In Ears for Voiceover: Brilliant Isolation or Total Overkill?
The Pro Audio Suite
Do voice actors really need in ear monitors? They offer excellent isolation and can sound fantastic, but they can also feel uncomfortable, create an unnatural sense of pressure, and make it harder to hear your own voice unless your direct monitoring is set up properly. In this episode, George, Robert, Robbo and AP look at when headphone isolation genuinely matters, including WALA sessions, radio interviews, music driven reads, remote recording, pickups and situations where headphone bleed can end up permanently embedded in the recording. They also consider the complete opposite approach....
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Mic Splitters, Patchbays and the Search for Clean Gain
The Pro Audio Suite
What is the cleanest way to connect several microphones, preamps and audio interfaces without constantly crawling behind the rack? AP starts with what sounds like a simple question about expanding the line-level inputs on his Audient iD44. That sends the team down a glorious rabbit hole involving passive switchers, mic splitters, USB converters, matrix routers, the Heritage Audio Synth Buddy, ESI interfaces, Broadcast Tools, Source-Nexus and the Passport VO. Eventually, one decidedly old-school solution keeps winning the argument: the humble patchbay. The team discusses quarter-inch, Bantam...
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Do Voice Actors Really Need a Neumann U87?
The Pro Audio Suite
The Neumann U87 may be one of the most recognisable microphones in the world, but does that make it the right microphone for voiceover and animation? This week, the team digs into the reputation, sound and real world value of the U87. Andrew is considering one for Somerset’s animation work, which sparks a much bigger discussion about why certain microphones become industry standards and whether producers genuinely require them. We compare the U87 with alternatives including the Neumann TLM 103, TLM 193, U89, Sennheiser MKH 416, Microtech Gefell models and the Austrian Audio OC818. The...
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AI Fixed the Audio, But Should We Tell People?
The Pro Audio Suite
This week on The Pro Audio Suite, the crew dives into the weirdly perfect world of AI fixing AI. Robert shares a corporate video job about AI adoption that was, rather beautifully, rescued by AI audio cleanup. Robbo jumps in with his own tale of a big corporate shoot where the lapel mics were fitted, but somehow the camera mic was what got recorded. Enter Source Elements ReGen. The team talks through where tools like ReGen sit in the real world of audio post. Not as a first choice, not as a magic button, but as a serious get out of jail option when the recording is so far gone that traditional...
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SSL One First Look: Tiny Interface, Real Knobs
The Pro Audio Suite
This week on The Pro Audio Suite, George brings out a little show and tell with the SSL One, SSL’s compact single mic preamp interface aimed squarely at the same world as the Scarlett Solo and other simple home studio boxes. The team gets into what actually matters for voice actors and home studio users, including physical gain knobs, direct monitoring, high pass filters, 4K mode, USB-C connections, headphone control, auto gain, clip protection, and why simple interfaces are sometimes the best interfaces. There is also a little live testing with Twisted Wave, a quick look at Source Elements...
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Can You Trust What You’re Hearing? Monitoring, Headphones and Room Lies
The Pro Audio Suite
This week on The Pro Audio Suite, the crew dives into one of the biggest traps in audio production: trusting what you think you’re hearing. Robbo talks about working in an unfamiliar studio and being reminded how much your room, routing, monitoring chain, headphones, templates and habits shape the way you work. The conversation moves into headphone mixing, crossfeed, SPL monitoring, virtual control rooms, Sonarworks, Waves room emulation, EQ Mac, old school graphic EQs, and the fine art of not destroying your mix because your room has a 120Hz attitude problem. There’s also a proper old...
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Source Elements Recorder, First Look
The Pro Audio Suite
This week on The Pro Audio Suite, we take a first look at the new Source Elements Recorder, a browser-based recording tool designed for voice actors, producers and modern remote workflows. George opens it up live during the episode with no rehearsal, no manual and no safety net, while Robert walks him through the setup, recording options and deeper features. Along the way, they explore sample rates, bit depth, mono and stereo recording, loudness targets, waveform displays, peak meters, noise floor readings, take management, ratings, notes, level conforming and export options. What starts out...
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Acceptable Audio: What Voice Actors Should Listen For
The Pro Audio Suite
The team breaks down what “acceptable audio” really means for voice actors recording from home, from reflections and noise to mic placement, editing, clothing rustle and using reference recordings. What actually counts as acceptable audio when you’re recording voiceover from home? That question came up after Robbo spoke with a group of aspiring voice actors in Perth. The advice was simple enough, don’t overprocess, don’t gate everything, and send clean raw audio when asked. But one student asked the thing every beginner wants to know: how do I know if what I’m recording is...
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Apple Silicon, Old Macs, and Why Working Gear Shouldn’t Die
The Pro Audio Suite
Apple has not always been known as the bargain option, but the latest Apple Silicon Macs might be changing that conversation. In this episode, the team gets into the surprising value of the M4 Mac Mini, why even a base model can be serious overkill for many voice actors, and how smaller machines like the MacBook Air and MacBook “Neo” style systems compare for remote sessions, Source Connect, Pro Tools, and travel rigs. The conversation also wanders into classic Pro Audio Suite territory, including old Macs that refuse to die, running Linux or Windows on ageing Apple hardware, right to...
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Studio Rebuilds, Vintage Gear & Reclaimed Timber Rabbit Holes
The Pro Audio Suite
This week on The Pro Audio Suite, things go gloriously off the rails. AP has been rebuilding his studio, and is talking reclaimed timber and custom desks, George is showing off weird vintage Apple gear, and somewhere in the middle, the boys fall down a rabbit hole involving Korg M1s, old ISDN boxes, retro synths, ancient Macs, and why audio people can never throw anything away. There’s also a surprisingly deep discussion about why the physical studio environment matters creatively, why a tidy desk changes your mindset, and how modern workflows are reshaping how studios are built and used....
info_outlineWAVES director of training and development Michael Pearson Adams (Gomez to his Aussie mates) joins us in part 1 of a chat about plugins for Voice Actors. We delve into the common pitfall of overusing plugins in audio editing. Through a masterclass, listeners are advised to be judicious with the use of plugins, as indiscriminate use often leads to the degradation of sound quality. The aim is to help listeners focus on necessity, and understand if a plugin truly addresses a need or if it is being added merely based on hearsay. Tune into this enlightening discussion on any major podcast platform.
#ProAudioTips #PluginProblems #MasterClassInsight
Timestamps
- (00:00:00) Sneak Peek
Transcript
Speaker A: Coming up. Coming up next, the pro audio Suite sneak peek. In nearly every single masterclass I do with my waves hat on, I spend as much time telling people that I want you to use as few plugins as possible to make sure that you're just not overdoing things. And one of the biggest problems is that people throw plugins on with way too much ease and breeze without actually thinking about it sometimes. And that also degrades. So you have to really decide, is this plugin going to fix something, or am I just putting it on? Because I've heard that it helps. Now, who am the Pro audio suite? Thanks to Tripoos and Austrian audio. Listen now on your favourite podcast provider.