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Imaging advice

J

jenderton

HI,

I've been lurking around here for awhile and finally got he nerve up to ask for some advice. I am looking to start doing production on my own. I have been on the search for a job but to no avail. So, I'm thinking I might give it a go independently. Here is some of the work I did while in college. Let me know what you think. Is it any good? Or should I just pack it in? Any advice would be great.
Thanks for your help,
Jeff

http://MySpaceFileHosting.com/lmjtk/Imaging_Enderton.mp3.html
 
I know I'm playing on a very slippery slope in making any comments here, and I usually don't do this. Anything stated below is a reflection of my thoughts and ideas, and not necessarily those of the entire production/vo community. That being said:

(deep breath)

Jeff,

Let me start by saying that I would never tell anyone in a creative field or environment to "pack it in". It takes huge balls, time, sleepless nights, and a lot of personal second guessing. The ideas and advice that I will offer are meant to help you navigate and discover your own unique "sound" that will make you even more marketable. I've heard my production and vo change over the years, and the best advice that helped me were the small points.. what I call the "million dollar tips". Why, you may ask? Because if you had a million dollars to spend to make yourself better, you would find that there are tons of tips and ideas, but only a small handful (maybe only 1) that will make such a huge difference, that it's worth the theoretical money spent.

Here are my suggestions regarding the production:
(I open my comments up to my peers as well... I always want to learn)

- The vo gets "lost" in the production. What we find our clients are looking for is primarily clean vo work. There are a lot of heavy filters on your vo's, and that in turn blends the vo into the zips, zaps, and lasers of the backing beds. Try re-working an existing piece so that the vo is almost completely clean. Use an effect (filter, vo, etc) of your choice to accentuate maybe 1 word in the entire liner. (ie. caps are the accentuated word - "the bay area's one and only LIVE 1-0-5". Or, if you want to use an effect on the entire vo, keep it simple, and then accentuate 1 part. Ask yourself; if you were hearing this, what would make you stop and pay attention. Easy on the compression and limiting, and see how it sounds. Here is an AMAZING YouTube video on Dave Foxx: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42p5BjJIlio Check out the part where he mentions accentuating only 1 unique selling proposition at 2:30.

-Be careful using drops. They "burn" very quickly. What's funny or interesting today, may be old tomorrow. Just be careful...

Re-work a promo, and post it up. See how it sounds a day after you bounce it down to mp3.

Finally... Keep up the creative work! Never stop creating new ideas... Write them down, don't throw any out. You'll never know when you may find the need for them. Back everything up to multiple hard drives!

I hope this helps!
 
Thanks for the tips!! I have gotten the advice to make the VO more prominent before but I still need to get more practice at it. It's good to get this in another persons ears. You hear things I am not hearing.

THanks again. I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and give pointers.

Thanks,
Jeff
 
I hope it helps...

As for the production techniques... what software and plugins are you using? Maybe we can help with some settings that would really make your voice pop out of the mix. That shouldn't be too hard, and you'll probably see some instant results.

Could I send you an email to your address listed on here?
 
You can e-mail me at the address listed here.

I use LOgic 9.0.2 and the plug ins that go with it. I have a couple of other things but the logic stuff is what I use most of the time.

I create all of my own sounds except for the music beds and drops. I think this is where the VO gets lost. I work on the sounds for a while and then try and make them more prominent then they need to be.

THe thing is the FX creation is really my favorite part of this whole thing. I was thinking maybe another avenue to head down would be to create a FX library and make that my niche.

Thanks again,
Jeff
 
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