MagicBullet for Audio

[Spartacus]

Ok guys, thanks for all your opinions and insight!
I will look into STP, I have it and the integration into FCP seems to be solid, at least for single tracks.
Anything above that is just sth that needs to be budgeted for extra audio post.
I was still hoping for a "general voice treatment" quote, but since I leave a lot of images unaltered because they just look perfect out of camera, I can understand there isn´t.
(I actually thought voices were ALWAYS at least compressed...)

 

[KenV]

Heh, well, if there was a Magic Bullet for audio I'd be out of a job.

But, here some simple plugin settings for pretty much any EQ or Compressor you got goin' on:

Cut off that Low End: anything below 20 Hz
Cut off that Mid Range ever so slighty: 200 to 300 Hz, maybe -2db or so
Boost the Upper Mid Range: 500 - 700 Hz
Dip the High End for sibilance: 700 - 14k Hz depending on the person

These are the basic settings I follow for EQing voices, and I adjust to taste.

Compressor Settings:

Attack: Anywhere from 10ms to 1ms (depends)
Release: Anywhere from 25ms to 200ms (depends)
Threshold: Anywhere from -30 to -20
Ratio: 1.5 to 3.0

Pretty much my ballpark figures.

As for cleaning up sound in terms or background noise, and unwanted noise.

That's best left to a person that knows what they are doing. But, Soundsoap Pro is a good starting point if you want to learn the art of noise reduction. It's not the best out there, but definetly good for the price.

Eitherway, try those settings or a variation of, and see if it helps you.

Again for noise reduction, thats best left to the pros because it is a quite complicated process, and not everyone does it the same.

 

[Ted Spencer]

Cut off that Mid Range ever so slighty: 200 to 300 Hz, maybe -2db or so
Boost the Upper Mid Range: 500 - 700 Hz
Dip the High End for sibilance: 700 - 14k Hz depending on the person

This will only work on certain voices. You might well want to do the opposite in other cases, and therein lies the rub with any such recipes.

Compressor Settings:

Attack: Anywhere from 10ms to 1ms (depends)
Release: Anywhere from 25ms to 200ms (depends)

Right...depends on something the neophyte recipe follower almost certainly doesn't know how to gauge...

Threshold: Anywhere from -30 to -20

See above

Ratio: 1.5 to 3.0

Or 4:1, 6:1, 10:1...depending on the case. My default's 4:1 for voices, but if it needs to be otherwise, it needs to be otherwise. It doesn't most of the time, but...

Soundsoap Pro is a good starting point if you want to learn the art of noise reduction. It's not the best out there, but definetly good for the price.

Eitherway, try those settings or a variation of, and see if it helps you.

Again for noise reduction, thats best left to the pros because it is a quite complicated process, and not everyone does it the same.

It's not that it's so complicated (IMPO), but that it needs to be done properly for it not to do damage rather than good. SSP is good as is Digidesign's DINR (I have both, and use DINR more often).

So...no attacks on you should be inferred here, and your advice is all good. It's just that anyone who follows this or any other kind of audio processing recipe will be ill served about 75% of the time. I would no more recommend it than a 'recipe' for beginners on how to fly an airplane. At least no one dies in audio though...

Except metaphorically : )

 

[Spartacus]

Heh, well, if there was a Magic Bullet for audio I'd be out of a job.

But, here some simple plugin settings for pretty much any EQ or Compressor you got goin' on:

Cut off that Low End: anything below 20 Hz
Cut off that Mid Range ever so slighty: 200 to 300 Hz, maybe -2db or so
Boost the Upper Mid Range: 500 - 700 Hz
Dip the High End for sibilance: 700 - 14k Hz depending on the person

These are the basic settings I follow for EQing voices, and I adjust to taste.

Compressor Settings:

Attack: Anywhere from 10ms to 1ms (depends)
Release: Anywhere from 25ms to 200ms (depends)
Threshold: Anywhere from -30 to -20
Ratio: 1.5 to 3.0

Pretty much my ballpark figures.

As for cleaning up sound in terms or background noise, and unwanted noise.

That's best left to a person that knows what they are doing. But, Soundsoap Pro is a good starting point if you want to learn the art of noise reduction. It's not the best out there, but definetly good for the price.

Eitherway, try those settings or a variation of, and see if it helps you.

Again for noise reduction, thats best left to the pros because it is a quite complicated process, and not everyone does it the same.

Thanks a lot for posting, I´ll use it as a starting point!:beer:

 

[TyFord]

I helped a friend mix sound at a live venue; singer songwriter stuff, not too tough, but he was having a hard time.

I got stuff under control pretty easily and noticed he was standing behind me writing stuff down. He saw I was looking at him. And said, "I'm just writing down the EQ settings." I told him to get a bigger piece of paper because I was constantly tweeking for each song and within each song.

That's audio. It's dynamic and you're always in play. That's why numbers don't work. You have to hear it, know it and know what to do about it given the tools you have at the moment.

The numbers you may use on one compressor or EQ may not correlate on another piece of gear.

If there was the capability for a recipe book, there would be one (or a hundred of them) out there.

Regards,

Ty Ford

 

[CiPO]

What would you guys do to a "normal" piece of speach/dialoge, sth for Broadcast or DVD, like interviews, small reports, short docs?
Equalize and then compress?
I understand that the needs will vary, but isn´t there a "general treatment", let´s say for audio that was recorded well and just needs to get a "punch"...?
:dankk2:

HI

I am some how "swimming" in the same water.
You might want to watch this free online tutorial about how to clean some audio:
http://maltaannon.com/articles/audition/hiss-and-rumble/

Hope it helps
Cheers
CIPO

 

[TyFord]

Yes,

Usually, EQ, compress, then limit.

Regards,

Ty Ford

 

[Noiz2]

HI

I am some how "swimming" in the same water.
You might want to watch this free online tutorial about how to clean some audio:
http://maltaannon.com/articles/audition/hiss-and-rumble/

Hope it helps
Cheers
CIPO

This tutorial is really for podcasts and not that great a way to work for film. For instance normalizing is not a good choice, and hard limiting can be a bit nasty sounding. You can actually hear some harsh clipping in the pice he's working on after he hard limits it. Also NR is not just a high freq hiss fix but is very good on broadband noise (providing that the NR software/ plugin is any good). So keep that in mind when watching.