AUDIO Trick Needed: Giving more presence to a voice (V.O.)

[Mark Raudonis]

Two words: Compression and Equalization.

Professional mixers compress ALL voice over track so that they “cut” through the background and music. Also, a mid range boost for most vocals will make it cut through better. FCP has filters that can do both of these tasks. Check them out. Compress first. Be sure to click “preserve volume”. Then equalize to taste.

Finally, the quality of your vocal track are MOST DEPENDENT on the quality of your original recording. Are you using a good quality USB mic (The “Snowball” by BLUE is a good one).
What’s the room sound like? Can you hear the computer fan in your tracks?

Top quality vocal tracks are not an accident. There is no magic button to hit to make them sound. The basic recipe you’re looking for is: record good quality tracks, compress and EQ to taste.

Hope this helps.

Mark

[Marco D.]

Thanks Mark,

Two questions then… which Compressor, and which EQ to use ?

Under Apple:
– AUGraphicEQ
– AUParametricEQ

Under Final Cut Pro:
– 3 Band Equalizer
– Parametric Equalizer

I also have 3 choices for the compressor:

– Compressor/Limitor
– AUMultibandCompressor

Not sure which ones I should use and how to use them. Again, my only intent for now is to give more ‘presence’ to my voice. Make it sound deeper, more studio-like, more professional than it already sounds. It was recorded in our homegrown studio, using a Shure SM-58 microphone, into a sound console, into the G5, using the Voice Over tool. So there is no background noise, no hum, etc. The comedian has a good voice, but I just want to give the whole thing a bit of an edge.

Thanks in advance again,

Marco

[Duncan Craig]

Try the multiband compressor first, and pick whichever EQ you feel comfortable using. If you don’t understand q on a parametric, stick to a simple eq filter. perhaps the graphic eq.

Duncan.

[Marco D.]

OK,

We’re narrowing it down. As mentinoned in my first post, I’m a real audio newbie. Whenever it counts and my production budget can afford it, I send my audio in an audio post-house. But right now, on this smaller job, I need to EQ my own stuff. So I guess I should clarify my question:

How should I use the EQ to give more ‘presence’ to my talent’s VO tracks ? What are the extremely basic principles in using the EQ filter to achieve good results ?

Thanks in adance,

Marco

[Gunleik Groven]

Not familiar with the multiband compressor that comes with FCP/STP, thus could be the best advice for both functions.

Compress a bit harder in top and middle, a lot less i n the sub area (because if you make too much “presence” in the bottom it will basically eat all your other audio)

As a very generalizing advice, compress the most in the top if possible, and lower the gain a bit – given that you do not have too hash ssss, k & t sounds in your recording.
Compress a bit less in the middle, gain some more.
Carefull with the bottom.

But: Remember to play around with the settings and TRUST YOUR EARS!
If it sounds trashy from my suggestions, trust it and try something else.

It’s easy to get exited with compressor and over do it. In this setting that might be exactly the point (depending on taste). Carefull though so that the vocals do not end up “pumping” around the level where the compressor starts to work. In that case, some limiting might be adviceable first.

Watch out for those consonants and have fun!

Gunleik

[Ian Wilson]

Like Marco, I’m also a complete beginner to audio sweetening. I appreciate the help that people are trying to give here, but I don’t think it’s enough to say “compress a little, or a lot …” What Marco and I need to know is how to use the compressors. What do the various setting do … how will making one change affect the over all sound …? Perhaps someone could enlighten us?

[Marco D.]

My thoughts exactly Ian.

I appreciate the input received so far, but I’m still at a loss on how to do it. Compress the highs, careful with the lows… etc., what would be ‘over-doing it’ and what would be ‘under-doing it’ ? That’s for compressing the sound. And same goes with EQ, where I have strictly NO idea which EQ to use, and how to use them. I’ve search for audio sweetening tutorials, no luck so far. But I’ll be happy to read one if you point me there.

Thanks!

Marco

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

OK, guys, I hesitated to post this reply, but you just keep intimating that somwhow we don’t want to satisfy you with the “complete answer”.

Sorry, but this is like asking how to make your video look more professional after it was recorded on a one-chip camcorder (and there IS a question like this above).

Many of us have spent much of our lives and our budgets learning proper technique and obtaining the proper gear.

If you can’t take the time to decide WHICH “compressor” or “EQ” to use or how to adjust them by your own experimentation using your own “ears” (judgement), a few words typed in a box won’t help you very much.

It is a bit of an insult to many professionals here to assume you can learn a specialized set of skills (a “trick”?) or that we can effectively teach them via a bulletin board message.

Books have been written on audio recording and processing. College-level courses and degrees are available. Internships are sought-after. Even the veteran PROs are always making subtle adjustments in each session to fine-tune details and nuances in technique.
Its not a “trick” to get better sounding VO (or to “fix” it once its been recorded) This is far from being a “simple” question.

If you DO add compression and EQ, you can easily worsen a track that was improperly recored in the first place.
The real “trick” to better audio is to use a better microphone and good talent during the session. (Think better camera, better lighting, and better makeup on the talent if this were the video instead of audio).

Your bet bet is to go to a pro studio and pay the pro(s) there to show you what they do to record tracks.

Others may have a different opinion, this is mine.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Marco D.] “I appreciate the input received so far, but I’m still at a loss on how to do it. Compress the highs, careful with the lows… etc., what would be ‘over-doing it’ and what would be ‘under-doing it’ ? That’s for compressing the sound. And same goes with EQ, where I have strictly NO idea which EQ to use, and how to use them. I’ve search for audio sweetening tutorials, no luck so far. But I’ll be happy to read one if you point me there.”

My advice is to take your project to an audio professional and let them sweeten it for you. We just had our entire film sweetened which removed the air conditioning noise in the studio, the computer fans, etc…. and really punched out our actress’ voice. Of course, we had a good audio recording to start with, but someone with a good Pro Tools or Logic set up should be able to help make your audio the best it can be.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

Now editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Marco D.]

Dear Matte,

I would like to offer you my most sincere apologies for (visibly) insulting you and (per your post) other pros around here by asking my question. Despite the tone of your message, I will try not fall in the trap of answering with the same tone (escalating), but there are a couple of points I would like to stress/highlight/clarify, because it seems like you didn’t grasp them:

1- I clearly stated (first post) that I usually have my audio tracks fine-tuned in a pro facility (so I know its an art and science in itself)
2- The same post mentioned that for this specific piece of work I’m working on, my client can’t afford post-audio work
3- My audio recording was properly done (as opposed to poorly), the talent’s voice is OK, and the tracks need to be enhanced, not fixed.
4- In my last post, I clearly stated that I’ve searched for tutorials, which I didn’t find, but would gladly read if I was directed to a few good ones you’d know. I’m still looking.
5- I have to apologize for my utilization of the word ‘trick’, not what I meant, but yes, I am looking for some quick way of enhancing my track despite my lack of budget and audio experience.
6- Let me apologize at the same time for my lack of english vocabulary (hence my use of the word ‘trick’), as english is a second tongue to me.

I don’t think I insulted you personally, nor anyone in general. I’m here (and in this business) to learn.

If you didn’t like my post, you had the option of simply ‘passing by’. Maybe you should have afterall, since you didn’t bring anything to the table, other than flaming me.

Best regards your Highness,

Marco

p.s.: if other pros have hints/tips/cues/principles/guidelines for helping me out, I would really appreciate any help or directions. In the mean time I continue my reading on the subject (the Manual + Weynand), but a tutorial would doubtlessly give me a much quicker start. I know I could use some help… (and dare asking). Thanks again in advance.