Voice Artist Work

Don’t buy any Equipment - you don’t need to!
If you live in or around London or Brighton and own a half decent computer then I can lend you everything else you’ll need. And yes I really do lend it on trust, so please please don’t lose or damage the equipment because it’s expensive and supposed to be available to everyone.

What is a ‘half decent’ computer?
These days it means a computer that is probably no older than 2 years. If it’s as young as that then it will be able to cope with the editing software - which is free by the way.

However, I have learnt from experience when setting people up that the following problems occur with many people’s computers:

• Several people using the same computer
• Lots of programs installed
• Lots of large files stored

The worst/ best example (please forgive me for quoting this one Nic) was a voice artist I travelled out to see to help her get set up. The family consists of her, her husband and two delightful young-adult ‘children’.

They have four different computers. Their son spotted the problem early on and wisely decided to buy his own computer before going to university. The remaining three people ALL use EVERY one of the three remaining computers.

Oh dear.

Teenage daughter loves her chat and social sites with their big Internet usage and download requirements. Dad loves his random interest programs and files. And Nic has her work and personal files as well.

I gave up trying to clean up one of the computers after three hours effort and a very nice sandwich. Nic has since bought a new computer and put a password on it - no one else is allowed to touch it. No one!

Nic’s story had a happy ending because she was in a position to invest in a new computer that she needed anyway. However, the whole idea of Voice Artist Work is that you don’t spend any money, you just use your voice skills and time.

So if you have a computer make sure it’s not cluttered with loads of programs that you don’t use. And get an external drive to store all those videos, music files, photos etc. They are enormous and will slow your computer right down.

Silly Analogy
Think of your computer as a Mini Cooper. It’s small but perfectly formed. You have to carry a certain amount of luggage/ people around with you when you go on a trip. The more you carry the harder the mini has to work, the slower it goes and more likely it will be to break down.

But I really want to set up my own studio for other stuff as well - what should I buy?
If you genuinely want to spend money on your own set up and can justify the expense then here is a suggested low cost start up package with approximate prices:

• Blue Microphones Icicle XLR to USB Converter - £40
• Behringer C-1 Microphone - £30
• PC/ Laptop Dell Vostro 220 with Intel Dual core processor, 2GB of RAM, DVDRW 16x, 250GB hard drive - £300 (roughly)
• Headphones/ Earplugs (optional) any will do - steal your son’s.
• Pop shield - make your own from a pair of tights and a coat hanger. Seriously - it’s plenty good enough.

Other usful optional equipment
I recommend that people store all their big files on an external hard drive. That way your computer cannot be cluttered up with such things.

I personally use a pocket size external hard drive for my audio books because it doesn’t need to be plugged in to the mains. It works when I plug it into my laptop even if I’m on the train. So I can make use of that otherwise ‘dead’ travelling time by editing an audio book.

I would strongly recommend that you use ear plugs or head phones when editing on the train especially if you are doing erotica. Then again it would be rather fun seeing their reactions (up to the point at which you get thrown off).