Recording: Then and Now - Part I

I thought I'd keep the ball rolling by talking a bit about how things have changed since I did my first VO job in 1982. I'm relying on memory here, so details may be a bit lacking--what can you do?

Back then, of course, recording was essentially all on tape. There were a (very) few folks who saw the digital future and were experimenting with recording audio on computers, but professional audio studios were all about the analog waveform, baby. In large part this is still true--only the final recording medium has changed.

So, on that first job, I remember going to the studio, meeting the producer and the engineer, and being shown to the booth. In that particular studio, the booth wasn't much bigger than a phone booth. There was a tall stool on which to sit (if so desired), a music--er--copy stand, and a small window through which to see there was still a world outside. (!)

That session was a real education. Through the course of the next few hours (the job was a corporate narration), I learned a lot about how sessions work, why there's an engineer in the studio all the time (now there's a whole "nother" story...), and just how warm those little booths can get. I was fortunate to have a producer/director who was very good about letting me hear my own sound, how various mic chain mods affected the sound, and so on. I was hooked.

At that time, though, I had been involved in acting for about 10 years, and was considering the Hollywood/New York decision. I did some more VO work in the following months, adding to my list of contacts. Through a series of (I don't think unfortunate, but who knows) events, I had opportunity to see some of the less attractive sides of "show biz", and turned my attention toward a more reliable career. Sadly, I threw VO in with that decision, and so figured that side of life was done. Little did I know...