Introduction of a New Kid on the Voiceover Block

[davidcoonvo]

Hello wonderful Fiverr community at large! Beginning to dip my feet into the world that is Fiverr and wanted to introduce myself! My name is David, and I’m a voiceover artist/talent/guy who makes money saying things in a variety of manners).

I first got the idea in my head of doing VO back when I was 17-18 and kept being told by classmates/random people I met that I should record audiobooks/do commercials/movie trailers and so on. It was always one of those things that I logged under, “Yeah right, I could be so lucky…” Eventually I ended up saving up while working part-time in retail while in college, bought myself a Shure SM7B (which recently has come back to haunt me…), and began auditioning on one of the pay to play websites. Due to poor planning and no effort on my part to learn, I never got a job from it, and gave up.

Recently I’ve picked it up again, actually spent hours of time pouring over whatever learning material I could get my hands on, and I’m already further ahead than I was years ago, in just the last several weeks. I’ve got an amateur commercial demo I produced (no frills, just me, my microphone, and some advertising copy), and submitting literally every buyer request that includes the words “American” and “male” in it. I’ve had one successful gig thus far, and I’m doing what I can in the meantime to put myself in a better position tomorrow than I was in today. Trying not to rush myself or set expectations too high too soon. One step at a time, I’ll hopefully turn this into a successful career!

Anyhow, thanks for reading, I look forward to getting to know all of you better in the coming months/years!

[newsmike]

Hey, welcome. I have to ask how did a SM7B haunt you? That is one of my workhorse microphones in fact that’s what Quincy Jones used to record Michael Jackson on a little known album called Thriller.

[davidcoonvo]

Hey, welcome. I have to ask how did a SM7B haunt you? That is one of my workhorse microphones in fact that’s what Quincy Jones used to record Michael Jackson on a little known album called Thriller.

I know it is, and in all fairness it’s an absolutely fantastic mic. I love how it makes me sound, and I hope to one day figure out how to get past the issues I was having with it. My problem was the amount of self-noise it was giving me. Even with a Cloudlifter CL-1, it was giving me background hiss that showed up no matter what I did to clean the audio. Gating it only took it out during periods of me not speaking, noise removal caused artifacts that were worse than the hiss, using an expander had the same problem. I switched to a DBX 286s which gave me better gain control than the CL-1, including absolutely beautiful control over basic EQ, de-essing, and so on, on the hardware level, but even then I had issues with the background hiss.

For things like commercials and other promos where there’s a music bed, it’d be fine and most likely unnoticeable, but for things like audiobook narration or e-learning, the hiss seemed like it would be a recording cancer. No matter what I did there was a “fuzz” over the top of my voice.

I wound up switching to a Rode NT-1, and with the basic run of plugins (same settings across both mics), my noise floor dropped from a hissy -58dB to a dead silent, no hiss at all -80dB.

I still have the Shure SM7B because it’s in perfect condition still, and I will likely switch it out here and there for fun side projects, but I didn’t like the hit to the recording quality it was giving me in my setup.

[newsmike]

I know it is, and in all fairness it’s an absolutely fantastic mic. I love how it makes me sound, and I hope to one day figure out how to get past the issues I was having with it. My problem was the amount of self-noise it was giving me. Even with a Cloudlifter CL-1, it was giving me background hiss that showed up no matter what I did to clean the audio. Gating it only took it out during periods of me not speaking, noise removal caused artifacts that were worse than the hiss, using an expander had the same problem. I switched to a DBX 286s which gave me better gain control than the CL-1, including absolutely beautiful control over basic EQ, de-essing, and so on, on the hardware level, but even then I had issues with the background hiss.

For things like commercials and other promos where there’s a music bed, it’d be fine and most likely unnoticeable, but for things like audiobook narration or e-learning, the hiss seemed like it would be a recording cancer. No matter what I did there was a “fuzz” over the top of my voice.

I wound up switching to a Rode NT-1, and with the basic run of plugins (same settings across both mics), my noise floor dropped from a hissy -58dB to a dead silent, no hiss at all -80dB.

I still have the Shure SM7B because it’s in perfect condition still, and I will likely switch it out here and there for fun side projects, but I didn’t like the hit to the recording quality it was giving me in my setup.

Have you tried the CL between the mic and the dbx? That mic should have no self hiss, perhaps it is defective?

[davidcoonvo]

Have you tried the CL between the mic and the dbx? That mic should have no self hiss, perhaps it is defective?

Unfortunately, no, I wasn’t able to try the two in unison. It’s entirely likely that would fix the problem, just a little more gain to make the self noise even less evident. Buuuuut my day job doesn’t provide that much over my cost of living, and what little slush I had to get myself running was limited to one or the other. I ended up exchanging the CL1 for the DBX, and when that still didn’t work, exchanged the DBX for the NT1 because I had gotten fed up trying to chase down what the issue was, and figured it’d be easier to just start from scratch equipment wise. The NT1 didn’t have the same issue, so that’s where I landed, and it’s what I’m currently running with.

It’s entirely possible that it is defective, I hadn’t considered that. Fairly certain though that it’s out of warranty by now, if it was ever under a warranty to begin with. Although I suppose it’s worth looking into, but I doubt I have the receipt still, since I bought it nearly 4 years ago.

[newsmike]

Unfortunately, no, I wasn’t able to try the two in unison. It’s entirely likely that would fix the problem, just a little more gain to make the self noise even less evident. Buuuuut my day job doesn’t provide that much over my cost of living, and what little slush I had to get myself running was limited to one or the other. I ended up exchanging the CL1 for the DBX, and when that still didn’t work, exchanged the DBX for the NT1 because I had gotten fed up trying to chase down what the issue was, and figured it’d be easier to just start from scratch equipment wise. The NT1 didn’t have the same issue, so that’s where I landed, and it’s what I’m currently running with.

It’s entirely possible that it is defective, I hadn’t considered that. Fairly certain though that it’s out of warranty by now, if it was ever under a warranty to begin with. Although I suppose it’s worth looking into, but I doubt I have the receipt still, since I bought it nearly 4 years ago.

At least you found a solution that you like. That SM7B needs tons of added gain. Noted for it. The Rode is very good mic.

[davidcoonvo]

At least you found a solution that you like. That SM7B needs tons of added gain. Noted for it. The Rode is very good mic.

True, I’ve found a solution that works, which is good enough for now. The Rode is definitely a nice mic, I’m more than pleased with it.

Yeah, the SM7B is definitely a gain-hungry monster. Which is fine, but getting it running is a bit more of an investment than I’m able to make at the moment. Since I’ve got a working mic now, getting the SM7B operational will be put on a back burner since there are other more important things on the horizon.

[sarahamil]

Welcome to Fiverr @davidcoonvo!

I’ve always loved the idea of VO - I’m an animation nerd and I think the talent of the actors is amazing. Unfortunately for me, there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about my voice, ha ha! Wishing you the best of luck with your career!

[davidcoonvo]

Welcome to Fiverr @davidcoonvo!

I’ve always loved the idea of VO - I’m an animation nerd and I think the talent of the actors is amazing. Unfortunately for me, there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about my voice, ha ha! Wishing you the best of luck with your career!

You should give it a shot! In my (admittedly little) experience, it’s not so much the voice, as it is what you do with the voice! Thank you for the well–wishes!