Becoming a Voiceover Artist, STEP ONE Equipment (Part 1)

(Check out the Video below as well, this was the transcribed script for it)

Becoming a Voiceover Artist

A Beginner's Guide: Step 1

Equipment.

What do you need? There is going to be multiple video steps to this process and each step will have to do with How to get yourself setup and ready to go. This video will cover the first three things you need. If you have these items, you can skip to the next step. I also go into the specifications of each item as well, so if you DO have these items and aren't sure if they are up to date enough then I'll go into that as well.

The first three items are

1. Desktop Computer or Laptop
2. Fast Internet Connection
3. Headphone

1. Desktop Computer or Laptop.

This is going to be the first item needed. I assume everyone has one but here are the requirements of the desktop computer. Which would include Monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers.

1. At least 20gb or more Free: Audio files will take up a lot of space and so will applications and possible updates to the operating system.
2. Fairly Recent operating system, within the last four years. PC, Windows 7 is usually a good start. If you see NT, XP, or have use DOS for anything, probably should buy a new pc. Not familiar with mac users, and if you are going to actually buy a computer I wouldn't use a mac because you'll be spending a lot of money elsewhere as well.
3. RAM: Bout a Gb or more.
4. USB ports, if you computer doesn't have any, it's probably too old and you should get a new one.
5. Have a 10/100 Mb Ethernet card for LAN and DSL connection or better.

Pretty simple eh? Everyone's probably got something like this. If you are going to buy a PC, just ask them this.

Here's what I need

1. At least a 60 Gig hard drive.
2. Windows 7
3. A gig of ram or more.
4. USB ports (they'll look at you funny but just ask)
5. Will this connect to my DSL / Cable line? Does it have a network Card.
6. Does it come with speakers?

If they try and upsale you over the cheapest desktop they have, just take the cheapest one. You could probably get the desktop itself for $300, and an extra $200 if you wanna upgrade the monitor as well.

2. Fast internet Connection
   1. DSL or higher, if you hear this________ you need to get a new internet connection. It is imperative because you will be uploading lots of information and that is going to cost you time and time is money.
   2. You could probably get a slower dsl connection for around 20-30 dollars a month, if you're just starting out that's all you'll need.

Lastly, for this step, Headphones. This is a constant thing with Voice Artists, some say use them and some say don't, I feel it's imperative to have this as a beginner for one reason only, to HEAR what your studio sounds like. I don't care how close you put your ears to your Bose sound system, there's something different about having them around your ears. Here are my recommendations for headphones.

1. Full Size Headphones work best in my opinion. Noise Cancelling isn't necessarily needed. So don't waste the extra money. Just mid level quality closed ear headphones. I use the Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones, they are Studio Monitoring Professional headphones and you should be able to get them for between 50-100 dollars and the investment is well made. There is no need for bells and whistles, Dre and Gaga do NOT make Voiceover headphones. They add to the sound and you really wanna hear the same thing that the client will.

That's the first step, and there's gonna be a lot of steps to go. So, now you have a workable computer, a decent set of headphones, and a fast internet connection.