Some of the features Audition has that Soundbooth didn’t have are: project exchange with third-party DAWs, native 5.1 multichannel support, more native audio effects and new royalty-free sound effects, loops, and music beds.

Officially, it’s being called Audition CS5.5 – part of Adobe’s mid-cycle release of its Creative Suite series. Adobe is billing it as a “modern audio post-production toolset.” That means it’s powerful enough to be used for big budget audio and video productions. I got my hands on the final release and found it simple enough to use as a voice actor.

From the moment you launch Audition it has a familiar look and feel to it. The interface is clean and easy to understand. Once you click record you’re presented with the option to name your file, choose your sample rate, select your channels and bit depth. Click okay after choosing these settings and the recording begins.

Editing in Audition is as straightforward as it gets. Just click and select the portion of a waveform you need to edit and copy, cut and paste to your heart’s content. If you’ve ever used the free DAW Audacity, you can use Audition with no problem.

Adobe has upped the ante on audio effects this time around in Audition. Some of the native audio effects you may find useful are noise reduction, de-hummer, de-esser and speech volume leveler. The noise reduction effect can be very effective if, like me, you have less than perfect soundproofing in your studio. I was able to remove street-level traffic noise from a recording without much degradation to the recording. I had to tweak the sliders a bit, but it worked remarkably well.

Audition is included as part of Adobe’s Production Premium package. You can buy it separately for $349. But if you’re looking to upgrade, there are some generous options. For $99 you can upgrade from some previous versions of both Audition and Soundbooth. You can even cross-grade from one format to another (PC to Mac). Not a bad deal if you just have to have the latest and greatest from Adobe.

With a voice over career spanning over 30 years Hogan has learned a thing or two about what voice over performers really need. He is the creator of the Porta Booth Pro and partnered with Marshall Electronics to create the MXL VO: 1-A Signature Series microphone, the first mic designed by a voice actor for voice actors.

Most voice over artists record from their home studios. Knowing that getting some peace and quite around the home can often be a challenge while recording, Hogan create his newest product innovation – a VO Recording Sign.

Hogan said “I have a very expensive retro recording sign in my office but truthfully it’s useless unless my wife just happens to walk in my office when I’m recording. With the Voice Over Recording sign hanging upstairs in HER office she knows I’m recording.” Hogan joked, “When I go into the booth I click the wireless switch and she knows it’s a bad time to start vacuuming or tossing the ball around with the doggies or practicing her flamenco dancing!”

Aside from simply being fun and giving voice actors some “bragging rights” the sign doesn’t need  permanent wiring so it can be put anywhere in the household to let the family know that a little quiet would be appreciated!

About Harlan Hogan

Based in Chicago, acclaimed “voiceover superstar” Harlan Hogan sends his voice world wide from his state of the art home studio, via ISDN, Source Connect, CD/DVD and the Internet. Hogan’s career spans over thirty years, and he is known for delivering the slogans for such high profile ad campaigns as Raids’ “Kills bugs fast, Kills bugs dead” and Head & Shoulders’ “That little itch should be telling you something” to the iconic, “It’s the cereal even Mikey Likes.”

Hogan is a script writer for numerous educational and corporate productions and has authored two books and a DVD on the subject of voice acting. His distinguished career has put him in high demand for interviews and commentary on the voice over industry. His experience in the industry has helped him create many products made specifically for voice actors and can be found at Voice Over Essentials.

Source: HarlanHogan.com

Adobe will soon give Apple fans a new option that PC users have been utilizing for years. It’s called Adobe Audition. Formerly known as Cool Edit Pro (before Adobe bought it), Audition has been the DAW of choice for radio production and newsrooms across the country. I have personally used it as a reporter at two radio stations.

Audition for the Mac has been released to the general public in beta form. Adobe is allowing people to try it out in return for their feedback on its forums. You can download it for free here. I have been using it for three months now – recording all of my VO auditions and projects on it. And it’s been like reacquainting myself with an old friend.

Audition works with just about any digital audio interface you can throw at it. All you have to do is choose your device in the preferences menu under audio hardware. My weapon of choice is the Apogee Duet. Once your hardware is setup you can begin recording.

Recording is almost self-explanatory because Audition’s interface is clean and easy to understand. But you do have to take an extra step to set your levels. It involves clicking on the view dropdown menu, sliding down to metering and clicking on meter input signal. I don’t remember having to do this in the old Cool Edit Pro.

Editing in Audition is a breeze. The intuitive interface allows you to quickly edit waveforms. Once you’re done editing you have to click file then save. This is where you can choose the location of your file and the format (.aiff, .mp3, .mov and .wav).

One feature I miss from the old PC version was its ability to save your recordings when the software crashes. Believe me, it was a necessary feature in Cool Edit Pro. But after several months of intense usage the software hasn’t crashed on me yet. I don’t know if Adobe deserves the credit or if it’s just my trusty ‘ole MacBook Pro.

I have encountered one serious bug, however. I couldn’t record or playback files at one point. But the staff on the Adobe forums site quickly solved my problem by having me delete a preferences folder. This is, of course, to be expected in a beta release. Hopefully, Adobe will rectify this in the final release.

All in all I have enjoyed recording and editing inside Adobe Audition because it is a familiar tool. But for newcomers the learning curve shouldn’t be very steep at all. It’s definitely worth giving it a shot. After all, you can’t beat its current free status. Happy editing!

At TED2011 Ebert, along with the help of his wife and a few close friends, told the moving story of how he is triumphing over adversity and is getting his voice back through his computer. Text-to-talk services come with most computers these days and are used widely by the seeing impaired and those who cannot speak.

Text-to-talk allow users to type words into their computers which a computerized voice then reads aloud. Voice talent are hired to record hours of audio for these services but the result is artificial sounding, leaving room for improvement.

Ebert explained that after trying several services he finally settled on Apple’s synthetic voice “Alex” which was released as part of the 2007 Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

“These are my words, but this is not my voice. This is Alex, the best computer voice I’ve been able to find, which comes as standard equipment on every Macintosh.” Ebert explains at the recorded conference, “For most of my life, I never gave a second thought to my ability to speak. It was like breathing. In those days, I was living in a fool’s paradise. After surgeries for cancer took away my ability to speak, eat or drink, I was forced to enter this virtual world in which a computer does some of my living for me.”

Impatient with the slow speed of text-to-talk, Ebert sites social technologies such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, and email for giving him the ability to contribute to everyday conversations because online everyone speaks at the same speed.

Ebert ads, “Because of the rush of human knowledge, because of the digital revolution, I have a voice, and I do not need to scream.”

Ebert is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer for his work reviewing films for the The Chicago Sun Times and he is best known for his twenty-three year reign as co-host for the televised program originally named Sneak Previews.

Source: TED2011

The ONE is a compact USB microphone and digital audio interface. And with a 2.25” x 4.75” footprint it is actually small enough to fit in your pocket. But you probably would not want to do that with a sensitive piece of audio equipment.

A USB 2.0 cable powers and connects the ONE to your Apple computer. Other connections include a breakout port and cable that sports one balanced XLR microphone preamp input and one unbalanced ¼” instrument input for all you musicians out there. There is also an ⅛” stereo headphone jack that doubles as an output to powered monitor.

At the heart of the ONE is the encoder knob. Just like its big brother, the Duet, a simple click and twist of the knob can select and adjust most of the ONE’s features. You do have to use the included Maestro software to switch between the internal mic, external mic and instrument input.

Apogee is known for the quality of its analog to digital and digital to analog conversion. That is the process that converts sound into a digital signal on your computer and then back into an analog signal you can hear. When using an external microphone, the ONE actually lives up to the company’s stellar reputation. But there is some room for improvement.

When testing the product, the ONE worked with my power-hungry Shure SM7B dynamic mic, but the input was very low. I could not get it to record at the optimum levels even with the knob turned up to its maximum input. But when I connected a Rode NT1-A condenser mic it reached proper levels with little to no noise.

But the ONE has something that most other interfaces in its class do not, a built-in condenser microphone. The mic records some respectable audio. But as expected, it cannot stand up to a full-size condenser mic with a 1” capsule. Plus there is no real pop filter to stop the puffs of air that come from hard consonant sounds.

If you like traveling light, I could see using this neat little unit to set up a portable studio with just the ONE and a MacBook. The sound quality from the internal mic is not perfect, but it is good enough to record auditions. You get a lot of value here for the MSRP of $249.

Source: Apogee

Well, the folks at Apogee have recently announced something that could make recording on the go both cheaper and lighter. It’s called the Mike. Apogee claims it is “the most compact studio quality USB microphone available for iPad, iPhone and Mac.” The online press release even says it’s “Great for voice overs, interviews and podcast recordings.” Blue already makes the Mikey for the iPod and iPhone, but it only works with certain Apple models.

What’s intriguing about Apogee’s Mike is the ability to use a high quality microphone with the iPad. Now the Mike has not been released yet, so the price is unknown. Their website simply says coming soon.

Imagine the ability to record your VO’s on something as cheap and light as the $500 entry level iPad. Apple also recently released the acclaimed GarageBand for the iPad for just five bucks. If you include the potential cost of the Mike, an Ipad and GarageBand, you could spend well under a thousand dollars for a portable studio that’s lighter and less bulky than the typical laptop, mic and interface setup.

Not to mention the fact that you could use the iPad’s generous screen to read your scripts from. How cool is that? The possibilities are endless! Happy recording!

Source: Apogee

Author: Trey Thomas

Featuring PureDIGITAL technology, JAM enables musicians to practice, record and rock out with ultimate tone using the guitar amps and effects in Apple’s GarageBand software on iPad 2 or Mac.
There is no configuration necessary, just plug in and play and experience the legendary sound quality of Apogee.

“We’re very excited to enter the rapidly growing world of iOS with this incredible product,” says Apogee Co-founder and CEO Betty Bennett. “JAM is the first high-quality interface that makes a digital connection to your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, and the only one that also works on your Mac. You will notice the difference between the sound quality of JAM and other similar products because its converters are designed by the same team of engineers responsible for our award-winning, high-end professional interfaces. JAM promises to become a standard for guitarists who want a professional, portable way to connect to these devices and benefit from the amazing music-making apps they offer.”

Available March 31st

Price: $99 USD

Source: Apogee Electronics

An audio engineer since 1994, Friedman started his career in live sound working in clubs with bands and musicians. He has held production positions in both broadcast radio environments and in professional recording studios. As the years went by, Friedman noticed that he could offer complementary skills and began recording himself as a voice over artist and writing copy in addition to audio engineering.

Friedman shares, “I really understand both sides of the microphone and am always happy to share my knowledge and experience with anyone who is interested.”

The book covers basic information about getting to know your audio equipment and how it works.

Friedman points out that the book is geared toward audio engineering and not the art of voice acting itself.

For more information, go to Dan Friedman’s site:

http://www.soundadvicevo.com/thebook/

Source: Dan Friedman

My investigations lead me to this company; Lauten Audio. This is a company not many have heard of yet, but you will… trust me!

Now before I go any further I should mention that I have no affiliation with Lauten Audio. No one is paying me to write this. I am doing it simply to share my experience. There is an old saying I remember…goes something like this. “A job well done, though seldom complimented is never criticized.” This is one of those seldom occasions.

Some background about Lauten Audio and Brian A Loudenslager. Brian at one time worked for IBM and did a little work in the video gaming industry amongst other jobs. He also represented an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) and Contract Manufacturer (CM) of microphones, where he worked with some of the biggest microphone brands in the world.

Brian, along with Dr. Charles Chen, Chief Engineer, and Michael Terry, Sound Designer set out on a mission to be different. They succeeded. It seems like around every corner some one is making a new clone of this or that old school microphone. Lauten Audio decided to take an approach of their own and have created their own unique sound.

I first talked to Brian a couple months ago. I wanted to demo his microphones. I chose his new Oceana, a tube mic, and the Clarion, an FET mic. Within a couple of days of talking with Brian, I had the Oceana and the Clarion on my desk. YES the service was very fast.

On with goods Greg, what do these things sound like. The first thing you will notice about these mics is that they are BIG, and I do mean big. This is a good thing. They are built like tanks and I believe they could handle just about any abuse you could give them. I have to tell you I am blown away by the sound and versatility of these microphones. The Clarion, my favorite of the Lauten mics, has several settings. First it offers a -10 pad that lets you get up nice and close with out having all the proximity problems with other mics. The sound is clear and warm and very present. On the opposite side of the switch is a +10db boost…this thing will really allow the voice to pop….it has a presence unlike anything I have heard…it’s a very in your face sound but at the same time it’s not harsh or heavy. The normal or “0” position on the switch is also great; again a nice clear warm sound that can make any voice pleasing. It seems to lack the presence the other two settings do but this is not a bad thing and I have found it also to be very useful. The Clarion also has a setting for Omni, Figure of 8 and cardioid.

The next microphone I tried was the Oceanus. For me this is more of a singers mic than a voice work microphone. Although with the right voice and the right preamp this could be a great microphone for voice over. It is extremely smooth and warm yet still has the ability to add a punch if needed and at the same time maintain that upper “airiness” sense as well. I would highly recommend it for singers to try. I really loved how smooth it is and I am told by people who sing that this microphone is one you have to hear.

The next microphone in the line is the Horizon. This is the tube microphone in the Lauten Audio line up. Again another winner! Lauten Audio has captured the essence of the “tubey” sound and feel. However the Horizon is not a one trick pony, it is also has the ability to give you that classic clear warmth that seems to be so popular today and at the same time giving you it’s own unique sonic signature. This one also has a -10 and a -20 pad should you need it.

To tell you that I have been impressed with Lauten Audio and Brian Loudenslager would be somewhat of an understatement. This company is going to go a long way. They are developing a new classic sound, and that sound works and works very well. Normally I wouldn’t mention this but it will help you understand the dedication Brian has to delivering exceptional customer service. I wrote to Brian the other day. His response (within the hour I might add) was that he was bed ridden with tonsillitis. Yet here he was taking care of his customers. It doesn’t get much better than that. Take a look at their site and demo their sound. You’ll like what you hear.

If your looking for that rich, lush sound of yesterday based on those clones of the past. These are not your microphones. If you want to stand out and differentiate yourself from the crowd Lauten Audio Microphones are the new classic sound. Visit the website, talk to Brian. www.LautenAudio.com

Source: Greg Phelps

The company entered the market in 2006 with great expectations that they could transform the way audio advertisements on broadcast radio were produced and purchased, never shying away from a challenge.

Google VP Product Management, Susan Wojcicki, says, “While we’ve devoted substantial resources to developing these products and learned a lot along the way, we haven’t had the impact we hoped for. So we have decided to exit the broadcast radio business and focus our efforts in online streaming audio. We will phase out the existing Google Audio Ads and AdSense for Audio products and plan to sell the Google Radio Automation business, the software that automates broadcast radio programming. Advertisers will continue to be able to use Google Audio Ads until May 31 and broadcasters will be able to publish inventory to Google until that date as well.”

As a recap, here’s how Google Audio Ads used to work.

Google Brings Advertisers and Radio Stations Together

Google has positioned the Audio Ads system to serve both top-level advertisers, as well as the advertising agencies themselves. Although advertising agencies already have media planning and media buying personnel, you can now buy commercials direction from local, regional and national radio stations.

How Google Delivers Ads to Radio

1. Google Audio Ads is powered by a station inventory management system and studio log.

2. Google links electronically with radio stations to search for inventory that fits your advertising criteria.

3. Inventory is paired with your advertising requests, called “Google Avails”.

4. Google delivers an automated order to the radio station and reserves the ad inventory.

Source: Techmeme.com and Google Blog