(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai - Go Unlimited to remove this message) Y'all ready to be history? Get started. Welcome. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hello, everyone. To the pro audio suite. These guys are professional, they're motivated. Thanks to Triboose, the best vocal booths for home or on the road voice recording. And Austrian Audio, making passion heard. Introducing Robert Marshall from Source Elements and someone audio post Chicago. Darren Robert Robertson from Voodoo Radio Imaging, Sydney.
Next to the VO stars, George the Tech Witten from L.A. And me, Andrew Pickers, voice over talent and home studio guy. And welcome to another pro audio suite. Thanks to Triboose. The golden handcuffs are removed with your Triboose. And don't forget the code TRIPAP200. That will get you $200 off yours. And Austrian Audio, making passion heard. We're once again joined by Matt Calrich. Afternoon, evening, morning, g'day, whatever time it is when you're listening to this.
We got a question and it was actually sent from our mutual agent, Matt, in Australia, asking if we could help out with some recommendations for gear for people setting up their first home studio for voice over, of course. So we thought we'd do a bit of a round table and just come up with some ideas. I think... Can of worms. Yeah, can of worms, but it's got to be like, you know, moderate budget, microphone interface, headphones, and probably a space.
We need to talk about that as well, because there's no point having all that stuff in the middle of the kitchen. You've got to start with space, don't you, really? You've really got to start with space. I'm happy to lead off here. I mean, I've built my wife, for those who don't know, does voice over. You built your wife? Yeah, I did. Yeah, I built my wife. That's another episode. That's a whole other episode, absolutely. A brave new world.
But I actually built her a booth in our walk-in wardrobe, which is perfect. There was one bare wall, which I've put some treatment on, but then just put clothing around, and just by sort of playing with the amount of clothing that was in a certain spot, I've managed to build her a little sort of booth that works magically.
And she's on a 41.6, because at the time, there was only about three mics in the house compared to now, and so I've been lazy and never changed it, I guess because her clients have got used to that sound as well. And she's just on an AI1. So, God, what's that work out to? The 41.6 is the big piece. The 41.6 is the big one, and you could knock that out and make it an NTG5, probably just as easily. Or an NTG1. NT1, sorry. So, what are you looking at there? You're looking at well under.
250 for the point. US. Well, the NT1, you just buy the pack, the sort of combo kit of the AI1 and the NT1. It's not the NT1A. Not the NT1A. That pack comes with just the NT1. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. The other one I might throw in there is the OC16. What's the OC16 in, like, 400? 400 US. Look, I'm hopeless with prices, but yeah, it's not, especially US prices, but yeah, it's sort of in the same ballpark as the others, I guess.
I always think, like, the NT1 is, like, the beginning of a mic that's pretty much an investment. You can use it for all time. It's something that you'll keep. Yeah, yeah. Probably the only thing with the OC16 is without being able to select patterns and stuff, you'd want to make sure that your room was in reasonably good shape. It could get messy. Yeah. So, if your room's in reasonably good shape, it would probably be all right. But, yeah, they'd be my pick for a low cost, absolutely.
Yeah. I think the II1 and the NT1 is a good starting point if you don't want to spend too much money. OC16, they're about $500 US for one of those, but then you've got an interface you want. So, would you get an AI1, or would you step it up a bit? I mean, I've got the little SSL2 interface. Yeah, it's a little more gain. I mean, you may or may not need it, but my feeling on the AI1 is it's a little bit weak on the preamp.
It's okay that it kind of doesn't have many features, like the monitor is just a push button. It's really good and simple, but the preamp's a little bit weak on it. But if you had an NTG5, because that's got massive output, that would work okay with an AI1. Yeah, yeah. It's just the most flexible interface. Yeah, what I do like, and we experimented with this a few episodes back, was the SSL2 with that 4K button. You can actually really have one mic and turn your mic into a 416.
Well, was it the OC, was it the 18 or the 818? The OC, it was actually, I said it was the OC18, but when I think about it now, it's actually 818, but it was on cardioid, so no difference. Yeah, so the 18 would probably work just as well. And yeah, once you hit that 4K button, it was like you had two mics in one, wasn't it? Yeah, exactly. It was a great idea. And those SSLs are what, like 300 bucks? Yeah, so they're pretty good, actually. I think they're great value, actually, from what you get.
How much is the AI1 compared to like a Scarlett Solo? About the same kind of money, I think, maybe a little bit more for an AI1. I think the Scarlett's a slightly better piece, but George, what's your opinion? I don't know, I've had too many AI1s be freaky, not super stinky. I've had at least one go out on me. Yeah, I've not been recommending that one. Tanae's had hers in the booth now for three years, probably. I don't think they do well on the road, actually.
But Andrew, you've traveled with yours quite a bit, right? I did travel with it quite a bit, and then Somerset took it all over the place when she was away, so she's got it in her bag now. I don't know if it's the batches or what. It's like, I definitely had one go out on me, and I think George did. Maybe it's the switching or something. But I do also really like the, having just recently got one, the Micport Pro. Super small. Yeah. Yeah. That's what you use, isn't it, Matt?
Yeah, when traveling. And the pre on that is surprisingly decent for just like little five volt USB deal. Well, having said that, I suppose you could, you know, if you're setting up your first studio, there's no reason you couldn't use a Micport Pro. The Micport Pro, though, jumps up. I mean, how much is a Micport Pro? 300 bucks, right? I think, yeah. US might be, is it 300 bucks? Yeah, it's more than that. I think it's 350. Yeah, I was thinking it was like 450 Canadian.
But it's a good piece because like, I always think of these things that are like, what are you going to buy that you might keep instead of just getting the cheapest thing? What's the cheapest thing that still is somewhat an investment? And it's hard to beat the Micport Pro in terms of a travel interface. But they could do like we talked about last week with the car kit, the car rig, just sticking a 416 or an NTG5 straight into the Micport Pro.
And all you need is your mic stand in your booth is just the adapter, the camera connector that connects to the bottom of the Micport Pro. I think if you plan on doing the car thing, a shotgun is... We're not going to cars, kids. That's Black Belt. We're doing beginner studios. Yeah, yeah, I was going to say, we're getting well out of the realm of beginner studios here. Yeah, exactly. And one thing I like about the Micport Pro is that you don't need software to run it.
And so you don't have to deal with any of that planned obsolescence or those sorts of problems. As long as the circuitry and the physical parts in the Micport Pro are going, then it can last you for a long, long time. From what I know, if you're getting a Micport Pro, you're getting the same... If you get the Passport VO, you're getting the same grade circuitry, the same quality preamp. Everything is... Is it the Jasmine preamp?
Yeah. Everything works on their Jasmine preamp circuit design, which is a good, clean, high-gain preamp. It's hard to go wrong. There's one little thing that I don't like about their battery-powered products, which is why the Passport does not have a battery. And you tell me if this is true for you that use this product, is it has to have some charge to function. Don't run that thing down. It will not go from dead to working in 10 seconds.
I think the battery acts like a capacitor for the whole thing. Did you... Have you noticed that? I definitely have. I remember helping a very stressed-out talent, because... ...it finally figured out. It just had to be plugged in. And all of a sudden, the computer's like, hello. But it had to be plugged in for a while. I had to charge up. Yeah. Yeah. Because I think they bought it and then didn't touch it for six months. Well, that's... See, that's the thing.
When it's a battery-powered product that you use for your travel kit, it is going to be dead when you pull it out. So if you think, I'm going to pull it out of my bag, plug it in, and hit record within the first 10 seconds, sorry, Charlie, not happening. It's got to charge. So that's the only thing, and that's one of the reasons why the passport does not have it, but I digress. Shall I now tell you what I would recommend? No, no, no, wait, wait. Andrew, shouldn't this be the end?
The end of what? My life? That's our out. That's our out. Yeah, that's right. Let's cut out before the others go. Is that good? I think you should use a... And the killer wars. I'm not going to make any sponsors happy, but that's okay. That's not the point. I think a mic that just repeatedly surprises me in how good it sounds at the price is the AT875R shotgun mic from Audio Technica. It just sounds good. Is it the lowest self noise?
No. It's a little hissy when you compare to a large diaphragm condenser, for sure. But it's tonal balance, just the EQ of the mic. The fact that it is a shotgun mic means it's a little bit more forgiving to less than great rooms, and it just always sounds good. So that's my choice for first-timer mic when I have plenty of options to choose from, of course. And then for the interface, one that we never talk about. Again, really budget-conscious here, folks.
Steinberg came out with a new variation of their UR series called the IXO series. And there's the Steinberg IXO22 audio interface. And what makes it stand out are a few things. One, it's $120 US. I'm sorry. The IXO12, there's also a 22. So the 12 is the single mic preamp variation. It's very inexpensive, right? $120 US. And it has a few little tricks up its sleeve. Not only does it have a loopback mode, but it has a mute button.
So it's got dedicated mute on-off switches for the mic and the guitar input. And then when you hold down the monitor button, it engages loopback. I mean, for $120 US, that's pretty clever for a pretty small, easy-to-use interface. That's my recommendation there at the beginner price point level. And then headphones, we didn't mention headphones yet. You know, I'm not that picky about headphones. I think headphones have to be worn to appreciate. And so you just got to try stuff out.
I mean, if you've got a pair of headphones that you already wear and you like, go ahead and use them. Even if they're beats, even if they're not like the best studio headphones, if you know them and like them, wear them, is my opinion. But they should be closed back. And make sure they seal well. They should be closed back, yes. Closed back cans. So I've got a couple different closed back cans that I jump between.
But, you know, at the budget end, the AudioTendica series, the ATH-M 20s, 30s, 40s. All are amazing. The Austrian Audio Hi-X 15s. Yeah, they're good. The 15s. Hi-X 15s. Hi-X. I have those and I love them. I've been wearing them more and more and more now because they're just so stinkin' comfortable. Really comfortable and they sound nice. So yeah, that's the same price as the interface. That's right. But yeah, you can get cheaper headphones. And then Twisted Wave is my go-to DAW too.
We didn't mention DAWs, but because it's Windows and Mac now, I can build custom stacks on the Mac variation of Twisted Wave that you can open in the Windows variation, which is really cool. Crossing the streams. Crossing the streams by using VST plugins. So, you know, 100 US for that software. And that's a pretty solid kit right there, you know. A couple of little more accoutrement for mounting your accessories in your closet. What's your thought of the 7506 cliche for headphones?
You don't like them, right? You know, it's so funny. We have them at the Donna Fontaine VoiceOver Lab that we're fixin' to reopen soon. I was actually over there last week and testing out all the patching in the walls and making sure everything works. And that's what they have there, you know. So I was listening to them for the first time, I would say with fresh ears. You know, I hadn't had a pair of Sony's on my head in quite a while. And I was pretty pleased with how they sounded.
So, you know, maybe because they're broken in, maybe because my, you know, I'm not as sensitive to high frequency as I used to be. But, you know, they're decent. I think they're just fiddly with a really annoying cable and, I don't know, not my major. They fold up. They fold up pretty good. They fold up. But the coily cable is annoying. You know, I'm not a fan of that. But anyway, that's a solid gear.
If you don't take care of the coily cable and it gets stretched out in weird places, it gets really annoying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's funny, isn't it? When you, like Matt was saying last week about, you know, having the universal audio outboard gear that has since been moved on, the more we go down this track of these interfaces and stuff, talking about the Passport VA that will be with us very soon, fingers crossed. All that stuff is fast becoming redundant.
Really, we, you know, the travel rig, you can stick in your booth, and that's all you really need, to be honest. That's true. That's why I wonder about that audio technical mic. Do you consider that something that someone might keep in their kit long-term, or at some point, they definitely outgrow it, and it's... Like I said, I think it's only shortcoming is it's self-noise is a little bit elevated. You know, I know the sound of that mic because I've heard it a lot.
And when I hear the self-noise, I go, yep, that's, it's little Achilles heel. It works on a pretty wide range of phantom, does the... Yeah, it's a very, like, robust throw in your video. It's the kind of mic that would not be treated nicely. It'd be kept in the camera guy's kit, you know, and not respected. That's the mic. You know, it's really made to be strapped onto a video camera and just be there. But it's just shockingly decent. It's just a really pleasing sounding mic.
Not harsh, not overly crisp and bright. Not dead flat, you know, because there's... What's the other Audio Technica? There's the Audio Technica 435? Well, there's a 4073. And I had a 4073. That was my boom mic of choice when I started into the biz 20 years ago. And it sounds awesome. I had Lori Allen get one for her road kit just to save a little bit of money. And it's not much cheaper than a 41 .6, but it's less expensive. And it's a very good mic.
I believe it's still... I believe they still make that model too. I think there's another one. There's an Audio Technica shotgun mic that actually works off a Phantom or Double A. They make a lot of different shotgun mics. 8035, I think. I think the 808035. Let me see if that's... Could be. Yeah, because by the way, that's no longer called the AT4073. It's not called the BP4073. So if somebody's searching and not finding it, they change the name.
I would just... I would kick off and just like bite the bullet by a 41.6, a mic port pro, and a pair of decent headphones and twisted wave and you're going, you're on. That would be... Because you're not going to be sort of having to reinvest down the track going on. You're like the buy once, cry once kind of mentality. And even with the mic port pro, if you develop a need for an extra workflow and if you want to be able to... Because I think the mic port pro, you can't plug monitors in, right?
No, it would have to plug into the headphone jack, right? But the idea is that you can scale around it. Well, it's a good piece of kit to have to travel. And I think it's something that as your career grows, it could be your first setup, but then it becomes your travel setup. And that's why I try to think of gear that is going to be kind of long-term because you can imagine you might get a 41.6, but you might not want to travel with it because it's expensive.
And if you have an NT1, you might say, hey, whatever, I'll travel with my NT1 and here's my travel rig. And so, you know, something that works early on can work well into your career if it's the white gear, if it's the right gear. Exactly. Well, Matt, we haven't heard from you yet. If you had to start again, what would you be doing? Engineer... Yeah, marry an engineer. Yes, there you go.
Yeah, I think AP's point of starting with a good mic and then having an interface that you can grow from, if need be, is a really good idea. As an alternative to the 416, I did have to get the NTG5 in a pinch when I was traveling, and it's a very fine mic. Yeah, I think it's a cheaper alternative to the 416. I mean, the only thing I would throw in there as a new offering would be the Apollo Solo.
I've used that for travel in the past, but as a standalone interface in a studio, it's great, and you can really plug everything you need into there. If you at some point decided to add an extra microphone into your workflow, it does have that second input, or you can use a stereo modeling mic like we talked about in the previous episode. You can definitely grow into an Apollo Solo for a while. Is it a twin or a solo? What's the solo? The arrow became the solo. The arrow became the solo.
So you just don't have the same number of physical outputs, I think is the main thing. I've got one sitting here in the booth. The twin has additional line outs, and so that has more routing. It has more cues. The twin also can run multiple virtual channels, like four pairs, and the Solo can only do one pair of virtual channels. The Solo still seems to give a good amount to grow into. Does the Solo have the full unison preamp and all that stuff?
Yeah, and the other nice thing I like about the Solo is that it runs off Thunderbolt just from your computer, so it's powered from your computer, so you don't need that external power source, if that's a problem. The only thing about the Apollo gear is that there is that learning curve of the system within it, the console. Add to the cost the hiring of me to set it up for you. Exactly. Although I do have a forum on uadforum
.com, there's one on there specifically for voiceover people, and I lay it out there. I literally have screenshots of my entire workflow of how to set it up, so I do provide it for free. Give it away, George. There you go. There's the tip, people. Let me ask you, Matt and AP, this same question. For someone who's just starting out then, if we're talking about rigs for someone who's starting out, connectivity, is that necessary in terms of a Zoom connection or Source Connect?
Do we need Source Connect? Do we need the ability to at least connect to Zoom? If you're going to have a home studio, what would be your thoughts on that? I think it's more important than ever to at least have those functions spring-loaded, ready to go.
Even if you haven't bought Source Connect or you haven't needed to use Zoom on a session, I think as part of your tech development and being a voice talent, you need to get these things under control because the day is going to come when an agent either comes with a direct booking or you've done an audition for something with Source Connect and then it's required. You just need to have that functionality ready to go.
That's kind of relating to playing within a certain circle of work or for tiers, for want of a better word. But if you want to work with particular studios and particular buyers, then I think you just need to have that ready to go. Yeah, I agree. It's like being a... I used this analogy. If you are a qualified plumber and you turn up with a tool bag full of kids' toys, you're not going to get the work. So if you're in this game, you get the right gear.
So you do need a good microphone, a good space, a good interface, the means to be able to record and edit and also the means to be able to do a session down the line, which means you've got to have Source Connect. And in fact, during COVID, that was mandatory. Every agent was saying, this is what you need to do to set up at home. But to be fair, that's at a certain tier.
I mean, people doing rip and reads on Fiverr or some of these voiceover platforms, they're not going to be necessarily need Source Connect, but they're probably going to need to at least to be able to connect to Zoom or something similar like that, correct? Yeah, maybe. Usually those Fiverr people, they don't work with people.
It depends if you're being asked to do live record sessions or if you're being asked to record stuff and turn in files, even if you're, you know, just in a meeting room and they say, hey, record and send us the files later and they're just using the meeting room as a way to give you general direction, then that might be all you need. I think the reality with Source Connect is that it really should, like, easily pay for itself, like, if you're... Yeah. Well, here's another one.
I'm going to throw this out there. Some people who make podcasts aren't as lucky as us to have Robert on the show so that they get access to Source Connect and all these other amazing things we get the privilege of. What would you guys recommend? And Matt, if you've got a thought on this, please feel free to throw in as well. What would you guys suggest in terms of recording interviews for podcasters? I just connected someone with buying the... Is it the Rode Caster Pro or the interface?
Yep. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, bring the phone in through that, through the Bluetooth connection. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's not a bad one. Yeah. So, like, is this doing interviews over the Internet or interviews in person? Well, this is what I'm saying, interviews over the Internet. Yeah, yeah. If you had to do a remote interview, if you were a podcaster, George, what would your choice be?
Well, I mean, if I had to do it all the time, I would love having a dedicated interface mixer-type device that does that really well. I mean, the Rode Caster Pro does that really well because it has two separate sound buses, one for record and one for communication. It makes it super, super easy to capture an interview, no matter what software that interview is going to be on. It could be on literally anything. It's agnostic. Which is exactly the design philosophy behind the Passport VO as well.
Right? That's why we have two audio interfaces on board. Same concept, just in a much more compact, less way simpler form factor, you know, but same idea. But yeah, that's what... That would be my first choice. If you want to keep it in the software domain, there are things like Nexus and Nexus Gateway where you can... It's free. And that is free to use to connect to others. The audio quality over Nexus, when set to HQ mode, is extremely high quality.
So it will just make the experience of recording while the nicer. And you can see each other. And you can see each other as well. In the free version, you can't, but yep. What's the paid version with video cost per month, you know, off top of your head? 11 bucks. It's 12 bucks. Yeah, it's really reasonable. Wow, a couple of coffees. Yeah, yeah.
So what do you think the learning curve is like for people that are outside, you know, doing voiceover or engineering, Robert, for getting onto the source Nexus for, say, doing a podcast, like if someone is just fresh going into podcasting? I think where it's at right now is not where it's intended to be for podcasting.
So I think it's going to get a lot easier, essentially, where you have a system where you can send invites out, everyone hooks up, you hit a button to record, instead of everyone hitting individual buttons and snapping their fingers, that process is automated. And then, you know, you'll probably get a certain amount of space that it just automatically uploads back to.
So it should be like a packaged thing to make it really easy to do podcasts where the recordings are made locally and uploaded, like what a lot of the other services do. But with the file transfer function wrapped into it, yeah, that makes it so much nicer for the guests and things, you know? You know, it's like with Source Connect free or Nexus free, you get the double end, you know, but you have to do it manually. And then if you will have all that built in with the page.
Yeah. I mean, by far the hardest thing for podcast remotes is dealing with the guests' audio and trying to get, you know, not horribly back. You know, and that takes some preparation. That takes some great communication. And that may, in the worst case, require you to send them a mic. It takes knowing what you're listening for. Being able to have the wits to isolate that and listen to what they're really sending you. Yeah. I used to work on a podcast.
It was called the Mojo Radio Show, and it was sort of anything and everything to do with personal creativity and all that sort of gear. But the whole point of it was it was supposed to be a high-quality thing, which obviously it was. But we actually got to the point in the show, and unfortunately it ended before we got there, but we were actually talking about that.
We were actually talking about buying a couple of small road cases and throwing, you know, something like an AI one and a decent mic in there and shipping it off to people who had crap audio. We've done that. I've done that as part of our studio. We had... Yeah. We did MacBook Airs with little... I think, you know, we just went really cheap to be honest. We did bearing-drew interfaces with bearing-drew mics. But that's all you need for podcasts, something that's half-decent quality.
The thing you're the most worried about losing is the MacBook. You know, you're like... Yes, exactly. Well, I don't think we were going to be that generous and buy Macs. I think it was just going to be plug this into your computer. Well, the way we set it up was so that you like open the Mac up and all you have to do is put it on Wi-Fi and then like shows up on the team viewer type thing and you're in and then the last thing you're... We made all the cables so that...
Imagine like a red sticker on the bearing -drew and a red sticker on the mic cable. Half the colours. Yeah, that's right. I think that's a great direction for the Pro Audio Suite podcast, maybe starting today. Sending out Macbooks. Yes, that's right. Yeah, or well, maybe we could send out Teslas as well. Yeah, exactly. The ones with the stuff stuck inside. Hello Elon, if you're listening, want to join in? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. God, imagine the guests we'd have lining up then.
Yeah, they'd be begging to be on the show. So I reckon just as a conclusion, I guess, just my last two Bob's worth and also looking after our sponsor. But I always try and get things that are going to last a long time but can be used in different environments. So if you can take it on the road with you and have it set up at home, that's a win-win. So I would probably wind it back a bit and go, Tribooth 416 and an SSL2.
Tribooth, I would agree with you, that would be a great sound, but I wonder whether Tribooth and 416 together is blowing our budget a little bit. Is a Tribooth a beginner thing, or that sounds like someone who sees it. Well, it's not cheap. You know, this is the tricky thing about beginner stuff and budget. The two are mutually exclusive, honestly.
Because I get people that enter the industry all the time that are executives from companies that have just retired or, you know, they're starting a new career. And yeah, they absolutely could buy the $250 instant voiceover or podcasting kit and get to work. But they are in a position to buy better stuff and they do appreciate the better stuff. And so they buy, on my recommendation, better stuff. So it really does depend on where you're coming from.
Just understand, just know what your budget is. Just have a clear understanding of what it is. Don't overextend, don't overspend, but don't underspend.