With your very limited budget, you might consider something similar to one of Guitar Centers Mbox-2 recording bundles, which comes with a mic and monitors, and use the other half of the cash for room treatment.

Truth of the matter is, $1K is not a huge budget for VO gear, but it's a start.


As an example, this past week I had VO sessions in rooms that had the following Mic/Pre combos...

AKG C-414 B into Digi 002
Neumann U47 fet into Digi 002
Neumann TLM 103 into Digi 002
Neumann TLM 193 into John Hardy M-1
Neumann U 87 into John Hardy M-1
Shure KSM44 into Presonus Eureka
Sennheiser MD421 into Yamaha ProMix 01
Sennheiser MKH416 into John Hardy M-1
MXL ??? condenser into Yamaha DM2K
MXL V88 into Mackie Onyx 1620
Blue Dragonfly into Avalon Vt737sp
Audio Technica 4033 into Digi Mbox
Audio Technica 4060 into Presonus Eureka
Shure SM58 into Yamaha 01V96
Shure KSM32 into Mackie 1604 VLZ
Rode NT2 into Aphex 107
Electro-Voice RE27 into Digi Mbox 2

Good Luck with your project!

I agree - the mbox comes with Protools, whch is a pro standard.

I'd stll suggest an SM-7, as they are much more forgiving if the room has less than perfect acoustics, and are more beginner friendly.

The SM7b is a good mic, but not everybody sounds good on it.
It would run around $350.00, add a cheap mic stand w/boom arm for $90.00, a mic cable for $30.00, a cheap pair of headphones for $100.00, Digidesign Mbox 2 for $385.00,
and your at $955.00 without tax.
And still no monitors, cables, pop screen, room treatment.

Don't under estimate the importance of room treatment!

Expensive mic or cheap mic, it will still record the sound of your voice "in the room".
So if you can hear traffic through your window, or the air-conditioner blowing, or your computer running, or a big booming echo when you talk, the chances are very good that the mic will hear them too.

I do a fair amount of voice over work. I do own a U87 and a bunch of AT4033's, but for my own voice, I use a fairly inexpensive SE2200 microphone that I really like. It's got a nice hi end bump. Next, you want a pop screen. After that, you need a mic pre that offers compression. In my case, I use a Focusrite Twin Track Pro because it offers an "air" button that adds a bit of presence to my voice. Finally, make sure the room your recording in is quiet and relatively echo slap free. That's about it.

You don't have to spend a fortune to get pro results. As it's been pointed out, the most important piece of the puzzle is the voice talent.

Just to prove you don't always need expensive gear...

One day my Pro Tools system went down and I needed to rush a voice over to the local TV station. I had nothing to record the VO to. Until I remembered my Zoom H4. That's right. I simply spoke directly into it.. no pop screen, no compressor... no ability to "enhance" the performance. Then transfered the mp3 file to my computer and emailed it off. No complaints from the TV station. Not sure they even noticed the difference!

I was agreeing with your Guitar Centers Mbox-2 recording bundle recommendation, which does include speakers. But what looks like a very cheap mic.

So $499.99 + $350.00 leaving $150 to get stand, cables, and steal all your wifes duvets. :-)

I think protools is overpriced for what it gives you. For that price you can get a full bundle of Presonus or Echo gear (which sounds better than the cheap Mbox crap that is affiliated in name and software *which, softwares are almost all the same features and sound wise* only with protools).

Echo audiofire and a Kel Hm-7 or At3035 would be the best bet. Buy a stand and use a cable you already have. Get a pair of RP-5s, they will blow the crap out of the Fostex monitors they threw in there since they really aren't studioish but rather hifi sounding from what I've read.

The AT2020 isn't really bad at all, especially for the price though. I keep some on overheads for drums all the time :). Too thin for voiceovers in my opinion though. Also, I don't see anything more useful than freebies in the plugin pack other than melodyne essential, but I don't know how much that will get used on voiceovers.

All together, save your money and get an Echo, a good mic, and real monitors. The Mbox isn't known for sounding good for the money, but check into the Echo vs other interfaces in the range. Or the Emu 0404... There are a lot of better deals than the Mbox (unless you ABSOLUTELY NEED protools... at least, a version without OMF and AAF support that comes free in all the other softwares...)