Hey, it's time for a voiceover body shop tech talk number 60 60 that's amazing. That's amazing. Yes. We've been doing it that long and I mean really only been doing it for what? Three years. Is it three years? Almost three years. I think we started in for now. We started before the pandemic It was a year before that so two and a half years. Yeah, and 60 episodes of tech talk each one of them loaded with more information Then your brain can possibly process which is why it's great that it's on Facebook and on YouTube So you can go back over and over It's right. That's right and if you have a question for us throw it in the chat room in Facebook or on YouTube live and We will get that question answered because that's what George and I love to do We love to answer questions about home voiceover studios because we know more about it than anybody else and we're usually accurate with our answer most of the time Trust us we know these things. I have an interesting part to talk about the sound screw and now you're gonna figure out what that means and Be creative with your answers. Well, what's that mean wrong answers only on it's though post something and say We only went wrong answers. So let's put it in the wrong put in the chat in the comments What are the wrong answers for what the sound screw is? Okay We have a prize All right voiceover body shop tech talk coming up right now from the outer reaches they came Bearing the knowledge of what it takes to properly record your voice over audio and Together from the center of the VO universe, they bring it to you now George Whitton the engineer to the VO stars of Virginia Tech grad with the skills to build set up and maintain the professional video studios of the biggest names in VO today and you Dan Leonard the voiceover home studio master a professional voice talent with the knowledge and experience to help you create a professional sounding home VO studio and Each week they allow you into their world making the complex simple Debunking the myths of what it takes to create great sounding audio Answering your questions showing you're the latest and greatest in VO tech and having a dandy time doing it Welcome to voiceover body shop Tech talk Voiceover body shop tech talk is brought to you by voiceover essentials calm home of Harlan Hogan signature products Source elements remote studio connections for everyone voice actor websites calm where your VO website isn't a pain in the butt Vio heroes calm become a hero to your clients with award-winning voiceover training J. Michael Collins demos when quality matters and voiceover extra your daily resource for VO success and Now live to drive from their super secret clubhouse and studio in Sherman Oaks, California Here are the guys Well, hey there. I'm Dan Leonard and I'm George Whitton and this is voiceover body shop or VO Be as tech talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk Alrighty, sorry Jeff. I don't have your button right now. Yeah, we're gonna figure that stuff Transfer that to my my roadcast. Yeah, I'm keeping a tally of all the little to-dos But hey the show must go on and it is and it's working and that's all that matters, right?  We got the the microphones down All right. Yeah, how's the lighting look? Is it look good, Sue? Is this lighting? Okay. Oh, we can do better. Okay This is a tough critic Shadowing shadowing Well, if I put the mic like over here, there's a shadow. Yeah, I'm like like Michael Gorbachev that way. Yeah Anyway, so we're here to talk about home voiceover studios, you know Niche in the world of everything that goes out in the world, but it's audio. Yes, but it is the center of our universe and You know, there's there's nothing like a home voiceover studio because it's yours. It's personal this every space is different every voice is different and Every pillow is different. Every pillow is different. I'm still I'm still working out what works best I don't want to slouch. No, I'm not we haven't slouched yet. We're doing it's it's gonna happen We're both gonna end up going like this. Well, you know, it's what my partner fear is is watching So I'll get occasional attacks going you're slouching. Can you smile more? I'm working on a honey. Thank you I appreciate you watching. I found that when I was an ice under there are pictures of me I look totally pissed off, right it we call it the RBH or the well, it's not nice It's not politically correct to say it, but oh, yeah, there are DHC resting Dan face Yeah, because it's all hidden behind the muscle now that we had to take pictures. It's like you have to really exaggerate a smile So if you see pictures of me going That's why he's just exhausted. I was tired Well, you know, it was seven hours difference and they made you like do stuff, right? It was not this was not a passive cruise. Oh, no, yeah get on a bus. Yeah, you guys were you know, but ATV Walking yeah going up elevations and going down elevations and it was it was but it was still a lot of fun Go see Iceland. I'm gonna keep telling people that for a while now We can't decide where we want to go next But there's we got a lot of places on the bucket New Zealand that was that's one of the places on the bucket That sounds pretty good. Yeah, you know in Australia and places like that, but Back to the matter at hand, which is home voiceover students do it if you really, you know You really have to get your home voiceover studio sounding, right? That doesn't mean it has to sound great. It means it has to sound like you Like you without the the stuff distractions, right? And the noises there's the background noise There's no reflection, but how do you do that? If you don't know how to do that? You're in luck because George and I know how to do that because that's all we do I mean, I'm a voice actor and I do I work full-time as a voice actor, but You need that you need experts You need professionals to teach you how to do this and get your studio sounding the way it's supposed to sound like so All you have to do is contact one of us, you know, if you're like totally clueless as to how all this works Talk to a professional. So if you would like to work with a professional person like George here How would one go about doing that? Yeah, they would go to George the tech my belly button They go to George the tech or George the tech calm if that makes your little brain short circuit that weird domain thing And you can head over there There's a menu of services and if that is a little bit dizzying in terms of its array of options Just send me a message on the contact page And we'll get back to you with what we think would be the most helpful for your needs And Dan also has a site with a longer name. Yes right here There it is. It's home voice over studio dot com and go over there you'll see the services I offer and You know, we can have a conversation We do a consult and teach you from soup to nuts if you have no idea what's going on If you've got all your stuff and you have no idea how to use it I can teach you how to do that, but if you've got all your stuff and you've You know, you've been recording, but you want to know what your studio sounds like to somebody who knows what it's supposed to sound Like right. I have my specimen collection cup and you can drop off a specimen of your audio Raw, I don't want to hear all the technical stuff.  That's right. Well, no We're gonna get it sounding as clean as possible for $25. I will do a very thorough audio analysis Talk to anybody that's done that with me and they'll say, you know He's really thorough and it is worth that money It is because it'll make you know, you'll change your entire brain as to how to do all this. So That's that's our plug a pollucifer this week. Sounds good. All right. I had a little extra tag on too Okay, I'm also doing webinars now self-produced. Yeah, Dan and I have done a bunch for John Florian voice over extra I'm starting to throw some into the hopper myself And if you want to find those go to George the dot tech slash webinars, that's where I'm Doing the new ones and then you can get the replays for the ones I've already done Like we did one on audition on an audition primer and we did a twisted wave Sort of primer as well like beginner one and there's some more coming But we're still working on the systems to make it all work smoothly.  Ah Because I want to see how you use spectra view. Oh, well and some other stuff Missing it for over 10 years. That's why one of my favorite. That's why I went on so what do you know in your tech update this week? All right Well first I promised I would mention the sound screw and this is one of those products that many were sending to me saying Have you seen this thing? The first person that actually sent it to me was a guy named skip Cahini who's He is like actually become my guru a guy that I go to who has the degrees Does the really big budget jobs, you know doing sound studios not studios, but Like venues concert venues things are really big budgets and he sent it to me now We had a little chat about what the sound screw does and what we thought we thought it would be useful But what it is this is this product and I love to tell you where it came from it was developed by Hacken Vernison of the Department of Material Science and Applied Mathematics at Sweden's Malmö University, I think it's Malmö. Malmö. It's m-a-l-m-o with an umlau. Yeah, okay Anyway, here's a quick a very quick summary of what this thing is and this is definitely a visual thing So if you want to show this and even looking at the picture, you still may not really understand what exactly what it It's a screw with a spring Whereas a traditional drywall screw holds a panel of drywall Snug like very snugly up against the studs that make up the structure of a room The sound screw features a flexible spring just below the head It still allows a piece of drywall securely to hold a piece of drywall securely against a wall But with a very slight gap allowing the spring to expand and compress The damping the ant and that dampens the energy of sound waves hitting the walls making them much quicker Quieter boy. I can't read. Maybe should make it bigger like you do Making it much quieter as they reverberate into another room During sound testing in a lab researchers say the use of sound screws was found to reduce transmission by up to nine decibels making them making the sounds bouncing into a neighboring room Roughly half as loud to human ears nine nine DB is really what you really need, you know in a marginal Yeah, that's that's that is that a single a single solution soundproofing thing. No Would it make a big difference like if you're trying to improve the privacy of your bedroom? Yes, it would help quite a lot Would you use it inside an ISO booth that you're custom constructing? I don't know yet There's so many different systems and methods of construction that are already proven that we use So it's hard to say I if you read the article by the way I found a good article about this on gizmodo.com Your little it's a good gadget blog if you look for that article in there They definitely seem like this is something that's for like large projects like condominiums apartments things like that Anyway, we'll see how it goes on some testing in the real world see if anybody tries it My my guru skip said the problem with this type of idea is if any one of those Let's say 70 or 90 or 140 of these little screws if any one of them is not Failed say it fails, right or isn't doing its job. It's short here. It's short circuits the whole thing So there's a big problem there. So we'll see how it goes, but it's interesting to see I love seeing the innovation in this area. So cool Another topic that's been brewing since we were off the air is the news of audacity Now being owned by another company Which may sound odd to you because it's free. Mm-hmm and it's open source But it is it is owned by another company now along with that came a lot of controversy or Contrivissory, what's the right? What a what's the right wrong way to if you're another Yeah It's catch a very yeah catch of it. Um, there's there was some controversy because there was this new privacy Thing that you had to sign off on to use it, you know So people are starting to think oh my gosh, this is becoming spyware Audacity is now going to spy on my computer and how I use it So there is a great article which I have certainly not scroll down that article show them how long it It's it's crazy long Pardon me It's on liberal arts.com li br e Arts dot org not comm org Check out the article on there about audacity privacy and you can really really dig in but there's There's the thing to know is that It's not if the software is going to remain it's not going to change its overall functionality It's not going to all sudden cost anything. Right. That's what they say. It's going to remain totally donate to them You can still donate to it One functional thing that's changing in the next version or in this latest one is what Paul Lickamelli by the way that I could be saying his name totally wrong. It could be listen Melly I'm sorry for that Paul, but he's got it. He's on a great Facebook group for audacity. It's audacity for voiceover That's how I know him, but he mentions that there is something called a unitary file format Which will which will spare many users the common error of Moving the AUP file without the companion folder So what it is is like one large package file or a bundle right where all the other files are bundled together So I think that was in my world. That's not an issue because I don't really use the AUP file I just would say save a wave right or an MP3, right? But if you're doing production podcasting multitrack, you want that AUP to keep it Well now that can be bundled together into one One package that's so you can that keeps it keeps it from getting in trouble Yeah, and and and sending the wrong file like that. So Definitely check check out the the stuff on YouTube about this There's a great interview That was done by of Paul and many others on the development team by a fellow who I will spell his name Tanta cruel T. A. N. T. A C. R. U. L. And it's called I'm now in charge of designing audacity Seriously, so go find that on YouTube and watch it far longer than we can possibly share here But you'll get to see Paul actually in the flesh explaining What's new with audacity and really what's cool about that video is is really the in-depth explanation of how it came to be Right, it's been around for 20 years. It's pretty mind-boggling and I got to say it's It really is getting better and better The feature set is really is really impressive and it's very stable and it's free and it's still free Not free Not even close to it. No, no in the other direction is Is the universal audio Apollo which we you know, we have a I have a love love hate relationship with it You know, there's but I but anyway, the universal audio that owns and and creates the Apollo has purchased another company that If you were watching the interview with Mara Junot Mara Junot marijuana marijuana Mara Junot, if you were watching the no, it's she has nothing to do with marijuana. It's it's a mnemonic thing. It's anyway If you were watching that episode, you'll you'll you'll hear her mention a microphone called the towns and labs sphere L 22. This is a crazy Sophisticated mic slash software solution. Well, it's been working so it basically does a mind meld within Apollo interface And it becomes like the ultimate Multi-microphone simulating product like it's one mic that does the job of a hundred bikes if you happen to need that sort of thing if you're really well, okay, if you're you're Mara and your boyfriend is Jordan.  They actually purchased a universal audio purchased the assets of towns and labs, so What does that mean for towns and labs? I can only hope that it means there's gonna be even more rapid development of interesting plugins and models and hopefully Hopefully good support. That's the part that makes me nervous whenever like companies swallow up small companies Right. Are they still gonna have that kind of personalized that level of support? I hope they do are you listening universal audio? Don't screw this up. Okay. We love this microphone. We love your equipment. Please keep giving us some good support Anyway, that's all the tech news. I had to talk about tonight, but Thanks for letting me blather on well Why we're here crying out loud, but we have questions a few in there already. Yeah, we want more though Give us more questions. Yeah, so I figured, you know, we could talk about just about anything on the show because It's our show. I mean we have been talking about anything but you know, I work with a lot of clients and Sometimes I'll get a client that that's like I have to use Pro Tools. I've got to use this I've got a mixer. I you know, I bought a studio from somebody and I produce all this stuff I have no idea how to use it all Yeah, they bought it. They bought a rocket ship and they need to drive it to the grocery store. Exactly. Yeah, or familiar with that scenario. Yeah And So the question becomes do you simplify? You know, if they're familiar with using Pro Tools, yes, this is a dilemma but You don't really need it I mean, and if you're not if you're not technically savvy and you know how to arm a track and hit record and that's it What do you need the rest of it for? Right? And so I'm I'm trying to figure out how how to how to kind of sell with some yeah How do you transition somebody to something far less sophisticated? That's gonna sound better I mean when I first arrived here in LA and I started, you know doing the kind of stuff you do and going into people's houses and into their home studios and seeing that literally Despite the fact that I was you know in Buffalo all those years doing this and I was working with people over zoom and Well, I was Skype back then.  And okay record something now play it back Wow, that sounds fabulous Yeah, because you know you had all this stuff and some engineer who's like was all stuff I use you should use it too, right and that's not the way you should do things not when you're self Engineering exactly you can't do the job of that engineer that set it up for you Right as well as that engineer did it when they set it up for you, right? And especially they didn't know what the heck they were doing sometimes that's another problem happens another layer to the onion there Yeah, so, you know Again, we just need to remind you guys. It's not the equipment that gets you work It's how you use it and use it to the point where you're not using it To where it's like it record do what you do which is voice over, you know, you talk into the mic You read the copy don't worry about what's going on in your computer Because it's yeah, it's a computer. Yeah, it's Completing things and changing things around I've simplified it down. It's a cassette recorder Play stop record rewind.  And I think that's for a reason they want every engineer that knows pro tools to know pro tools So they can move from one studio to the next right and it didn't have to worry about it changing The beauty of twisted wave is you can reprogram keyboard shortcuts in twisted wave to act more like the way They were in pro tools Hmm and so not many times but I've had a few opportunities to go in there and make for example One two three four five yard zoom levels in pro tools, right? You can program those keys to do a similar thing in twisted waves, right? Command bracket up and back and forth is another zoom thing. You can make twisted wave do that So that is one way that you can try to help Socially engineer somebody out of using pro tools, but it doesn't it doesn't always work, but it's something I've tried Yeah, the thing is is that people think that well pro tool sounds better than twisted wave No, it does they sound exactly the same base. It all depends on what your microphone is going into Chain is the it's the room noise. It's the acoustics. It's the ad converter That's that's that's what matters not not the not what's capturing the stream of ones and zeros, right?  If you had to if I had to but you had a client come in you say, okay We're gonna pay you this mount of money, right and we need you to use pro tools. What are you gonna do? Go get pro tools. No, I'll record something and then just throw it into pro tools and say here's your pro tools file Anything you want to make a pro tools project So that's right And that's what I would probably do but no one's ever asked me to use pro tools No, because they know that my audio is gonna sound good no matter what right you're gonna send them a wave, right? And it's like universal format and they can take that and they can shove it into pro tools And they can do whatever the heck they want with it So I don't understand. I think there's there's a certain geekiness. There's a certain I won't call it arrogance But there's an air of sophisticated. Well, I use pro tools. Well, that's fine But if you're just using your voice, you don't need all this stuff. It's it's you know, what how do I describe it? It's getting a you know a control room for a nuclear reactor to control the hamster. Well hamster in the wheel I've only been using that for about I may have memorized it by now Anyway, we got a few questions coming in if you've got a question throw it in the chat room Jeff Holman is probably still in his hotel room in vancouver watching this and going oh, I gotta get all these questions in here Put it in the chat room in facebook or on you stream live depending on where you're watching and Maybe we can get one from clubhouse if that's working. We don't know but Ask us questions. That's what george and I love and we'll be right back to answer those right after these messages Hi, this is bill farmer and you are watching voiceover body shop. It's great We've been sequestered for over a year Forced to watch undubbed turkish soap operas And face it we're all zoomed out But now it's time to get back on the road again And if you have to record your voiceover tracks on the road There's no better way than to use a harlan hogan port-a-booth plus with one zipper assembly in seconds had lined an orlex studio foam The port-a-booth plus is your answer to professional recordings on the road And because summer travel and remote recording are finally back.   Okay, maybe not bathrobe comfortable Pants for the customer on aisle floor, please Watch anywhere anytime on an unlimited number of devices Sign in with your netflix account to watch instantly at netflix.com The ice cream maker is a big risk that can have huge reward Until you forget to turn it on That's it guys Time is up. Hey, it's jmc. Thanks for watching the voiceover body shop If you're demo ready or looking to get there check out jmc demos dot com and see a sample of our work Now let's get back to dan and george and this week's tech wisdom Yeah, it's the time of the show where dan tries to get off camera Which never works because we have a wide camera and we talk about source connect Created by source elements our wonderful sponsors This is a tool that connects your studio to others around the world And it has cemented itself as the tool of choice among the pro productions in the world Um, especially in the last 18 months during the Situation i've seen a lot of youtubers call it the situation They don't want to mention the c word or the p word for good reasons um, but it's a really remarkable tool and It has become Just a staple in the production world where it allows the voiceovers audio to be sent right into a track In pro tools and it can even automatically back itself up, which is huge. It can using something called the q manager Continually record what you're doing the actor on your end Seamlessly transparently and then at the end of the session it can either Replace errors in the audio like if there was a glitch or it can then completely replace the entire session With a wave file not the compressed version that was streamed with source connect So it does all that seamlessly and it is really quite remarkable and uh, it makes your job as an actor so much easier You don't have to edit anything. You don't have to you know mess around with the file formats whatever It's just you walk in it's the closest thing to going in a real studio or commercial studio Where you have to leave your house and uh being able to just record So anyway, if you want to give it a try head over to source elements calm get a 15 day Trial and get up and running so you can feel more comfortable with it If you're feeling a little intimidated by the whole thing Their support is excellent and i've got a bunch of training stuff to help you get started over at george the dot tech s c So anyway, thanks so much source elements And now dan's gonna slide in and we're gonna go right so the question We'll find a better way to do that. But anyway, it's been fun. Um All right, so it's audience questions time here So we've got a few in the queue But if you've got one for us, the best thing to do is throw it in youtube chat or facebook chat And we'll give clubhouse a go and see if that's working now We've had some issues today with that one, but we'll we'll see how we're working If you're desperate to get your answer questioned and your question answered and clubhouse Jump into the chat in uh youtube or facebook and we'll we'll make sure we get it you've been watching the olympics I hate to say that I haven't even though there's skateboarding, which I think is awesome There's there's recycling and mountain biking. It's sort of like skateboarding. It's teenager Splatting on their toes essentially a 13 year old got the gold from japan. I do know that much But you know which kind of makes sense. I mean who has the time To learn those tricks other than kids kids if you're an adult with enough spare time Well, I know some of you But anyway, I digress okay, it's pretty it's pretty amazing stuff. I have not been watching okay Yeah, well, I I can't wait for reko grumman wrestling reko grumman reko grumman This is a greco roman wrestling. Yes, it is You transpose things in there. I mean, I think of reko greb reko Grumman rucos reko It's a drunk way to say Sorry, that's the first swear. I'm totally sober. Okay Uh, I saw this question earlier and I I have some opinions on it. So it's please let's toss in here Did you see a post from arman? Who wrote this one? Oh, I think it was gerard gerard mcguan Did you see the post from arman arman hayas that uh The head guy over at bodelgo about the combo isovox and iso mic perhaps something you may have opinions about Uh Hope you're both well. Well, we're felling gerard. Uh, they're gerard. Uh, yeah, uh, I've seen the isovox It sounds like a tube I have one you I got one early on they sent me one as a demo. I did a review. Yeah, and it's It's yeah, it's got some acoustics problems, you know, if you're a reporter If you are, you know, if you're, you know, a rock singer or a rock singer or something where it's not really critical I don't know if it isolates you very well at all and to me it sounds it sounds like a tube It's it's it has a bit of a sound to it a little a little bit of a boxiness Isovox two has been out for quite a few years. So I don't know if they're in the lab working on the next Edition they probably are I would imagine There's an isovox three. I'd say it needs to be a little bit larger possibly But anyway, I love the the you gotta you gotta You know, you got to give them some props for for making something like this that's been manufactured very Very well. Actually, it's a really well produced product But so now they're they're they're partnering with a microphone company And so they're apparently they have a mic cancelling mic. Well, it's called the isovox iso mic Yeah, and Let's see. I'm looking at this and going You could adjust the sound by using eq, of course and thanks to the frequency range of seven hertz to 87 kilohertz This is absolutely possible. It's not meant to be used like that though um, this microphone has Are you kidding me? This microphone has a frequency response of seven hertz To 87 kilohertz Am I hearing that right? Well, no, you're you're if you're hearing it Then you're definitely something right with your hearing there. That's freaking amazing I think I know what company makes this mic. It looks familiar to me Do you remember when we went to nam and we saw a mic with a triangular? Yes capsule. Yes, I believe that is the company making this microphone They made a partnership um, because they're both swedish companies that yeah, the earl and earl and microphone Um triangular diaphragm. Well, you know what like everything else in this world There's so many amazing unique and incredible miracle products out there Until we hear it used in context of real voice over work and do we have to refix the eq? That's the question. I I'm curious to see how it works But I suppose if you made a mic who was that was literally designed to work specifically with that booth You could design the mic to work in that kind of a situation And then it could probably work pretty well cut off everything under a hundred hertz for sure And that'll probably probably well, that's that's was I we mentioned towns and labs mic They actually have a plug-in that will adjust the mics pre performance to work better in a really small box Like it it it tries to figure out. Well, you're in a little whisper room or whatever So we're going to change the response so This that wouldn't be surprised if they had a setting for the isovox Ah, all these gadgets and gadgets So anyway, if you buy this whole package, you're in it for about 2,300 euros So does that is that a one-stop shop solution? Again, don't know yet But if I got one of those mics and I already have the isovox, maybe I could do a test Let me know or maybe I could do a test. Yeah, I could ship it to I'd be happy to bring it over here Sticking up a little bit too much space in my garage. Well, okay. Well, if that's the case then I'll bring it on over Bring it on over so we can make a mess here with it Alrighty, uh patricia andrea If you had to buy a computer now proverbly a desktop What could be a laptop for voiceover? Oh, yeah, of course. What would you get? Guys like this minute this day There's the computer that dan and I use And it doesn't necessarily mean that would recommend it to everybody because it's still so new but Dan and I are both using and finding good success with the apple and what and mac book. I'm sorry them the mac mini right um because it's just it's It's a major leap forward in technology Think of think of how fat if you have an iphone or an ipad think about how quickly it does everything amazing Right. It's like almost everything you do is instantaneous. There's no There's no little pinwheel of death While you wait to load something sometimes If you're running a lot of things but I don't keep as many tabs open as you do Is yours have the 16 gigs of memory? Of course it is mine Mine doesn't do that very all but mine doesn't do the pinwheel I think it has more to do with some of the compatibility of some of the software Are using any external hard drives like a spinning disk type hard drive plugged into it for anything I usually turn it on. Okay that's the only thing I've ever seen that does it. Yeah, I would external drives, but we Now we're having our own little sidebar here But anyway, this is what happens when you talk computers Yeah, but the m1 is the m1 mac mini is a hell of a deal Yeah, uh for the performance that you're gonna get and it's super quiet. Are we at a phase here? I think we're getting a little bit of phasing cancellation Maybe if I put over here a little bit better. Yeah a little more little phase cancellations happening We have I could also like do this and move and point my mic away, but now it's now it's Yeah, let's just put it back where this is this is professional audio engineers visual There's also I could go up and underneath. So it's pointing up my nostril. Why did I sound quieter because we were out of phase Yeah, it actually has that work. Do we like that? That sounds like that sounds I'm not usually a big fan of up and under because it's like pointing in my nostrils. Yeah, no, it sounds much better I'll try that for a while. Yeah, okay So we like the m1 the the In in the windows side of things Um I don't have a go to but if you do a little research you can find some silent pcs Um that are not that expensive um, you know very small very compact and You're not for voiceover specific work. You're not looking for a powerhouse computer. You don't need it You're looking for an efficient and quiet one very quiet. So Check out some of those like, um Fanless home theater computers or not a gamer pc Say those those are typically high power computers, right lots of horsepower really fast gpu's don't need that at all That's the stuff that makes it run hot and kill the battery and make noise What about like a like a surface or one of those small microsoft? I have seen the the the surface to be a really great Uh solution actually, you know, it's it's a real intel i Five cpu computer. It just looks like an ipad. So I've had good good success with that I haven't used it that many times. I think I've put it in two studios, but yeah It works fine. Again not power. That's not what you want. You want silence. You want simplicity Um, that's yeah, that's what you really want when you're looking for Or shopping for a computer interesting question from bob leadham here good Should I answer it or should I read it you can read it and you can answer I can answer it too. Okay Bob says what is meant when someone says let a microphone Takes eq well As opposed to badly I don't quite get that it sounds like an engineering term that somebody's trying to be Trying to be you know My theory on this is is that it's a mic that's relatively um Has a relatively flat response or smooth response And this is something you wouldn't know unless you looked at the frequency response Chart provided by the company that makes the mic right assuming it's accurate So if you're looking at one that has like a pretty it has a little bit of a rise here Maybe at the top it goes up a little bit and then it rolls off That's not so bad, but if it's a mic that has lots of little Sort of erratic bumps up and down. That's going to be harder to eq Well, because those peaks when you add some eq those are going to jump up and get maybe sound bad That's my theory on this I I have to eq every mic Well, not every mic. I have to eq any mic I don't really get to choose And so I rarely find a mic. I can't eq So to me it's kind of it's a little bit confusing, but that's my guess is theoretically that would be why yeah, I mean and the With eq usually the only stuff that I'll do with the eq is you know Maybe take off the low end if there's like a rumble or something You know, that's the problem with it being right here. It's you know, you're gonna keep it I'll just keep knocking it myself um I find that you know if you have a good mic trust the sound of what it has And you know, if your room is right trust that An engineer gets a hold of it. Let him do whatever he's going to do to it You know, if you're trying to say prefer that you really lighter If you're trying to satisfy your own ears, you got to remember that you don't hire you Oh, this was a good topic that you mentioned this because I'm getting to echo this echo this more and more Someone came to me and they are a producer So they've been on the other side of the glass right and they know what sounds good, but he's now Crossing into voiceover He says he's not making a living as a producer. It's kind of a by mistake thing But he was he was what happened sometimes how a producer ends up doing voice over somebody doesn't show up Well, that well, there's nothing called scratching. Yeah, that's like a temp voice right scratch But he was doing a good job people are like, hey, you know the scratch voice on that's pretty good Let's just hire that guy long story short. He's doing more and more of it But he came and said I want you to make some processing for me when I was done with it He was like, wait a minute You did everything I didn't you you did all you added or you left there all the things that I don't like about my voice And I was like, okay, let's let's unpack this a little bit and long story short I was like, are you working with a coach? He said no I said it's time to work with a coach send some audio to So, you know, I ended up referring to rick waserman book a bookable and he's now working with him Which is I love it when someone takes my advice. I hope it works out. Well, they'd pay you to do that Yeah, but you know better. But anyway long story I It was I instead of saying, you know, I no problem. I'll redo that for you I was like, no, let's let's take a look at why you think it you sound the way you sound and does what you think about Is is it that what matters is it is what you think the way you sound What really matters versus what the clients are hiring people to do or what sound they want to hear You know, that was the that was the little headspace I had to get around in in him because he's not a newbie to the world of this work Right. He's just a newbie to Being the one on mic right and being heard, right and wants to sound a certain way except that Everybody hears differently and that's and you hear yourself very differently Very good point. Yeah, it's interesting stuff. Yeah Uh, shawna shawna rose turn go for uh shawna says I have a booth in a bedroom But the rest of the house echoes terribly. Well, uh, I have a kennel of dogs Oh, she has to kennel the dogs. So put them away. She has to pack up the dogs And the children joke about the kids Uh, good one. Um, I've considered sound buffering artwork Um, but I don't know if it would be a waste of money that could be better spent on my next idea Which is I'm leaning more towards getting a storage building And finishing it out like a proper booth thoughts She shed a she shed Dan one of these days you got to do a tour of Marcy go for a walk with your phone now We'll do that sometime but Dan's Dan's wife's got one right outside the building here Yeah, she had she had space envy because I've got this wonderful You know man cave here that we do the show and the kids are home and the kids are home A lot more lately. Yeah. Well, jacob's been at the he's been out more at the office But louis is still has has his office here and she doesn't like sharing the space. There you go And so we got we contacted tough shed Oh, actual tough shed actual tough shed, you know, we designed it online. They came it was built in six hours We put drywall in it. Cool. And now she has her yoga studio craft studio. She shed out there How is it keeping cool?  We have a portable air conditioner You know one of those, you know, big portable air conditioners, you know, now it's in the sun. It gets hot You know, which makes her want to move back to buffalo, which I keep saying is not happening That's what I was gonna I was gonna ask shana. I was like, where are you? Okay, so what's the climate like? Um, what kind of noise levels are you dealing with in your neighborhood and what's your budget? Because really at the end of the day it all comes down to What can you afford because that's going to be a big determination? My estimation any project of this nature That's done soundproofed properly and cooled so you can run the machine while you're yeah That's gonna cost you a few you're gonna be in that you I mean I hate to tell you but prepare for Minimum 30 to 40 Thousand yeah, I think like if you were to hire someone to do 100 of the work right turnkey The budget gets into that ballpark quick. So You know quiet on demand Comes with a big price tag. That's right It totally does. Yeah, and you're trying to get Texas. Oh boy, shana's in Texas. Oh Yeah, that's good Yeah, but if you have an outbuilding already if you have one, okay I still think the building is probably maybe a third of the budget on that Yeah, well the thing I I have found that if you've got a an outbuilding that is away from the house and away from the street If you just put in some acoustical blankets in there as all they're not right next to an airport Right. Yeah, I mean, you know, I mean that's always a problem in southern california because everyone has an airport Uh, but you know, it is long as the acoustics are right and you're in a quiet spot It they're very very useful. Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I mean We can talk about it. I mean shana i'm consulting on a lot of people's projects like this So let me know hit me up as the kids say at george. They've got tech And we'll we'll unpack it. We'll we'll get into the nitty gritty and find out what uh What you might really expect to do to solve that problem Yeah, mike de bordas. Hey george. Do you have a recorded version of your adobe audition webinar? Why of course, what do you think i'm crazy to not do that? No, I do If you go to that same you go to george the dot tech slash webinars I also post the link to the recorded version, which is on vimeo pro. So thanks for asking mike I'm brought to you by Uh, j. Horace black Hey guys, hey guys great to see everyone healthy and well Hey, you know, uh had a lot of actors ask me of late Is there much difference in internal components between the focus right to i2 and the solo the difference is is yeah It's got one mike input Yeah, I I I I we I can't answer that with authority. I haven't done a tear down looked at it chip for chip, but um Not likely at all that there's going to be any difference in sound quality functionality Yes, as dan said one has one mike one has two mike inputs It doesn't have the same pre enough because you know and think of it this way. These are very affordable Home studio pieces of gear for them to make a different set of components just to have a slightly upgraded model Would make no sense, right logically they're going to use as much of the same stuff as possible in the next version so Okay, I still can't say guaranteed. They're identical, but There's no reason to believe they would be anything other than identical ones and zeros or ones and zeros It's going to use the same preamp the same ad converter Same headphone amp if it's some of this if it's from the same generation Keep that in mind too. They're they're on gen three and the gen three is really nice Yeah, I mean it the headphone amps better everything It's really good. Yeah, I've noticed that, you know, I I've I've listened to a lot of You know interfaces usb interfaces I mean we did that shoot out type into google the usb interface shoot out and watch our our video Yeah, uh, because as far as we were concerned do they sound different? Yeah, a little bit. Do they sound better than the other? It doesn't matter listen to the listen when we do a super cut of dan reading a piece of script It's nine different interfaces intercut and let us know how much of a difference it makes right well, but it yeah Don't get a too caught up in that Okay, you get the pomela pomela. It could be pomela or pomela or the name pomela split into two names Which would be really interesting. Um I'm confused by the fact that you don't suggest using things like an isobox and various other boxes Around the mic as they give a poor box sound, but you do promote a portable box in between segments Uh, would the one you promote actually be acceptable to use at home or as well? Or are you saying that it's better than a typical hotel? But still not ideal Why would say leaning in that direction a little bit? Yeah, well, it was designed specifically for travel Yeah, I mean that's what it was. I mean it's a problem solver for solving That problem right could you use it at home? Yeah, you could do I know people to do? Yeah, does it sound As good as a good walk-in closet the fact of the matter is is there's a There's a difference between what say the portabouth is and what some other ones are Yeah, you know and there's there's a technique a lot of this technique I was going to say and there's a technique to it You don't talk into the center of it. You talk either across the bottom lip or you talk across the top And you don't put the mic all the way in the back. Yeah, it goes near the front So there are a lot of techniques to it But honestly harland's portabouth plus is my Of all the products he's he's made in that lane lineup is the one I like the most I think it's great great with the 416 because that's what it was designed for I think so That was really the primary mic he was using and then his own microphone the vo1a Absolutely, which is that my creator by the way It's what dan's talking into if you ever wondered what a vo1a sounds like it sounds like that it sounds like that Sounds pretty good from a fist away. It sounds like that. It's pretty nice. Uh, let's see here. Uh, yeah, so You know, can you use it at home? Yeah Still better to have a place you can isolate yourself None of these boxes will isolate you totally from exterior. Not even ones that are literally called the words iso anything Uh, can can stop the sound of your neighbors your own dog Your own kids running around the house. Trust me. It's all gonna be in the recording all of it All right. Portia q asks q You're cute Wow, this advice is very valuable. Well, that's why we do it. Thank you I have a road nt1 But feel an upgrade would improve my sound when why do you feel that way highly unlikely? Yeah advise that if i'm not getting an above $3,000 or so mic Then save the bucks and leave it up to those who hire us to protect the sound I totally agree. Yeah, you know the fact of the matter is is we and we've discussed this over the years for every say $500 you go up in price on a microphone The actual sound improvement whatever that means that is perceptible Is probably less than 1% And i'll argue Okay There's a certain point where it goes down Well, because it's gonna hear because what everything yeah, it's more sensitive And a lot of those really high-end boutique mics Are designed to have a character to them Like they're not designed to be super clean and super clear and accurate They're more designed to have a certain voice to them. So they're not even going to be as accurate as an nt1 I mean the view of 1a the road nt1 very very similar in sound quality. We've I've compared them. They're extremely similar right They're they're Really all anybody actually really needs given that you have a good recording environment like that's That's it like it's already doing the job. Well And extremely well, right? They're low noise very no distortion Sound clear natural. That's that's what you care about. That's what you need um everything else is bells and whistles or tubes or other gadgets to Modify the sound of the mic and not have it be as accurate. That's but I would argue Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, don't bother. Yeah work on the room work on the room acoustics work on your mic technique Work on all that stuff and more even more important let us hear your audio to see what you actually could be What would actually be worth spending money on right in your studio if at all good point? Thanks Pamela asks another question or Pamela whatever her name is or his name is But perhaps we don't ask these things anymore. They whatever their name is whatever their name is. Um, yeah What stats would you suggest for purchasing a mac mini? I'm planning on a one terabyte ssd But I'm less certain about the memory requirements get the 16 16 gig. Um, yes, you can get away with the 8 gig Yes, it will work pretty well. I have a macbook air with eight gig and it does work fine for most things but All the geeky reviews I've watched and things like that. There are some tangible noticeable differences in performance And it's not a big expense like the one terabyte upgrade is a lot more expensive than going from 8 to 16 So if you're on a budget go smaller storage and go 16 gig Uh memory Okay, all right last thing was a quick a quick compliment from gay g And he says I'll say it again getting an effect stack from george is so worth it now. Dave. I want to know Why? Good question. That's what I want to know. What what exactly do you do when you when you throw these stacks together? These are not like humongous No switches and it is sometimes because some people send me some pretty bad audio Okay, well and I will give them some notes, but sometimes I'm like I Okay, I understand you're get trying to get away with something you got dogs. You got you're next to the airport tons of noise reduction You know while there's an air conditioning humming in the background. Okay, we'll take out 120 hertz You know like put a a notch eq at 120 try to get that humming out of there That's what some of it is. So some of it's restorative. Yeah, we're repairing the audio um, and some of it's sweetening it a little bit so I mean if they're using a mic that's really flat and dull sounding and they're doing commercial work And I know that something it's a lot a little bit more sizzly and bright is going to be right Then I'll maybe add some top end Certainly always just a little bit usually just a little bit. Yeah, because most mics don't need any more top end. That's what they don't need Um, sometimes it's just a little their booths and often are oftentimes boomy, right? So I'm trying to remove that And then I use like a two to one compressor Um, a lot because a lot of voice actors don't have the training The the training to have their levels of their voice be consistent throughout the entire read You know I'll get the file and they start loud and then you get softer towards the end and they get loud again and they get So a two to one compressor smooths that out. You know, it's a help So it's it's stuff like that. Um, if someone's like I got a dutile television affiliate I'm like, okay that that needs to sound tonight at 11 It's like super loud in your face grab your attention in these next 10 seconds. That's a very specific thing, right? So, um bottom line is it's really critical to know when it's the right time to process And it's more I think nowadays it's less and less appropriate to do it. Good glad to hear that It truly is it truly is so no one it's gotta no one to hold them to me. Everything is physical Yeah, so I dave if you if your answer you're still tell us what it what it has done for you Tangibly, right? Is it booking you more auditions or what is it doing? I'm just curious. All right Lots of great questions. Thank you guys. Oh, it's so much more fun Just hanging out with you as opposed to just like it is staring at you through a screen and your new air conditioner rocks, by the way It's nice in here. It's comfy. It's like in a professional tv studio. Yeah, we're wearing parkas. This is really coming This is coming around. Yeah. Alrighty, uh, well, we're gonna take a quick break. We'll come back to say goodbye So don't go away. We still have some important stuff to tell you. So we'll be right back I think I heard the voice of a body shop. I did.  What's been the puzzle you need to solve the question you need answered Well, david h laurence the 17th and the coaching team at vo heroes dot com want to know They're creating new courses and training and they want to know what you need most And it's easy to let them know just drop an email to david at vo heroes dot com. That's david at vo eroes Dot com and let him know what you'd like to know Is it tech oriented? Is it auditioning? Is it about booking more work? Finding an agent podcasting audio books performance questions Whatever it is that keeps you up at night that makes you scratch your head Or what you've always wanted to know about success in vo Email david and ask the email address again is david at vo heroes dot com In these modern times every business needs a website when you need a website for your voice acting business There's only one place to go like the name says voice actor websites dot com Their experience in this niche webmaster market gives them the ability to quickly and easily get you from concept to live Online in a much shorter time when you contact voice actor websites dot com Their team of experts and designers really get to know you and what your needs are They work with you to highlight what you do Then they create an easily navigable website for your potential clients to get the big picture of who you are And how your voice is the one for them plus voice actor websites dot com has other great resources Like their practice script library and other resources to help your voice over career flourish Don't try it yourself go with the pros voice actor websites dot com Where your via website shouldn't be a pain in the you know what? Hi, this is bill farmer and you are watching voice over body shop. It's great And we're back to say goodbye But it's fun answering your questions. Where else are you going to get this information?  I I know uh, see how it goes and and then there's some other people that we've been talking to So we've got some great guests coming up. So don't go anywhere Yeah, I mean you can watch any episode that we've done But you probably you know, if you were really like You know hard up during july when we were gone You're probably watched every episode just go into the internet search engine of choice or even youtube. Yeah entire v obs and something You know, you'll find a tremendous amount of resources or on our website big guy, you know V obs.tv all the episodes are there as well and on facebook Where you'll find all Anyway, who are our donors of the week? Why don't we do them in? Yeah, let's tag team. Okay. Go for it. Uh, that what you mean? Yeah, exactly You know, we'll alternate robert leadham steven chandler. Yes icon productions. That's martha con. Yay don griffith George with him senior Brian page rob rider patty gibbons diana birdsaw greg thomas Aunt land productions. Hi, uncle. Roy looking forward to the going to maybe maybe going to the i'm still on the maybe I hate to say it. I'd love to go. Uh, shana pains and baird Michael kerns christie burns graham spicer. Hey graham. Hey, uh, michelle blanker christopher epperson sarah borges philips appear trey speaks for you trey bosley. Yay tom pinto And shelly avaleno. Wow a lot of them because we you know, this is like a month's worth of you know We've been accumulating. Yeah, so we appreciate it your donations help. It makes it so we can like, you know Pay soup Yeah Hey, that's important. We want her sticking her money Alrighty, hey if you need help with your home voiceover studio, you can go to a bunch of places like You can go to george v dot tech That's my home on the site and you can go to home voiceover studio dot com. Yep, and you'll find me there I just hang out there staring at my website all the time Need to thank our sponsors harland hogan's voiceover essentials voiceover extra source elements Vo heroes dot com voice actor websites dot com and j mc demos Did he pay double for that? He did so we could read it like that. I know Okay, uh, jeff holman for sticking it out up there in vancouver and getting it done danie bernside on clubhouse uh, sumer lino for getting it done by just being there and pressing all the buttons and making us look like we actually know what we're doing being tolerant Putting up with us and lee pennie for being lee pennie. Well, look voiceovers. Yeah, there's a lot to it If you can get your home studio, right? That's that's most of it. You want to get that out of your head So you don't have to be always have that subconsciously bothering you. Yeah, because in the long run if it sounds good It is good. I'm dan lettered by the way george winam And this is voiceover body shop or vo bs tech talk tech talk tech talk. We'll see you next time. Have a great week, everybody


I seek salvation from shaitan the accursed, dearest viewers, my brothers and sisters from all over the world, may peace, blessings and protection of Allah be with you at all times. Welcome to another episode of the Ramadan show with me, your host Dr Shabiat Ijani. Today once again we'll be looking at a variety of different issues to be your one-stop shop for the month of Ramadan. Like I've said before, we will be with you on social media, please join in with us using the hashtag on Twitter, IHTVRamadan. Also join us on Instagram and Facebook and insha'Allah this episode will be uploaded on to YouTube tomorrow. Before we commence with the show I just want to quote a hadith from Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq alaihi salam where he says, knowledge is the lock, but the question is the key. In this episode the specific trait that we'll be focusing on for the spiritual refinement part of this episode is jealousy. Jealousy is one of the oldest negative traits that we find in human history and humankind and it is the ultimate and the most fundamental cause of the fight between good and evil. After all it was Iblis who in the heavens said to God that how can you make me bow down to Adam, peace and blessings be upon him, after all I am more superior to him. And this jealousy is what led shaitan to bring us all to come into our lives and to try and make us falter in our quest to become close to Allah swt. There is a very specific and fundamental difference between jealousy and envy and we must try and understand what that is. Jealousy essentially is when someone else has got a specific trait or a specific quality or they have something which they have within their means that you would like yourself to have and for them not to have. However envy is when they have something and you wish that you could have the same thing too.  So as you can see it is a very very burdensome disease of the soul. However there are many things we can do and ways in which we can lead our lives to try and avoid becoming jealous. And there are some practical steps that I will now tell you ways in which you can start contemplating thinking philosophizing in order to make sure that this disease of the soul does not affect you. Firstly we must try and understand what the causes of jealousy are. I have come across six qualities that would be the precursor to someone becoming jealous. The first one is enmity. The second one is weak faith or weak iman in Allah swt. Thirdly pride and arrogance plays a huge role in the beginnings and the fundamentals of jealousy and then there is the desire for power and materialistic things in this world and that can be something that makes someone jealous. Next it is a bad intrinsic nature so if you intrinsically have bad qualities or if someone else has intrinsically bad qualities they are more prone to becoming jealous of those around them. And finally it is the harsh heart. Someone who has committed sins or who has specific traits due to which their heart has become cold and harsh tends to become more jealous of those around them. Now we will talk a little bit about how to overcome jealousy. Jealousy being one of the worst traits that a human being can have and it is one of the causes why there is a lot of breakups of relationships in society, why there is a lot of problems in society because greed causes jealousy and once someone gets jealous they want bad for others around them and good for themselves and therefore that causes a decline in society and a break up of the fabric of society and social interactions. So how can you overcome this negative trait? Firstly you must try and understand that Allah SWT and the Ahl al Bayt alayhim salam they despise this quality, the quality of jealousy in a person's heart and in a person's being in a person's soul. If you can acknowledge, if you do have this trait of jealousy within you, the first step like dealing with any other negative trait is to try and acknowledge that actually this is a disease that you have within your soul and thereafter you can start to deal with it. A practical step to try and get rid of jealousy is to try and interact with the person that you're jealous of, try to help them in whatever way you can and try and understand why you're jealous of them. For example, if you're jealous of someone for whatever reason try to praise him or her and try to make them feel more elevated and so that you do not feel jealous of them anymore. Initially this is quite hard to start off with but once you start doing it you realize that actually it increases the humility within yourself and lowers your arrogance and your pride as well as giving the other person more self-esteem, more self-confidence and bringing them closer to you creating a sense of brotherhood or sisterhood. Thirdly, remember that on the day of judgment in the hereafter, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't look at your physical state. He doesn't look at the status that you received in this world. He doesn't look at the materialistic gains that you acquired within your life. He looks at the purity of your heart, the sincerity of your soul, the near and the intention for all of your actions and after this he will make his judgment. Therefore, always have this in mind and plan to cleanse your soul from any diseases and the worst of diseases, jealousy being one of them. The Holy Prophet peace and blessings be upon him, said there is a morsel of flesh in the body, if it is rectified the whole body is rectified and if it is corrupt then the whole body is corrupt. Indeed, it is the same with the heart. See, in this phrase the Holy Prophet peace and blessings be upon him emphasises that a single negative trait can completely ruin you and destroy your soul and getting rid of that negative trait can actually revitalise your soul and make your soul ready for meeting your Lord on the day of judgment. Next, it is really important to try and get to the fundamentals of why people are jealous, of why people have this disease of jealousy within their soul and the answer to that is simple and that is a desire, a wish for worldly and materialistic things and it's ultimately caused by greed. When someone has greed in their heart they want everything material around them so a way to get rid of this is to try and remember Allah SWT at every turn, try and reassess, reevaluate your intention at every turn. Remember that Allah SWT is where you've come from and it will be your ultimate destiny because once you're in your grave that is who you're answerable to. I've said it many times in the previous show and I'll say it again many, many more times during the shows that we have in the coming nights that it is really, really important to focus and constantly remember your death because it is only when you remember your death and your grave that is when you remember Allah SWT and remember where you're heading to because this world is borrowed time it is a very temporary life that we have and it's very short so if you constantly remember Allah SWT and the grave where you'll end up you will surely try and cleanse your heart of all the diseases that will take you away from Allah SWT so remember that this dunya is temporary and everything that you do within this world you're accountable for and it is only when you do that you'll be able to achieve that closeness to Allah SWT It has been narrated upon the authority of Imam Al-Sadaq May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him Say not this is Ramavan or that Ramavan has departed and that Ramavan has arrived for surely Ramadan is one of the names of Allah Azza wa Jalla the mighty, the glorious who neither arrives nor departs surely that which arrives and departs is ephemeral instead say the month of Ramavan not Ramavan alone In this segment of the show we look at how people from around the world prepare their day to day lives for the month of Ramadan and today because we're going to be talking about the heart of our spirituality I want you to focus on the heart of the Shi'a world which is Karbala and I will talk a little bit about how the people of Karbala prepare their day to day lives for the holy month and also talk a little bit about the shrines and how they also run their day to day activities throughout this month We will talk about the people to begin with the people here in Karbala because it's so hot they tend to, if they can, try not to work during the hottest parts of the days the hottest parts of the day are around midday and if they can, the labourers especially they try to work through the night after the iftar time so that during the daytime they can rest as much as possible however for some people that is not possible for teachers and for doctors for other people who cannot postpone their work to other parts of the day, they have to continue working the Iraqi people are naturally very giving so what they will try to do is try and host other people for iftar and give them as much as they can so whether it's a date or just a glass of milk they will try and give them food and water and sustenance during this month in any way, shape or form that they can now moving on to the shrines as you're aware that in Karbala we have the shrine or shrines of two of the greatest personalities in Imam al-Hussain alaihi salam and Abu al-Fadal alaihi salam and their shrines were in a very routine cycle of events during these days throughout the 30 days of Ramadan so typically in the morning after Salat al-Fajr they would have Ziyarat al-Ashura in both shrines and then after Salat al-Zohar they would have the recitation of the holy Quran this recitation you can hear live on Imam al-Hussain TV followed by this during iftar time families would gather in Bain al-Haramain they would eat the iftar and try and share it amongst each other and share it amongst the passes by as well because this is a month where people come together where they show love towards each other and the month of Ramadan is so special because they're in the heartland of the Shi'a world so they become even more giving around the shrines and in Bain al-Haramain and finally after Maghrib Salah there is Dua'i Ifteta in both shrines as well as in Bain al-Haramain and people tend to join in these du'as and these du'as you can also catch on Imam al-Hussain TV so it is a very special time of year and the routine is very, very spiritually elevating for those in Karbala and you'll be able to catch and keep up to date with all these activities throughout the month on Imam al-Hussain TV like every day, like every evening I would like to encourage you also to send in your videos to let us see, let us into your homes and also let us see how you prepare for the month of Ramadan how you go about your day to day activities so that we can share it with the rest of the world after all, as an ummah, we are one body and we would like to share how you prepare for this month with other people from all across the globe and other Shi'a and lovers of Imam al-Hussain dearest brothers and sisters I hope that the holy month of Ramadan have been so beneficial to you so far I hope that you have been using and being blessed with the blessings of this holy month and do not forget us in your prayers and do not forget to pray for the hasten reappearance of Imam of our time Imam al-Mahdi may Allah hasten his blessed reappearance Peace be upon you dearest Imam Hussain TV viewers welcome again I have another brother here I will ask him a few questions regarding the holy month of Ramadan Peace be upon you peace be upon you brother, he is greeting you and he is greeting the Islamic ummah He is saying that the holy month of Ramadan in the holy city of Karbala is totally different. The atmosphere is different, people are different, the meals are different. People usually go and visit each other. The brotherhood and sisterhood is a stronger during the holy month of Ramadan. How do people accept the gathering during the holy month of Ramadan? The gathering is excellent. In terms of the state of the holy month, it is known during the Eid days. God willing, it will be easy. It is accepted by couples, children, men and women. This will be a great joy for the children, especially during the Eid days. It is accepted by couples, it is accepted by something new, something new. Brother is saying that because the holy Eid of Eid al-Fitr is so special here in Karbala and Iraq in general, and especially for the children. After doing the exams, as you know the children are doing the exams before the holy month of Ramadan, and during the fast days they are waiting for the Eid to come and shop and to renew their clothes. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about nutritional tips for the month of Ramadan. As you can imagine, the holy month of Ramadan, due to the fasting periods, physically can drain individuals. So it is really, really important for all of you to understand what happens to your bodies during this month, during the fasting period, and also what you can do. The holy month of Ramadan is very important. In this episode, I'll be talking about nutrition and things that you can eat and drink in order to try and help you to get through the day. This will not only help you physically, but also spiritually, because it will give you more focus, more emphasis, more time that you can devote towards A'amal, and towards spiritually allowing you to get through the day. During the month of Ramadan, during the fasting periods, obviously on a day-to-day basis, when you're not fasting, when you're eating foods at regular intervals, your body has a constant supply of energy. Now this energy is primarily there in the form of sugars. So when you eat any food, whether they're carbohydrates, or simple sugars as well, that sugar gets absorbed into your body. And it remains in your blood system so that the body can utilize that sugar in order to provide you with energy. However, during the month of Ramadan, when you have prolonged periods of fasting, the sugar that you acquire from foods isn't there in your system. Therefore, you have to try and use other sources of energy. When this happens, what normally happens is that you have to try and use other sources of energy. When this happens, what normally happens is that you break down other things in your body such as protein, some muscle, and fats in order to produce energy sources so that your body can utilize that for energy. The other thing that happens to your body is obviously due to the lack of fluid and water, you tend to become very dehydrated. And also you lose a lot of other vital salts in your body such as sodium or potassium, chloride. All of these get lost through specific means, but the most commonest cause of loss of salts is through your sweat. So again, it is really important to replenish these stores when you have time to eat after your iftar. So today in this episode, we'll be looking at good foods that you can eat in order to try and keep your energy levels up and also good foods and good things that you can take in order to keep yourself rehydrated because after all, the last thing you'd want is to be so physically exhausted during this month that you do not have time to focus and think about the most important part of this month which is the spiritual element of it and the element of it where you can elevate your soul so you can achieve closeness to Allah swt. Now, during the time of iftar, obviously in different countries the period of fast and the period of being able to eat differs from place to place, region to region, country to country, but it is really important that you have an idea in your mind how you can keep yourself going through the day. Now, where I'm from, which is the United Kingdom, because I'm a doctor there, I get a lot of patients who ask me about the month of Ramadan, firstly whether the prolonged periods of fasting are physically... a human being is physically able to fast for that period of time and secondly, if they do fast, what they can do in order to make the most out of their day so that they're not hungry and so thirsty, so dehydrated for the whole period of the day and for this, the advice I give them is that if they have a good routine throughout their day even if they're working, the fast can be bearable, it can be tolerable as long as you eat the right things at the right times, obviously during the period of after iftar and also if you are sensible through the day as well. Obviously in very, very high levels of heat and humidity you use a lot of fluids, so the first thing to do when you're opening your fast or when you're eating your food is to make sure that you rehydrate yourself adequately. Now, there's many theories out there on how to rehydrate yourself effectively. Some of these include sports drinks or other rehydration solutions. However, studies that have been carried out in many parts of the world which has been specific to sports medicine actually show that milk has been a very, very good source of replenishment for fluid. The reason being is that due to the fat content in milk in any foods that has a high fat content the material will stay in your gut in your digestive system for a prolonged period of time. So what happens during this period of time is that the water is slowly going into your system over many, many hours rather than being put into your system during a very short period of time. So during this period of time the first advice I'd give you is try and drink some milk during the periods of eating and drinking. Secondly, as I mentioned before you do lose a lot of energy stores such as sugars. Now, a lot of people think that the way to replenish these stores are to eat lots of sugar when you're opening your fast. In fact, it's on the contrary because what happens when you do this is that you have a spike of sugar in your blood system and as a result you have a spike of insulin in your system and what insulin does is that it absorbs the glucose, the sugars into your cells very, very quickly so it doesn't remain in your blood system for a prolonged period of time and once that sugar is gone then you don't have anything left in your system. The way that you can overcome this issue is to concentrate and focus on specific types of food in order to give you a prolonged burst or prolonged supply of sugar in your system. So the best food to eat in this situation is complex carbohydrates so things like rice and pasta. The reason being that because the molecules are quite complex it takes time for your gut to digest these and as a result they slowly get absorbed into your system over a prolonged period of time so they keep you energized for a longer period of time and the sugar is getting into your system rather than having spikes of sugars you get a more prolonged slow release of sugar into your system it keeps you energized for longer periods of time. The other thing that I mentioned is loss of salt obviously it's very, very important salt is essential for our body because without these salts organs such as our heart and our brains would not be able to function the way that they do so it's very, very important for you to replenish these stores regularly after you have your iftar. Now the hadith of the Holy Prophet peace and blessings be upon him show us that it is very, very good to open your fast with a pinch of salt or a taste of salt and there is actually scientific basis behind this because salt which usually exists in the form of sodium chloride is the most commonest thing those are the most common salts that you lose through your sweat so by having some salt when you open your fast it's actually very good for you and what it does is it very, very quickly replenishes those stores of lost salts finally the last thing I want to focus on is other types of foods that would be good to eat during this month of Ramadan the reason being is that it is a very unique month not only spiritually and obviously Allah swt opens his doors of mercy to you during this month but also physically it is a very testing time it can be a very testing time for individuals but also your body does not go through this routine on a day to day basis for the rest of the year so it's a very new thing for your body to try and get adapted to and as a result your body goes through many changes during this month your metabolic rate changes and the way that you deal with specific foods that get put into your system also changes so you have to try and adapt that and change what you eat to try and counteract for that so specific foods that you can eat or focus on during this month especially are the lighter foods so like the Hadith says it is very important not to overeat when you're having an iftar not to overfill your stomach with food it is important to drink plenty of water but also to leave some space in your stomach because if you overeat not only do you feel sluggish and bloated but also affects you spiritually because that person who has a full stomach all the time cannot gain spiritual elevation because they're so focused on trying to digest that food and they're so burdened down by it that they don't have time to focus on anything else so really important not to overeat during this month so my tips to you are to try and take foods that are light such as soups to open your fast with and also utilize the gifts that God has given you in the sense that the natural fruits and vegetables that we have the fresh fruits and vegetables try and have those because again they have a good supply of sugars in them and also they have other vitamins and minerals that will be very useful to you to keep you going through the day because not only do you lose a specific sugars, salts, fluid but also it is important to replenish the stores of vitamins and minerals because during the day whilst you're not eating regularly you're not getting that regular supply of vitamins and minerals so you need to make sure that you replenish those in the time that you have for eating finally I'd just like to finish on these last words it is really important to remember that every food that you receive anything that you eat is a blessing from Allah SWT this may be slightly diverting from the topic of this specific talk but remember those brothers and sisters around the world who do not have food to eat and do not have water to drink because they even fast and whilst you're eating your food and drinking your water or whatever drinks you're drinking remember them and it is really important like I said before not to overeat remember not to waste food because surely for the food that you waste it is someone else's meal someone else's food that you're actually throwing away so remember those who are in need and surely if you do that you'll be more sensible about the way that you eat and about the things that you eat the sermon continues by several instructions O people Prophet Muhammad SAW states O people the gates of heaven are open in this month of Ramadan so ask your Lord not to close them the phrase the gates are open the gates of being open has at least two meanings number one the chance of someone entering heaven in this month is higher and greater than the rest of the month across the years across the year number two due to the openness of heaven's gates all kind of divine mercy in heaven are ready to encompass the servants in this world we see that Allah SWT these make the sleep and breaths of the faithful in the month of Ramadan like the inhabitants of heaven glorification of Allah and worship although the gates of heaven are being open the holy prophet warns people that if they do not appreciate this great opportunity subsequently Allah the Almighty will close them the situation of the gates of heaven sorry the gates of fire are quite the contrary Prophet SAW states and the gates of fire are closed in this month so ask your Lord not to open them along these lines the condition of satans are described as follows and the satans and satans are in chains so ask your Lord not to dominate them over you although satan and his assistants are chained up in this month the month of Ramadan committing sin results in releasing them therefore while the month of Ramadan is the best month to some people and to a specific group of people the month of Ramadan can also be a sort of worse than to a specific also to a specific group of people as Allah SWT mentions the holy Quran a cure and mercy this month is a cure and mercy for the faithful and it increases the wrongdoers only in loss this is in chapter 17 verse 82 the fourth Imam of Ahlul Bayt Imam Sajjad peace be upon him states in his farewell supplication that all month of Ramadan peace be upon you how long were you for the wrongdoers and how magnificent were you in the hearts of the faithful by implied as implied by the supplication and as proved by experiences the month of Ramadan for those who did not fad deliberately without any religious excuse it seems like a whole year and every moment of that year is some sort of torture for them on the contrary those who do their best to appreciate this month find it passing quickly and are concerned about not losing a second without taking advantage of taking fully advantage of it for this episode I would like to dedicate the poetry, the recitation to the person, the individual the personality who is the foundation of our religion whose name beats in all of our hearts who is the ultimate saviour of humankind I want to dedicate this to Imam al-Hussain alayhi salam this poetry is called I will come crawling to your Hussain and it was written by myself and my brother Abbas and it was written around the time of Arba'een when so many of the Zawad were heading towards Imam al-Hussain and we were left behind in our country and this is our way of expressing our grief and remembering Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain as I conclude this episode I just want to leave you with a final thought a few words a philosophy that you can implement in your day-to-day life in order to try and understand Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain Imam al-Hussain unless you let it inside you. The reason why I think this is a very important saying or a very important philosophy to try and implement is that positivity is a good start. It's a starting point for Ibadah, for good actions.  Your self-confidence will diminish. And essentially, your being will become very small inside. And as a result, your soul suffers. So it is very, very important to try and stay positive and to not let negativity of those around you affect you. As I finish this episode, I just want to remind you once again to please join us on social media, to join us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and on YouTube. And don't forget to send us your videos as well. Insha'Allah, I finally ask you to please pray for us here at Imam Hussein TV. And also, do not forget to pray for the reappearance of our awaited saviour, Al-Mahdi, alayhi salam. Insha'Allah, I look forward to seeing you all very soon. And insha'Allah, we hope that we can inspire you for this month of Ramadan. Wa-salaamu alaykum, jami'an wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.


Member Statements. Member Statements, the Member for Brampton West. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. I'm honored to rise today to speak about two significant festivals that hold immense cultural and spiritual importance for millions around the world. Diwali and Bandishore Divas. I would like to wish the people of Ontario that celebrated a very happy Diwali and Bandishore Divas. Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated by people of various cultures and religions. The festival spreads across many borders, Mr. Speaker. It symbolizes the victory of light, our darkness and good over evil. Homes are lit up with divas and colorful rangolis. Diwali is also a time for reflection. Mr. Speaker, Bandishore Divas is also celebrated on the same day and it is a significant day for the Sikh community. It commemorates the day 6th Guru of Sikhs, Guru Hargobind Sahibji and 52 kings were released from imprisonment. On Guru Hargobind Sahibji's return to Amritsar, the Golden Temple was lit up with lights, marking the festival's association with lights. Both Diwali and Bandishore Divas underscore the themes of freedom, light and the triumph of good over evil. May the lights of Diwali and the spirit of Bandishore Divas fill our lives with joy and guide us towards a future filled with hope and harmony. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the Member for Ottawa Centre. Thank you, Speaker. Last Friday I sat in the gym of Lady Evelyn Public School with my friends Wanda and Robin from the local Legion. As we remembered the sacrifices of veterans, the children saying, Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. Those are powerful words, but in Gaza right now, Speaker, peace seems impossible. Babies in intensive care clinging to life, mass graves being dug at Al-Shifa Hospital. Meanwhile, some are taking this moment to call for more violence. But then I think about Vivian Silver, Speaker, a Canadian Israeli peace activist who we lost on October 7th. Vivian spent every day of her life working for peace.  She demanded her whole life a political solution to decades of suffering and military occupations. And like her, we must also persevere. We have to organize for peace, even if some people call us haters. We should demand a ceasefire for the release of all hostages and for the investigation of all war crimes. History will not be kind, Speaker, to those in this moment who acted in vengeance. History will remember people like Vivian Silver, like the Palestinian families I've met at home who in their grief have spoken out about the family members they have lost and have built a peace movement that must continue in this country. Let there be peace on earth, Speaker, and let us all have the courage to fight for it. Thank you very much, Member Statements. The Member for Glengarry, Prescott Russell. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to start by thanking everyone who participated to the many Remembrance Day ceremonies across Glengarry, Prescott Russell in the last few weeks. Thanks to the organization for organizing these ceremonies. Thanks to the legions, the cadets, and all the people involved in organizing these Remembrance Day event year after year. And let's make sure that we do our best to gather every year for many generations to come to remember the sacrifices of these men and women who fought for our liberty. On another note, I'd like to also congratulate the organizations and the businesses they contributed to the Hawkesbury Expo that took place on the 11th and 12th of November last weekend. The first of its kind at the sports complex in Hawkesbury. I'd like to thank the Chamber of Commerce of Hawkesbury. It was a great opportunity to meet people in the region and to create relationships with a number of businesses and to continue conversations and to continue to speak about the priorities of Glengarry, Prescott Russell. It's a very important opportunity for me as their member here in this House and it's very important for us as a government and we continue to listen to Ontarians throughout the province. Thank you. Member Statements. The Member for Toronto, Dan Ford. Thank you Speaker. It came out just the other day that this government is paying substantial bonuses to private clinics for surgery that is done in public hospitals. It was revealed that the payments to the Don Mills Surgical Unit, part of the Clear Point Health Network is getting paid almost double the amount that public hospitals get paid for cataract surgery but double the amount for knee surgery. Speaker, this government is engaged on a straightforward project of privatizing our healthcare system. That project is one which will result in less medical care for people which will result ultimately in people being able to pay for their surgery in healthcare if they have the money and have to go without if they don't. It is a disastrous course of action. I call on the government to end the privatization of our healthcare system to stop paying bonuses to private clinics and to actually protect the healthcare of the people of this province. Thank you Speaker. Thanks. Thank you very much. Member Statements. The Member for Peterborough, Corbertha. Thank you Speaker. I want to take a moment today to talk about a great initiative that was started by a couple of friends of mine. During COVID, low is tough and watched as a number of volunteer organizations saw a huge decline in the number of people willing to volunteer. While simultaneously having people reach out to her and ask her if she knew of places they could volunteer to help the community. So she enlisted a few other powerhouse people in our area like Sarah Budd from the Chamber of Commerce and came up with the idea of volunteer Peterborough. It's like a dating app for volunteers and volunteer organizations. Since launching in July, volunteer Peterborough has signed up more than 400 volunteers eager to connect with a cause and more than 90 organizations looking for that perfect match. Volunteer Peterborough.ca basically works like a dating or job hunting site. It matches people's interests, skills and time with organizations that are looking for helpers. You can sign up for the newsletter and stay up to date on volunteer opportunities and learn more or you can jump right in and go through the opportunities that are already available. Whether it's an hour a day, an hour a week, or an hour a month. If you're looking to make a difference in Peterborough, look to www.volunteerpeterborough.ca. Of course, if you're an organization that needs volunteers, volunteerpeterborough.ca is also the place for you to go to find eager volunteers. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Member Statements, the Member for Parkdale High Park. Thank you Speaker. I'd like to discuss a problem that all of us see daily. In fact, when we walk out of the legislature, we cannot walk more than 100 meters in any direction without seeing an unhoused person. Some are intense, some are not, some have covers on, some don't. In the park that is right across the street, there is a tent. This is right under our nose. There are an estimated 10,000 homeless people in Toronto alone. Now multiply that in every city, every region across this province. Does this Conservative government not see that we have a major problem? Municipalities see it. That's why the declaring state of emergency is on homelessness. But there's only so much they can do. This is a province-wide issue and the province must do something as well. Winter is here. The shelter system is going to be overloaded. We know it because it happens every year. Where are the homeless people supposed to go? Where are they supposed to sleep? In the subways? In AT and vestibules? In front of small businesses? In parks and playgrounds? So I'm urging this government, take this issue seriously. Everyone is impacted by it. Declare a state of emergency on homelessness. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the member for Markham Unionville. Thank you, Speaker. This June, I took the initiative to propose a motion requesting the Ministry of Public and Business Service delivery to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the issue of notice of security injuries, a.k.a. noses, and report its findings to the House by the end of this year. I am pleased that this motion garnered support and was passed by the House. Recently, I am delighted to see the Ministry is conducting a public consultation on the issues to address the harmful and inappropriate use of noses. The issues of noses has been extensively covered by the media, shedding light on the challenges faced by unsuspecting homeowners. Regrettably, homeowners in Markham Unionville are no exceptions to these difficulties. A noses services as a registration on the land registry system. It notifies third parties of a lender or a lacer's invest in a fixture on the land. While noses plays a crucial role in business landscape, they can, unfortunately, lead to disputes. Some unscrupulous businesses have exploited noses as leverage when consumers attempt to sell their homes or seek refinance their properties. These tactics can place an unfair burden on consumers. Consumers are forced to pay excessive amounts or engage in costly time-consuming legal battles to have noses discharged. This Ministry's engagement with the public and stakeholders underscored the government's unwavering commitment to create a fair and just marketplace for consumers and businesses. I truly appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the Member for Dawn Valley West. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every day in this province, people are struggling to pay rent and put food on the table. In my riding of Dawn Valley West, residents in Thorncliffe Park are resorting to rent strikes because they're facing repeated years of above-guideline rent increases. Take John, a veteran on disability facing a 12% increase who said, my pension does not increase by 12% each year. Joe has called the Premier and the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to ask them to do something to limit rent increases for those on disability and pensions. Like John, I anxiously await their response. Speaker, building new housing that's affordable is part of the solution. But what is the government doing now for people like John and tenants in Thorncliffe Park who are struggling with $300 a month rent increases because the government removed rent control in 2018? We know the government thought that allowing a few developers to make $8.3 billion in windfall profits was a good idea. But now we need good ideas that help those struggling to pay rent and buy food. As Steve Pomeroy, a profit McMaster's Housing Evidence Collaborative said recently to CBC, an ideal approach would limit the volatility of rent increases for non-rent controlled units while ensuring new projects still make financial sense for developers. Speaker, it's time for the government to take the affordability crisis seriously and take serious action to help people who are choosing between paying rent and buying food. Thank you. Thank you very much. The next member's statement, the member for Oakville. Thank you, Speaker. The Shifa Gala 2023 is just around the corner and I'm genuinely excited by what we're going to accomplish together for Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. This event is more than just a night out. It's a community coming together for a cause that touches all of us, the health and well-being of our town. A heartfelt thank goes out to Raza Hassan and every member of our local Oakville Muslim community for their commitment to local health care. Seeing the people of Oakville Unite to support our hospital is truly inspiring. Having access to top-tier medical care right here in Oakville is essential and your contributions are making a difference. Let me express my sincere gratitude to the healthcare heroes at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. Your dedication and tireless service have not got unnoticed.  Every contribution matters. The essential medical equipment for our hospital relies on entirely from community support. So let's come together to make this event memorable and one to have a lasting impact on our families and neighbours. Mark Sunday, November 19, 2023 on your calendars for the Oakville Legacy Banquet. This year is about action. It's about ensuring our hospital continues to serve our community at the highest level. I look forward to seeing everyone there. Thank you. Member Statements, the Member for Oakville North Burlington. Thank you, Speaker. Last month, during Small Business Week and Manufacturing Month, I had the pleasure of visiting Rapid Dose Therapeutics and Root Tree to stellar examples of Made in Ontario innovation in my community of Oakville North Burlington. Rapid Dose Therapeutics has developed a game-changing drug delivery system. Its patented oral thin film platform offers a unique delivery with a rapid absorption when placed in the mouth, eliminating the need for needles or swallowing pills. It also saves transportation costs and eliminates the need for deep free storage. Root Tree is spearheading a global movement to achieve a greener packaging identity that addresses all parts of the eco-friendly packaging life cycle. Already recognized as an industry leader for its sustainable packaging and product co-packing, the company is a shining example, unafraid to dream big and keep innovating. Root Tree is also conducting research into how to use waste cooking oil as an alternative feedstock, further building on its innovative solutions for reducing waste. Please join me in celebrating these two Made in Ontario, Made in Burlington's success stories. Thank you, Speaker. Good. Thank you. That concludes our Member's Statements for this morning. Thank you very much.