VO + iPad = OMG

Calgary-based voice-actor Paul  Boucher deserves all the credit for giving me this aha! moment.

At the Marice Tobias workshop where I met Paul, I did not yet have my iPad.  But Paul was very convincing in his argument for GETTING one, mostly based on the ease-of-use, and the silence with which it operated in his studio.   I would now add a long list of other advantages to those two reasons.

My hope was that based on pressure from other tablet makers, Apple would eschew it’s usual year-long product cycle and submit iPad2 for Christmas shoppers in December.  When it became quite clear that was not going to be the case, I sprang for an iPad in October.  I couldn’t wait for the next likely release in March or April, and now I’m soooo glad I didn’t wait.

The iPad is a technological leap on the scale of the advent of the cell-phone in my estimation.  I have an iPhone too, and while it’s an unbelievably handy device, it does not approach the iPad in ease-of-use and potential uses (the screen size alone makes the difference).

The iPad has expanded my use of “the cloud” exponentially.  Because digital file input to the iPad is limited to mostly a Wi-Fi or 3G connection, one gets used to manipulating the various apps and websites for up and downloading of data.  That’s a good place to be…not only is it the future, but it enables access to data (esp. through my iPad) to anywhere in the connected world.

Zoho, Quick-Office, GoodReader, SMEfiles, iFiles, Box.net, DropBox, Google Docs, FileMagnet, Air-Sharing….all these apps work on the iPad, and facilitate generating, downloading, reading, manipulation, mark-up, saving, sending, transfer, and sharing of .doc files, .PDF files, Google Docs, e-mail attachments, and more.  When you consider that last statement, and the potential that lies within (and believe me, I’m still discovering), the vistas begin to open up.

But to me, here’s the simplest and best reason for use of the iPad in your voice-over business:  it’s use as a script holder…because it’s the script-AND-the-script-holder-and-the-script-generator-all-in-one!

Maybe it’s just the cramped design of my studio.  Perhaps it’s the placement of my script monitor (I’ve long since gone paperless — reading instead off the screen).  All I know is, the iPad has made my studio recording experience instantly easier and….just…nicer.

• It always seems to fit where I need it.
• Page-turning is seamless
• Page-turning is noiseless
• Screen is font-adjustable
• Screen is finger-touch sizable bigger or smaller
• Screen illumination is adjustable
• It’s fast
• iPad is light, and always seems to be just the right size
• Record on iPad while you record on your DAW…play back later for double-check
• Play-back later, and even have it transcribed voice-to-text (with certain apps)
• Use with Blue Mikey and upload for use as an auditioning tool (like iPhone)

…I could go on.

There are now other tablet products on the market that undoubtedly approach the ease-of-use I describe here with the iPad…but it seems once again Steven Jobs has managed to beat the pack to innovation…and lead the pack in market share.

Voice-actors often do significant hand-wringing with their choice of hardware for the studio…chief among them:  mics.   My suggestion, spare yourself the cost of a new mic, and buy the iPad instead.  You’ll see an instant difference in your studio experience and output.

CourVO