11 Things Actors Should Know About Starting Voiceover From Home
Drawn from what is actually said on camera, so you can decide whether to
spend the 18:45 watching it.
A good actor already has most of the voiceover skills
The host has voiced thousands of projects over 20 years alongside his acting, from corporate work to international TV ads and animation for Netflix and the BBC. He puts it at about 70 percent of the skills already in place if you can act. What is left to learn is a little tech and microphone technique.
He was asked for a demo for a Typhoo tea ad. It took him two and a half minutes to record a ten second read, and it landed the job: one hour in a Manchester studio, paid 3,000 pounds. That is the upside he wants actors to see before they decide voiceover is not for them.
A Rode NT-USB microphone (the NT-USB+ was 139.99 pounds on Amazon at recording), a Rode SMR shock mount at 58 pounds, and a Rode PSA1+ studio arm at 85 pounds. That is 283 pounds new, and he says Black Friday, Prime Day or eBay brings it under 250. He has used the same mic for about ten years and engineers still ask what it is.
The microphone plugs straight into the laptop with a USB cable, with no interface, mixer or flashing lights in between. The newer model even ships with the cable in the box. The shock mount holds the mic so bumps do not reach the recording, and its pop shield stops the burst of air on words with b and p sounds.
Record in a wardrobe full of clothes, never a kitchen
Sound reflects off hard surfaces, so a kitchen full of cupboards, metal and glass is the worst room in the house. A carpeted bedroom with a duvet and blinds is better, and a wardrobe of hanging clothes is best because the fabric soaks up the reflections. He clamps the arm to a shelf in an IKEA corner wardrobe and closes the doors to make a booth.
Stand a hand span from the mic and keep the laptop outside
He works about a hand span from the microphone with the script on an iPad on the wardrobe shelf. The laptop sits on the bed outside the booth, because on a long session its fans can spin up and you do not want them in the recording. Nobody sees you, so wear whatever you like.
Start on free software and add remote sessions later
He edits in Adobe Audition, which is paid, and says Audacity is free and fine for starting out. YouTube is full of beginner tutorials for both. He also runs Source Connect, which lets a studio in New York, Spain or anywhere else dial into his laptop and record him directly from his wardrobe.
One big breath at the start, none inside the sentence
A professional read takes an audible breath before a sentence and no breaths within it. In the edit he highlights the breath between lines and deletes it, keeping a short gap so the read still sounds natural. He also trims the shuffling at the end as he climbs out of the booth.
A broadcast multiband compressor thickens the voice
Audition includes a free multiband compressor with a broadcast preset, and other programs have an equivalent. On his demo it made the voice richer and louder, pushing the meter further into the red without peaking or distorting.
Leave room tone at the start so the noise reduction can learn it
Through earphones he could still hear faint white noise in the gaps, so he adds an adaptive noise reduction plugin at its default setting. It needs a sample of that noise to work on, which is why he leaves a few seconds of silence at the top of the take. Once the effect is applied, he trims that silence off.
The compressor and the noise reduction are the only two things he adds to about 99 percent of the audio he records at home. The whole edit took a few minutes and, in his words, sounds broadcast quality. A demo that sounds that clean impresses an agent or a voice director before they judge the read.
Actors let me show you how I earn thousands of pounds an hour from my bedroom and before you say it No, I am NOT on that site Petch you in mate? I'm just filming a vlog. Can you come and film? Be out in a second! See you in a bit! Welcome back everybody to another act on this behind the scenes vlog Petch and I are just out getting our steps in in a Wonderfully autumnal park and it's knocked on for him in his little tree house there. He's out now. He's holding the camera You're right Petch He is cold tired and hungry. I'm not I've got me out on this fleece hoodie on and I've got a caramel latte from Starbucks So we'll sort you out in a minute Petch. Don't worry. I'll get through this quite quickly Listen, we didn't know what we were gonna film when we came out today And I love it when this happens because I've just got a text from an actor shout out to Joe All right, Joe, you'll know you are Asking me about the world of voiceover Ross. I know you do loads of voiceover I'd love to get into it. My mates want to get into it We don't really know how and it is voiceover Okay, that is the thing that enables me to earn thousands of pounds an hour from my bedroom. Okay, not that other site Petch I'm never subscribed to it Gonna be on it. It is voiceover. Okay, I've been a voiceover artist for over 20 years Okay, same thing alongside my acting career I think they're more or less the same thing that if you're a good actor You've probably got 70% of the prerequisite skills to be a good voiceover artist You've got to learn a bit of tech and a bit of microphone technique But I feel all actors should be getting into voiceover exploring it. It completely changed my life I've voiced thousands of projects over the last 20 years I have earned without sounding crass hundreds of thousands of pounds from voiceover and I've voiced everything from Corporate work to international TV adverts Oreo trust the twist to lead in like Animations for Netflix and the BBC Harvey. Mr. Edison get a bit of tempo up Don't worry Doug Poe we can fix this Let's take a look and see what's going on That was tempo get watching it if you've got kids two to six pets. You can watch that after work I'm sure get the get the viewing figures up and just last week folks I got asked to do a demo for a very famous tea company typhoon tea pets. Do you drink typhoon? You will do I know he drinks Yorkshire tea you are gonna drink typhoon pets because I'm involved with it now, right? And they're a great company and I want to put the ooh back in to your brew nice I was asked to do a demo folks. It took me two and a half minutes to do it It was a 10 second demo long story short. It landed me the job I had to go and record in a studio in Manchester for one hour last week. I got paid 3,000 pounds for the adverts Harvey Let's get that up Ah Sort of get the you back in your brew with typhoon tea For a smoother richer brew try typhoon gold. That's was drew the canoe I am drew and also the narrator of the of the adverts as well Tons of fun honestly just like such a great industry to be a part of so I know loads of you want to get involved In it you are probably overwhelmed by the terms home studio and the tech and finances and think it's dead expensive What I'm gonna do, I'm gonna take you back to my flat. We're not gonna talk about it I'm gonna show you my entire setup my entire kit the exact mic I use the exact studio arm. I use how I set all this up in my wardrobe. We're even going to Record some audio patch and I will then edit that to show you how you can make it sound great So if you get voiceover demos through you sound the best chance of landing the job And I just hope by the end of this vlog Yeah at least one of you Will take some action to get into this industry because it really could change your life and if you are thinking no I'm gonna stop watching because it is gonna be really expensive. I just can't afford it. If you've got a laptop I'm gonna show you how you can get into this and how you can record stuff at the quality that I do for less than 250 quid patch to the flats Right, we are back at act on this towers to talk all things voiceover kits Okay Now as I said in the park so many actors don't get into voiceover because they get overwhelmed by home studios They think that it's gonna cost them thousands. They're gonna need loads of tech. Is that the case patch? At least three million quid to set this up, right? Not at all, right? You're gonna be spending a lot of money on this and you're gonna be spending a lot of money on this You're gonna be spending a lot of money on this and you're gonna be spending a lot of money on this At least three million quid to set this up, right? Not at all, right? You're gonna be so surprised how accessible home studio kit is in a 2026 2027 world Okay As I said in the park all of the stuff I'm going to show you now if you shop around right and you you know You google stuff you maybe wait for a black Friday. It's great black Friday deals You can get a lot of this stuff cheaper at that time of the year Amazon Prime Day stuff like that if you're happy to go on eBay I promise you all of this kit way under 250 quid It's odds law that as of the day of recording we've just checked prices and it's slightly over that but not much, right? I'll show you the prices in a second. What do we need? The first thing we need obviously apart from our laptop Hopefully you've already got one of those is a microphone, right? Probably the most important part of the puzzle here pitch This is the road. That's our ode this company a fantastic microphone company the road NT USB so November tango USB okay, and this is a fantastic microphone. I've had probably pets like 10 years now mate. I've never replaced it I don't need to replace it because it still sounds just as great as the day. I bought it. I've recorded International commercials on this from a wardrobe and and so many engineers have commented on the sound of this Ross What Mike are using? It sounds great. So this is your microphone that I would recommend. Okay, it's a USB microphone Which means there's no audio interface between this and your computer Literally just plug it in via USB cable couldn't be more simple and as of now and you can get an upgraded version this patch this is the NT USB the NT USB plus is out now and even better version this and as of time of shoot in it is 139.99 on Amazon, okay, so 140 for your microphone. It is sitting in this thing called a shock mount Okay, and this is basically so you don't have to hold the microphone You don't have to get loads of you know Things hitting it or bumping into it that will wreck your recording. It sits beautifully in this shock mount It's got this little pop shield As they call it that just stops plosives going into the mic when you're saying words like buh and puh it stops that blowing into The mic and and this is called an SMR shock mount that this microphone sits in again. It's from Rode Time recording patch. This is 58 quid. Okay, so we've got 140 for your mic 139.99 58 for the shock mount that it sits in the last piece of the puzzle that we need is Again from Rode surprise surprise is a studio arm. And this is the PSA 1 again This is quite an old one pets They do the PSA 1 plus now and this comes with a little clamp that I've got here and it sits in that So you clamp this to a shelf in your wardrobe it sits on there and it means you can move the microphone When you attach the microphone the shock mount To the end of it screws into there I'll show you all of this in a minute and then you can maneuver this around Obviously in front of your mouth where you need it to be to record great audio the PSA 1 right now The PSA 1 plus is 85 quid on Amazon So a combined total if you buy all new from Amazon today pets, right? 283 don't shoot me I said under 250 right but I promise you if you wait for Black Friday If you wait for prime days you deal on eBay, like I say you can get this for way under 250 quid and now one thing I had to buy back in the day that you don't to buy now is With the NC USB plus you get a USB cable in the box patch I didn't get one when I bought this because I bought it 10 years ago So I had to spend a fiber on a USB cable that is literally it though But I think people think oh I need loads of interfaces all this stuff all this flashing lights That's it a microphone a shock mount and a studio arm whack it in your wardrobe you will have incredible audio for 283 quid as a time of recording. So what I'm gonna do now is take you lucky looking people Into my bedroom. I'm gonna set this up and you're gonna see exactly how the magic happens So We are in the boudoir and you've just seen how simple it is for me to set up my home studio, right? We have got the PSA one studio arm attached via this clamp to a shelf in my wardrobe that comes up to the road NTUSB you might want to get the NTUSB plus the new one that's out and it's attached via the SM are so lots of letters Don't worry. I will put links in the description of this video to all of this kit Okay I've then got a USB cable running from the microphone to my laptop that is on the bed and pets that is literally it Okay, so why do we set this up one in your bedroom two in your wardrobe? Well, it's all to do with the environment and and basically getting rid of what are called reflections Okay, sound waves pop out your mouth and they can reflect off hard surfaces So you'd never want to do a voiceover in a kitchen for example, where there's like lots of hard surfaces cupboards Metal glass stuff like that. We do it in the bedroom because there's lots of soft furnishings They're generally always carpeted mine is anyway, we've got duvets on the bed blinds up and in my wardrobe What what is the patch lots and lots of bloody clothes? They even give you a chance to answer that but just answer for you But he did say clothes and right so the clothes absorb all of the reflections So the sound sounds dead you will notice the difference between me speaking now with this microphone in the room pointing outwards To me standing here I bet it sounds a lot more dead in terms of not as much reflection not as much echo just on this mic It sounds even better when I'm using the NT USB. So I position this in front of my clothes here I have my iPad on the shelf ear pets. I've got my script. I'm roughly a hand span away from the mic That's where you want to be when you're recording voiceover And I'm away super simple The laptop is on the bed outside of the booth in case you're doing a long recording the laptops fans might spin up We don't want to be hearing those on here and and software wise just quick I use a piece of software on my Mac book called Adobe audition That is a paid for piece of software But you can use something for free called audacity when you're just starting off and I also have a piece of software called Source Connect which enables any studio around the world to dial into my laptop and record my audio from their end So I can have a studio in New York Spain anywhere in the world Recording my audio and I'm here studying my boxes in my wardrobe You can wear whatever you want the voiceover because nobody generally can see you. So what I'm going to do now patch I'm going to record a script that petters written I'm sure it's going to be fantastic and then I'm going to share a screen record of how I edit that audio on Audition to sound fantastic, but before even that I'm going to show you the fiesta Resistance of this settle patch shout-out to Ikea for making corner wardrobes like this I'm gonna close these doors and guess what's gonna happen patch I'm gonna yeah, not only gonna disappear. I'm gonna literally be inside an insulated sound booth. This is frickin incredible So gonna go and record this. I'll see you on the other side until then. Bye for now Boom, what do you think of that patch? I'm in proper sound booth I Right folks, so I've escaped the wardrobe. I'm at my computer. I'm ready to edit this audio I'm using the program Adobe audition if you want a full tutorial There's millions of tutorials out there on how to use this software just search on YouTube for Adobe audition Tutorial for beginners something like that. You'll find dozens of channels that go into this in real depth But I'm just going to show you very briefly What I would add to any demo that I'm doing or you know What just any voiceover that I'm doing from home at all if I'm editing the audio to make it sound as nice as possible As rich as possible so that you sound the best chance if it is a demo particularly of getting the job I'm just gonna play it first of all with nothing added to it Just the raw raw audio and you'll hear the script that patch wrote. So here we go Ready to take your acting career to the next level Act on this gives you the tools training and industry insights to make it happen Stop waiting start acting act on this And there's all my shuffling at the end as I'm getting out of the booth so you'll you'll you know You'll hear it sounds good done. It sounds like solid just even in its raw state, you know directly, you know from the microphone effectively no effects added at all But there are a few things that we need to do One of the big things with voiceover is your breath, right? You want to breathe like an audible breath like quite a big breath at the start of sentences And then you don't want to breathe through out sentences at all. You know, you'll never hear breathing within a voiceover, right? It's almost like we're robotic. Okay, so you'll hear the breath here in between the two sections here if I just play it Yeah, as I'm breathing so it's dead easy to chop out I'm just gonna highlight this and I'm just gonna press backspace and it deletes it for me We still want to leave a bit of a gap because obviously we've you know, we want it to sound natural listen We're to the next level act on this great So we're good and obviously we want to get rid of all of the stuff at the end Where I'm shuffling around getting out of the booth Now what I'm gonna do before I chop out anything from the beginning because you've got a bit of blank space here as well All that. Okay, I'm gonna use this blank space in a second, right? But I'm just gonna explain something to you to begin with the first thing that I'm gonna add onto this is What's called a multiband compressor and this is a plug-in that's free within Adobe audition There'll be equivalents out there for different software Like I said audacity is a free piece of software You might want to start playing with if you can want to get into voiceover, but I'm gonna add a multiband compressor you see a multiband compressor and I'm gonna add what's a Broadcast multiband compressor and this is just gonna really thicken up the vocals make it sound nice But play it back you'll hear the difference and watch this meter down here where it goes green yellow and red You'll see it hitting more of the Reds. It's a louder sound. It's richer, but it's still not peaking. It's not distorting Ready to take your acting career to the next level act on this gives you the tools Training and industry insights to make it happen. Stop waiting start acting act on this There we go. Right? Okay, so it sounds a lot thicker a lot richer now And but what I can still hear cuz I'm doing this with earphones I can still hear some like ambient like white noise, right? And this is why I've left this beginning bit on here. We've got a little bit of the end I can hear a tiny bit in between, you know where there's longer gaps, so I'm gonna add what's called D noise Okay, a D noiser. So I'm gonna turn this on here I'm gonna go down to noise reduction and I'm gonna add an adaptive noise reduction plugin. I'm just gonna turn it on I'm gonna leave it at the default setting and what this is gonna do is pick up the ambient white noise and turn it into Actual silence basically, but you need to give it a sample of what that white noise is for it to work on it So that's why I've left it in at the start, but we'll delete that in a second once we've processed it properly So if I just play it now, you should hear less of that noise Ready to take your acting career to the next level Act on this gives you the tools training and industry insights to make it happen Stop waiting start acting act on this Boom so I no longer hear the ambience. So now I want to actually apply these effects. So I hit apply Done once it's applied then I can get rid of some of this beginning bit here because it's already taken the noise out of it and Then this is what we're left with. I can probably take a bit out at the end actually as well just a little bit This is the finished product folks ready to take your acting career to the next level Act on this gives you the tools training and industry insights to make it happen Stop waiting start acting act on this and it is as simple as that It's taking me just a few minutes and that honestly sounds broadcast quality now Okay Listen to it back with headphones in maybe if you've not listened to it with headphones now and you will hear the differences some of Them are quite subtle as I'm adding those plugins But that will really give you a professional, you know finished products effectively If you record a demo you send that to any voiceover agent or you know Any voice director if you're auditioning for a project, they will be impressed So there we go simple as that as I say if you want like really in-depth tutorials Just search for Adobe audition beginner tutorial and they'll walk you through step by step But they are the only two things that I do to 99% of audio, you know that I record at home So there you go folks and is making Petra brew get get rid of these blur these out Harvey Typhoo tea all the way from now on don't forget and I really hope you've enjoyed this, right? I just wanted to show you how Simple and straightforward voiceover really can be and how you don't have to get wrapped up in the tech You don't have to spend thousands of pounds Like I say, you know under 300 quid if you buy all that stuff new 250 on a good day You can get yourself involved in this so I really hope just one of you please I would love it. Just one of you starts exploring this it has changed my life Okay And if you do want to dive further into this, obviously Petra and I we run acts on this TV every week We sit down with the biggest names in the acting industry whether they're casting directors agents actors writers directors and producers But also great people from the voiceover industry as well There is a session in the members area with my own voiceover agents the voiceover gallery talking all about how you can get Representation for voiceover what goes into voice reels? We've got sessions with Peter Dixon who is voice over man And you know the voice of the x-factor Britain's Got Talent sessions with him in there as well Get a membership right if you use the discount code YouTube at checkout You'll get 50% off your first month and as you have seen if you really embrace this part of the industry One job can bag you literally thousands of pounds from your bloody bedroom, right? So there's no better investment do let me know if you've got any other questions drop them in the comments Let me know if you're already in voiceover You're thinking of getting into it is anything that I can do to help like I say any questions I will reply to every comment that is in there and then yeah go forth go forth and Explore this part of the industry like I say if you're a good actor You've got almost all of the skills already that are required to be a great voiceover artist So I hope you've enjoyed this Keep watching do like do subscribe and we'll be back as we are every single week with more fantastic videos until then Bye for now Where's my brew I'll get you brew pets, right? Are you still recording?
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