What is an Audio Engineer and Why You Need One?

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**VOICE OVER EQUIPMENT THAT I USE***

Whisper Room (3.5' x 5')
Output Platform mixing desk

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This group is for new and existing Voice Over Artists who want to learn how to maximize their revenue and land more jobs.

[tomcarr]

I worked with Alex a couple years ago. Knowledgeable, prepared, efficient, and enjoyable. Definitely took my audio to the next level.

[thenarrator]

I did this last year and it was mind blowing how good they made it sound.

[danaramoni]

I used Alex twice to setup my audio chain for voice over. My first one when I was recording in my closet, and a 2nd one when I got a whisper room and new mic. I can't recommend him enough. He was great and reasonably priced.

Best of all, it gave me the confidence to move forward in VO knowing my audio was professional.

[zachthrasher]

Had Alex help me with my audio chain. Excellent audio engineer!

[armandoc]

Hay Coach you are so awesome. I am a student of Bill DeWees, how do you know because before I started performing behind the mic i learned how to record my voice. The Tech part in the 6 step blueprint to success. I knew computers but audio interface? Mixer? Editing Program? Mic? Noise Reduction? Normalization? EQ? Compression? Record -12db Normalize -3db? Stereo or Mono? Import Track? All that I learned from Bill DeWees. Then I paid attention to performance and all the components that go along with it, now I'm at the Business part of it. Learning audio engineering gives the artist a better understanding of what he is Performing/Producing. Once again Coach the guiding light that shines in the night. You are an Educator by nature, my teacher and guide, Thank you Sir.

[Mes_Valeurs]

I have studied to be a sound engineer when I was 20 years old ... I am now 37 and I have discovered Voice acting 2 years ago! I wish I could go back in time and tell that 20 years old about this career! It is such a blessing in my life :)

[hxtlnrd]

I'm just starting out with this and every video is such a wealth of knowledge. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

[Veneer]

I just bought my low budget mic ($100), focusrite solo, and DIY sound booth. I've had a lot of experience as a live audio engineer at venues. For some reason I didn't realize how much work there was for mixing and mastering audio. So I think I'm going to try out both. VO work & mastering. I was literally just looking up where to find Mixing & Mastering work on YT.

Edit: I also have a lot of experience working with DAW's. If you find any people that need an audio engineer. I would be more than happy to pay you a finders fee/agent fee.

[ed.williams]

A round of applause for this segment, Bill. Something I think can damage efforts of folks just starting out in voiceover is the Dunning-Kruger effect. We're obviously not going to have a professional audio engineer working with us all the time, so we have to learn to record, edit, and master our own recordings. The Dunning-Kruger effect tells us that when we first start out learning something, after we gain a little knowledge we tend to greatly overestimate our depth of understanding; we think we know a lot more than we really do because we've only been exposed to a small amount, as yet, of that entire knowledgebase. We don't know what we don't know.



I had some background in radio--both sides of the mic--did some audio work mainly for corporate videos, and was very comfortable working in my DAW and had over three dozen super-cool, super-snazzy plug-ins. :-) But I didn't know as much as I thought I knew. And I didn't have the best studio monitor setup for post-production...mainly just worked on headphones.



And--SURPRISE!--it's extremely difficult to listen to your own voice objectively. Early on I fell into the trap of overprocessing, which I think a lot of VO folks are guilty of. What changed for me was getting the help of a great audio engineer to whom I submitted several completely dry reads in uncompressed .WAV format (the same text but with some fiddling on the pre-amp settings). He got back to me with processed versions of the recordings and we agreed on the one that sounded best. He sent me a step-by-step procedure that locked-in my pre-amp settings and gave me a post-processing "cookbook"--and presets--for everything from noise reduction and sibilance control to EQ and compression for three different LUFS targets.



Not only did that allow me to be consistent with my output (which might be something else that could be mentioned in the video: clients have an annoying habit of expecting consistency), but also ended up saving me loads of time...and forced me to STOP tweaking the sound on the final mix. Well, at least for commercial and narration/explainer reads. If you need a cartoon gravel-basso supervillain, I'll change some of the cookbook. ;-)

[GailMWashington]

I got a radio broadcasting certification in 2000. Although I learned the equipment, I am no audio engineer. Thankfully, my instructors were actual audio engineers and I still have access to them. I know how to operate the equipment. But, since I get no excitement out of editing, I know I could do better. Thanks for the information!

[FunnyGuyTimmy]

This video was half informative and half proud dad.

[Snipersounds]

Great video Bill!
If any of you guys need any help please feel free to reach out.

[princeicio]

Bill, I've seen your video about working for peanuts last year. How did you manage to make $75000 in your first year? Where did you find those small jobs back then?

[alanal]

Bill DeWees!! Brought to you by Adidas!