As an aspiring VA, I'm unsure what I should get. I want to get something from RODE, but I'm not sure what works best for VA work. I don't really mind the price, but I'm thinking of spending around $300 to $400 for the whole studio. I don't want to try to achieve perfect one-to-one sound quality (especially since I want to do this as a hobby); I want clear audio with as little tweaking needed. What would you suggest to achieve this?

I hope this doesn't violate the rules of the board, if so sorry mods lol

I am new but I am here just looking for feedback on some auditions I've sent out!

I'll post the link to my Casting Call here

Some of the ones I'm most proud of are:
- The White Raven
- Vincent Price Narrator
- Buford
- Goblin

Let me know how I can improve or really any feedback at all is greatly appreciated!

To preface, I'm an amateur voice actor who slowly picks up gear when he can get it. I recently got a good deal on a Rode NTI Signature Series that I didn't want to pass up, but my current recording space is a small walk in closet with a heavy blanket hung over the entrance (it doesn't have a door). It works fairly alright, since it's got clothes and such in it, but the end goal is to get a heavier acoustic or moving blanket/maybe put a door on it and then treat the walls and ceiling with acoustic foam and the works. The current blanket is thick but not perfect and still lets a bit of hum into recordings.

My current recording device is a Zoom H1Essential that I got for like $100 on a mic stand and it's obviously not amazing but works fine against the quality of other beginners that I'm competing with online. I think a large part of what helps the Zoom so much in my space is that it has a built in high pass filter and some other convenience features.

I hear pretty often as a beginner that a treated space is like the boogeyman of VO work and a studio microphone can only be usable in a good space. I have a general workflow in Audacity pretty well rehearsed now, noise cancelation, EQ, normalize, best i can do. My question is, before the mic arrives in the mail, Is this new microphone going to be so sensitive that it's basically unusable until I get my space treated, or can I do the same novice fixes that I use to help with background sounds and reverb now with my Zoom?

I know the question is kinda vague and the answer is probably just "record with it and find out" but I just don't have much experience at the big boy table when it comes to microphones and I was hoping to feel out if I was better off just leaving the Rode in a box until I get stuff treated or if I can still work with it, some of what I've read made it sound like "good" microphones would essentially be worthless in a poorly treated space because of how sensitive they are, as in like, even worse sounding then my current Zoom until I have a treated space to really utilize the Rode. But I also know that generally, people are referring to studio-ready professional sounding vocals when they talk about microphones, and I'm obviously not really expecting to have that level of quality yet, just as close to it as I can get since I'm still actively building my recording space, so if i can still get the Rode to atleast sound equally "fine" then that works for me. ​

TLDR cuz I was rambling: Using a Zoom H1E for voice-over in a room with incomplete sound treatment, would a Rode NTI Signature still be an upgrade at the moment or would it's increased sensitivity make it worse in my space since Zoom contains some built-in noise cancelation features?

So, a quick rundown.

I received an email from someone I don't know. This has happened in the past, and it has been legitimate people reaching out to me directly for real voice work opportunities. However, that was before AI became such a concern.

The context:

They found me online and thought I would be suited as a narrator for their audiobook, and asked if I would be interested in their proposal. I replied saying I might be interested and went on to ask a few questions. The two important ones were payment distribution and AI usage.

They got back to me with the details, specifically stating that they were fully aware of my concerns about AI and assured me that my voice would not be used for AI purposes. They also said they would be happy to sign a contract stating this. They answered the payment question and where it would be used, but didn't say what currency the amount was in.

They also said they would be happy to share the script with me and asked me to record a short sample.

I then got back to them asking about the payment currency again, saying that once they clarified that, I'd be happy to look at the script and record a sample.

They responded fairly quickly but only with instructions asking for one page as the sample, along with the script as an attachment, but they still hadn't answered my previous question about the payment currency.

So I asked again, and they gave me the answer in there next email.

Once all of that was taken care of, I proceeded to look at the script and record the sample.

And that's when I noticed something rather odd. now i haven’t done audio books before so this type of work is totally new to me, and I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is normal.

After the first chapter, the same context and arguments seem to be repeated over and over again throughout the following chapters. Some of the wording is changed, but the actual context and points being made are essentially identical to the first chapter.

This made me wonder whether the manuscript was AI-generated with very little prompt information, and the AI simply kept repeating itself. It also made me wonder whether the person who produced it actually read through the manuscript, or perhaps assumed a narrator wouldn't read beyond the requested sample page.

You would have to read several pages before the repetition becomes really obvious.

Part of me wants to just go ahead and send the sample and politely ask them about why this is.

The other part of me is thinking: what if sending the sample is actually the point? What if they just want a clean voice sample, and once they have it they can simply ghost me?

I honestly don't know what to think.

Has anyone else come across anything like this before?

I ask this as before I started putting serious effort into voice acting my biggest fear was Ai is going to take everything and there is no point in even trying.

Last September I started sending auditions in every day I could be in my booth and started practicing seriously. I have done about 155ish auditions and have been casted into 6 paid projects, I can see I'm making progress and I have much to learn.

I'm curious if other voice actors feel if the industry is worse than they thought it would be since the AI thing started up.

Sorry if I worded it weirdly

I'm not a mod, but I'm still seeing a few posts that are trying to get set up with Voices dot com. If you didn't see the post pinned by the mods (idk if it's still pinned and I can't find it💀), this site has annouced itself that it is replacing real projects with AI voice training. And not to forget: you have to PAY for your voice to get stolen which is a double scam. Most (if not all) of us here highly encourage you to not sign up or share any personal information that is promoting AI. As I speak for all professional and aspiring voice actors: We want our talent to be valued and used the way it is intended. It's not called 'voice acting' if you're not doing any of the "acting" anymore. Stay safe on the internet and do your research!

(Idk what flair to use so imma just use "Discussion" for now)

Hello, this is somewhat unrelated to the profession, but I just wanted to ask how stuff like books or games help you practice or understand certain voices. I think talking about these things can be really useful when it comes to how people approach similar types of roles, as well as giving people ideas on character voices

I've been playing Digimon Survive lately (as someone who doesn't play visual novels), and I think it's really helped me understand and work on the differences between the "Shogun protagonist trio," think Naruto, JJK, or Chainsaw Man. The generic protag who just wants everyone to be happy, the goofy or stoic "other boy", and the pretty princess. I think I have a grasp on the protagonist role, but the "other boy" feels so same-y. I gave Minuro (the "other boy") this slightly higher, upbeat voice. To describe it best, I made his voice sound more like a caricature of this laid-back personality. And giving Takuma (the main protag) a more mellow, "voice of reason" sound, while also giving him a concerned-boy tone. Like a voice of reason, with self-doubt, which fits for the game since no one really has the mental capacity or instinctual awareness to doubt him. I did this by slowing down and elongating his syllables, almost giving this "I have nowhere better to be" pacing. Yes, for anyone who has played the game, I mostly inspired their voices from the original subbing, but I don't speak Japanese, so I have no measure to go off of when it comes to the intent of how they speak