Pat Fraley's "the gypsy's guide to Professional Home Recording".

[Bob Kemp]

I have told several people after having both read the book & listened to the CD that Pat Fraley should consider changing the name of this product to "Home Recording for Dummies". He make's it just that easy to understand and implement.

The book is a quick & easy read, and the print is large enough that I didn't need my bifocals!! The CD is also easy to listen to and understand without a lot of technical jargin getting in the way. Both held my attention from the beginning.

Since I am new to the VO industry, I needed material just exactly as Pat Fraley has presented here, in a plain, easy, straight-forward presentation without a lot of frill. The photo's were a nice touch as well and helpful to someone like me that is a visual learner. I felt like I was actually sitting down with Pat Fraley and asking him my questions one-on-one.

I would also recommend this material to anyone that has been in the industry for a while and may still have questions. I think it should be a part if every VO Talents library because it makes a good reference guide that you can go back to from time to time.

I look forward to aquiring more of Pat Fraley's material and adding it to my library as well. Great job Pat. Thank you.
Bob Kemp

[Jon Morss]

Yo Bob -- Uh, Its Pat Fraley not Farley.

Ditto anywho.

Jon

[JoeActor]

Originally Posted by Jon Morss

Yo Bob -- Uh, Its Pat Fraley not Farley.
Ditto anywho.
Jon

Fixed!,
Joe J Thomas
Joe J. Thomas Acting Portfolio

[deewesbrooks]

The Gypsy Guide to Home Studio Recording

By Pat Fraley

(review by Dee Wesbrooks)

A wonderfully, helpful book/cd resource combination for voice over talent, especially if you are a novice. The Gypsy Guide to Home Studio Recording, by Pat Fraley, is an informative guide (with comic relief) in the fundamentals of a voice/over career. It touches on every aspect of home voice recording: script reading, equipment, voice recording, additional reading, marketing your talents. After reading and listening to Pat Fraley’s home studio guide, you’ll be ready for the next level of home voice recording!

[JoeActor]

Thanks Dee!

Seems like I need the entire Pat Fraley library...
(wonder if he's got a discount for the whole set?)

Cheers,
Joe J Thomas
Joe J. Thomas Acting Portfolio

p.s. btw, it's "Fraley", not "Farley" (corrected for you ;-)

[Julie Williams]

He's pretty awesome! (Pat Fraley)

Thanks for correcting the name, Joe. I must have had a typo when I sent the info out because two of the four talent made that same error!

[GregLittlefield]

One of the great things about being able to train with Pat Fraley is his ability to take all the intricate aspects of voice acting and relate them to the student in a manner that is easy to understand, remember and use.

In “The Gypsy’s Guide to Professional Home Recording” book and CD set, Pat and his partner Hillary Huber give a very basic overview on how one can easily and inexpensively begin recording at home. By now, most of us who are starting out have read books that cover the basics of getting started in voiceover: what type of microphone to get, what software to use, etc. Pat and Hillary discuss this on the hour-long CD and offer their suggestions on what the most affordable choices are for professional-grade equipment. In fact, they even recommend material by other authors for those who wish to learn more about the engineering side of home recording.

The manual that is included in this set is about 40 pages in length. While most of the material is reiterated on the CD, there is one section that can be particularly helpful (especially to those out there who might be technophobes) is where Pat illustrates one example of how to take out mistakes in your audio file using your audio editing program of choice. Being able to look at wave forms and gracefully cut out mistakes is an art form in itself, but Pat at least shows you how to recognize where to find mistakes in your audio file and how to fix them.

The true strength of this set, however, lies in what Pat says no other Home Recording material in the country will tell you: how to direct yourself. This is an integral part of the process because the evolution of voice acting has come to a point where most auditions and projects can be done at home. The talent who works alone has to rely on their own ear to determine if their production is satisfactory before submitting it. Pat and Hillary take the listener through the stages of text analysis, some character development, and give many examples of how to better bring the story and meaning out of the script. They also include interviews with industry professionals to further illustrate the importance of learning how to do all this properly if you’re going to do it yourself. Most of the other aspects of home recording are addressed in brief, but nearly half of the CD is devoted to self-direction.

If you can’t make it to one of Pat’s excellent workshops in person, this set is the next best thing! (Quilts not included.)

[Jon Morss]

The Gypsy’s Guide to Professional Home Recording is a great place to start when setting up a home studio for Voice Over Artists. The best thing is that with this guide you can have your own semipro recording facility for about $355. And, Like the other teaching material that Pat Fraley produces, The Gypsy’s Guide gives you the info that you need to get going in a hurry. If you are not real big in playing with recording equipment or using audio software you will have to ““Embrace your inner Geek” as Pat says to get the most from the Gypsy Guide.

One thing I found interesting is that VO folks in LA actually get turned down for jobs because they do not have the ability to record at home. It is the way of the future. Like Europe, most VO work is performed from VO artist from their private homes. Not having the ability to produce a good quality audition from your home already puts you at a competitive disadvantage. And considering the popularity of online sites like Voices.com and Voice123.com, if you lack the ability to record an audition at a moments notice means you will miss out an a wealth of potential jobs

The banter between Pat and Hillary Huber was very funny and kept my attention while listening to the CD. I like how Pat would set up the jokes and Hillary played the straight person. She seemed keep him in line when he went astray.

The mic comparison between the MXL 990, Studio Projects C1 (The mic i use), Samson C01U and the Sennneiser 421 was particularly interesting to me. Based on the info the Gypsy Guide, I decided to buy a Studio Projects C! for myself. If its good enough for Disney, then it must be more than good enough for me.

As far as what recording software to use, I liked the analogy that Pat Fraley used with regards to using Pro Tools. “Using Pro Tools for VO recording is like operating a Jet Airplane to go to the grocery store.” Pat uses BIAS Peak LE on his Mac since as he states he is “Light Weight”. This is good news for folks who can not afford the big ticket software packages like CuBase or Pro Tools or for those who would rather keep it simple. BIAS Peak LE goes for less than $100 online and is very easy to use.

A great aspect of the Gypsy guide workbook and CD combo is that they not only address how to setup your own home recording studio, but they also cover Self Direction. Since there are no producers or recording engineers to help direct you during a recording session in your home, you have to have the ability and skills to read the copy as well as direct yourself in order to produce great auditions or final recordings. This is the basic Text Analysis that needs to be addressed for any type of recording involving the 3 basic questions; What, Who and Where. This was a brief coverage of what is included in Pat’s “The 9 Critical Skills to VO Excellence” workbook, which is also a must have for any VO talent.

As I stated at the beginning of the review, “The Gypsy’s Guide to Professional Home Recording” is a great starting place. It will get you up and running and recording in no time for small chunk of change. However, to move on to the next level or for more details with regards to recording in your own home studio, Pat suggests getting Harlan Hogan and Jeffery Fisher’s book “The Voice Actor’s Guide to Home Recording.” I have this book as well and it is a tremendous resource for getting to the nitty-gritty of home recording. Plus, it is written in a manner so anyone, regardless of their technical background, can follow. But that’s for another review.

If you are just starting or planning to start recording auditions in your own home, then Pat Fraley and Hillary Huber’s “The Gypsy’s Guide to Professional Home Recording” is the prefect place to start. This book and CD combo will get you on your VO recording feet in a short period of time . I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to recording at home.

Jon Morss