Do voice actors really need in ear monitors?

They offer excellent isolation and can sound fantastic, but they can also feel uncomfortable, create an unnatural sense of pressure, and make it harder to hear your own voice unless your direct monitoring is set up properly.

In this episode, George, Robert, Robbo and AP look at when headphone isolation genuinely matters, including WALA sessions, radio interviews, music driven reads, remote recording, pickups and situations where headphone bleed can end up permanently embedded in the recording.

They also consider the complete opposite approach. Rather than blocking everything out, could lightweight open headphones give voice actors a more natural performance while still providing enough cue audio for punch and roll recording?

Robbo shares how headphone bleed unexpectedly saved part of a previous Pro Audio Suite episode. A damaged recording contained a missing line from Robert, but a faint version had leaked into another host's headphones. After gaining it up, processing it and running it through Waves ReGen, Robbo was able to slip the repaired line back into the episode.

The team also discusses reading to music, reading to picture, custom in ear monitors, cheap Koss headphones, modular AIAIAI headphones, and Robert's experimental plan to eliminate Source Connect echo with a ribbon microphone, a loudspeaker and some carefully aimed figure-eight rejection.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why voice actors consider in ear monitors
• When headphone bleed actually causes problems
• Why WALA sessions require serious isolation
• Radio interviews and remote recording echo
• Recording pickups when music has leaked into the original take
• Reading voiceover scripts with music underneath
• When music improves a performance
• Reading to picture and visual timing cues
• How headphone bleed helped rescue a damaged podcast episode
• Using Waves ReGen to reconstruct missing dialogue
• Robert's figure eight microphone experiment
• Why sealed in ears can make some performers feel uncomfortable
• The importance of direct monitoring with IEMs
• Open headphones for punch and roll recording
• Affordable Koss headphones for voice actors
• Custom moulded in ears
• Modular AIAIAI TMA headphones

What is the cleanest way to connect several microphones, preamps and audio interfaces without constantly crawling behind the rack?

AP starts with what sounds like a simple question about expanding the line-level inputs on his Audient iD44. That sends the team down a glorious rabbit hole involving passive switchers, mic splitters, USB converters, matrix routers, the Heritage Audio Synth Buddy, ESI interfaces, Broadcast Tools, Source-Nexus and the Passport VO.

Eventually, one decidedly old-school solution keeps winning the argument: the humble patchbay.

The team discusses quarter-inch, Bantam and TT patchbays, normalled and half-normalled connections, passive mic splitting, phantom power, transformer isolation, corrosion, loose connectors and why adding another preamp stage may not be the sonic disaster people imagine.

Along the way, George mourns the disappearance of simple line-level audio interfaces, Robert explains how passive splitters survive real concert recording jobs, and Robbo demonstrates his remarkable ability to make a straightforward signal path impressively complicated.

In this episode:

• Switching several microphones and preamps into one interface
• Passive line-level switchers versus audio interfaces
• Why a patchbay may be the simplest solution
• Normalled, half-normalled and open patchbay configurations
• Quarter-inch patchbays versus TT and Bantam systems
• Passive microphone splitting and phantom power
• Transformer isolation and troublesome ground loops
• Keeping the signal path clean without overengineering it

The Pro Audio Suite is hosted by George Whittam, Robert Marshall, Andrew Peters and Darren "Robbo" Robertson.

Thanks to our sponsors:

Tri-Booth
Austrian Audio, Making Passion Heard

Leave a comment, suggest a topic or simply say g'day at theproaudiosuite.com.

The Neumann U87 may be one of the most recognisable microphones in the world, but does that make it the right microphone for voiceover and animation?

This week, the team digs into the reputation, sound and real world value of the U87. Andrew is considering one for Somerset's animation work, which sparks a much bigger discussion about why certain microphones become industry standards and whether producers genuinely require them.

We compare the U87 with alternatives including the Neumann TLM 103, TLM 193, U89, Sennheiser MKH 416, Microtech Gefell models and the Austrian Audio OC818.

The conversation covers:

• Why animation studios sometimes record with both a U87 and a 416
• Whether microphone requirements are about sound or repeatability
• The differences between older U87s and newer U87 Ai models
• Why a great microphone can still sound ordinary in a poor room
• The U87 compared with the Austrian Audio OC818
• Transformer and transformerless microphone designs
• Whether the mic, preamp or converter makes the biggest difference
• Why performance and room acoustics still come first
• Processing, reverb and the engineer's role in the final sound

Is the U87 still the ultimate voiceover microphone, or has its reputation become bigger than the microphone itself?

Thanks to our sponsors:

Austrian Audio
Making Passion Heard.

Find out more about the team and the show at theproaudiosuite.com.