Good, Cheap Netbooks and Sable's Guide to your First Studio
May 29, 2019 10:45:53 GMT -8
daphne likes this
Post by Sable on May 29, 2019 10:45:53 GMT -8
Hey guys, I'm doing a writeup on my studio since I've seen some positive feedback on the stuff I use and I think it would be helpful to our newer members. This is both a shopping list on what I have and a little bit of my philosophy on how to put a studio together.
Disclaimers: I am human and fallible. Prices may have changed. And while I consider my setup the entry level of "professional tier" audio equipment, your needs may vary.
- - -
SUPER SHORT SUMMARY: Cause I ramble a lot.
Buy a refurb laptop from my link.
Test multiple microphones before you buy one.
Treat your space.
- - -
So! Let's get right into it.
Who is this meant for?
This writeup, criteria, and equipment is what I would consider appropriate for a starting professional. Which is what I consider myself, by the way, so take this all with a grain of salt. This setup has good enough audio to sell to clients, but it's got room to improve.
Here's the list of what I use:
Rode NT1-A : $130 (Don't buy this. See below.)
Microphone Stand : $20 (Found it on sale at Guitar Center)
Scarlett Solo : $100
Refurbished Thinkpad x250 : $210 (This is my "trick" to an affordable studio. More on this later.)
Audiotechnica Studio Headphones : $80 (I forget which ones, sorry)
Homemade Cornings 703 Acoustic Panels : $100 of foam ~$15 in materials and hardware
Total: $655
You will need to find
A closet to record in : Free
A Digital Audio Workstation - May I recommend Reaper? $60. Audacity is free, but if you think you need this kind of equipment, you should be doing better than audacity in my opinion.
An XLR cable, if your microphone doesn't come with one.
A USB mouse.
So yeah, that's the short version of my shopping list.
Be warned: I would not recommend that another actor automatically buy the same microphone I use. I'll talk more about how to buy a microphone in a minute. I think everything else on this list, if it's within your budget, is universally useful. It may not be the perfect or ideal choice for you, but it will do its job if you have the budget for it.
Buying a good, cheap netbook
It's not special, magical, or complicated. I found this eBay store that sells refurbished computers with a reasonable warranty. It's what I'm using for all my recording and editing. It's really nice cause I can power my Scarlett Solo over the laptop, meaning I record in a space with no available power outlets! This is one of the many secrets of the Closet Booth! TM (The next secret is oxygen deprivation, soooooooooooo... Don't forget to open the door between reads.)
WHATEVER YOU GET - make sure it has a solid state drive. This means it will stay quiet in the booth.
I got a Lenovo Thinkpad x250. Thinkpads are reputable, long lasting, and the 250 has a smaller screen which makes it easier for me to run around with. The specs on this machine are kind of overkill for what I'm doing. It's 8gb of ram, a quad core processor, Windows 10, and an SSD. You could probably go a little lower if you do your research, but I wanted a general use laptop anyways.
My philosophy on buying a microphone
Wrap it up folks! I've cracked the case. This is the be-all-end-all microphone recommendation.
Get the microphone that you sound the most like YOU on, that's within your budget.
That's it. We're done!
Seriously though, here's how I bought my microphone, and, if you're looking to get money for your voiceover, this is how I recommend EVERYBODY buys their first microphone.
First off, I am of the strong conviction that if you want to charge people money for your product, your microphone MUST be XLR. I'm sure there are exceptions, but if you're at a place you're taking advice from me, neither of us qualify for them. And unless you've done enough research for your specific situation to think otherwise, you should have a cardioid condenser microphone.
If you're not sure what some of those words mean, that's okay! But you DO need to do more research before you spend your hard earned cash on anything.
Next, you should figure out what your budget for your first microphone is. I knew mine was ~$200 ~ $300, preferably around $250. Then, start googling what the best voiceover microphone for XYX budget is. Read some material from different sources. Stop by the Voice Acting Club Discord and ask some thoughtful question in the Audio and Tech channel. Make a list of the top 3 ~ 6 microphones in your price range.
This next part is where it all comes together, and it may not be an option for EVERYONE, so I'm sorry, but I think this is possible for a lot of people: Find somewhere to try them all out. I found a music store across town. I knew they had most of the microphones on my list and sold them at a reasonable price. I called ahead and asked if I could try out a bunch of different microphones before I bought one from them. They said yes. So I set up a time with them and drove out an hour to go to their store. While I was in the store, they loaned me a nice, portable recorder and I recorded myself on four of the microphones I knew I wanted to buy. I listened back to the recordings of them all on the studio headphones I knew I was going to buy. Multiple times. In the end, I thought I sounded the most like "me" on a Rode NT1-A.
I know I made the right decision because one of the guys in our Discord mentioned they do not generally like that microphone, but it was a good fit for MY voice. And believe me when I say that is more important than ANYTHING when you spend money on a microphone. You cannot find that out online, you need to find a music store that has them, or ask your version of Guitar Center if they can order your top 3 in, or nicely ask a local recording studio if you can record yourself on some microphones, and find out what YOU SPECIFICALLY sound good on.
RECAP: Set your budget first. Find out who the big microphones are in that price range. GO TRY THOSE OUT. Buy the one where YOU sound the most like YOU.
Acoustic Treatment
Another quick piece of my philosophy here - the reason your equipment is called an audio CHAIN is because it's only as good as it's weakest link. If you put a $1,000 microphone in $40 of audio treatment, you will get audio that sounds like it came out of a $40 studio.
Now I don't mean you literally have to match what you spent on your microphone dollar for dollar, but you get an ASTRONOMICALLY better sound out of $150 worth of treatment on a $300 microphone than you do out of a $500 microphone on $50 worth of treatment.
As far as what I use goes, I have had an awesome experience with Booth Junkie's homemade Corning's 703 panels. I have four 2' x 4' panels that are 4" thick. They kill all the reverb at every frequency for my use case. You can find Booth Junkie's tutorial on how to make them here. My only addendum would be: you can make them even cheaper by buying bed linens from the thrift store instead of brand new fabric.
Also - fiberglass is irritating and itchy. Make sure all your skin from the neck down is covered with long sleeves, gloves, pants, the business.
Miscellaneous
That's pretty much it. The Scarlett Solo is my recommendation for a starting interface. It allows easy monitoring, it's only $100, and it powers over phantom USB, meaning YOU CAN RECORD WITHOUT A POWER OUTLET as long as your laptop is charged.
Make sure you buy a reliable way to listen to and edit your audio. Your call if studio headphones or studio monitors are the right move for you, but do NOT use general purpose or gaming headphones / earbuds. You don't want bass boosted pro listener xx20xx MLG whatever crap, you need to hear what your audio REALLY sounds like so you can do right by it.
And, uh, yeah. That's all I got folks. I hope this is helpful to someone.
Like I said, this writeup is meant for the growing professional. It's over a half grand, that's not a small amount of money. If you're just looking to have fun and do some fandubs with a friend, those are fine things, but this is a TERRIBLE setup for you and an egregious waste of money. This is meant for someone who's done some research, taken some classes or coaching, and is working on putting out professional voice over.
Let me know what you guys think, or if I missed anything, and thanks for the read! I'll wrap up the same way I do with all my P2P cover letters
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to helping your project succeed!
Sincerely,
Kerberos Voiceover
Disclaimers: I am human and fallible. Prices may have changed. And while I consider my setup the entry level of "professional tier" audio equipment, your needs may vary.
- - -
SUPER SHORT SUMMARY: Cause I ramble a lot.
Buy a refurb laptop from my link.
Test multiple microphones before you buy one.
Treat your space.
- - -
So! Let's get right into it.
Who is this meant for?
This writeup, criteria, and equipment is what I would consider appropriate for a starting professional. Which is what I consider myself, by the way, so take this all with a grain of salt. This setup has good enough audio to sell to clients, but it's got room to improve.
Here's the list of what I use:
Rode NT1-A : $130 (Don't buy this. See below.)
Microphone Stand : $20 (Found it on sale at Guitar Center)
Scarlett Solo : $100
Refurbished Thinkpad x250 : $210 (This is my "trick" to an affordable studio. More on this later.)
Audiotechnica Studio Headphones : $80 (I forget which ones, sorry)
Homemade Cornings 703 Acoustic Panels : $100 of foam ~$15 in materials and hardware
Total: $655
You will need to find
A closet to record in : Free
A Digital Audio Workstation - May I recommend Reaper? $60. Audacity is free, but if you think you need this kind of equipment, you should be doing better than audacity in my opinion.
An XLR cable, if your microphone doesn't come with one.
A USB mouse.
So yeah, that's the short version of my shopping list.
Be warned: I would not recommend that another actor automatically buy the same microphone I use. I'll talk more about how to buy a microphone in a minute. I think everything else on this list, if it's within your budget, is universally useful. It may not be the perfect or ideal choice for you, but it will do its job if you have the budget for it.
Buying a good, cheap netbook
It's not special, magical, or complicated. I found this eBay store that sells refurbished computers with a reasonable warranty. It's what I'm using for all my recording and editing. It's really nice cause I can power my Scarlett Solo over the laptop, meaning I record in a space with no available power outlets! This is one of the many secrets of the Closet Booth! TM (The next secret is oxygen deprivation, soooooooooooo... Don't forget to open the door between reads.)
WHATEVER YOU GET - make sure it has a solid state drive. This means it will stay quiet in the booth.
I got a Lenovo Thinkpad x250. Thinkpads are reputable, long lasting, and the 250 has a smaller screen which makes it easier for me to run around with. The specs on this machine are kind of overkill for what I'm doing. It's 8gb of ram, a quad core processor, Windows 10, and an SSD. You could probably go a little lower if you do your research, but I wanted a general use laptop anyways.
My philosophy on buying a microphone
Wrap it up folks! I've cracked the case. This is the be-all-end-all microphone recommendation.
Get the microphone that you sound the most like YOU on, that's within your budget.
That's it. We're done!
Seriously though, here's how I bought my microphone, and, if you're looking to get money for your voiceover, this is how I recommend EVERYBODY buys their first microphone.
First off, I am of the strong conviction that if you want to charge people money for your product, your microphone MUST be XLR. I'm sure there are exceptions, but if you're at a place you're taking advice from me, neither of us qualify for them. And unless you've done enough research for your specific situation to think otherwise, you should have a cardioid condenser microphone.
If you're not sure what some of those words mean, that's okay! But you DO need to do more research before you spend your hard earned cash on anything.
Next, you should figure out what your budget for your first microphone is. I knew mine was ~$200 ~ $300, preferably around $250. Then, start googling what the best voiceover microphone for XYX budget is. Read some material from different sources. Stop by the Voice Acting Club Discord and ask some thoughtful question in the Audio and Tech channel. Make a list of the top 3 ~ 6 microphones in your price range.
This next part is where it all comes together, and it may not be an option for EVERYONE, so I'm sorry, but I think this is possible for a lot of people: Find somewhere to try them all out. I found a music store across town. I knew they had most of the microphones on my list and sold them at a reasonable price. I called ahead and asked if I could try out a bunch of different microphones before I bought one from them. They said yes. So I set up a time with them and drove out an hour to go to their store. While I was in the store, they loaned me a nice, portable recorder and I recorded myself on four of the microphones I knew I wanted to buy. I listened back to the recordings of them all on the studio headphones I knew I was going to buy. Multiple times. In the end, I thought I sounded the most like "me" on a Rode NT1-A.
I know I made the right decision because one of the guys in our Discord mentioned they do not generally like that microphone, but it was a good fit for MY voice. And believe me when I say that is more important than ANYTHING when you spend money on a microphone. You cannot find that out online, you need to find a music store that has them, or ask your version of Guitar Center if they can order your top 3 in, or nicely ask a local recording studio if you can record yourself on some microphones, and find out what YOU SPECIFICALLY sound good on.
RECAP: Set your budget first. Find out who the big microphones are in that price range. GO TRY THOSE OUT. Buy the one where YOU sound the most like YOU.
Acoustic Treatment
Another quick piece of my philosophy here - the reason your equipment is called an audio CHAIN is because it's only as good as it's weakest link. If you put a $1,000 microphone in $40 of audio treatment, you will get audio that sounds like it came out of a $40 studio.
Now I don't mean you literally have to match what you spent on your microphone dollar for dollar, but you get an ASTRONOMICALLY better sound out of $150 worth of treatment on a $300 microphone than you do out of a $500 microphone on $50 worth of treatment.
As far as what I use goes, I have had an awesome experience with Booth Junkie's homemade Corning's 703 panels. I have four 2' x 4' panels that are 4" thick. They kill all the reverb at every frequency for my use case. You can find Booth Junkie's tutorial on how to make them here. My only addendum would be: you can make them even cheaper by buying bed linens from the thrift store instead of brand new fabric.
Also - fiberglass is irritating and itchy. Make sure all your skin from the neck down is covered with long sleeves, gloves, pants, the business.
Miscellaneous
That's pretty much it. The Scarlett Solo is my recommendation for a starting interface. It allows easy monitoring, it's only $100, and it powers over phantom USB, meaning YOU CAN RECORD WITHOUT A POWER OUTLET as long as your laptop is charged.
Make sure you buy a reliable way to listen to and edit your audio. Your call if studio headphones or studio monitors are the right move for you, but do NOT use general purpose or gaming headphones / earbuds. You don't want bass boosted pro listener xx20xx MLG whatever crap, you need to hear what your audio REALLY sounds like so you can do right by it.
And, uh, yeah. That's all I got folks. I hope this is helpful to someone.
Like I said, this writeup is meant for the growing professional. It's over a half grand, that's not a small amount of money. If you're just looking to have fun and do some fandubs with a friend, those are fine things, but this is a TERRIBLE setup for you and an egregious waste of money. This is meant for someone who's done some research, taken some classes or coaching, and is working on putting out professional voice over.
Let me know what you guys think, or if I missed anything, and thanks for the read! I'll wrap up the same way I do with all my P2P cover letters
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to helping your project succeed!
Sincerely,
Kerberos Voiceover