The tablets are an ally for the voice talent. If you are a voice over artist who is on the road a lot, the chances are that you keep taking your tablet everywhere you go. The iPad and Android tablet has become a great friend and companion to the VO artist. With new recording apps being developed and technology that keeps evolving, the ability to record high quality audio without being in a studio has been enhanced by these devices.
So what’s out there currently in the world of voice over and the tablet?
Well, you’ve got the irig microphone and irig pre which is the first hand-held mic and pre amp to be launched that is compatible with the ipad, iphone, ipod touch and Android tablets. The irig mic is great for recording on the move and doing podcasts etc. The irig pre also allows you to connect any other USB or XLR microphone to your tablet and record good quality audio.
There is also the Apogee MiC which is now available and states that it’s the first studio-quality mic for Garage Band and can be used with the ipad, iphone and Mac. This Mic has a built in pre amp and converter and more expensive than the irig as you would expect.
To support audio recording there are numerous apps available. Using audio editing apps like VocaLive and Garage Band allows you to produce audio tracks with features that many other more expensive audio editing software has like ProTools
The VO artist has never had so much choice when it comes to recording audio and with apps like iauditions, Twisted Wave, VC Audio Pro, VocaLive and Garage Band to name just a few, there are plenty of options to choose from.
Specifically for Androids, recent developments for audio recording and editing include USB Audio Recorder PRO and Audio Evolution Mobile. These are currently seen as the most robust audio recording apps available on Android devices and are compatible with most USB and XLR microphones.
Most of the audio recording and editing apps are relatively inexpensive to purchase so it’s worth shopping around to see which one suits you best.
One of the things that VO artists love best about using a tablet for voice over is not necessarily the recording options but the fact that it’s so silent and perfect for reading the script from. The ability to scroll silently through text and enlarge text with simplicity makes it a great tool to read your VO script from without the inevitable noise of paper-turning.
Many VO artists have now turned to tablets for reading the script from and its flexibility and portability has made the tablet an important element of the overall voice over artist toolkit.
Do you use a tablet in your VO career? Are you using it for recording or just script reading? Please share your experience here.
My Samsung Galaxy 10.1 has been serving as my script reading tool exclusively. I haven’t really used it for recording and editing other than using Voices.com’s mobile app to record. Definitely saves on paper!
I would be lost without my Archos 101 G9 Android tablet. From audio books to commercials, it is efficient and saves a ton on paper and ink. Haven’t used it for recording yet.
I use my tablet to communicate with my laptop in the booth. So I record outside the booth, on the laptop, which I control with the tablet throuth TeamViewer. Silent, no cables and smoothy scroll. I’m considering recording directly on the tablet but I’ve always thought the quality would then be compromised. Do I understand from your post that it doesn’t matter whether you record on a pc, a laptop or a tablet (or even a smartphone)?
I use a nexus 7 to record and read scripts. Using the voice recorder app and the ink pad app, I am able to record and read my script as well. It’s as close as I could get to having the same capabilities as twisted wave for apple.