I recently read a blog post by a voice over artist which had some sensible advice for anyone who works in their own voice over home studio. It was originally posted by FVO Jenna Sharp (left) in December but I only came across the piece this week.

In a nutshell her advice was about the importance of what some people call redundancy – this is where you have a back-up for pieces of equipment in case the one you are using fails.

So Jenna has 3 microphones in her studio plus a load of extra XLR and interface leads. The idea is that if something fails you are able to quickly get up and running again. She has a second audio interface on hand and is thinking of getting an extra lap top too – just in case.

I endorse her thinking entirely and have just been double checking my own set up. I have plenty of mics (Neumann U87, Rode NT1, AT4033 x2, Aston Stealth, Aston Element – and more!) and I do have 2 audio interfaces. I also have 2 computers running software I can record and edit with. I normally use Logic on a mac but I also have Audition on a PC.

I was interested that she also included in her list emergency power supplies that will kick in should there be a power cut. Not something I would have generally worried about but this winter there have been stories in the news of the possibility of power cuts due to issues around insufficient power generation capacity so maybe a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) would be prudent.
Perhaps I’ll just have a look online for one at an affordable price.

Chris Radley – Voice Over