Recording Studio Proposal: Fill & Download for Free

Back in the U.S.S.R. was originally released in 1968 by the Beatles as the opening track from their classic album The Beatles (a/k/a The White Album). Although it’s the first song on the album, the Beatles had been working in the studio three months before they began working on it.The inside story behind how it came together comes from the excellent book All the Songs by Jean-Michel Guesdon & Philippe Margotin:“Back in the U.S.S.R. was a parody of Chuck Berry’s Back in the U.S.A. Paul McCartney pictured a Russian traveler coming home and joyfully finding his native land, the mountains of Georgia, and the charm of his country’s women.“Mike Love, the singer for the Beach Boys (who stayed in Rishikesh, India, with the Beatles), remembered, ‘I was sitting at the breakfast table and McCartney came down with his acoustic guitar. He was playing Back in the U.S.S.R. I told him that what you ought to do is talk about all the girls all around Russia, the Ukraine, and Georgia.’“Paul took this into account and finished writing the song upon returning from India. Ken Mansfield, the CEO of Apple in the United States, also claimed he made a few suggestions to Paul about this song.“In this song, which includes many inside jokes, the Beach Boys were honored: the Beatles imitated their irresistible harmonies in the bridge; likewise for Ray Charles — whose 1960 number 1 hit Georgia On My Mind was referenced in the song.“Proposing a song in 1968 celebrating the joy of returning to the Soviet Union was pretty risky — this was the during the Cold War and getting chummy with the U.S.S.R. was frowned upon. Some people called the Beatles anti-American, to which John Lennon replied with his usual irony: ‘That is very accurate, except we are not Americans …’“The atmosphere in the recording studio was extemely tense, at the expense of Ringo. Paul was constantly explaining to him how to do a fill on the toms. After many attempts and one last scolding, Ringo got fed up and left the group to join his friend Peter Sellers on his yacht in Sardinia. The three others were lost, but still carried on by redistributing the roles played by Ringo — with Paul replacing him on drums for this track. After the other Beatles urged him to return, Ringo rejoined the band 13 days later.”Although the Beatles never got to perform this song in the Soviet Union, Paul McCartney did finally get to play Back in the U.S.S.R. in Moscow’s Red Square in May of 2003 during his Back in the World tour.

A game producer serves as liaison between the game publisher and game developer. A producer's responsibilities can include:Scouting new development talentDeveloping game conceptsNegotiating development deals with game developers and working with the publisher's legal department to create development agreementsPutting together schedules and budgets with developersPresenting game proposals to management for greenlighting into productionObtaining rights to used any licensed intellectual properties (art, music, songs, celebrity participation or likenesses, etc.)Helping to secure any third-party development assistance such as game engine licensing, art outsourcing, motion capture facilities, voice-over recording studios, etc.Periodically (sometimes daily) with checking with the game developer to make sure that they are on task and helping to resolve any problemsKeeping the publisher's management informed of the game's development status and formulating plans for responding to problems (including providing the developer with extra technical assistance, reducing the project's scope, increasing the budget and/or schedule, or canceling the project).Reviewing developer milestone deliverables for acceptance and working with the publisher's finance department on issuing milestone paymentsWorking with the publisher's marketing and sales departments to identify the game's target audience, competition, play value, and competitive features.Working with the developer to provide the marketing and sales departments with screenshots, trailers, concept art, walk-throughs and other material needed to promote the game.Demonstrating the game at trade shows and on press tours.Working with the developer and the publisher's quality assurance department on creating test plans.Working with the marketing department on creating the game's packagingDetermining with the quality assurance and marketing department which bugs must be fixed (and their priority) and which can be launched with the game as is.Managing the game's localization (translation into foreign languages).Working with the publisher's quality assurance, customer service, community management, and live operations departments on post-launch support.Formulating plans with the original developer, a new developer or the publisher's in-house facilities for doing patches, ports, down-loadable content, expansions, sequels.Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins originated the role of a game producer. He based the position on record producers in the music industry, and even brought in some record producers to train his game producers in the craft. While producers are not part of the development team (any more than a record producer is part of a band), they work closely with the development team.However, the people who actually manage development teams are sometimes called producers too. (Trip once told me that the proper title for someone in that position is "director", but various studios call people in that role "producers" as well as "team leads", "team managers", or "project managers").The responsibilities of a producer at a game development studio include:Being the liaison between the development team and the publisher's producer.Hiring and firing individual team members.Helping team members to develop their skills.Working with the development team on creating a detailed project schedule and individual task assignments.Monitoring the team's progress, identifying potential problems, and helping to resolve obstacles.Acquiring equipment, software tools, and other resources the development team needsMotivating the team to work productively.Ensuring that communications and pipelines are working well.Getting dinner when the team is working late.Game producers don't usually have the high public profile that game designers do. I've heard it said that when a game does well, the designer and the development team gets all the credit, but when things go wrong, the producer gets the blame.However, some prominent game producers include:Don DaglowBrian FargoT. Q JeffersonDallas SnellDaniel SuarezHere is an excellent Extra Credits video about what it takes to be a game producer.

Hi. Good question. The simple answer is Yes. However, there are a few things you need to do and be aware of to make it a success.First - you need to understand what type of voice over style and language/accent you can provide. If it’s English or Spanish then there are a ton of clients that you can propose to.The most common is probably American English and British English. Each of those have many regional accents. In time you can develop other accents, but first of all try to focus on your native accent and promote that.There are many websites you can visit and sign up with who will allow you to upload samples of your voice and then prospective clients can find you and offer you work.I am happy if you want to send me some samples and if they are suitable, i can put them on our website to add you to our growing list of voice over artists. You can send them via the following website:Studio ServicesEquipment - do you have any equipment? a suitable place to record your voice i.e. a very quiet room that is free from outside or internal noise (very low noise floor)The equipment you will need partly depends on if you plan to do it as an amateur for your friends video voice over, or do you want to do it regularly on a semi pro or professional level? Well it sound like you want to do it for money so i will recommend the semi pro range of equipment as follows:Laptop (with USB 3.0 or higher ports) running windows 10Software - ProTools, Audacity, or Ableton Lite (all these have free versions)Audio Interface - Presonus AudioBox, Focusrite Solo, Avid Mbox (the audio interface must have 48v phantom switch) (most interfaces come bundled with recording software)Microphone - this is a large topic and different microphones suit different voices. Also you have USB options or XLR condenser option for this application. Budget is a big factor. For semi and pro work, i would recommend: low cost - Marantz MPM 2000. If you have bigger budget then Shure SM7B or Rode NT1 A.Headphones - you will need to be able to monitor your recording when you come to edit and if possible master it before you submit it to your client. Do not use general hifi grade headphones or your smartphone in ear buds. These are designed to make the sound nice. You do not want that. You need to use a well balanced, flat response headphones as you see in recording studios. I would recommend Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO. These are not cheap but they are an industry standard and robust. Some clients ask what equipment you use. having a good microphone and headphones that are well known will help you there. They have 32, 80 and 250ohm versions. If you are not sure, then go for the 80 ohm. They will work on most audio interfaces.Accesories - Ensure you buy a pop filter for your microphone if it didnt come with one. Depending on your room, you may also need a microphone isolation shield (see picture at the end) to reduce noise interference with the mic. Ensure that you mount the mic in its shock mount system (yes these mics are not your traditional handheld mics).Room acoustics - as mentioned earlier, your room needs to be isolated from external and internal noise. So find ways to achieve that. Windows could have a second sheet of glass fitted internally in a basic frame or you could make a wooden shutter that closes inside over the window when you are recording. Put seals around the door. If you have any noisy heating or cooling in the house, turn these off when you are recording. The inside of your room needs to sound ‘dead’. So add lots of furnishings. cover your desk with thick material or drape. if budget allows, but some acoustic tiles that have good absorbency characteristics and fit them to the wall, especially behind and opposite the mic.Record position - Do not record in a corner. Low frequencies will affect your recording if in a corner. try sitting 12 inches away from the microphone and test record until the sound is not too thin but also not distorted. Adjust the record settings in the software so it does not clip into the red.Obviously i could get much more technical about each element. But for the purposes of an overview of what you need to start up a small venture and make voice over recordings, hopefully the above helps you with that.I would be happy to help you further.Please note that i do NOT sell equipment, tools or materials to do the above. But i can help you as a studio production / acoustic consultant and voice over artist with over 20 years experience in the industry.You can contact me at:Voice Over Services - Peter Kerry