President and CEO of Scene Bridge Entertainment, Ilja Rosendahl is an actor, musician, and a voice-over artist currently based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. With executive production credits for several feature films, and the seventh release from his solo musical project, Latent Anxiety, due out later this year, this German transplant brings a PhD and a technical prowess to his work.
Rosendahl uses Metric Halo ChannelStrip 3, Character, and Precision DeEsser plugins to process and master his voice-over work.
“Due to my scientific and managerial career, I usually approach media productions in a systematic and analytic way to get the fundamentals right before focusing on artistic interpretation,” he said.
Most of that technical work happens within his Latent Anxiety production and his voice-over work.
“Many professional voice-overs are still recorded, edited, and mastered in a studio to guarantee high and consistent quality, especially if several artists are required simultaneously,” Rosendahl said. “But to save time and travel expenses – and with top technology becoming more affordable – the recent trend is to have experienced talent individually record and deliver remotely from a suitable home setup. The recording can be dry or even processed when it needs to be used right away in a project. I primarily record, edit, mix and master music and voice-overs. I love tweaking sounds with analog gear and plugins until I think they sound right.”
“Mixing and mastering with plugins has several advantages. For example, there is always an “undo button” if the sound has to be modified without retakes, which in the case of audiobooks or documentaries might involve several hours or days,” he said. “The Metric Halo Production Bundle gives me all the high-quality options that I need. My go-to plugin is ChannelStrip 3 because it combines the most important mixing/mastering functions (gating, compression, equalization and limiting) in one workflow. I especially like the MIO compressor in the ChannelStrip 3, which can give recordings more thickness while preserving natural detail and articulation. All other tools in the Metric Halo Production Bundle are equally accurate and easy to use in shaping the sound in an intuitive and musical way.”
He continued, “Especially when doing commercials or trailers I use Metric Halo Character to add subtle harmonics. Unlike other plug-ins that insert tube or tape saturation, Character has some nice transformer settings that can even out unwanted high-frequency transient spikes and provide a more solid bottom; Of course, sibilance should not be an issue with proper mics and mic technique. However, once in a while – in an otherwise perfect recording – there might be an s-sound that has gone over the top. That’s when I use the Precision DeEsser at a suitable threshold and frequency range that surgically covers just that event.”