home voice-over set-up? (recommendations please)

[skid]

Hi all,

I'm looking to set up a home studio to do some freelance voice-over work. On a budget yes, but I'm very much the type that likes to get the best product out of the best price. Just due to my location, it's tough to get out and demo gear, so looking for some suggestions.

1) AD/DA.

Since I'm pretty much just jacking a mic in as my only input...I'm probably skipping the whole board/mixer and doing everything in software. That said, I want a decent signal path in. I have USB and Firewire on my XP PC and have been looking at the following options.

MBox2. Presonus Firebox. Mackie Onyx Satellite. Focusrite Sapphire. Mackie Spike.

Which would give me the best quality/sounding mic pre's for the price? I like the desktop/portable gear as being able to take my setup with me seems like a good idea. Are these overkill? Any single channel mic-pre's with solid sounding AD converters? Suggestions?

2) Mic.

I've discovered that most V/O work is done with the Sennheiser 416 or Neumann's. Not sure if a 416 or TLM103 is in my budget. Any comparable suggestions? The M-Audio Sputnik caught my eye mostly for the tube sound (always liked the warmth), but would that be considered messing with the signal? Better to keep things flat and let the engineer/producer handle things on their end?

3) Software.

Have PT at work. But have noticed a trend in my industry (radio) towards Audition. I'm not sure I really need either. Mostly looking for a fairly bulletproof program that pushes out killer sounding MP3's while being quick and speedy with basic edits and shuffling pieces through the timeline.

[Vo-Guy]

Skid,

Just saw you posted this and figured I'd jump in an maybe give you advice. I do VO as well fulltime out of my studio. What type of VO are you going to be doing? If it's just commercial Vo's you'll want to keep it kinda clean if your going to be doing imaging you can get it a little dirty. Don't know what your budget is but here's a few recommendations that have been proven to work well......

Mics
RE-20
SM7b
Rode NTK
U87
Sennheiser MKH 416
TLM 103

Pre's
Grace 101
Hardy M-1
Avalon M5

Strips
Symetrix 528
Focusrite ISA 220
Manley Voxbox

The setups are endless. Start with the best you can get and upgrade from there down the road. My mics are a U87 and a Sennheiser MKH-416 and pres are the Avalon M5 and the Focusrite ISA 220, plus I use a Urei LA4. Most production studios want your stuff dry and clean. The basic staple is a good mic, and a clean pre. Hope this helped a little.

[Vo-Guy]

As far as interface I used the Presonus Firebox and it's really good. Never had a bit of problems with it and the sound was good. Audition is what I use for editing as well as Cubase. For what we do Audition works real well. Back to what I posted earlier, a good "starter" package would be the SM7b and the Symetrix or Presonus Eureka. The Focusrite Voicemaster Pro isn't bad for Vo work either. I know some pretty big VO guys who use the 416>Voicemaster Pro setup.

[Tarktones]

I strongly recommend the RE-20 as a VO mic. Sounds great, multi-purpose, affordable and built like a damn tank.

If you're not looking to go crazy with investment on analog gear, the Presonus Eureka is a good buy. I had one for a few years and was extremely pleased with the performance I got out of it. Only sold it out of desperation.

Personally I HATE Audition. I've worked with it on lots of commercial projects (because all of the video is being done in Adobe Premier) and I give that app two thumbs down (this only means I don't know how to use it, not that it's bad). I like Pro Tools and Cubase, or if you're on a Mac you've also got the options of DP and Logic Express.

Whatever program you get, I recommend tossing in iZotope's Ozone 3 into the mix. Solo or with the rest of their plugins, it's got SOOOO many facets to it that I can't even imagine how much harder my job mastering would be without it.

[adam43]

Tarktones is right on. The Re-20 is the all-purpose mike and it is built extremely tough.

I have a macintosh G4, os 10 version with an M-box2 with pro tools le version and a 70 gig hardrive, with two stereophile speakers.

I think that you can get all of this for under $2,000.00.

A

[skid]

Yeah, I've got the comp handled, just looking to piece together the rest here. (P4 XPS w/ firewire and a second drive for audio)

RE-27's are what we use at work for prod, I don't mind them, but they've never felt entirely natural to me as far as positioning and address. Maybe it's just because I use them every day that I'd want something different at home. I don't mind my sound through them, but I think there's probably something better suited for my voice and style. Then again, I don't set the eq and processing at work, so it very well could just be a matter of taste.

I've been looking more and more at the Onyx Satellite as my mic-pre - AD/DA choice (mostly due to budget) but from what i've been reading the pre's are fairly transparent and the converters are AKM and the same ones used by most of the "prosumer" ad/da gear out there these days. The portability concept intrigues me as well (I loathe wrapping and jacking cables...) It's 24bit 96khz...that should be more than sufficient for voice work would it not? From what I gather most VO is done at 44.1 or 48 anyway.

My biggest problem with gear of course is location, my nearest store that sells any of this product is 3 hours away, so getting my hands on it to test and demo is always an adventure, and a lot of the mics they don't carry in inventory.

Thanks for the suggestions here guys, seems most boards are focused on the music production side of things, so getting specifics about VO and radio gear can be a challenge.

[skid]

Anyone had a chance to use the Neumann BCM705?

or the BCM104?

They're the broadcaster type mic, but aside from the address, how would they compare to a TLM persay when used for studio v/o?

[MusicCat]

Check out the Senhiser 421, it has been called the Announcers microphone.

The Sure 58 BETA also sounds good on spoken word.

[Audioholic]

Check out the Senhiser 421, it has been called the Announcers microphone.

The Sure 58 BETA also sounds good on spoken word.



The 421 is not for Voice overs, Maybe for Radio DJ's who think they need to make thier voice ultra boomy, that is no longer the case in today professional voice market.