VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio #452 – Learn from My mistake!
Voice Coaches Radio. Everything voiceover. And welcome to this week's edition of Voice Coaches Radio. I am Josh Heller, as always, delighted to have you joining me as we are back at the studio. That is correct. You probably noticed it sounds a little bit nicer. We are back at the studio here at the mothership of Voice Coaches.
That is in... upstate new york at white lake music and post so thanks so much for tuning us in this week delighted to have you joining us as we mentioned and delighted to be back at the studio that's for sure uh but i i do want to take a moment and uh and talk a little bit about something that that happened to me i suppose we could call this a a cautionary tale if you will of something that uh uh that happened to me fairly recently that uh that could potentially happen to you if not now potentially in the future so something just to be aware of and to look out for because that's what we're trying to do now With all that's been going on, and obviously, you know, I suppose I should preface all this by saying hopefully all of you listening in are doing okay, are handling things as best as possible.
It's been an interesting few months to say the least, but uh, trying to find some semblance of normalcy. You know, with that, I, like, like most, many of you people, I'm sure, have done some recording at home. Obviously, we've done some podcasts from home, uh, done some, you know, recording for, uh, different jobs and for different projects.
And instead of being able to do them here in the studio, with our studios closed down, we're recording them at home, at our own, you know, home, uh, home studio. set up, however complicated or simple that may be. And that is something that I, I think is actually great, you know, great experience that people are kind of forced into doing that right now to try to adapt because it is something that, you know, we, we see in the industry that is becoming more prevalent.
We already talked about how most audio books at this point are recorded from home. So, you know, having the ability to do that, having the option of doing that and having the, the, the wherewithal to do that is, is fantastic. And it's something, you know, important and potentially, uh, one small positive, I guess, we can take out of all this if we, if we're trying to, but, uh, you know, I, I've been doing the same, like I said, I, I have done recording at home, uh, as well, more so in the past few months than I probably ever have, um, but, It's because of that that I kind of ran into this situation.
So, this is going to be, as I mentioned, kind of a cautionary tale and something to watch out for. So, without getting too into detail, and we can certainly talk more about the specific setup that I personally have at home, but I'm not too worried about that because that really doesn't matter. But, essentially, I've been recording from home with my laptop, which is a, it's a MacBook, and um, You know, a, uh, microphone, obviously, an interface to plug it into, and, uh, and a DAW, a DAW, a Digital Audio Workstation.
That's something we've talked about here previously, the different types of DAWs that we look at. And, uh, and I was mainly using, uh, a DAW called Pro Tools First, which is kind of a, a watered down version of Pro Tools, which is what the industry standard is, is what we use here in the studio when we're recording.
It's actually what I am recording on. Currently here in the studio, um, but it's, you know, a, a, a version of that, uh, that doesn't quite have all the bells and whistles. But again, for, for what I'm looking for and what I need, I don't need all the bells and whistles. I need, you know, simplicity. And it's obviously a software that I'm pretty familiar with using it consistently here in studio.
So I've been using that though. I certainly have used, uh, other. Uh, others as well. Audacity is, uh, is one that I know a lot of people use, and it's, um, it's free. It's completely free, and that's a big reason why a lot of people use it, and I, I can't fault them for that. It's, uh, completely open source, and again, it gets the job done.
And we've talked about that as well. We've had guests on here who have used, professionally, uh, services like Audacity. So, herein, uh, lies the situation. So, because I was doing more recording at home, because most of us have been doing more recording from home, I... Decided I would make sure that all my equipment and all my software was up to date, ready to go, and just at peak performance.
Right, was at 100% banging on all cylinders, whatever other, uh, you know, cliches you want to use. And so, I cleaned out my computer, I tried to get rid of some stuff I didn't need, I tried to update things, and ha ha! Here we go. Uh, so I updated, uh, my Mac with the new operating system, which is Catalina. That's iOS Catalina.
Catalina, and it has some great features, sure, and I hadn't updated my computer in, oh, it had been some time, not gonna lie to you, it had been some time. Uh, so I thought, well great, I'll update it, you know, so it's at peak efficiency, right? This'll be great. Not quite. Um, I, Personally, didn't really do any research into that, uh, certainly didn't read any of the, uh, the small print that pops up and just hit accept and go and let's do this.
That was not the best idea in the world, because once I, uh, I finished doing that, I came across a realization, and some of you may already know this, but if you don't, please, please, please heed this. I no longer can use Pro Tools first because it doesn't work with the new iOS system. You know what else doesn't work with the new iOS system?
Audacity. The other system I use, the other DAW that I consistently use when I'm doing kind of my backup DAW, if you will, in Audacity. Yeah, that doesn't work either. Now there are some workarounds to get Audacity to work. It is possible at some point that Pro Tools may be coming out with some patches and fixes so that they are able to run on Catalina, but as of right now, that's not the case.
And so I found myself in a very tricky situation in which I had to do some recording from home, I had everything ready to go, and I had nothing to record it on. So that meant I had to start to look for different DAWs, different systems that I could record on, including ones that I've never used before, including ones that I was not at all familiar with, having to relearn that.
Not that that's a bad thing. But, it certainly is not something you want to do when you're up against the clock, when you have a deadline. Right? When you're trying to get certain things out in certain times, you don't really have the opportunity to sit down and take the time to really go through a new DAW and try to figure it all out.
Which is what I had to do. Uh, and so, if you are, you know, using a DAW, if you are, you know, uh, thinking about upgrading your operating system, first of all, maybe don't, uh, do the research. Do the research, look into it, make sure that it is not going to affect other things that you have, other programs that you have.
Uh, again, I, I was trying to get everything... You know, up to, uh, up to speed. I didn't have any, you know, particular time sensitive projects that I was working on at that time, which was fantastic. Because if I had, I would have been in trouble. I would have been in a lot of trouble because I would have been panicking trying to research and find and potentially pay for a new, you know, a new DAW to record on, a new digital audio workstation to record on, on my computer.
Well... At the same time, having no idea how it works, and yes, there are similarities between all of them, but the truth is, it would have been flying blind, and that's not something I'm comfortable with at all when doing a professional project. So, luckily, I didn't have that time constraint. I was able to spend some time and find a decent one that I, you know, don't mind using right now, and have a, at least, workable knowledge of, so that I'm able to use when necessary.
But again, if I was up against it, that would have been, it would have been bad. It would have been a lot of trouble and would have put me in a very, very awkward situation. So, here's the moral of the story, folks. Do your research. Do your research before you do anything like that. Anything that could compromise that.
Because the last thing we want to do is try to, you know, put ourselves in a better situation by upgrading our, our, you know, our, our software by upgrading our computers and all of a sudden find that we have to go back to the client and say, I can't get you what I want, uh, in the time we expected because I'm now spending the next few hours trying to figure out how to record.
That's not something we can afford to do. So do your research, look into it. Don't be like me, alright? Make sure that you're paying attention to these kind of things. These little details are so, so very important. And, uh, uh, lesson learned on my part, that's for sure. Lesson learned on my part. Uh, by the way, if you're wondering if you can go back, uh, f f f from the operating system that you upgraded to, previous to the one you had, not really, no, not, not, not really.
I tried to do that. I tried to do that. I was like, well, just, you know, uh, backspace don't work that way. So make sure to do your research, make sure that you know exactly what you're doing and what effect it is going to have on those things, on that software, on the equipment that you need. Alright, so I hope that helps everybody.
Hopefully you all learned from my mistakes. That's what we're here for, right? To learn from my mistakes. And trust me, they are plentiful. Um, but if you do have any other questions, I know we're going to get into a little bit more about this home recording. Um, which we have in the past, but obviously with what's going on right now, it's certainly even more prevalent because so many of us are spending time recording at home now.
Kind of being forced to do so. But again, in the long run, that may not be a bad thing. So again, learn from my mistakes, look before you leap, if you will, so that you don't compromise things in the long run. But any other questions, please do reach out to me. You can find me at podcast at voicecoaches. com.
That's podcast at voicecoaches. com to get in touch with me. Any topics you want to discuss, any guests you'd like to have on, anything you'd like. Because remember, it's not just my show. And again, thanks so much for tuning in this week. Hopefully everyone is doing well, everyone is staying safe and staying sane as much as we can.
Uh, and uh, look forward to talking to you again next week. And until that time, so long everyone. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
That is in... upstate new york at white lake music and post so thanks so much for tuning us in this week delighted to have you joining us as we mentioned and delighted to be back at the studio that's for sure uh but i i do want to take a moment and uh and talk a little bit about something that that happened to me i suppose we could call this a a cautionary tale if you will of something that uh uh that happened to me fairly recently that uh that could potentially happen to you if not now potentially in the future so something just to be aware of and to look out for because that's what we're trying to do now With all that's been going on, and obviously, you know, I suppose I should preface all this by saying hopefully all of you listening in are doing okay, are handling things as best as possible.
It's been an interesting few months to say the least, but uh, trying to find some semblance of normalcy. You know, with that, I, like, like most, many of you people, I'm sure, have done some recording at home. Obviously, we've done some podcasts from home, uh, done some, you know, recording for, uh, different jobs and for different projects.
And instead of being able to do them here in the studio, with our studios closed down, we're recording them at home, at our own, you know, home, uh, home studio. set up, however complicated or simple that may be. And that is something that I, I think is actually great, you know, great experience that people are kind of forced into doing that right now to try to adapt because it is something that, you know, we, we see in the industry that is becoming more prevalent.
We already talked about how most audio books at this point are recorded from home. So, you know, having the ability to do that, having the option of doing that and having the, the, the wherewithal to do that is, is fantastic. And it's something, you know, important and potentially, uh, one small positive, I guess, we can take out of all this if we, if we're trying to, but, uh, you know, I, I've been doing the same, like I said, I, I have done recording at home, uh, as well, more so in the past few months than I probably ever have, um, but, It's because of that that I kind of ran into this situation.
So, this is going to be, as I mentioned, kind of a cautionary tale and something to watch out for. So, without getting too into detail, and we can certainly talk more about the specific setup that I personally have at home, but I'm not too worried about that because that really doesn't matter. But, essentially, I've been recording from home with my laptop, which is a, it's a MacBook, and um, You know, a, uh, microphone, obviously, an interface to plug it into, and, uh, and a DAW, a DAW, a Digital Audio Workstation.
That's something we've talked about here previously, the different types of DAWs that we look at. And, uh, and I was mainly using, uh, a DAW called Pro Tools First, which is kind of a, a watered down version of Pro Tools, which is what the industry standard is, is what we use here in the studio when we're recording.
It's actually what I am recording on. Currently here in the studio, um, but it's, you know, a, a, a version of that, uh, that doesn't quite have all the bells and whistles. But again, for, for what I'm looking for and what I need, I don't need all the bells and whistles. I need, you know, simplicity. And it's obviously a software that I'm pretty familiar with using it consistently here in studio.
So I've been using that though. I certainly have used, uh, other. Uh, others as well. Audacity is, uh, is one that I know a lot of people use, and it's, um, it's free. It's completely free, and that's a big reason why a lot of people use it, and I, I can't fault them for that. It's, uh, completely open source, and again, it gets the job done.
And we've talked about that as well. We've had guests on here who have used, professionally, uh, services like Audacity. So, herein, uh, lies the situation. So, because I was doing more recording at home, because most of us have been doing more recording from home, I... Decided I would make sure that all my equipment and all my software was up to date, ready to go, and just at peak performance.
Right, was at 100% banging on all cylinders, whatever other, uh, you know, cliches you want to use. And so, I cleaned out my computer, I tried to get rid of some stuff I didn't need, I tried to update things, and ha ha! Here we go. Uh, so I updated, uh, my Mac with the new operating system, which is Catalina. That's iOS Catalina.
Catalina, and it has some great features, sure, and I hadn't updated my computer in, oh, it had been some time, not gonna lie to you, it had been some time. Uh, so I thought, well great, I'll update it, you know, so it's at peak efficiency, right? This'll be great. Not quite. Um, I, Personally, didn't really do any research into that, uh, certainly didn't read any of the, uh, the small print that pops up and just hit accept and go and let's do this.
That was not the best idea in the world, because once I, uh, I finished doing that, I came across a realization, and some of you may already know this, but if you don't, please, please, please heed this. I no longer can use Pro Tools first because it doesn't work with the new iOS system. You know what else doesn't work with the new iOS system?
Audacity. The other system I use, the other DAW that I consistently use when I'm doing kind of my backup DAW, if you will, in Audacity. Yeah, that doesn't work either. Now there are some workarounds to get Audacity to work. It is possible at some point that Pro Tools may be coming out with some patches and fixes so that they are able to run on Catalina, but as of right now, that's not the case.
And so I found myself in a very tricky situation in which I had to do some recording from home, I had everything ready to go, and I had nothing to record it on. So that meant I had to start to look for different DAWs, different systems that I could record on, including ones that I've never used before, including ones that I was not at all familiar with, having to relearn that.
Not that that's a bad thing. But, it certainly is not something you want to do when you're up against the clock, when you have a deadline. Right? When you're trying to get certain things out in certain times, you don't really have the opportunity to sit down and take the time to really go through a new DAW and try to figure it all out.
Which is what I had to do. Uh, and so, if you are, you know, using a DAW, if you are, you know, uh, thinking about upgrading your operating system, first of all, maybe don't, uh, do the research. Do the research, look into it, make sure that it is not going to affect other things that you have, other programs that you have.
Uh, again, I, I was trying to get everything... You know, up to, uh, up to speed. I didn't have any, you know, particular time sensitive projects that I was working on at that time, which was fantastic. Because if I had, I would have been in trouble. I would have been in a lot of trouble because I would have been panicking trying to research and find and potentially pay for a new, you know, a new DAW to record on, a new digital audio workstation to record on, on my computer.
Well... At the same time, having no idea how it works, and yes, there are similarities between all of them, but the truth is, it would have been flying blind, and that's not something I'm comfortable with at all when doing a professional project. So, luckily, I didn't have that time constraint. I was able to spend some time and find a decent one that I, you know, don't mind using right now, and have a, at least, workable knowledge of, so that I'm able to use when necessary.
But again, if I was up against it, that would have been, it would have been bad. It would have been a lot of trouble and would have put me in a very, very awkward situation. So, here's the moral of the story, folks. Do your research. Do your research before you do anything like that. Anything that could compromise that.
Because the last thing we want to do is try to, you know, put ourselves in a better situation by upgrading our, our, you know, our, our software by upgrading our computers and all of a sudden find that we have to go back to the client and say, I can't get you what I want, uh, in the time we expected because I'm now spending the next few hours trying to figure out how to record.
That's not something we can afford to do. So do your research, look into it. Don't be like me, alright? Make sure that you're paying attention to these kind of things. These little details are so, so very important. And, uh, uh, lesson learned on my part, that's for sure. Lesson learned on my part. Uh, by the way, if you're wondering if you can go back, uh, f f f from the operating system that you upgraded to, previous to the one you had, not really, no, not, not, not really.
I tried to do that. I tried to do that. I was like, well, just, you know, uh, backspace don't work that way. So make sure to do your research, make sure that you know exactly what you're doing and what effect it is going to have on those things, on that software, on the equipment that you need. Alright, so I hope that helps everybody.
Hopefully you all learned from my mistakes. That's what we're here for, right? To learn from my mistakes. And trust me, they are plentiful. Um, but if you do have any other questions, I know we're going to get into a little bit more about this home recording. Um, which we have in the past, but obviously with what's going on right now, it's certainly even more prevalent because so many of us are spending time recording at home now.
Kind of being forced to do so. But again, in the long run, that may not be a bad thing. So again, learn from my mistakes, look before you leap, if you will, so that you don't compromise things in the long run. But any other questions, please do reach out to me. You can find me at podcast at voicecoaches. com.
That's podcast at voicecoaches. com to get in touch with me. Any topics you want to discuss, any guests you'd like to have on, anything you'd like. Because remember, it's not just my show. And again, thanks so much for tuning in this week. Hopefully everyone is doing well, everyone is staying safe and staying sane as much as we can.
Uh, and uh, look forward to talking to you again next week. And until that time, so long everyone. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
Voice Coaches producer Josh warns listeners to check their DAW’s compatibility with new OS versions before updating. Josh is currently without Pro Tools on his home recording setup because of this mistake!
