A couple months ago I was working with Erik Sheppard on a voice over project. When Erik was doing the post-production, he heard some line noise in my original voice track that I didn’t immediately detect in the unprocessed dry recording. I traced it back to what I believed was a battery backup that got zapped during a bad thunderstorm a couple weeks earlier.

I changed out the battery. The line noise was still there, though slightly less noticeable. Since I use an oversized laptop for processing (my 19″ Alienware Aurora mALX), I only get an hour of battery life, but I was able to disconnect all the electric cables for at least a while and lift the ground on the entire signal chain. There was still some line noise, and now I was a woman on a mission.

Erik and Ed Gambill (president of SaVoa) separately suggested I switch to Mogami for all my mic cabling. What a simple and effective improvement! Immediately, my signal was cleaner and truer. I bought a 6′ Mogami Gold Neglex Quad Microphone Cable for Studio Neutrik XLR to start.

I can now also detect defects in my room treatment and plan on adding a better recording space, possibly an isolation booth. That will require longer cables and cable management. Since the Mogami cables are well constructed and amazingly flexible, cabling won’t be an issue.

Switching to Mogami cables is easily the most cost-effective thing I’ve done to improve my signal chain.

Timing is everything. (That should be etched on my tombstone — way in the future.) No sooner do I start to ponder about getting equipped for real-time remote recording sessions than I find terrific forum threads and this very good blog by Harlan Hogan:

Do I invest in ISDN or an Internet Audio Program?

I was sent this link in response to a forum topic I started on Voice Over Savvy: ISDN vs. Audio Over IP.

I think ultimately Thomas Gass is right: the different technologies may be better suited for the different types of voice services provided. And that’s OK. I’m primarily discussing all this because I have a genuine interest in the technology. It’s the geek in me. But I do get plenty of work now, none of which requires remote sessions — so really I could never justify the cost unless I wanted to expand my services and pursue the kind of work that requires ISDN.

That day may come. In fact, this month I’ve been contacted by two separate studios interested in my bilingual voice services, but needing talent with ISDN capabilities. One is eager to work with me regardless. The other one I just responded to last night. We’ll see what happens. It’s all good.

I’ve been researching methods for providing real-time voice over streams to clients who want to record at their end. Not only are there a bunch of choices with respect to ISDN equipment, but there may be a benefit to bypassing what may be outdated technology and going straight to audio-over-IP options like Telos System’s new Zephyr Z/IP or AudioTX. Going over IP is more future-friendly and would allow me to avoid the monthly expense of maintaining an ISDN line with a third ISP (I already have cable internet with Comcast and a DSL backup through AT&T).

Well, more on my new research project will follow in upcoming blogs if I pursue this, but in the process I found this nice video blog of Joe Cipriano’s ISDN session for West Wing promos. It’s great to see a pro at work — and how nice of Joe to show us his equipment.