Preamp for Voiceover Work

[meblumen]

I hate these posts but I have never done voiceover work before and was asked for some advice. I don't have a budget yet so if you could give me a couple of recommendations in various price categories it would be much appreciated. Most of the work will be for various film projects done in ProTools. There is no console and a wide variety of mics will be used (but pretty much old standards like RE-20s and such).

[JGriffin]

I use the Focusrite 428 (around $1500 I think) and the GML channel strip (around $5k) right now. I also have used the built-in Focusrite pres on my Control|24, which I think are the same as Reds or the silver ones, not sure.

[joel hamilton]

The VOR guys I know here in NY told me to use a shotgun. Totally great. NO ambience, just the voice. Use with whatever mic pre you have. Good S/N from a decent shotgun, and a good clean pre will do the trick.

[jessejamietig]

Joel is right. I use a sennheiser 416 for VO work almost on a daily basis, plugged in to a John Hardy M-1. It is the best VO mic I've worked with so far. It rejects alot of room noise and ambience. The only problem I have with it is it can be a little "s"ey, which I usually take care of with the Waves Desser. But I usually don't use any EQ, I just roll off the room at 120 Hz.
Hope this helps.

[rydberg]

Out of all the choices I have at the day job, I like using the Langevin Dual Vocal Combo. It's got a real simple EQ (shelving boost or cut at 40/80hz and 8k/12khz) and a great sounding limiter. EVERYBODY sounds good through it.


P.

[JGriffin]

Ditto on the Senn 416, it's becoming a standard. The cleaner and less "character-y" the mic pre you use with it, the better.

The shotguns require a bit more technique on the part of the actor, though. A Neumann tends to be more forgiving of "amateur" voices, if you end up doing lots of scratch tracks with your co-workers as I do. So for those applications I opt for a U87 or U89.

[jessejamietig]

Yes the 416 is very directional. If the talent moves of mic they'll sound almost like they are talking into the back of it.