Bye Bye ISDN. One Woman’s Tale of Choice

Iiiiin theeeeee red corner, ipDTL! Iiiiin theeeee blue corner, Source Connect Now! In a previous corner, Sound Streak. In the newest corner, SkypeTX…

Holy moly. As your standard voiceover artist, 3 years into their career, with a basic home studio set up who never got round to installing ISDN due to a combination of hearing the startup costs and being laughed at by telephony companies with such classics as ‘ISDN?! What is this? The 90s?!’* (*I may have paraphrased for dramatic effect…) I am delighted by the prospect of all these ‘David’s’ coming along to slay the epic giant that is ISDN.

Hungry Anyone?
Hungry Anyone?

But, I’m also A) confused, B) concerned and C) hungry, though that’s not for now.

A)        I’ll throw it out there. My technical knowledge is minimal. I’m all over the day to day running of my studio and getting files back to clients in the format they require, and am gradually picking up other useful skills required along the way. But to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what the differences, similarities, benefits or pitfalls of each of these new technologies      are. I know they involve utilising the internet. Step one. Nailed it. From then? Not a clue. I’ve been listening to interviews, reading blog posts, doing audio tests to try them out, they  seem fab. Still none the wiser regarding which may be best for me, or how to get going and bring clients on board. Can someone explain it all with a fuzzy metaphor where my Irish voice is a butterfly and the client is a sunflower or something?

B)        I guess ISDN cornered the market back in the day which, for both them and the users, was nice and simple. Now, with the availability of technology, everyone and their mother can have a go at coming up with something to solve our problems. It seems that there are 4 potential answers to the ISDN quandary! How do we decide which one is best? Should we decide one is best and send the others to the tech graveyard to party with the mini disc players and tamagotchis leaving one new behemoth to replace our beloved ISDN? Competition is good in technology, it keeps everyone one their toes and is the reason we have continual advancement. But, let’s face it, there’s got to be one winner, right? In the words of Bebo, “God damn you Facebook!” In the words of Facebook “I’m not going without a fight, Twitter!” In the words of Twitter, well, you get my point.

C)        Time for a sandwich, so to surmise folks, can you all work really hard to make a decision as to which one is the bestest, and I’ll just get that one. I’m far too busy and important talking to myself in a box. Thanks.

Let me know if you’re struggling. I can’t be the only one, can I? *highfivesnoone

Nicola Redman

Nicola is a Northern Irish voice over artist and voice actor based in the UK. She works from both her home studio and studios across London on commercial, corporate and character voicing. When not talking to herself like a mad eejit, she performs solo and sketch comedy across the UK and enjoys writing, cookery and all things voice.