How to prepare for directed voice over session

This is fairly common—you literally just get on the phone with the director, record your audio, receive feedback, re-do it, and once they are satisfied you are done. While it can be a convenient way to connect, the resulting quality of the voice over record is not as good.

Even though Skype is a common tool that allows you to speak to someone anywhere in the world over the Internet and it is decent quality for voiceover, Skype isn't going to deliver a high enough quality for any recording that’s intended to be used for TV or radio spots. Skype wasn’t built for recording broadcast media. So while technically that would work, that's not usually what you are going to be using for this type of recording session.

ISDN stands for “Integrated Services Digital Network”. It is very much like an advanced phone line that transmits studio-quality audio from one studio to another. This can be achieved by having ISDN-equipped studios at both the voice talent's location and the director's. As such, you need to have lines installed in your house (kind of like phone lines).

ISDN costs can get pricey. You can easily spend several hundred dollars an hour for use of ISDN gear and you probably would have to hire and go to a studio equipped with ISDN to do your recording. Take note that it has been around for many years and fortunately, there is new technology that you can use from home that replaces ISDN that we will discuss below.

You might ask, "If ISDN produces higher quality, why do we need to resort to alternatives?" It’s because ISDN is really old technology, and again -- it does require you to have those lines installed in your house.

“But, maybe I can just opt for the other connection choices then—like phone patch?” A lot of times, a phone patch is not an option for a client. If you've been in the business for a while, you know that ISDN is still pretty popular. It's still the standard for a lot of different types of voiceover work. But ISDN requires a lot more set up and maintenance, and it's not terribly cheap. Whereas the alternatives only require a web browser most of the time. Now if you are a new voice actor or if you're doing mostly explainer videos and maybe you're not represented by an agency, you probably don't need to worry about ISDN or bridging it. You're probably not going to get enough requests for it to be worth it to you to actually invest in getting that technology readily available for you. But, just know that—in a pinch, if you do need it—you can bridge with ipDTL.

ipDTL -- which stands for IP Down The Line, is my favorite. ipDTL is an IP codec running in a web browser and is used to connect studios.

To use it, you would go to ipdtl.com, click “Get ipDTL”, and from there you can choose a subscription. They range from $30 a month to $70 a month, or you could do a $15-day pass.

It tells you everything that you need right there. Basically, just an internet connection, your web browser, and the way to record (whether that's a USB microphone or an interface to your XLR microphone). From there, if you need help actually figuring out how to make it work, there are facts there on the web page, as well as support. There’s also an ipDTL Facebook users’ group that they link to on their website as well, where you could jump into for community support.

ipDTL costs range from $30 a month to $70 a month, or you could do a $15-day pass. Monthly and annual subscriptions are available.  At the time of this article was written (October 2020), prices for ipDTL cost around $80 per year for a starter mono subscription, $160 for the high-end stereo audio, and $250 for the video subscription. Pricing estimates depend on the setup you require. Visit the ipDTL website for a cost estimate.

While the price point for ipDTL is reasonable, the main setback is the current lack of clients using it as a form of connecting to voice actors for a live recording.

Source-Connect is different in that you can do a monthly subscription, but you could also just buy the software and download it onto your computer. Compared to ipDTL which is web-based, Source-Connect is actual software that you download onto your machine. If you want a browser-based version of Source-Connect, that’s where Source-Connect Now comes in.

Source Connect is considered to be the new ISDN for many audio producers. It allows you to connect studio-to-studio remotely, like ISDN, but instead of channeling the audio through phone lines, the audio is routed through Source Connect’s network which is accessed via the Internet. Each party must have the Source Connect software installed on their computer. Connecting is made simple via a dashboard within the software. The sound quality is pristine and the technology rarely fails, making Source Connect a great alternative to ISDN. 

Now, in situations when a client prefers a phone patch, how is it actually done? There’s a technical way of doing it and some equipment is required, but these days most of the time, you just need your cell phone, your earbuds, and your voiceover recording tools. 

How it works is you're going to be on your cell phone with the client (either you call the client or the client calls you), and through your earbuds, you’ll be able to hear the client’s directions as you’re reading. So you’ll record on your end using your own tools, and at the end of the session -- you would just send the recorded files to the client. Pretty simple, right?

First thing is to not get intimidated by that if you've never done a directed session before. You got this. It’s not rocket science!

The key is to test it out on your own before your schedule directed voiceover session. Don't make your first experience or your first interaction with ipDTL, Source-Connect, or Source-Connect Now right when you're trying to record live with your client.

Let's say you did a phone patch with your cell phone. You're done recording using your own local machine, and you realize there are some really loud spikes that you didn't notice during the session -- maybe you got too close to your microphone or you didn't adjust your gain properly, so the audio’s a little bit distorted. Man, the first thing you're going to want to do is see if you can fix it on your own, but if not and even if you can, you want to own up to it. Let your client know. If it's a job you got through an agent, let your agent know. If recording somehow gets destroyed or otherwise compromised, you just let them know. It's going to be uncomfortable, but the sooner you let them know, the sooner you can work to correct it -- whether that's through creating another session or something like that. It's not going to be fun, but when working with technology, things happen. It's not fun to deal with, but people understand.

So those are the basic things to keep in mind when you book a directed session. You have to be prepared. You should be familiar with whatever technology it is that you're going to be using. Know your options as far as the technology options that are available. Come prepared to the session, and have fun!