Entries Tagged as 'isdn'

source-connect is the standard and i’m a standard bearer (that means i have source-connect in my voiceover studio)

Voiceover Peter K. O'Connell Source-ConnectThere are nice things about being in a club.

I’m not talking about the leather-chair, cigar smoking clubs out there (I’ve been members at those kind of clubs…they are not that big a deal).

I’m mean like clubs where members share a common interest and can talk about things you each know about and, as a member, you can learn from people who share your interests…like audio production and voiceover. Turns out there’s a kind of club for that.

Technology brought a lot of change to the industry, some of it bad (pay to play voiceover web sites) and some of it good.

One of the good things was Source-Connect, which uses codecs and the internet to offer recording studios, media producers, voiceover talents like me and other audio professionals high-quality options to record and monitor recording sessions remotely.

ISDN AUDIOCONNELL.COMSource-Connect is (has been) replacing ISDN, which was the industry standard for remote recording. ISDN always sounds great, no doubt about that. The down side of ISDN is that it was expensive to connect to ISDN studios with over priced codec boxes and copper wiring via the telephone company’s system to make recording sessions happen.

After a while, between criminals in the street trying to steal expensive copper wiring and criminals at the phone company jacking the ISDN rates up (because they didn’t want to support an unprofitable service like ISDN)…studios and talent needed a new remote audio recording tool.

Enter Source Elements and Source-Connect. The faster the internet got, the better signals got – Source-Connect  allows super high quality remote audio recording with extremely low latency (if any at all).

Studios anywhere in the world can connect with me on Source-Connect (username: audioconnell) and the recording can be voiced by me here in Raleigh, NC voiceover studio and recorded on the other end (again, anywhere in the world) if they also have Source-Connect.

Oh, and with Source-Connect, a connection can be bridged to an ISDN recording studio if the studio only has or prefers ISDN. So I am still ISDN compatible, without the expense on my end.

That’s why I am a card carrying member of the Source-Connect club. The service makes it easier for my clients and it also make it easier for me.

Easy is the new black.

If you’d like to record with me using Source-Connect, just let me know. Voice with you soon!

the great voiceover fear – silence

Maybe it’s because I talk for a living.

Whatever the cause, when I was in an ISDN session this week (and I don’t do too many of them, much to Dan Friedman’s chagrin) the commercial producer at the other end had me do my line readings (literally two lines) in sets of threes and sixes (or until I lost count) and then turned off the mic after saying she’d get right back to me. So I stayed on hold, in the announce booth, waiting.

Why they didn’t have the instrumental version of “The Girl from Ipanema” playing in the background while I waited, I’ll never know.

All I heard was….silence. For minutes.

While I made small talk with my ISDN host, in my mind, I’m imagining a conversation across to the other codec as the silence continued.

Producer: Why was this guy chosen again?
Assistant: We can probably still get some of the other voices, it’s not too late.
Engineer: Can we just fire him so I can go to lunch now?

Now, in fact what they were likely doing was listening back, matching my reads with the female voice talent whom they recorded earlier, Catherine Sheehan, whose sentences I was finishing as part of the script.

Mr. Everyman Voice wins again!

Anyway, then everything was fine and they said thanks and I went on my merry way.

But for a brief moment, inside this only occasionally paranoid voice actor’s head, the silence was deafening.

Did this ever happen to you?

video cameras within isdn sessions

camera_recording_session

Today I came across another valuable article from my Google Alerts. If there are topics of interest to you professionally or personally, I hope you take advantage of this free service.

This Google Alert came under the term voice over and it let me to an article in Animation World Magazine, part of the Animation News Network. The article, written by animation casting director Mark Simon, discussed how he has started to use video cameras (computer cameras) via Skype as part of his ISDN sessions with animation voice actors. It was entitled “Seeing Voice-Overs”.

If this doesn’t start happening in a lot more ISDN sessions for animation, commercials or anything else, I’d be really surprised. A great idea and article from Mark.

the continuing evolution of ISDN for voice over and the looming impact of voice over internet protocol (VOIP) for producers

ISDN AUDIOCONNELL.COMIt’s funny how, not really so long ago, I was editing commercials, narrations and other voice over projects with a razor blade and tape on a beautiful Otari reel-to-reel machine. The digital age has made that skill obsolete.

While that’s not new news to most, take a moment to reflect on the time period of that change, how fast it took place, where technology is today and how in just a few future “blinks” we’re going to be producing audio and voice projects with even newer, faster technology.

ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network) has always had many applications but ISDN’s application for voice over talent has been a standard for over a decade (and its been around longer than that). But the question in voice over circles has been is “ISDN’s usefulness to voiceover’s about to change?”

For many part-time voice talents, the benefits of having an ISDN studio was squelched by the significant start up and maintenance costs; basically if you didn’t have a regular client to foot the ISDN bill, why take the financial risk.

Entering the mainstream consciousness in the past 4-5 years has been Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Companies like Vonage and Skype have for a while now been promoted VOIP’s significant benefits over our traditional long distance telephone calls plans. But now the benefits are being noticed and exploited by voice over talents by combining it with ISDN technologies.

VoIP over ISDN has real cost savings potential but for voice over talents and studios, there has not been the establishment of a leading product or services system for VoIP over ISDN, especially in using IP Telephony. There is no Telos Zephyr (the world-standard codecs for radio and television broadcasters) for VoIP over ISDN Systems. At present, VoIP over ISDN can be done technically,but the standard for Quality of Service is presently a bit…cumbersome.

My bet is that there will be even a faster, less expensive service that will include VoIP over ISDN or even surpass it as the technology of choice for cross country and international voice over hook ups. Wait until the market shakes out from that change!

Your thoughts?