Audio Engineering for Voice Actors

A practical introduction to the fundamental Audio Engineering skills for Voice Actors
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Hosted by

Tony Wijs
Laneth Sffarlenn

Course Overview

Learn To Do More Than Just Record And Normalize Your Voiceovers!

A solid foundation in audio as a voice talent in this modern remote-working world is imperative, especially when working with studios and engineers, and while it takes time to master the craft, we want to give you a fast and effective path towards a professional standard of work in your own home studio.

Over the course of 6 weeks we will cover introduce to you such necessary tools as gain staging, EQ, and compression as well as real world uses of the skills needed to be successful.

You will be given audio examples and practical projects that relate closely to real-world professional practice. This is a hands on course designed to guide you, step-by-step, along the path to possessing a strong skillset in audio engineering your voiceovers.

Course Outcomes

  • What is Sound?:
    In addition to learning about the basics of sound and the ways and terms used to measure it, you will also begin to understand how to not only identify audio quality issues, but why they could be happening and how to fix them.
  • Clean-and-Clear Recordings:
    We'll show you how to drastically improve the quality of your recorded audio, no matter what you are using to record.
  • Treat Your Space!:

    We will reinforce that one of the most important things to do as a remote talent is to properly treat your recording space. Learn some considerations in setting up your own home studio, and how you can create a recording space that can offer broadcast quality recordings even with very little budget.

Hosted By

  • Tony Wijs

    Tony is a seasoned audio producer with over 10 years of experience. After getting his bachelors in audio production, he began to freelance on many productions including sound design, video production, and documentaries. He has extensive knowledge in the voice acting field and can be heard in video games such as Overload and Empire of Sin, has voiced Spider-Man and other characers in electronic reader books for Marvel, and has voiced many commercials on major networks including ABC.

    He is the co-founder and CEO of Immersed Productions which specializes in voiceover demo production, casting, podcast editing, and sound design for video games.

    If he’s not out recording new and original sounds for a project, he’s hanging out with his son gaming and playing music.

  • Laneth Sffarlenn

    Neth joined Tony as his regular TA and off-sider in the Audio Engineering department of Closing Credits almost immediately after taking the original Audio Engineering 101 class, and went on to assist in writing accompanying course notes as well as helping to write and develop the Demo Engineering and Advanced Audio Engineering classes.

    A part-time actor with over a decade of experience across stage, screen, and voiceovers, Neth also brings a lifetime of administrative experience and near-obsessive organisational skills to the school, thriving in their ever-evolving role that supports both Closing Credits staff and the student community.

    When not tumbling farther down the rabbit hole that is audio engineering and sound design, Neth can be found helping folks learn to use REAPER or lost in the far away worlds of story driven games or fantasy novels.

Weekly Outline

01

Audio Engineering 101

1. What is an "Audio Engineer"?
2. What is Sound?
3. Frequency
4. Acoustics
5. Reverberation (Reverb)
6. The Microphone
- a. The 2 Main Types of Mic used by Voice Over Artists
- b. Phantom Power
- c. Proximity Effect
- d. Frequency Response

02

Bit Depth & Sample Rate

1. Input vs Output
2. Mic Level vs Line Level
3. Microphone Preamp
4. Address & Microphone Technique
5. Microphone Patterns
6. Sample Rate
7. Bit Depth

03

DAW & Recording

1. DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)
2. Gain, Levels, Volume, Loudness, Trim?!
3. Noise Floor & SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio)
4. Headroom
5. RMS (Root-Mean-Square) & LUFS (Loudness Units Relative To Full Scale)
6. Gain Staging
7. Clipping & Normalization

04

EQ

1. EQ (Equalization)
2. Fundamental Frequency & Harmonics
3. Frequency
4. Filters - High & Low Passes, Band Pass (Bell Curve), Shelves, and "Qs"
5. Tonal Examples
6. Different Types of EQs
7. Frequency Sweeping
8. Sibilance

05

Compression

1. Compression
2. Dynamic Range
3. Transients
4. Compressor Controls (Parameters)

06

Putting It All Together

1. Your Voice & Music in Voice Acting
- a. Understanding EQ & Compression
2. Case Study: Tony Wijs, Voice Actor
— Follow Tony's workflow as he: 
— a. takes a voiceover recording from raw recording;
— b. cleans, cuts, and arranges the takes;
— c. assembles his personal FX plug-in chain; etc.
3. Final Checklist before sending a finished mix to your client.

Course Schedule

2-4 hours per week

  • Tuesdays

    7PM-8:30PM EST

    Our live sessions happen every Tuesday evening.

  • Homework

    ~ Varies

    Our homework mostly consists of voluntary exercises, and not each week has them. We also understand that developing these skills can take time, so like to make sure students feel welcome to keep in touch with us beyond the end of the course as well as sending in their homework and even updates after the six weeks are over.

Course Benefits

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  • Interactive Weekly Classes

    This class has an instructor, a TA, and dedicated discord channels for current and Alumni students for peer networking, assistance, and feedback.

  • Recorded Class Videos & Extra Downloadable Content

    If you need to review a class or want to learn more, the content will always be ready for you via your student dashboard.

  • Ongoing Feedback & Support

    Keep in touch with your classmates, as well as the instructor and TA, well beyond the end of the course; keep growing your skills and passion!

Frequency Asked Questions

What happens if I miss a class?

All our lessons are recorded and uploaded to the weekly class session pages, and will be available to you to come back and watch at any time in the future, so long as you have an active student membership.

Do I need to learn REAPER to take this course?

Absolutely not! We use REAPER as the main DAW* to demonstrate our practical explanations and examples of the concepts that we are teaching - which can be applied in almost any other DAW of your choice or preference; the main goal is for you to learn about sound, how it works, and how to manipulate it in a way that makes sense to you. (* DAW = Digital Audio Workstation)

We've had students that use all sorts of programs, like: Ableton Live; Adobe Audition; Logic Pro by Apple; Avid Pro Tools; PreSonus Studio One; etc.

But the main reason we chose REAPER is because it has a 60 day unrestricted evaluation period, and the cost to register the software is only $60 USD - this is nothing compared to many other DAWs on the market which often cost hundreds to purchase with possible version upgrade fees, or can only be bought on a subscription basis (which is an expense we would never expect or advise beginners to pay!)

What about Audacity?

Even though Audacity had some major updates made in late 2022, allowing users to perform some more advanced audio editing work, we still do not recommend it for people learning or wanting to work in audio engineering / post production fields where a more versatile and optimised software design is required for the fiddly edits that just aren't that easily achieved in Audacity.

That being said, Audacity IS great for recording voiceovers and making some basic clean-up edits - such as normalizing and noise reduction - but it simply isn't designed for more complex engineering tasks.

Do I have to turn on my video during sessions?
If you are uncomfortable showing your face on video, you don’t have to. You can use the "raise hand" function in Zoom to speak with the instructor and ask a question, or even type your question in the Zoom chat area and the Instructor or TA will answer it either as a direct reply in the chat, out loud as a spoken response, or both!
What is your refund policy?
No refunds. Please be sure you want to take the course before you purchase it.

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