Is AI Killing Voiceover? Not So Fast
The Pro Audio Suite
AI is killing voiceover. Or is it? An email to George kicks off a much bigger conversation this week about what artificial intelligence is actually doing to voiceover and audio production right now, rather than what everyone thinks it might do sometime in the future. There’s no question some areas have already been hit. IVR, phone prompts, repetitive information reads and other work where consistency matters more than performance are obvious targets. In some cases, AI may simply be a faster and more practical way of doing the job. But what happens when performance, judgement, direction,...
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What Makes a Microphone Directional? Part Two
The Pro Audio Suite
After finishing Part One with bikes, the team takes a fairly sharp turn into microphone physics. What makes a microphone directional? How does an interference tube reject sound? Why can the Sennheiser MKH 416 sound fantastic in one booth and thoroughly ordinary in another? Prompted by tours of the Neumann factory, George, Robert, and AP explore shotgun microphones, cardioid patterns, off axis coloration, acoustic treatment and the physics that manufacturers use to control what a microphone hears. The discussion includes the Sennheiser MKH 416, MKH 8060, RØDE NTG5, Earthworks Ethos, electret...
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What Makes a Microphone Directional? Part One
The Pro Audio Suite
What actually makes a microphone directional? In Part One of this seriously nerdy microphone discussion, the team dives into interference tubes, polar patterns, room reflections and the physics behind shotgun microphones. Prompted by a tour of Neumann’s anechoic chamber, George, Robert, AP and Robbo examine whether microphones labelled hypercardioid are always what they claim to be. They explore how the Sennheiser MKH 416 achieves its familiar focused sound, why that same microphone can sound horrible in the wrong booth, and what manufacturers such as RØDE and Sennheiser have done...
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If You Could Only Keep 5 Plugins, Which Ones Survive?
The Pro Audio Suite
If somebody deleted your entire plugin folder and told you that you could only put five back, what would you choose? That’s the challenge this week on The Pro Audio Suite. Robbo, George and AP start stripping their setups back to the tools they genuinely rely on, from stock Pro Tools and Apple plugins through to Waves F6, H Reverb, SSL X Limit, TDR Nova, iZotope RX Mouth De Click and plenty more. But the conversation quickly gets bigger than simply naming favourites. Do stock plugins make more sense when you need old sessions to open years later? Do you really need a dedicated loudness...
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Guess That Mic: Four Mics, Ten Listeners and One Surprise Winner
The Pro Audio Suite
AP records the same voice through four very different microphones and sends the files around without revealing what they are. George, Robert, Robbo and a bunch of trusted audio ears rank them purely on what they hear. Then the mics are revealed. The result is a pretty good reminder that price, reputation and specifications only tell you so much. What matters is how a microphone actually sounds on the voice and for the job you need it to do. And just to make the point beautifully, Robbo put the overall winner dead last. LIBSYN FULL DESCRIPTION It’s time to Guess That Mic. AP started out...
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Best Voice Over Mic for Women? It’s Not That Simple
The Pro Audio Suite
Is there actually such a thing as the best voice-over microphone for women? It sounds like a simple question, but once the Pro Audio Suite starts pulling it apart, things get much more interesting. This week, George, Robert, and AP look at why choosing a microphone based on whether the talent is male or female probably misses the point entirely. What matters far more is what the voice is actually doing. Is it bright or dark? Sibilant? Mid forward? Deep and chesty? Does it have a lot of mouth noise? And does the microphone complement those characteristics, or simply exaggerate them? The crew...
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Can You Build a Proper VO Setup in a Tiny Room?
The Pro Audio Suite
How do you build a voiceover audition setup when the room is tiny, space is precious, and you really don't want to pull the whole thing apart every time you're finished? AP's daughter has moved into a share house in Melbourne and needs something permanent enough to give her consistent audition audio without taking over the room. The gear is already pretty capable: a RØDE NTG3, CEntrance MicPort Pro, Porta Booth, TwistedWave, Source Connect and a trusty old pair of AKGs. The question is how to put it all together so it actually works. That gets the guys talking about mic placement, portable...
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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...
info_outlineAI is killing voiceover.
Or is it?
An email to George kicks off a much bigger conversation this week about what artificial intelligence is actually doing to voiceover and audio production right now, rather than what everyone thinks it might do sometime in the future.
There’s no question some areas have already been hit. IVR, phone prompts, repetitive information reads and other work where consistency matters more than performance are obvious targets. In some cases, AI may simply be a faster and more practical way of doing the job.
But what happens when performance, judgement, direction, taste and creativity matter?
Robbo talks about putting a real commercial script through ElevenLabs and trying repeatedly to coax a usable performance from it. The result was nowhere near the performance that ultimately went to air. The guys also discuss an experiment where someone reportedly spent hours directing an AI voice to achieve something a good human performer could deliver in minutes.
That leads to the bigger question.
Are we actually replacing creative people, or are we mostly automating the work that required very little creative interpretation in the first place?
The conversation moves through advertising, radio, post production and sound design, including the danger of companies judging AI purely by the immediate saving on a spreadsheet. Robbo raises the possibility that reductions in quality may take years to become obvious in audience behaviour, much like cost cutting in radio can take time to show up in ratings.
There’s also another side to AI that rarely gets discussed.
Could voice actors eventually license their own synthetic voices?
Could agents represent both the performer and an authorised AI version of that performer?
And if they do, how do you protect the voice once it leaves your control?
That brings the conversation to contracts, watermarking, voice cloning, the story of the original Siri voice, unauthorised voice use, and why performers need to understand exactly what they are signing before handing over the raw material required to recreate their voice.
AI is clearly changing the business.
The interesting question may not be whether humans disappear, but which jobs change, which jobs vanish, and which ones become even more dependent on human judgement, performance and taste.
IN THIS EPISODE
• Why some voice actors are already feeling the effects of AI
• IVR and repetitive reads as obvious targets for synthetic voices
• Why low cost advertising is adopting AI faster than major creative campaigns
• Robbo’s experiment directing an ElevenLabs voice
• Why directing AI can sometimes take longer than directing a performer
• Whether technological change actually destroys industries or reshapes them
• AI generated sound design and the continuing importance of human taste
• AI in radio traffic, weather and news
• Whether audiences should be told when AI is being used
• Short term savings versus long term damage to content quality
• Licensing your own AI voice
• Contracts, ownership and voice cloning
• The story of Siri’s original voice
• What happens when a cloned voice escapes into the wild