Home recording voice on a budget

DublinWriter

OT and not strictly music I know, but I posted this back in another forum a while back and didn't get any replies, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

The niece of a friend of mine is doing a video project as part of a college course and as asked me to do some voice over work for it.

I would like to oblige, but equipment wise she's on a budget.

The last time I looked into recording was way-back-when in the days when I had a Tascam 4-track portastudio and I was playing in bands, so my knowledge is dated. I've also DJ'ed years ago in various pirate stations in the 80's so I really wouldn't know where to begin.

I've done some VO-work for a similar project a number of years back, but I was personally fairly unhappy with the results as there was an audible hum from the PC the person was recording my voice.

Although it's her project, I'm looking at getting some basic home recording equipment for another sideline project of mine, but the question is what to get.

I've already got a Shure SM58 and a Mackie 8-track analogue desk. I was thinking of investing in a Zoom H2 and cutting the PC right out of the recording process (will be using it for post-production editing).

I like the Zoom as it seems to be very versitle for field-recording, but I can go a little higher in terms of budget.

To cut a long story short, will the Zoom H2 suffice, or should I go a little more up-market? Should I use the SM58 or maybe look at getting a better quality near-field mic?

I'm also looking at possibly getting a mini-Mac as the noise from my self-build PC is quite loud. Any recommendations for fanless PCs would be appreciated too.

Thanks!

nicknackgtb

id say the zoom would be quite adequate, i would think about maybe getting a different mic tho, some sort of a good condensor. but the zoom is a deadly little yoke and a good little recorder.

As regards computer, Im a mac fan and on a macbook pro, and its just the biz for anything i need to do.

if6was9

I wouldn't bother with the Zoom.
I've not used the H2 but I have used the H4 and While its great for vox pops and location recording, for the money you can do better for voice overs.

I'd get a small interface, something like the Mackie Onyx Satallite or an small 2 input M-audio like the fast track. There's tons of 2 input usb/firewire interfaces for less than 200 euro and many of them are decent.
If you get one of these the Shure will be decent and give you good results.
Make sure to use a pop filter, they're cheap as chips and make a big difference when doing voice overs, I've loads of friends who do Vo's for their Video stuff and for some reason they never bother setting them up and you can tell. The odd plosive here and there just makes it sound unprofessional.

dav nagle

if6was9 wrote: »

I wouldn't bother with the Zoom.
I've not used the H2 but I have used the H4 and While its great for vox pops and location recording, for the money you can do better for voice overs.

I'd get a small interface, something like the Mackie Onyx Satallite or an small 2 input M-audio like the fast track. There's tons of 2 input usb/firewire interfaces for less than 200 euro and many of them are decent.
If you get one of these the Shure will be decent and give you good results.
Make sure to use a pop filter, they're cheap as chips and make a big difference when doing voice overs, I've loads of friends who do Vo's for their Video stuff and for some reason they never bother setting them up and you can tell. The odd plosive here and there just makes it sound unprofessional.

Very good advice. So many you tube videos would be great to if it wasn't for the narrators being as ignorant as to not even bother using a pair of grannies tights on a coat hanger like me when I started off recording. Pops and wind are the most ignorant form of sonic disobedience.


+1