What are you standard audio "tweaks" for voice?

D

dolphinstreet

Member
Just wondering what effects, plugins or other "tweaks" you guys often use when polishing audio in post production? Specifically in regards to voice audio.

I used the compressor/limiter in FCP on a few projects, and I checked the checkbox for "preserve volume". Listening back, I'm not quite happy with the result - sounds a bit distorted. Wonder if the "preserve volume" is an option that should be used or not for voice?
 
I do it all in STP, not FCP. There's no set formula for doing any audio work, especially voices, as every voice and recording situation is unique. But in general, normalize first, EQ second, compress last if at all needed. Exact settings will depend on what's recorded. And not all recordings need all or some of this sweetening work. In STP you have presets in these filters that can give you a great place to start.
 
Ahh, yes that makes sense. I haven't used STP much yet but it seems the way to go for sure.

When normalizing, do you set the peak at 0db?

Which eq filter do you recommend? Channel EQ?
 
Thanks. I am guitar player who is starting to work more with vocals and speaking. I'm trying to learn more about how make the spoken voice sound as good as possible.

I have a Sennheiser G2 wireless transmitter/receiver and I'm using the lav mic that came with the package. I'm not sure I'm liking it - the voice sounds a bit flat. It could be I have had the inputs too hot and got some clipping. I will try recording with lower input level and tweak in STP later.
 
Yep, most lavs can get great sound, but not the dynamic range for some applications. As a musician, the first thing I had to learn when I started recording voices and stuff for video and broadcast is that there's not as much dynamic range, and voices don't work the same as they do on music recording sessions.

If this is for video/broadcast work, don't go for the full FM DJ deep bass hissy highs sound. It doesn't work in video. Listen to other successful, professionally done video/broadcast products similar to what you're doing.

What sort of voice work are you recording?
 
I'm producing guitar DVDs. Instructional videos, where I play and talk. I record the guitar straight into Logic, because I feel I have much better control over the sound that way, and I manually sync it to the video in FCP. Not that hard really.

But for my Sennheiser G2 mic, I'm getting so-so results. I am going to inspect my settings on the receiver/transmitter to see if I have optimal settings. From what I understand, the indicator on the transmitter should be about halfway up, to avoid clipping.
 
Well, as a Logic trainer, I'm having warm fuzzies... LOL!

Yeah, that lav should do ok, you'll want to EQ the voice a tad to taste. You may not have to compress it at all, either.

You're on the right track, let me know if I can help. I do tutorials, and I am "trying" to learn guitar better. As I end all my articles and tutorials, "Rock Those Edits!"
 
What is a good approach when eq'ing voice? Reduce the low frequencies and a little boost on the top end frequencies? You see I'm a guitar nerd and don't know much about voice!
 
No set formula, all voices are different. Don't by the quick-tips that tell you otherwise.

In general, lower mids, adjust highs for that specific voice, get some bottom end, but not too much.

Really depends on the voice, the mic, how it was recorded, what style of sound you're looking for in the output. Just like color grading video, everyone looks for a plugin that will autofix everything, it doesn't exist.

Since the human voice is the most difficult of all recordings to mess with, I record at 24-bit, 98kHz. Helps it to hold up through intense filtering.

How do you know how to EQ a guitar? Do you EQ ever guitar exactly the same? It is more similar than you think.

In STP and Logic, you have presets for voices, try some of those to start with.
 
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