Trouble recording while family is home

[Alexrediculous]

Anyone else avoid recording while your family members are around? It really affects my performance as I try not to embarrass myself and and up not projecting properly.

[LullabyeLaura]

Ahhh, yesss. I get really nervous and feel super paranoid when my dad is in the next room. What usually helps though is that I let him know I'm recording, so not only is he quiet, but he knows that I'm not talking to myself and going out of my mind.

If it bothers you that much, just go into whatever room would be best and shut the door and put on your headphones. I find that pretty helpful too xD

[IchigoBoba]

If you have access to a car, record inside it. You can prop your mic on the dashboard and record away~

[QAN]

If you have access to a car, record inside it.

I could never get away with that. That's a good way to get police surround sound around here. What a nice neighborhood you must live in. -_-

Recording in a quiet house is great for getting into the 'zone', but some people have such ham-fisted knocks that it helps make cleaning up the sound fun!

[martialmichael126]

Yeah, I have a tough time recording when family is around. I'm not nervous or anything. It's just they can't keep quiet. I always pick them up in my recording. That's why I usually wait for them to go to sleep or leave the house.


If you have access to a car, record inside it. You can prop your mic on the dashboard and record away~

It can also cause a lot of reverb in your recording, depending on the mic you have.

[Elfee]

I have a boyfriend who sits beside me when on the computer so it is really hard if you have to do something while he is in. the only time when i can record is when he's out cause he's got a really bad habit of shuffling or creeking and bursts out laughing at times >.<

[Midnightmoonproductions]

I remember when I felt your way. I used to be embarresed about voice acting at home. They thought I was talking to myself. I used to wait till they were out but I have a family that's always home when I'm around. I just gave in and told them I was interesting in voice acting. They thought it was weird but have supported me in my endevor. Just explain what Voice acting is so that it's not something random. Start out small and then when the time comes you'll be able to even feel comfortable doing screaming lines.

Though if you have my parents they'll either be silent or...make a game out of who can ruin the most recordings........btw my dad's winning


-.-'

[elijahlucian]

it sucks, because most auditions are asking for maniacal laughter and we share our house with a couple with 2 toddlers... hahah

i don't want to scare the kids. hahaha

also the auditions that need swearing are almost impossible to do because... well, toddlers...

but soon i will have my recording studio complete with my dead booth as well so if push comes to shove i can just bring my keyboard into the dead booth and swear away!

[Anathema]

My mother is a singer, and sings really loud all the time--yet I still feel weird. Like when I'm just randomly singing and she walks in and is all like, "Oh! Sorry!" and leaves quick-- It's like she's caught me doing something really bad, or something, but she doesn't really care. But it's still embarrassing, but they're your family, they shouldn't care too much.

But honestly, this thread kind of makes me feel better knowing there's others that have the same problem. ^^'

[xRosieRevengex]

I know exactly how you feel, my brother girlfriend and kid moved in recently and it's really awkward to record and they are always around. I often have to record at night time when everyone's in bed. But even that doesn't work, just the other day I was recording some lines for Frieza from Dragonball Z, which is a very loud and weird voice, and everyone ended up hearing. Lots of embarrassment and because I was trying to be quiet, the recording pretty bad too.
I find it helpful to steal my brother laptop and record in my room. Any other ideas would be awesome...
:]

[Merodi]

Yeah, I've had some problems with that in my apartment, esp. since walls can be kind of thin. To add to the suggestions here, you can always try speaking and recording facing a wall that doesn't have a room/hallway on the other side. At least then there's less of a chance of your voice traveling through the house.

When I go to visit my parents and I have to record lines there, I'll let them know that I have lines to record and inform them of the content of them, so they know what to expect. A fun thing to do to get over nervousness when around family is to make it into a game - see if you can bewilder or freak out your family members with your yelling or bizarre voices/lines. At least then if they ask you about it, you can be amused/happy in your success instead of being embarrassed. :)

[kiryu-kun]

I have a similar problem, but with a bit of a twist. My family is perfectly supportive of what acting I've done so far (on stage) and the fun new acting I intend to pursue here. My father is even an actor. However, that can be a problem.

When I am recording, my father does not leave me alone.

For the Abridged Series that I work on, a handful of actors are friends of mine who come over for full cast recording sessions. I'm left alone then, because it is a kind of event. But now that I've been recording solo, he just keeps popping his head into my room whenever I'm trying to get "in the zone," offering comments and such.

I get that he's trying to be helpful and wants to "impart wisdom" and all that, but he makes it really difficult. I'm certain that he'll learn as time goes by and I do more and more of this, but at the moment, it can be a real pain.

And my stepmom is not an actor and can be freaked out easily, so though she's supportive, I'm always nervous about pushing it.

[finalCrystine]

When I start recording my mum mostly leaves me alone and sits in the kitchen while I am in the living room. At first I held myself in when recording, but now I just do whatever I need to do, sometimes my mom disturbs me by getting some stuff, but when my dad is home I can´t record at all, then I wait till they are going to bed and then I record. But my cat is annoying too, she always meows really loud >.<

[Sh3rl0ck]

The only one in my family that knows I voice act is my brother, so when he's home.. I usually just warn him, right before I record that if I'm talking to myself or screaming... its just recording.
As for when my parents are home, I try to record any "speaking lines", because they tend to be more quiet, and save all my louder and screaming lines for when I'm home alone. 4th Period Spare is a thing of beauty~

[Aisiko]

Well with the living arrangements I have it makes it so hard for me to record since my mother, brothers, and my mother's boyfriend like to stand outside my door and be loud idiots. I've had times where I had to wait until my house was completely empty on the weekday mornings and get up at 5AM to record.
another thing is the fact that my mother calls me like I am some kind of servant whenever I am recording...*sigh* Does the time table I set up for them to ask me for favors mean anything anymore?

[RJM]

I barely ever record now because my parents are almost always home. I just feel to embarrassed to let out my emotions and be comfortable when recording with them around. Especially since the walls are thinner than paper..... : /

[pickle131]

I can't record when my parents are home...they're really supportive and all I'm just so completely embarrassed that I CAN'T. No matter how hard I try I can't get comfortable enough to get the lines out. They always either giggle or go on and on about my lines D: I can record in front of my brothers, strangers or friends fine though, just not my parents...

[topleka]

I consider recording while my parents are around to be really good practice. It's easy to go all out when I'm hanging with friends, but to be able to act under pressure, even when you're embarrassed, is very important. They used to give me weird looks, but since they know what I do now, they leave me alone. Besides, if I want to convince my parents that I can actually go pro, I should probably sound my best around them. It also helps me perform better at auditions, because I'm used to doing my best while I'm nervous.

Of course these days, the big problem is not freaking out my neighbors, but that's a different story. >.>;;

[kero_the_pothead]

Oh yes I have to deal with this. It makes it hard to record, I can do most of my lines, the only ones I can't do are yelling and swearing lines, other than that I just wait for my family to go places then I record away

[wta2k6]

I don't really have a problem with it unless I have to record a line which involves yelling, in which case I just wait until the house is empty.

[D3mo]

I can't record when my parents are home...they're really supportive and all I'm just so completely embarrassed that I CAN'T. No matter how hard I try I can't get comfortable enough to get the lines out.

In my case, Pretty much this

[LullabyeLaura]

Thankfully, my dad has now learned that if I'm VAing, I would be a lot less cranky if he quit walking in on it.
He obeys signs very nicely now ^_^

[XStarlightSkyX]

God I know right I usually wait till there asleep or out
I haven't really told my dad about the whole voice acting but I finally told my mom...I just hate it when I am trying to record and she still comes into my room and says "Who are you talking to?" So I still wait till I am 100% alone to record

[AmyAnn]

Always had this problem. When I first started, I recorded at my dad's house and the room was directly above the living room. I told my dad what I was doing and he was really supportive. Infact, he pushed me to do it and then he told his friends about what I was doing because he thought it was oh so great. At one time, everyone downstairs listened and then told me afterwards they liked it so that was good practice. After I stopped going there, I had to record in my mum's and she didn't mind it so long as I didn't disturb my sister or the boy upstairs. She even sang with me one time [of course, she had had a bit of wine by then but she still recorded a song with me]. Now that I live with my grandfather, he has no idea what I do. He doesn't really care what I do in my room, so long as I stay away from the living room and leave him to his boring little life. He has commented on hearing me singing once or twice but that's it. I do try not to do shouting lines unless no one is home and I know the neighbours are out but that's rare so I mostly have to try for quite normal volume characters which is a pain.

[TanshinX]

I have similar difficulties. The walls of my house are really thin and I have a family member who works from home and is often on conference phone calls just on the other side of my wall... I get really uncomfortable because I feel like I might interrupt his work sometimes.

[sgtoku]

Have you ever tried to fine tune your singing voice, practicing a Disney song, with the background music playing through your speakers, and you thought no one was home, only to find out someone you did not want to tell you were VAing suddenly come on in? Yeah, that happened to me today... Found it surprisingly liberating.

[Neko-zombie]

Oh god, THIS ^
I have a REALLY hard time recording lines when my folks are home,even though I do tell them I'm recording lines and get an answer back to help me not feel like I'm a fool.
Though doing some lines like acting crazy it makes you wonder what people are thinking all around ya, that's my bad habit.
I love it when I'm home alone ( which happens once on a blue moon ) and then I can be loud as I want,though living in a quiet town with your neighbors only a few feet away,you try your hardest to make sure they don't call the cops for something lol

[Stephanie W]

I used to be very quiet when recording while family was home, which affected my performance (drastically >_<). But now my family knows that I VA so it's fine for me to yell and stuff. But my mom complains, "Why are you yelling?" Well that was when I was REALLY getting into the part XD. One thing I know I CAN NEVER EVER EVER do while my family is home is record screaming lines, like dieing/getting chased screams >__< My mom's bf told my mom, "she was having a party in her room" I also was recording screaming lines and my sister thought something had happened to me (good acting? 8D?).

I think my doggy doesn't know I VA :\ Which is so sad because I wish he would just SHUT UP while I'm screaming XD.

So, I'm not so embarrassed anymore, only if I scream TOO loud, then I shrink in my chair and look around with wide eyes.

But what I can't do is VA in front of my friends. I don't know why :\ They've heard some of my recordings, but when they ask me to say something, I just get so nervous and embarrassed. >_<