Tech Notes for Voice Talent

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technical questions about equipment and software used by voice talent who record at home - moderated by Beau Weaver

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My favorite audio editing tool for Voiceover

Guys,

As I have mentioned frequently, I am a long time hater of Pro Tools. If you are recording multiple channels of music, routing through plug ins and locked to picture, it sure is the right tool. But for recording and editing voiceover tracks, it is a needlessly complex and cumbersome resource hog. And those are it's good points.

I cannot count the calls I have taken from folks who are new to home recording, literally in tears, trying to figure out how to save a simple recording as an mp3 file with Pro Tools. And don't even get me started on how any OS update from Apple usually renders Pro Tools inoperable. And a year to support Leopard? Give me a break. But I digress.

I have done extensive testing of virtually all the audio editors for Mac OSX, including, Logic, Soundtrack Pro, Peak, Adobe Sound Booth, Sound Studio 3, Wave Editor, Amadeus Pro, etc. On the PC platform, I was a long time fan of Sony Sound Forge, but they do not have any plans to port the app to Mac. Peak has it's fans, but it crashes regularly, and support is spotty. I was liking Sound Studio 3 a lot, but there were some bugs, and omissions and the developer did not respond to support requests at all. All of the above programs have their strengths and weaknesses, but for the way I like to work, they were just not quite right.

Anyway, I have been working with a software developer to perfect a suite little app that I just love, and I want to pass it along to you. For my money, the best tool for recording and editing voiceover is: TwistedWave. http://twistedwave.com And, the price is 49 Dollars!*

It loads in about one second. No changing cursors into different tools. It works like a word processor. It saves directly as mp3 files, and will convert between almost all important audio file types. It exports the selected portion of the waveforme as a new file, of any type you specify. Navigation is a dream. You can zoom horizontally in the waveform and zoom in all with the tiny trackball in the Apple Mighty Mouse. It will record the highest resolution audio, sample rate and bit depth your sound card supports. It works with any digital interface that uses Apple Core Audio. For the advanced user, keyboard shortcuts are customizable, and you can create and save customized effects stacks of AU plugins.

I have worked closely with the guy who created the program to make some ease of use tweaks and fine tuning. He has responded to every one of my requests the same day. I think if you spend a little time playing with it, you may fall in love too.

You can download from this link, and try for a 30 day evaluation period for free. A major 1.5 update has just been posted, with additional improvement in development.

I have been using this as my daily editor for some time now and it is a huge time saver. If you are also a musician, or music producer, then Pro Tools is obviously. If all you need to do is record voiceover sessions, quick edit and cleanup and ship off via ftp, then give Twisted Wave a try, and never look back.

Full Disclosure: I am a paid user, and receive no compensation for this recommendation, other than gratitude for a tool so ideally suited for the task at hand.

Beau Weaver

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Comment by Jamie Blythe on January 18, 2013 at 10:08pm: I use Twisted Wave and promote it to every other voice talent I know. It is hands down, THE BEST!!!!

Comment by George Washington III on December 23, 2012 at 9:57pm: For anyone out there who uses Sound Forge 10, I have put together a script that will allow for punch and roll editing, so long from and audiobook narration gets a bit easier! http://voevolution.com/2012/12/19/punch-and-roll-edits-for-sound-fo...

Comment by Howard Ellison on December 22, 2012 at 6:39pm: At the close of another year working with the excellent Twisted Wave editor, it's time to say thanks again to Beau Weaver for his input to that outstandingly productive app - and best wishes for the holiday season and New Year.

Comment by Victoria Phelps on October 18, 2012 at 6:50pm: I have a question, I need to know which would you use to do an audition when you are away from home. An I pad or an I phone? and is there an audition app for goggle? or the smart phones that are not from apple? thank you

Comment by Dan Harder on September 26, 2012 at 11:14am: Hey all,
It's been about 12 years since I've had to deal with ISDN at a technical level. I'm inquiring to my phone company (CenturyLink) about costs involved with installing a line, and the representative asked, "...are you looking for ISDN PRI info or just single ISDN lines."

I don't know...

Comment by Joe Nickell on July 19, 2012 at 4:42pm: ISDN issues and ISDN. I posted this elsewhere and leave it for this group's archive.

Comment by Joe Nickelljust nowDelete Comment

I have been doing into some reserch into AT&T ISDN issus. One thing I have found is that if the ISDN circuit is set up with the incorrect PIC or LPIC code that the ISDN calls will fail. I do not know enough about AT&T to digest all their terminology, or why but this is what I found out for a client. In AT&T's case the LPIC/PIC code is 288 for digital ISDN. My client had a code for voice ISDN and it worked for years, but recently failed this year. The PIC code tells the local switch how to route long distance traffic. Warning, this can be tedious. We found the PIC code issue from a technician, but then had to call back to the "business office" = the folks that take orders for service, and ask them to update the codes.

Background : When dialing 1010 333, you are manually selecting Sprint, dialing 1010 288 selects legacy AT&T digital ISDN. The PIC code for your circuit is the default selector for how to route the call.

Comment by Blair Wilson on May 31, 2012 at 10:23am: I just picked up a DBX 286s Mic Pre that is now running along with my Tascam US-122L USB inteface teamed up with AA3. Can anyone suggest the ideal settings on the mic pre?

Great forum here! Thanks in advance! Cheers.

Comment by Scott Gentle on May 24, 2012 at 10:36am: Ms. Serrano:

My pleasure! I always try to be thorough so I know it's a lot to weed through, but hopefully you'll find something useful somewhere in there... :)

Also, hats off to your dad for encouraging and supporting your career like he does - my parents did too, and I'm forever indebted to them - and for passing along the gift of etiquette that you display so well....refreshingly rare these days!

Cheers to you both,

- SG

Comment by Alexis Serrano on May 24, 2012 at 10:25am: Mr. Gentle,
Thanks so much for all that information!

Comment by Howard Ellison on May 24, 2012 at 9:52am: @Alexis. What a kind comment. Thankyou! But I know I have much to learn.

@Scott. Yes I'm a great fan of Skype and you are right, it is under-used, including by those producers who still make do with a squeaky old phone link.

If more of your great USA coaches are using Skype that's a wake-up call to me to engage.

Thanks, both.