Homemade Voice-Over or Song Demo Made Easy
So many people have written to me asking me to post a blog about a cheap and easy way to create
your very own homemade Voice-Over or Song Demo; today I will provide you with a quick and easy rundown on how you can create your own vocals, beats and edit them to perfect your very own demo. I have included a Screen-Cast Tutorial as well as one of my very own Edited Voice-Demo's below.
your very own homemade Voice-Over or Song Demo; today I will provide you with a quick and easy rundown on how you can create your own vocals, beats and edit them to perfect your very own demo. I have included a Screen-Cast Tutorial as well as one of my very own Edited Voice-Demo's below.
Voice-Over Artists are among the highest paid work-at-home professionals and with a multitude of sites to provide your services on, the options are unlimited. Know now though, the competition is hefty, how you market or invest in yourself in furtherance of your voice-over career at the end of this blog is up to you. Many voice-over artists that use the methods that I will show you would be very happy to have me keep these tips to myself, I suspect that many V/O Artists use similar methods and prefer to keep this knowledge tucked away for a rainy day, after all, who needs the competition.
I don't worry about sharing secrets, in fact, I like to share any opportunity that comes my way. Why? Because the truth is that we're all uniquely qualified to walk the footpath of another, no two people are going to approach an opportunity in the same fashion. So what! I share this information with you and unless you have a the very same voice that I have or the exact same vocal capability, we're really not competing.
Audacity
First things first; you absolutely must download Audacity, after doing some digging, I found that Audacity is the best product on the market. Not only will you be able to import audio, you will be able to remove background noise and static. During the processing of a Voice-Over Demo, I was able to remove all of the breathy and "sss" sounds to create a clean and crisp copy of my vocals. You can download Audacity from any provider however, I trust CNET and that is the link that I have included above.
Voice-Over Scripts (or Lyrics)
Once you have downloaded Audacity, pin it to your start menu or open it in a separate window. The second thing that you will need to do is have your voice-over script ready. You can get free voice
over scripts at Voices. If you're recording vocals, then keep your lyrics close by because you'll want
them handy.
The next thing that you will do is record your vocals directly onto Audacity however, because
you may not have a plug-in Mic, I'm going to show you a way around that, the instructions that follow are for those that do not have a plug-in. Keep in mind that you have the capability of
recording your vocals directly on Audacity via the "Record" button however, depending on your PC's mic or how quiet your home is, there is no guarantee that the sound will be optimal. Also, once you've recorded the vocals or uploaded them, it's important to take the time out to edit them. You absolutely MUST edit your vocals before importing the beats/music on Audacity.
over scripts at Voices. If you're recording vocals, then keep your lyrics close by because you'll want
them handy.
Recording Your Vocals
The next thing that you will do is record your vocals directly onto Audacity however, because
you may not have a plug-in Mic, I'm going to show you a way around that, the instructions that follow are for those that do not have a plug-in. Keep in mind that you have the capability of
recording your vocals directly on Audacity via the "Record" button however, depending on your PC's mic or how quiet your home is, there is no guarantee that the sound will be optimal. Also, once you've recorded the vocals or uploaded them, it's important to take the time out to edit them. You absolutely MUST edit your vocals before importing the beats/music on Audacity.
Recording Your Vocals
I know that you have a Smartphone so lets put it to work. You should already have a Recorder App on your cellphone, if not, you will need to download one. With you voice-over script or lyrics handy, you will now go ahead and record your vocals onto your cellphone's recorder app.
STEP #1
Record Your Vocals And Then Share Them
Either by e-mail, Google Drive or any other file-sharing service that you happen to be using.
STEP #2
Once you have recorded your vocals, you have the option of emailing them to yourself or using other methods like Google Drive or Dropbox etc.
Go ahead and download that Vocal onto your computer, name it and save it. We'll come back to it in a bit.
STEP #3 (If necessary)
Because you're cellphone might record the vocal as a 3gp file, you may need to convert it to an mp3 before you can use it within Audacity.
This is an easy step and you can get a free conversion over at: Zamzar.com.
It takes two minutes to upload your saved cellphone .3gp file and the conversion gets sent
to your email inbox. See below:
Once you have downloaded your mp3 file version, you can move onto the next step.
STEP #4
Next you will need some Audio Beats/Music
You can create your own music or find free music in any number of locations, I like to use the Beat Lab, they have a great Google Chrome App that works wonders.
Beat Lab allows you to create beats/music by easily clicking on different sounds, you can load as many "sounds" or "beats" as you like, you can change genres, increase or slow down the beats-per-minute and finally, it allows you to save and download your music.
Once you have created your music/beats, be sure to name and save them after you have downloaded them. Now that you have both your vocals and your beats ready, it's time for the next step. You will need to open your Audacity Application.
STEP #4
Load Vocals
First you'll go to the File Tab and Click on
the "Import Audio" option
Be sure to import your Vocals first!!
STEP #5
Edit Your Vocals Before Loading Your Music/Beats
Next, you need to edit your vocals; if however, your vocals are not breathy and need no editing, you can move on to Step #6 otherwise, if your vocals are breathy or you find that there is background noise or there are other sound defects, you can edit them by using the "effects" tab within Audacity. The latter can be done by using the "Noise Removal" option. You'll have to highlight the points in which you find said defects, highlight them and then add the effect. Continue to editing, i.e., Noise Removal, Fade or Cut-Out the defects until you have a crisp, clear vocal.
The Effects Tab will give you access to "Noise Removal"
STEP #6
You'll then want to head over to that "Import" tab and import your music/beats. You'll be able to cut them, or edit them in any way that you like with the Audacity tools and effects.
Here is a Screen Cast/Video Run-Through, the Screen-Cast sound isn't great, but I'll include my Voice-Over link below so that you can hear the sound quality as it relates to using Audacity/Beat Lab and in the meantime I'm on the hunt for a better quality Screen-Cast program. ;-)
Here's an Audacity Edited Voice-Over Demo that I created:
Once you have completed all of the steps, you can then save your project and WALLA, you now have your demo. It didn't cost you a penny and it sounds pretty darn awesome eh? This demo can be uploaded to any number of the Voice-Over sites that you will register for. If you're not sure where to begin, I will provide you with several links below,
Congratulations on the beginning of your Voice-Over career or your Singing career, good luck and God's speed to you. Please be sure to leave a comment if you found this little tutorial helpful and feel free to drop a link to your demo's, I'd love to hear them.
Until next time,
Ciao
VOICE-OVER LINKS
http://www.voiceoverauditionsonline.com/ (scroll all the way down, bottom right)
You can also provide your voice-over talent on http://www.fiverr.com or http://www.elance.com
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