The idea is to have a reflection filter. You can even record in a closet with alot of clothes.
To expand on this -
The materials in your recording environment are extremely important. Even my most casual viewers noticed a huge difference when I moved in my mic quality, and it was entirely from the environment. In my previous environment, the closet beside me pronounced reverb due to the finish on it. There was a window in front of me with, at best, closed blinds. They're plastic, a very flat, reflective sort of surface. Behind me was a bathroom and a fairly open room. Like throwing a sausage into an empty water tank.
Although my new room is much larger, the carpet is thicker, the ceiling is using panels typical of an office setting which absorb echo to an extent, and there are thick, rolling cloth curtains behind me. I also disrupted the environment to either sides with soft, angular surfaces to "trap" audio waves and piled boxes in angles behind me to disrupt bouncing lard. I studied a bit of acoustic/studio stuff shortly before we moved, so I tried to place my desk in a manner which prohibited immediate audio bouncing and not just anywhere. I did not expect the difference to be that big, but it was. Same hardware, same settings, totally different quality. Especially when you use something like a compressor that tends to jack up those ambient reverb tails.
Nonetheless, for around $200 CAD, I was able to get a heavy duty stand and an isolation shield that could fit to my Blue Yeti. The results for those samples were extremely clear despite the entire setup only being about $420 or so CAD (blaze it).
Compressors with a very strong effect on low volumes can still pick up even trace reverb, as seen in this sample (though note it's a different mic than the other sample). This super-strong compressor is used for my video projects to level out the mic and game audio since I work with merged streams, which is a nightmare for balancing volumes. Background audio gets picked up really easily by it, and noise removal filters would dramatically impact overall quality, so the environment must be as noise-free as possible.
Back in Warcraft 3's youthful days, some of the bigger campaigns came to me for remastering. The kind of things they handed me were probably illegal in certain states. Audio quality that you could feel rotting your kidneys. I was actually pretty successful in cleaning them, but there's a few things you should understand about noise removal and the costs it has. That I got a workable result was a miracle, but "workable" was, in my eyes, "bearable to listen to" and no one should settle for that today. That it got to the stage it needed remastering meant it was doomed for mediocre results from the start, and that's no good m8. Noise removal impacts the sample because it targets information your voice also contains. Focus on environment, then posture, then worry about editing after you have an acceptable result to edit. And, of course, less is more. Take it easy on effects. Experiment with them as individuals and learn how they can contribute to each other before vomiting into a big heap.
I won't even get into the whole acting thing, I could be here for weeks if I do. All I can really summarize there is - acting makes most people, including the vast majority of people who post samples on this forum, uncomfortable. They may not even realize it, but their voice exudes it. I could go on about how to embrace your character and blah blah but you probably get all that. I could tell you "practice!!" but you probably get that. I think the most useful thing I could encourage you to do is first get accustomed to the sound of your own voice. Out of all of the people I've tutored probably 90% of them told me they don't like the sound of their own voice and this was their first roadblock to overcome. Following that, speak lengthy dialogue. Cite audiobook passages and then actual dialogue with inflection. Work on longer pieces so you understand the value of intonation in shorter pieces. Becoming a caster and reviewer tremendously improved my voice acting and at that point I already had over 15 years experience in it. Issue was I hated my voice and had zero social interaction outside of the internet, so my general voice was underdeveloped. Learning my voice, becoming comfortable with it, and then working with it allowed me to control it in ways I never thought possible previous.
To expand on this -
The materials in your recording environment are extremely important. Even my most casual viewers noticed a huge difference when I moved in my mic quality, and it was entirely from the environment. In my previous environment, the closet beside me pronounced reverb due to the finish on it. There was a window in front of me with, at best, closed blinds. They're plastic, a very flat, reflective sort of surface. Behind me was a bathroom and a fairly open room. Like throwing a sausage into an empty water tank.
Although my new room is much larger, the carpet is thicker, the ceiling is using panels typical of an office setting which absorb echo to an extent, and there are thick, rolling cloth curtains behind me. I also disrupted the environment to either sides with soft, angular surfaces to "trap" audio waves and piled boxes in angles behind me to disrupt bouncing lard. I studied a bit of acoustic/studio stuff shortly before we moved, so I tried to place my desk in a manner which prohibited immediate audio bouncing and not just anywhere. I did not expect the difference to be that big, but it was. Same hardware, same settings, totally different quality. Especially when you use something like a compressor that tends to jack up those ambient reverb tails.
Nonetheless, for around $200 CAD, I was able to get a heavy duty stand and an isolation shield that could fit to my Blue Yeti. The results for those samples were extremely clear despite the entire setup only being about $420 or so CAD (blaze it).
Compressors with a very strong effect on low volumes can still pick up even trace reverb, as seen in this sample (though note it's a different mic than the other sample). This super-strong compressor is used for my video projects to level out the mic and game audio since I work with merged streams, which is a nightmare for balancing volumes. Background audio gets picked up really easily by it, and noise removal filters would dramatically impact overall quality, so the environment must be as noise-free as possible.
Back in Warcraft 3's youthful days, some of the bigger campaigns came to me for remastering. The kind of things they handed me were probably illegal in certain states. Audio quality that you could feel rotting your kidneys. I was actually pretty successful in cleaning them, but there's a few things you should understand about noise removal and the costs it has. That I got a workable result was a miracle, but "workable" was, in my eyes, "bearable to listen to" and no one should settle for that today. That it got to the stage it needed remastering meant it was doomed for mediocre results from the start, and that's no good m8. Noise removal impacts the sample because it targets information your voice also contains. Focus on environment, then posture, then worry about editing after you have an acceptable result to edit. And, of course, less is more. Take it easy on effects. Experiment with them as individuals and learn how they can contribute to each other before vomiting into a big heap.
I won't even get into the whole acting thing, I could be here for weeks if I do. All I can really summarize there is - acting makes most people, including the vast majority of people who post samples on this forum, uncomfortable. They may not even realize it, but their voice exudes it. I could go on about how to embrace your character and blah blah but you probably get all that. I could tell you "practice!!" but you probably get that. I think the most useful thing I could encourage you to do is first get accustomed to the sound of your own voice. Out of all of the people I've tutored probably 90% of them told me they don't like the sound of their own voice and this was their first roadblock to overcome. Following that, speak lengthy dialogue. Cite audiobook passages and then actual dialogue with inflection. Work on longer pieces so you understand the value of intonation in shorter pieces. Becoming a caster and reviewer tremendously improved my voice acting and at that point I already had over 15 years experience in it. Issue was I hated my voice and had zero social interaction outside of the internet, so my general voice was underdeveloped. Learning my voice, becoming comfortable with it, and then working with it allowed me to control it in ways I never thought possible previous.
Last, but not least, u gotta skate