Microphone Technique for Voice Over Talent

Microphone Technique for Voice Over Talent

As a voice over artist, the words, sounds, and expression you put into your voice is what your clients want to capture when you are hired for a session. Of course, you’d be mistaken if you thought your performance ended once the sounds left your mouth! Your voice needs to travel from your mouth and be captured by the microphone, and what happens in that tiny gap can make a world of difference.

Voice talent must know how to: avoid plosives, adjust for dynamics, and “work” the microphone, all while preventing unwanted noise and vibrations from getting to the diaphragm of the microphone. Learning about and applying these skills will let you record your performance, as you intended and expected it to be heard, and without unwanted artifacts.

Positioning the microphone

Microphones come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and technologies. These qualities all affect the microphone’s pickup pattern, the virtual shape around the microphone’s diaphragm where a given sound frequency at a given loudness will be picked up equally. During your performance, the quality of the recording depends on your axis to the microphone, or how centred or off-centred you are from the microphone; your distance from the microphone; the dynamics of your delivery, or your use of a louder and quieter voice.

Axis

Though there are many pickup patterns, one of the most common you will encounter as a voice over artist is the “cardioid” pattern. This is a heart-shaped pattern (cardio = heart) with the point of the heart facing straight forward. Being on-axis, essentially a sweet spot around 30° to either side from the center, has the peak sensitivity in this pattern, and an even, equal response from all frequencies. Being off-axis, or farther to the side or behind the microphone, results in an inconsistent volume and frequency response, resulting in a recorded sound that has a distorted or coloured frequency, such as flatter highs or boosted low frequencies.

Distance

In terms of distance, it should be obvious that the closer you move to the microphone, the louder your recorded voice will be. From a purely mathematical perspective, the intensity of the sound is doubled (increases by 6 dB) as the distance is cut in half. Similarly, the intensity of the sound halved (decreases by 6 dB) as the distance is doubled. As a voice over artist, you want to have a predictable intensity throughout your performance. This means you should keep your head at a fixed distance from the microphone’s diaphragm.

A good starting point for distance, particularly for large-diaphragm condenser microphones, is 6-8 inches away from your mouth. You can approximate this distance by forming the shaka sign, or “hang loose” gesture with thumb and pinkie extended. Put your pinkie on the microphone’s grill and your thumb on your bottom lip, and that is a good reference point to aim for.

Therefore from a positioning perspective, keep your head at your microphone’s pickup pattern’s sweet spot, and keep your head at a consistent distance from the microphone, to ensure the optimal recording.

Dynamics

Rules were meant to be broken. They serve to give guidance and a common starting point, but as an artist, don’t feel constrained by them, and instead consider the reasons behind the rule and how that can be used to your advantage.

The recommendation regarding keeping a fixed distance between your mouth and the microphone is to assist the engineer in processing your voice after recording. This might be you! Keeping a consistent loudness makes your recording more usable — most recordings are levelled to a standard loudness, and having consistency across your delivery means the beginning and ending are approximately the same loudness. This doesn’t mean you can’t vary your delivery though!

Does your voice over need a whisper, or perhaps even a shout? Your microphone can certainly pick up your quietest whisper, however by moving closer to the microphone as you whisper, your whisper will sound louder, and much more intimate. By moving in and whispering naturally, it will raise the volume of your whisper without requiring you or the audio engineer constantly adjust.

Similarly, if you need to raise your voice, yell, shout, or otherwise get more excitable with your delivery, you would do well to move back from the microphone. First, microphones have a maximum intensity they can record, and if you exceed that level then your recording will be distorted (clipped) and there is nothing you can do to recover that performance. Second, the loudness will jump when compared to the surrounding elements and will jump out at the listener or require adjustments in editing. If you step back a few inches or even a foot or two, your shout will contain all the dynamics you need, yet won’t clip the microphone.

Proximity effect

Sometimes, you want a more intimate, richer voice recorded. This can be achieved by taking advantage of the proximity effect.

Move closer to your microphone, right up to your pop filter, turn your head slightly to the side so you are not breathing directly on your microphone’s diaphragm, and speak smoothly into the microphone. Keep a close eye on your recording’s levels, to ensure you don’t clip or hit the red-line in your DAW.

Though the proximity effect is an effective tool, be careful of over-using it. Great for ASMR-style recordings, or truly in-your-ear whispers.

Plosives

A word of warning about plosives. Plosives are hard consonant sounds that stop the airflow and suddenly release it. If care is not taken during the recording process, that sudden release of air can cause a sudden spike in volume which is extremely distracting, can ruin a take, and must be avoided at the time of recording.

Plosives are the sounds like found in:

• P in pat
• K in kat
• T in time
• B in ball
• D in dig
• G in garage

Use good techniques like aiming your mouth slightly to the side of the microphone, and using an appropriate pop filter to control the airflow hitting the microphone.

Final words

Give the client your best performance, but always remember that your performance doesn’t end until the sound is recorded by the microphone. As you record, keep in mind your positioning to the microphone, and the dynamics of your presentation, and don’t be afraid to stretch the rules by moving back or moving closer to the microphone.

And as always, stay dedicated to VO!