Discussions

13. More Voiceover Opportunities
1. Voice Response
2. Public Announcements
3. Web Content
4. Voice Talent Demos
5. Audio Books
6. The Wacky World of Toys
7. Audio Tours
8. Something Completely Different
9. In Conclusion

14. That’s a Wrap
1. Building the Sense of Trust
2. Your Insurance Policy
3. A Passion for Voice