EWABS Episode 149 Summer 2014 Fan Hangout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxfy8oHtxXk&list=UUbH1aq5ZyQsghyjEWfDgQNQ

Show Log

Episode 149, July 7, 2014

Summer 2014 Fan Hangout using http://zoom.us/

0:00:58  Show opening followed by black screen.

0:02:12  Dan (with a bird on his shoulder) and George begin.  

0:04:13  Going around the Horn:

Amy Snively, L.A., Calif.  http://www.amysnively.com/

Anthony Gettig, Laurium, Michigan.  http://www.gettig.net/

Conrad the Bird (with Dan Lenard) in Buffalo, N.Y.

Steve Tardio, NYC to be.  http://www.stevetardio.com/

Dave Smith, Henderson, NV.  https://www.facebook.com/VegasVOguy

Diana Birdsell, Huntington Beach, Calif.  https://www.facebook.com/diana.p.birdsall?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

Edward Waldorf, Spanish Fort, Alabama.  https://www.facebook.com/ewaldorph?fref=ts

J.S. Gilbert, South San Francisco, Calif.  http://jsgilbert.com/

Bill Lord, Alexandria, Va.  http://www.nothingrhymeswithorange.us/

Scott Chambers, Birmingham, Ala.  http://www.scottchambersvo.com/

Shelley Avellino, Albuquerque, N.M.  http://www.shelleyavellino.com/

Steven Gonzales, Baton Rouge, La.  http://stevengonzalesvo.com/

Ted Mcaleer, Sevilla, Spain. http://www.voiceoveruniverse.com/profile/TedMcaleer

Larry Hudson, L.A., Calif.  http://www.larryhudsonvo.com/

Andy Coffman, http://www.topvoiceover.com/

Jerry Reed, Syracuse, N.Y.  http://jerryreed.com/

0:14:15  The “Brady Bunch” view

0:14:47  Break

0:16:06  They’re ALL back.  

Welcome to Lee Pinney, Costa Mesa, Calif.  https://www.linkedin.com/pub/lee-pinney/9/892/603

0:17:19  Amy Snively makes an announcement.  EWABS fans can get $25 off registration.  The code is EWABS.  You’ll get an additional code to promote FaffCamp to your associates.  They’ll get $25 their registrations and you’ll get $25 off for each person you sign up, up to $350 off.  Go to http://faffcamp.com/   Amy explains FaffCamp.  There are two tracks, “starting smart” and “working pro.”  The agenda is set before the event, so presentations can get honed; planned but not canned.  Registration goes from $375 to $449 on July 12.  You can take up to six months to pay.  

0:26:43  Larry Hudson asks a question: He’s set up and working, but doesn’t have a pre-amp.  What’s the difference if you spend $400-500 on a pre-amp.

0:27:27  George has clients who do just fine without a pre-amp and just plugging into a Mackey board http://www.mackie.com/products/digital_recording/index.html.  That’s all you need if you’re doing all your processing.  Things get more interesting if you’re using ISDN.  It comes down to subtle differences.

0:28:50  J.S. comments.  Now there are more products on the market that work well.  For gaming, where audio gets heavily processed, there’s a huge difference when you use a high-end pre-amp for when the audio starts to have issues.  Game voicers use high-end gear.  You can also shorten a file without getting artifact-ing at a higher level.  For the average or above-average, it may not come into to play.  

0:32:02  J.S. has expensive gear because he can and he likes using it.  

0:32:16  Dan comments that if you don’t know what something does, you probably don’t need it.  Dan uses a pre-amp for the EWABS show, but for recording, he doesn’t for the sake of keeping the audio chain simpler.  Most people can’t tell the difference.

0:34:30  Ted says “you want it warm.”  It often means tubes.  What makes the warm audio warm?  

0:35:14  The Warm Audio brand gets discussed.  http://www.warmaudio.com/  George talks about ribbon mics.  Transformers add “warmth.”

0:36:10  Steve uses the Apogee mic.  He wants tips for auditioning in hotel rooms.  Dan says grab the quilt, go into the closet and cover yourself.  

0:37:40  J.S. says to put all your clothes into the closet, use the suitcase as a table.  

0:38:19  George says it’s all about “damping” and reverberation issues.  Use the luggage rack and put it on the room desk.  

0:39:15  Scott talks about the “Eyeball.”  He uses it with the VO 1A mic.

0:39:55  Debbie Irwin, NYC, joined the group.  http://www.debbieirwin.com/index.htm

0:40:30  Shelley asks about agents sending different formats, some long, some short.  

0:41:20  Debbie says in her experience if it comes from an agent, they want the entire thing recorded.  

0:42:05  Larry comments.  If it’s exceedingly long, he’ll ask the agent.  He’ll mix up the paragraphs and not read from the top.  He’ll read 1-2-3 as 2-3-1.  

0:43:12   J.S. has a different experience.  He did the whole thing and they did a “lift-off” of it.  They just used the audition rather than recording the piece yet again.  He feels that if you need a watermark, you shouldn’t work for that company.  There are lots of reasons why he’d want to hear the whole thing.

0:45:57  Break

0:50:02  They’re backbackback.

0:50:47  Diana Birdsell has gotten comments from clients who say her audio sounds “overprocessed.”  She uses TwistedWave, normalizes to -3, declicks, and runs an effects stack.  George responds.  He says it’s a good sign that they know what they’re doing and bothered to tell her.  It sounds too compressed.  George she could go in an uncheck the Limiter.  And if it’s still a problem, uncheck the Dynamics Processor.  

0:53:10  George appreciates the feedback, it’s important for him to hear when the stacks don’t work as intended.

0:54:51  Dan says everybody is different and hearing it differently.  The whole point of the stack is to make it better to sound good in a crappy setting.  

0:55:31  Diana is new to the 416.  She’s gotten a random echo happening.  Dan and George both think the Declicker is creating the problem.  But she hears the issue before she processes.  They invite her to drop a sample in Dan’s “specimen cup” at http://www.homevoiceoverstudio.com/, about halfway down the page.  

0:56:57  Larry asks what she’s wearing.  He points out his 416 picks up fabric movement.

0:57:49  Susan joins.  No camera.  She wonders about backups and storage.  Where should she get backup gear?  Dan talks about hard drives and the cloud, having 2-3 copies.  

1:00:08  Anthony is a huge believer in Dept. of Redundancy Dept.  He likes CrashPlan, DropBox, Carbonite, or Box.com.  His wireless router died and he bought a NetGear N600, which has a USB port.  You can plug a drive into it to create a home network.  

1:01:50  George says there are some issues, but a Mac Airport Extreme has a port, too.  You can backup at a friend’s house.  

1:02:54  Steve Gonzalez uses SSD’s, solid state discs.  He works off of them as they’re quicker.  George says they’re expensive per gigabyte.  You buy them for performance (speed) and use hard drives for off-line storage.  George has all his stuff in the cloud.

1:05:05  J.S.  Everyone should consider using one as a “boot drive.”  He recounts his backup gear.  

1:07:11  Jerry describes his backup setup.  George says his system needs discipline.

1:08:23   J.S. says you can use your own FTP.  Dan says the bottom line is back up in several places.

1:09:29  Break

1:10:31  They’re back.  And they talk about Harlan Hogan’s http://voiceoveressentials.com/   Harlan knows VO.  “He’s been doing longer than all of our combined ages,” Dan said.

1:13:20  Thanks to Edge Studio, http://www.edgestudio.com/.   The 4th weekend in August, there’s a Poker Classic to raise money for the LaFontaine lab.

1:14:17  Shelley asks if anyone from Edge is going to FaffCon?  George thought David, the owner is going.  

1:15:58  Walt gets harassed.  Dan asks him to talk about his Studio Suit.  He has it strung like curtains.  He rolls them out when he needs them.   And they’re all angled, there’s no parallel surfaces.  

1:18:20  Gray in Asia asked about difference between a mixer and an interface.  George explains they’re apples and oranges.  In most cases, a mixer is useful for VO unless you’re re-routing audio.  Some mixers have interfaces built in.  

1:22:14  Around the Horn for plugs

1:22:27  Anthony:  http://www.myaudioeditor.com/

1:23:05  Dave Smith.  The iPad Air vs Mini?  George: it comes down to how many pixels on the screen.  

1:24:10  Debbie Irwin.  

1:24:29  Edward.  No plugs, his website is under construction.

1:25:12  J.S. Faux Vegas.

1:25:40  Larry: in Sept. he’s doing a webinar with John Florian for new VO’s.  He’s got some Audacity training planned, too.  Click on VO Heaven tab at his website for more.

1:26:26  Scott plugged his site.

1:26:37  Shelley: She’s been doing a large, interactive website.  “Tales of Gigi” for a client in Bulgaria.  http://www.taleswithgigi.com/

1:27:26  Steve Gonzalez:  StevenGonzalesVO.com

1:27:49  Steve Tardio—now has an extra blanket from housekeeping.  He’s just finished another kid’s science book, called “Alien in My Pocket.”  

1:28:52  Dan: if you get a chance to see the documentary he narrates: “J Street Challenge.”  http://thejstreetchallenge.com/

1:29:43  Thanks to donors!  Use the donation link at EWABS.com.  Clickers!  Get your clickers!

1:30:33  Congratulations to Rebecca Davis again for getting the Don LaFontaine Spirit Award.

1:30:50  EWABS Essentials are growing at the YouTube Channel.  (www.youtube.com/ewabsshow)

1:31:25  Bob Merkel from VoiceZam will be next week’s guest.  The program has been updated!

1:31:40  Thanks to wives and staff.  

1:32:15  Thanks to zoom.us.

1:32:30  Thanks to Kathy Curriden and the volunteer staff.

1:33:25  Ella joins the group.

1:33:34  Sign off by the whole group.

1:34:13  End of show.