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LEARN THE TECHNIQUES

Microphone technique for voiceover

Most problems in a home read are fixed at the microphone, before anything is recorded: the distance, the angle, a pop filter and a quiet room. Here are five quick tests to run with your own mic, what to listen for in each, and lines to practice on.

If a client or producer asks for a particular setup, theirs wins. Everything below is for when nobody has.

Start with the baseline

Free. All you need is your mic, closed headphones and a quiet minute.

Before you start

Wear closed headphones
Not speakers, and not open-back headphones that leak sound into the mic. You want to hear what the mic hears.
One take per test
Record each test as its own take at the same gain and name it, so you can play them side by side afterwards.
Read at full voice
Read each line the way you would on a job, not quieter. Pops and harsh S sounds show up at performance level.

Five things to try

  1. Test 1: A clean baseline

    Try

    Set the mic about a spread hand’s width from your mouth, thumb at your lips and little finger at the mic. Put the pop filter between you and the mic, speak straight into the front of it, and read the line at your normal level.

    Listen for

    Full, clear and even, with no thumps on the P and B sounds, no hiss on the S sounds and nothing behind your voice. Keep this take: every other test is compared with it.

    What helps

    Keep the same distance for the whole read. Moving in and out changes how loud and how full you sound from line to line, which someone then has to even out.

    Practice line

    Pete’s Pool and Patio: pick up a pair of padded patio chairs, priced to please.

    Setup: About a hand’s width from the mic, straight on, pop filter on.

  2. Test 2: Pops

    Try

    Take the pop filter away, move in until the mic is about two fingers’ width from your lips, and read the same lines straight at it.

    Listen for

    Bursts of low-frequency air on the P and B sounds: a thump as the breath from each one hits the mic. You will probably hear more bass in your voice too, because most studio mics boost the low end the closer you get (the proximity effect).

    What helps

    Back off to the baseline distance, put the pop filter back, or turn the mic as in the next test. A pop is hard to take out afterwards, so fix it at the mic.

    Practice lines

    Pete’s Pool and Patio: pick up a pair of padded patio chairs, priced to please.

    Big Bob’s Burger Barn: double bacon, buttered buns, best in Brookfield.

    Setup: Two fingers from the mic, straight on, no pop filter.

  3. Test 3: The angle

    Try

    Go back to the baseline distance, leave the pop filter off, and move the mic about 30 degrees to the side of your mouth (or above it), still aimed at your lips. Your breath now goes straight past it. Read the P and B lines again.

    Listen for

    The pops should mostly go while your voice stays clear. If it sounds thinner or duller than the baseline, you have turned too far: come back toward straight on a little at a time.

    What helps

    On a script full of hard P and B sounds, use the angle and the pop filter together.

    Practice lines

    Big Bob’s Burger Barn: double bacon, buttered buns, best in Brookfield.

    Pete’s Pool and Patio: pick up a pair of padded patio chairs, priced to please.

    Setup: Baseline distance, mic turned about 30 degrees off your mouth, no pop filter.

  4. Test 4: Sibilance

    Try

    Move in close again, straight on, and read the S lines.

    Listen for

    A harsh, hissy S and SH that jumps out of the word around it. Close and straight on, the mic picks up the most of it.

    What helps

    Back off to the baseline distance, aim the mic a little off your mouth (at the corner of your mouth or your chin), or both. A de-esser can tame what is left later, but on a dry read that is usually the producer’s job in the mix, so get it right at the mic first.

    Practice lines

    She sells sunshine specials on Seaside Street, Saturdays and Sundays, starting at six.

    Sixty-six sizzling sausages, sold fresh at Sam’s Smokehouse since nineteen sixty.

    Setup: Close to the mic and straight on.

  5. Test 5: The room

    Try

    At your baseline setup, press record and stay still and silent for five seconds. Then read the line, and keep quiet through the pause.

    Listen for

    Turn your headphones up and listen to the silence: hum, a fan or air conditioning, a fridge, a computer, traffic outside. Then listen to the pause in the line: a hollow, boxy sound or a short echo after your voice is the room itself.

    What helps

    Switch off what you can while you record, and record when it is quiet outside. Soft things soak up echo where hard, bare walls bounce your voice back into the mic: a closet full of clothes, heavy blankets hung around you and behind the mic, cushions, a rug.

    Between lines, the room should sit at or below −60 dBFS: that is the room noise limit the SendScripts.to recorder checks takes against, until a studio sets its own.

    Practice line

    Good morning. (pause) And welcome back to the drive home on Harbor 101.5.

    Setup: Your baseline setup. Record a few seconds of silence, then the line.

Set your level

Set the input gain on your audio interface or mic, not your computer’s speaker volume, while you read your loudest line at full performance level. A take that reaches 0 dBFS clips, and clipping can’t be undone, so leave room above your loudest word. These are the limits the SendScripts.to recorder checks every take against, until you set your own:

Peak
≤ −3 dBFSYour loudest word stays below this.
Average (RMS)
−24 to −14 dBFSLoud enough to work with, not squashed.
Room noise
≤ −60 dBFSThe gaps between lines should be quiet.

Leave a dry read unprocessed: no compression, noise reduction or EQ unless the client asks for it, because the producer will process it in the mix. The SendScripts.to recorder turns the browser’s own echo cancellation, noise suppression and automatic gain off for the same reason.

What these numbers mean, and the loudness specs for finished spots.

Check a take with the free loudness checker. Your file is measured in your browser and never uploaded.

FOR VOICEOVER ARTISTS

Every take, checked before it goes

The SendScripts.to recorder listens to your room for three seconds when you set it up, reads your script full screen and records in the browser. After each take it measures the peak, average level, loudness and room noise against your own limits, then attaches the take to the order, ready to send to your client for approval. No commission, ever: just you and the clients you already have.

Request early access Try the loudness checker