Brother sorry for bothering you but is it normal that I boost the articulation about 30db to start showing my tone ? I was amazed when you boost by 4db and sound good maybe because I use tdr nova ?
Curtis, I couldn't help but laugh out loud when you had a -6dB cut with a Q of 2 and then saying "it's a subtle change" hahaha! You're the best man. A really helpful video, and an absolutely HORRIBLE sounding microphone on your voice. You definitely improved the sound on it a lot.
@@DesertCookie It is important to do corrective EQ first - reduce the harsh resonances. Many people working with EQ for the first time generally try to boost bass or treble first but end up not removing the bad resonances, making the problem even worse. The general idea: Use cuts first. That may be all that you need.
Mannnnnn, Curtis! I've only recently started getting more into EQ. Previously the MOST I would do is roll off the low-end to account for any rumble or proximity effect type stuff. Hearing your example, I should have gotten into this sooner! But at least now, thanks to your video, I'm armed to better pull the best out of my dialog. THANK YOU!
Hi Curtis. For someone wanting to improve dialogue on a live stream, would the 833 be the ticket? From my understanding it offers compression and some EQ so I'd be able to improve dialogue live without having to add an additional piece of hardware. Granted it's an expensive way to achieve this but should work. What do you think?
Hi Ron, sure, the 833 could certainly do the job for a hefty price, but if you've already got it, this is definitely another thing it can do. I used my 888 for a livestream a couple of weeks ago. That isn't my normal mixer for live streaming but it fit the bill for that particular show.
@@curtisjudd thank you for the quick response Curtis. I already have a MixPre for my run and gun audio. I'm looking for something a bit more full featured to use for my livestreams as well as giving me a bit of kit that has a lot more capability than the MixPre. The 833 is definitely overkill but it saves me from having to buy a separate recording device and mixer. I tried the software route and was having sync issues. The 833 should be the mixer to end all mixers for live streaming. Buy once cry once right? :-)
@@RonHenry Hahaha! Yes, it is a sledgehammer solution, same that I did with the 888 purchase. If I don't get good sound with the 888, it isn't the 888's fault. 😀
@@curtisjudd Most definitely. I've been going through your live streams so I can hit the ground running when it arrives. Doesn't look too bad from what I'm seeing.
I've noticed that when my ears become accustomed to looking for those frequencies, I start hearing imperfections even after I've gotten rid of said frequencies. It's weird.
Sometimes it helps to pause and listen to a reference track - a dialogue recording you've heard many times. Switch back and forth between them and that usually "resets" one's ears.
What do you think about davinci resolve audio editing ? To be honest I tried many daw to find something that will be very good in editing spoken Word but cheap i tried from audacity to addition but i was amazed what davinci was capable of
This was a great quick overview of how the Parametric Equalizer works. It would be great to see more videos going over the other audio repair tools found in popular software.
@@curtisjudd Hello Curtis, is there any other way to edit audio for films? I know special effects that you can add and stuff like that, compressiıng and EQ of course. But, is there any other way to edit audio? How do they edit professional films for movies? Thanks.
Love this!!! I am working on my first audiobook... FINALLY found a way to sound legit!!! I bring the acting... but all this techno stuff is new to me... learning curve pegged! THANK YOU!!!
@@curtisjuddhelp me pleaseWhen I vote for a movie, the sound of the movie doesn't come out from the bottom, it's just like a normal record. Please help me. I'm Uzbek. No one from the state wanted to help us.
Probably worth mentioning that when there are mixed voices on a channel (which is happening now in the Zoom era, for guests) you have to find a spot where everyone sounds good, both men and women. Not ideal, but for me it's easiest to have everyone else on the Zoom call on one channel. I've tried Zoom recording to separate channels but the quality is very poor.
This is fantastic Curtis. Please more DAW/sound editing tutorials! Sound is so often overlooked in production houses that put out daily/weekly content. I wish there were 100 more people like you on YT!
Have you heard of Soothe? I'd like to suggest using a dynamic EQ with slow attack for transparency That would be a bit more dynamic because non-dynamic EQ is too static for such a dynamic instrument, the human voice. Just a thought. You will still benefit from static EQ but using Soothe or a dynamic EQ, you won't need to make such dramatic attenuations. Also, as a first line of attack, I would suggest a Tilt EQ and not boost with a shelf. Boosting with a shelf boosts too much noise when all you're trying to do is make the highs more prominent. Why not just drop the lows to do that? See the logic there? The tilt would increase the nose floor much less because it's lowering the competing lows by the same attenuation as you're increasing the highs, thereby doubling the highs with half the noise, in theory. So, consider tilt and not a shelf.
Really Helpful! Question for you Curtis - regarding the order of operations, do you EQ, then Compress? Or EQ for HP and LP, then Compress, then EQ again?
Hi Creative Video Tips, I usually do corrective EQ first (all the cuts), then compress, then EQ for sweetening if needed (usually relatively mild boosts at most).
Just the kind of clear, concise and, most of all, useful tutorial the subject calls for. Virtually everyone has or deals with voices that might not be a perfect fit for this mic or that signal chain. Nobody has an infinite microphone locker. But everyone has ears. This provides a great guide for using them. It's also a nice antidote to the temptation of wasting time and money chasing some holy grail microphone. There isn't one. And while you obviously cannot turn a Blue Yeti into a U87, you can certainly make most voices fit most mics well enough to be pleasing and credible to most listeners. Thanks, again, for underscoring that sometimes overlooked idea.
Hi Gyula, Every voice and every microphone have their unique characteristics and this method just helps tame the frequencies which are over-emphasized and slightly boosts the frequencies which are under emphasized.
More great stuff from Curtis. My only caution for others with less experience than him would be that sweeping a large, narrow boost around will tend to sound unpleasant at all frequencies and could lead you to believe they all need to be cut. Perhaps best to listen carefully for problems, try to imagine where they might sit and then go looking very specifically for that region.
Agreed, thanks Ben. Don't boost more than 9dB and keep in mind that while moving, things will sound sort of phase-y. Listen for the most harsh frequencies and only cut those.
Sorry, I would like to ask you a question, you will have the possibility to review the Samson q9u, I am really trying on this microphone and I would like to know more about it, if it is within your reach and thank you
So many tutorials I’ve seen give ranges of hertz you should boost or lower for male and female vocals. I found myself constantly referring back to their resources and mindlessly plugging in numbers. I love this tutorial because you actually teach us what to listen for and take matters into our own hands!
Thanks so much for this I'm learning tons and taking my audio just as seriously as image quality. Enjoying becoming an audio nerd and finally being able to understand the specs on microphone and recorder product pages a little better haha
Curtis. I know this is an older video but it is still so valuable. I had added the Rode NT1 5th Gen to my studio and thought I sounded terrible on it. So disappointing, but using this technique instead of the build it DSP effects works so well. Do you save yours as a preset per microphone, or do you do it fresh on each recording that sounds off, even with the same microphone as before?
This might be slightly off topic.. for field recording what is the ‘industry standard’ bitrare level when recording at 48khz.. is it 16 or 24bit? Thank you.
I am afraid of boosting any bass for my voice, because even if it sounds ok on headphones, it usually resonates terribly when I turn on the speakers with subwoofer. But then, I overuse the proximity effect anyway...
EQing is very subjective but I really dont like some of your choices here. The narrow cut at 900Hz greatly improved the sound by getting rid of that nasally sound that is often dependent on microphone placement. The cut at 1800Hz sounds pretty bad to me. The voice becomes hollow and loses most of your particular character. It may be helpful for raw speech clarity but the sound itself is worse. The same with the high shelf at 6900Hz. It gives clarity but at the same time the voice becomes sharp and uncomfortable to listen to. Though maybe it was just a bit too much. I think the bass boost doesnt change much. Here it counteracts the hollow sound caused by the 1800Hz cut but in general its mostly up to preference.
I don't know why but when I try to do this in audition, I cannot see the sound waves. Like its just the black box with the blue line to edit, but when i press play I cannot see any visualisation of the sound so I can't really 'listen' and adjust because I cant see the sound waves of what I am listening to. maybe its a noob mistake but if anyone has any ideas, the nthanks c:
Ok. Thats Great Explanation. Question: Can You do a video with YOUR EQ?.... The one you used in this video. I Know, it depends on your tone voice. Still it wil help me a lot thanks
It's a better video explanation than I expected, I like that you explained cutting the start and end and raising those points for testing purposes, clever identification, but you lost me when you began winging it with levels at seemingly random parts. You know what you're doing and a professional I'd assume but from the outside you lost me halfway, I will try this in APO if it even exists natively, but now I need yet another video to show how to do that. Only place I've seen this equalizer was in Voicemeeter. I appreciate you didn't waffle on and kept to the subject.
Thanks for the feedback! It takes a little practice but you'll get it. The important thing is to boost by 9dB and move that back and forth, pausing at various frequencies to listen for distortion or extreme harshness. Then you know you need to cut there. Apply a cut and experiment with how much of a cut you want until is sounds good to your ears.
I think some of the EQ around 2kHz is unnecessary. I just makes the voice sound really soft. I get the appeal but I usually go for clarity and brightness for better volume and just a crisper high end. Getting rid of any boxiness or room noise.
this way - depending on the quality of the recording - a different disturbing frequency is going to pop up, once you started filtering. You cut out a mid frequency and suddenly something in the low mids pops up, that you didn't hear in the first place... This could easyly become a never ending eq chain. Don't eq anything just for the sake of it, unless something is disturbing you... Don't sweep through the frequencies, unless something is really not ok and you want to locate it because you will always find something while sweeping like this... and once you start, you will have to adjust all the other recordings to fit the sound then if you're working with more than 1 track. And after 8 hours of mixing/eqing you ears will hear different too, so be careful with what you start when it comes to eq or you can easyly end up with a lot of unneccessary work. But this method is good to exercise your ears and learn about the frequency spectrum...
Thanks for the input. I agree that this can easily be overdone. I usually stick with 1 or 2 cuts because I find that more than that *usually doesn't help.
If the data is helpful for anyone, I've just got these modest Mackie CR4 monitors running out of my 2013 iMac and the difference at 3:04 is already clear as day. So useful for folks like me who are kind of limited on the variety of mics they have on hand to work with and want to get as professional a sound as they can. Thanks as always! -Dave
Hey Curtis, rookie here in audio. Does a PreMix3 or something similar help with not having to go in a surgically do this? What would help for not having to do this if not that?
This is all personal judgement. You definitely never want to overdo it because you are right - that's where the mud lives when there's too much energy there. And a cut can be a perfectly legitimate way to cut down on the muddy sound.
How would you handle EQ for dialogue audio where you have audio from say five actors? Would you just copy the EQ per clip, or make separate tracks per actor (DaVinci Resolve).
I enjoy your channel because you don't have your voice adjusted too bassy. We're conditioned as listeners in this decade to expect voices to be deeper so natural is out of favour and sounds thin online. In the sixties I started meeting several of the radio announcers working in Toronto and they were all about 4 inches shorter and 30 lbs. lighter than what I was expecting :) And that was just the AM guys. In the 70's the FM announcers sounded like James Earl Jones. I could spin into a rant about the abuse on RUclips of the SM7B with EQ. Good EQ is possible like you demonstrate. I used to get unintentionally pranked in a sound room because they had my director's voice so dialed in that myself and others would "talk" to him thinking he was behind a door and there was no one there. It was the playback of his voice overs. Even the guy who did the original recording and mixing got confused sometimes.
Hello, i guess you sir might have the answer to my question. I want to adjust the equalizer to volume up vocals in a song way too much. Like i want the vocals really loud and music low. I want to hear clearly the vocals. How can i do this on samsung music equalizer?
I don't know anything about Samsung Music Equalizer, but turn the vocals up and everything down with faders. Then you might also do something like this: ruclips.net/video/fvUn8l30VLc/видео.html
This is soooo good!! So I just listen to shit to then reverse the shit, brilliant! Definitely one of the better EQ explainer videos, thanks a lot, man. :)
Thanks for the link. I had subscribed to your channel a week or two ago. I need to go back through your library! This was exactly what I was looking for.
Are there other programs like adobe that go this in depth with equalization? I can't afford any of the Adobe stuff so I use Audacity for my audio, but it doesn't seem to be able to make the same kind of adjustments, at least not while I listen to the playback like what you have here.
Almost every DAW (digital audio workstation app) has an included EQ. If you're looking for free, you might have a look at Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve which has the Fairlight DAW build into it.
When I was doing concert PA, one trick that I used after the vocals' EQ had been set, and I needed a little help making a singer's voice cut through the din of the instruments, so the audience could hear the vocals and enunciation clearly was to find that range, usually somewhere between 1 & 4 kHz where the clarity of the voice was, boost it and cut the instruments by the same amount. I used the same method to find the center frequency at high Q, then lower the Q (broaden the frequency range) to cover just the desired frequencies. That is the most efficient way to use a parametric EQ IME.
Good point - when you need that mid-range to cut through a mix, you don't want to be cutting it like we did here. Context definitely matters. Thanks for sharing this!
This technique can be automated in most DAWs using sidechain EQ, sending the voice track to the music track as a control. When the voice signal is hot, it ducks the EQ band on the music, but leaves it alone the rest of the time.
Harshness. You can turn the EQ plugin on and off to really hear the difference. Sometimes that harshness sounds like whistling, sometimes super nasally, shrill, or overwhelmingly bassy.
Hello Mr Judd. I recorded dialogue scene in a gym with a T Bone EM 9900 Shotgun mic with a mogami gold xlr cord and an H4N pro zoom. I watched your parametric equalizer video and went to learn to do this. Should I use the parametric equalizer before I match loudness of the audio clip? I was matching loudness of the audio clip at -14 or -16 lufs for RUclips standards and then cleaning up some of the ambient noise by using capture noise print and doing light noise reduction. Should I just use the clean audio using light noise reduction snd parametric equalizer for the dialogue clips only? If you match loudness for whole clip let's say it would smooth out peaks and valleys and I could set whole clip to lets say -6 dB a s it would match loudness to hit the -6b mark for the whole dialogue clip. I want to learn how to do dialogue clips and tracks better using your parametric equalizer video in adobe audition. Do you all March loudness of a dialogue clip and then use parametric equalizer? I was wondering your process on this as well. I practiced and just did light noise reduction and maybe match loudness in adobe premiere for the dialogue clip and then used the slider panels in Essential sound panel in adobe premiere on the same audio clip after I cleaned it up some in Audition. Then in premiere I used essential sound panel to make it sound good to my hears. But I want to use parametric equalizer process. Do you match loudness of your clips for dialogue scenes in movie? What dB level do you set you match loudness dilogue audio clips to in Audition? Do you compress and amplify clips? Should I use a single band compressor to make the actors vocals sound consistent all the way through and then use parametric equalizer on it? Also have you used an auto gate before in Audition or premiere. Wanted to pick your process before I dive deep into the dialogue scenes I have saved those for last. Thanks for answering my questions about the rode ntg5 shotgun mic months back. Sincerely Jan Bryan Dixon
Hi Jan, I usually use this method to EQ each talent’s dialogue audio first. The noise reduction. Then loudness normalize which usually includes some compression and then boost the levels. Loudness normalizing is the VERY LAST STEP after finish everything else in the mix.
@@curtisjudd Hello sir. Thanks for your reply. I am using Adobe audition to do this and Premiere to edit. OK use EQ video parametric equalizer first on each actors dialogue first. Then noise reduction. I usually use denoise or light noise reduction in Audition with capture noise print. 3rd step you do is Loudness normalize after finish everything in else in mix. I am not sure how to loudness normalize and do some compression in Audition so I will have to learn. Do you have any videos using loudness normalization and compression in Audition? My workflow is slow because I am learning and teaching myself these things. What I did do was this. I watched a podcast video and they talked about match Loudness in Audtion. So for sound effect punches from RUclips that would peak loud I matched their Match Loudness to -4db true peak and put lufs to -16 or -19lufs and then export back to Premiere Pro and they would be matched. They would sound not at loud but more smooth! Also for when actors did their fight choreography I had clips that would peak bc I had my input at 90 on H4N and I was too close to them with my boom mic. So for all those ambient noise clips that peaked and clipped I match loudness to -6db true peak and set lufs setting to -19 lufs for each clip. Something I learned with this is when a audio clip sounded good and was a low level of ambient noise when the actors were about to start to fight if you match loudness of a quiet ambient sound it would boost it up and sound distorted so I left those audio clips alone. I watched two of your other videos and you said -16 or 17 lufs for RUclips when you export because -14lufs is more for music videos. What if I have a mix of music and fight scenes and sound effects? Dialogue scenes going to have light music. Can I use Match loudness of an actors dialogue clip and set it to match true peak to -6db and set the lufs to -16 for each clip for a dual mono shotgun mic recording? It would hit that mark everytime for all the words spoken in that clip after I use the Parametric equalizer and noise reduction in Audtion? Again that would be to learn and I am not sure that is a way to go but it could be. You saying you can do a whole mix for a dialogue scene and apply your methods and steps for a whole dialogue scene in adobe audition? Last question sorry for long post I am a learning. When I export the whole video from Adobe Premiere for RUclips in your opinion set it to -16 or -17 lufs for the audio and a true peak limiter to 1 -dB. What if I knew a clip was clipping or peaking and set my true peak limiter to lets say -3db when I exported it would not let that sound effect clip bc I set the limiter. What should I set the attack time and release Time to for a dialogue scene using match loudness in Adobe Audtion? What is attack time and release time in layman's terms? Thanks for sharing your videos they are incredible and very educational and awesome to learn from.
Hi Cutris. I've completed editing a 1-hour podcast in Audition and wanted to know if there's a way of duplicating the entire multitrack podcast as a backup? In Premiere Pro I would usually copy paste the entire timeline into a new sequence titled backup version one/two etc. Do you know of any ways to do something similar in Audition with the track effects? Thanks :)
Great as always Curtis 👍
Thanks MasterStroke Media.
Your channel is wonderful, Curtis. There's so much work put in it and I've learnt a lot.
That's it, just wanted to chime in and say thanks.
Thanks so much, Álex!
Love it. Thanks!
👍
Great work
Thanks Hakam.
This is very useful Curtis!! love it. One question, if we want to EQ female voice do we do the same like in this video?
Yes, same sweep method to find where to make it sound better.
Awesome.
Thanks Adrian.
Brother sorry for bothering you but is it normal that I boost the articulation about 30db to start showing my tone ?
I was amazed when you boost by 4db and sound good maybe because I use tdr nova ?
Wow, 30dB boost? That seems a little unusual.
U should do a video on how to EQ a lav
Good news - the audio sample we used to demo EQ was a lavalier microphone - The Sanken COS-11D.
@@curtisjudd thanks
Curtis, I couldn't help but laugh out loud when you had a -6dB cut with a Q of 2 and then saying "it's a subtle change" hahaha! You're the best man. A really helpful video, and an absolutely HORRIBLE sounding microphone on your voice. You definitely improved the sound on it a lot.
🙃 thanks Bandrew, means a lot coming from you!
Best audio channel I’ve found on RUclips! I’ll be watching this video again I’m sure... lots of knowledge here
Thanks and I love your lighting videos! Keep up the amazing work!
Anyone watching, notice how he cuts before boosting? That's a golden rule of EQ
👍
Could you elaborate? I don't know if this is a language barrier problem or if I'm just missing some base knowledge to understand this.
@@DesertCookie It is important to do corrective EQ first - reduce the harsh resonances. Many people working with EQ for the first time generally try to boost bass or treble first but end up not removing the bad resonances, making the problem even worse. The general idea: Use cuts first. That may be all that you need.
@@DesertCookie The best practice is to reduce certain frequencies before increasing the intensity of others.
It seems like a lot of work but I guess for many people they'll only need to do it once per mic they own 👍
Right - usually pretty easy to apply with a preset once you have it dialed in.
Wow. You're right about the mic voice miss match lol. Dope video as always Brutha.
Haha! That Sanken works so well on so many voices, but it doesn’t like mine. Thanks and hope you’re doing rad!
2 big giants
Darious I'm a huge fan of You man, greetings from México
Mannnnnn, Curtis! I've only recently started getting more into EQ. Previously the MOST I would do is roll off the low-end to account for any rumble or proximity effect type stuff.
Hearing your example, I should have gotten into this sooner! But at least now, thanks to your video, I'm armed to better pull the best out of my dialog. THANK YOU!
👍
No lie, I've been waiting for you (specifically) to put out this video.
👍
Hi Curtis. For someone wanting to improve dialogue on a live stream, would the 833 be the ticket? From my understanding it offers compression and some EQ so I'd be able to improve dialogue live without having to add an additional piece of hardware. Granted it's an expensive way to achieve this but should work. What do you think?
Hi Ron, sure, the 833 could certainly do the job for a hefty price, but if you've already got it, this is definitely another thing it can do. I used my 888 for a livestream a couple of weeks ago. That isn't my normal mixer for live streaming but it fit the bill for that particular show.
@@curtisjudd thank you for the quick response Curtis. I already have a MixPre for my run and gun audio. I'm looking for something a bit more full featured to use for my livestreams as well as giving me a bit of kit that has a lot more capability than the MixPre. The 833 is definitely overkill but it saves me from having to buy a separate recording device and mixer. I tried the software route and was having sync issues. The 833 should be the mixer to end all mixers for live streaming. Buy once cry once right? :-)
@@RonHenry Hahaha! Yes, it is a sledgehammer solution, same that I did with the 888 purchase. If I don't get good sound with the 888, it isn't the 888's fault. 😀
@@curtisjudd Most definitely. I've been going through your live streams so I can hit the ground running when it arrives. Doesn't look too bad from what I'm seeing.
I've noticed that when my ears become accustomed to looking for those frequencies, I start hearing imperfections even after I've gotten rid of said frequencies. It's weird.
Sometimes it helps to pause and listen to a reference track - a dialogue recording you've heard many times. Switch back and forth between them and that usually "resets" one's ears.
What do you think about davinci resolve audio editing ?
To be honest I tried many daw to find something that will be very good in editing spoken Word but cheap i tried from audacity to addition but i was amazed what davinci was capable of
DaVinci Resolve's Fairlight is really impressive! I like it so much I made a mini course on it.
This was a great quick overview of how the Parametric Equalizer works. It would be great to see more videos going over the other audio repair tools found in popular software.
Thanks indy4s!
@@curtisjudd Hello Curtis, is there any other way to edit audio for films? I know special effects that you can add and stuff like that, compressiıng and EQ of course. But, is there any other way to edit audio? How do they edit professional films for movies? Thanks.
@@Dale_Blackburn Lots! Please see my channel for lots of other videos on the topic.
Look! I finding videos I missed!! LOL. Good stuff as always. 👍
Thanks Kevin! Always nice to have you drop by!
And still you are CJ secret "stalker"😄
@@magnusgotander7788 Not so secret. 😀
Love this!!! I am working on my first audiobook... FINALLY found a way to sound legit!!! I bring the acting... but all this techno stuff is new to me... learning curve pegged! THANK YOU!!!
Thanks, Marla. Happy recording!
@@curtisjuddhelp me pleaseWhen I vote for a movie, the sound of the movie doesn't come out from the bottom, it's just like a normal record. Please help me. I'm Uzbek. No one from the state wanted to help us.
@@hayotimmazmuni2614 I hope the video did help. 👍
It's amazing how much of a difference that EQ makes! Horrible without EQ on your voice, but **much** better with EQ
👍
Probably worth mentioning that when there are mixed voices on a channel (which is happening now in the Zoom era, for guests) you have to find a spot where everyone sounds good, both men and women. Not ideal, but for me it's easiest to have everyone else on the Zoom call on one channel. I've tried Zoom recording to separate channels but the quality is very poor.
Good point, thanks Vincent.
try zencastr
This is fantastic Curtis. Please more DAW/sound editing tutorials!
Sound is so often overlooked in production houses that put out daily/weekly content.
I wish there were 100 more people like you on YT!
Thanks Jack, you got it!
Have you heard of Soothe? I'd like to suggest using a dynamic EQ with slow attack for transparency That would be a bit more dynamic because non-dynamic EQ is too static for such a dynamic instrument, the human voice. Just a thought. You will still benefit from static EQ but using Soothe or a dynamic EQ, you won't need to make such dramatic attenuations. Also, as a first line of attack, I would suggest a Tilt EQ and not boost with a shelf. Boosting with a shelf boosts too much noise when all you're trying to do is make the highs more prominent. Why not just drop the lows to do that? See the logic there? The tilt would increase the nose floor much less because it's lowering the competing lows by the same attenuation as you're increasing the highs, thereby doubling the highs with half the noise, in theory. So, consider tilt and not a shelf.
Thanks for the tips!
This sort of tutorial is exactly what most of tech youtube is missing. Thanks Curtis!
👍
Best voice EQ video! How about limiting?
Thanks. Good idea on limiting!
Really Helpful! Question for you Curtis - regarding the order of operations, do you EQ, then Compress? Or EQ for HP and LP, then Compress, then EQ again?
.
Hi Creative Video Tips, I usually do corrective EQ first (all the cuts), then compress, then EQ for sweetening if needed (usually relatively mild boosts at most).
You have a truly useful channel.
Thanks Peter.
I have seen this done many time by many great audio techs but this is by far the best example of the subject. You nailed it Curtis🏆 😉 Very well done.
Thanks Samson!
Just the kind of clear, concise and, most of all, useful tutorial the subject calls for. Virtually everyone has or deals with voices that might not be a perfect fit for this mic or that signal chain. Nobody has an infinite microphone locker. But everyone has ears. This provides a great guide for using them.
It's also a nice antidote to the temptation of wasting time and money chasing some holy grail microphone. There isn't one. And while you obviously cannot turn a Blue Yeti into a U87, you can certainly make most voices fit most mics well enough to be pleasing and credible to most listeners. Thanks, again, for underscoring that sometimes overlooked idea.
Thanks Winging It!
Solid, simple, and to the point, love it. Great work as always Curtis.
Thanks Tommy!
These are super helpful same with the compressor video on the rhodecaster please keep up the good work
👍
Any new training sessions like your extended MixPre course on the horizon?
Yes, working on a wireless microphone and basic lighting for talking head courses at present.
OK here I am at 4am trying to find my mic to record something to audition just to try it. Excellent content as usual Curtis.
Hi Isaac, hahaha! Thanks and I hope it helps in the long run. Now go get some sleep!
Awesome video allthough I still don't get how I can find a frequency that sounds bad. Whats the criteria? What makes a frequency sound bad?
Listen for what sounds harsher or less pleasant than other frequencies.
@@curtisjudd Wow thanks for the fast reply ill try that.
Awesome. Thanks.
Do you do this for every RUclips video, or just for more professional work?
Thanks Moshe, just when needed.
Being full noob, my impression was this equalizer will be the "negative" of the mic's frequency response, but not even close to that... hm.
Hi Gyula, Every voice and every microphone have their unique characteristics and this method just helps tame the frequencies which are over-emphasized and slightly boosts the frequencies which are under emphasized.
More great stuff from Curtis. My only caution for others with less experience than him would be that sweeping a large, narrow boost around will tend to sound unpleasant at all frequencies and could lead you to believe they all need to be cut. Perhaps best to listen carefully for problems, try to imagine where they might sit and then go looking very specifically for that region.
Agreed, thanks Ben. Don't boost more than 9dB and keep in mind that while moving, things will sound sort of phase-y. Listen for the most harsh frequencies and only cut those.
Sorry, I would like to ask you a question, you will have the possibility to review the Samson q9u, I am really trying on this microphone and I would like to know more about it, if it is within your reach and thank you
Thanks, I will try. No promises - I'm on a budget.
So many tutorials I’ve seen give ranges of hertz you should boost or lower for male and female vocals. I found myself constantly referring back to their resources and mindlessly plugging in numbers. I love this tutorial because you actually teach us what to listen for and take matters into our own hands!
My hope is to empower YOU. 👍
Best tutorial ever! Thanks!!
Thanks!
you went from squeaky pete to rick ross.. nice vid! im gonna apply this to my next vid and see what difference i can make
LOL! Hope it helps!
Exactly what I needed. Thank you for the detailed quick explanation and process. I’m ready to try this out!
Happy EQing!
Thanks so much for this I'm learning tons and taking my audio just as seriously as image quality. Enjoying becoming an audio nerd and finally being able to understand the specs on microphone and recorder product pages a little better haha
Thanks Mike!
May you make an example with a femenine voice? please
Yes, when I have time, that's a great idea.
would love to see more videos like this, maybe EQ a different voice? thanks for the great content as always!
👍
Excellent tutorial. Now I'm happy with what i'm producing with Parametric EQ
👍
Curtis. I know this is an older video but it is still so valuable. I had added the Rode NT1 5th Gen to my studio and thought I sounded terrible on it. So disappointing, but using this technique instead of the build it DSP effects works so well. Do you save yours as a preset per microphone, or do you do it fresh on each recording that sounds off, even with the same microphone as before?
Presets are great if you record the same voice in the same space often 👍
I would love to see a course about editing audio from video conferencing videos using Audition and Premiere Pro. Will try some of these tips.
Thanks Brian!
This might be slightly off topic.. for field recording what is the ‘industry standard’ bitrare level when recording at 48khz.. is it 16 or 24bit? Thank you.
24 bit.
Now, save that as a preset and slang it to the noobs. You’ll make some money for your daughter’s college fund. LOL!!!
Oh no! That's the trick - have to do the sweep for every voice/mic combo. They always change.
It's a matter of taste, but I would argue about those high frequencies. Needs deesser IMO, but I can understand it's also topic for some other video.
Indeed - I generally prefer to manage sibilance with a de-esser vs. an EQ.
I am afraid of boosting any bass for my voice, because even if it sounds ok on headphones, it usually resonates terribly when I turn on the speakers with subwoofer. But then, I overuse the proximity effect anyway...
Yes, you don't want dialogue playing through a sub. That's a recipe for mud.
EQing is very subjective but I really dont like some of your choices here. The narrow cut at 900Hz greatly improved the sound by getting rid of that nasally sound that is often dependent on microphone placement.
The cut at 1800Hz sounds pretty bad to me. The voice becomes hollow and loses most of your particular character. It may be helpful for raw speech clarity but the sound itself is worse.
The same with the high shelf at 6900Hz. It gives clarity but at the same time the voice becomes sharp and uncomfortable to listen to. Though maybe it was just a bit too much.
I think the bass boost doesnt change much. Here it counteracts the hollow sound caused by the 1800Hz cut but in general its mostly up to preference.
Fair points and as you say, EQing is very subjective. Thanks for sharing!
I don't know why but when I try to do this in audition, I cannot see the sound waves. Like its just the black box with the blue line to edit, but when i press play I cannot see any visualisation of the sound so I can't really 'listen' and adjust because I cant see the sound waves of what I am listening to.
maybe its a noob mistake but if anyone has any ideas, the nthanks c:
There is a setting to change the "resolution" of the EQ. You might try that.
Ok. Thats Great Explanation. Question: Can You do a video with YOUR EQ?.... The one you used in this video. I Know, it depends on your tone voice. Still it wil help me a lot thanks
I didn't have to EQ that audio clip. Instead, I used a microphone which works well with my voice.
Fabulous video, mate.
Thanks, mate!
Very helpful tx will try this technique
Thanks and best wishes!
It's a better video explanation than I expected, I like that you explained cutting the start and end and raising those points for testing purposes, clever identification, but you lost me when you began winging it with levels at seemingly random parts. You know what you're doing and a professional I'd assume but from the outside you lost me halfway, I will try this in APO if it even exists natively, but now I need yet another video to show how to do that. Only place I've seen this equalizer was in Voicemeeter. I appreciate you didn't waffle on and kept to the subject.
Thanks for the feedback! It takes a little practice but you'll get it. The important thing is to boost by 9dB and move that back and forth, pausing at various frequencies to listen for distortion or extreme harshness. Then you know you need to cut there. Apply a cut and experiment with how much of a cut you want until is sounds good to your ears.
uh, what's harshness
Sound that is unpleasant to hear.
I think some of the EQ around 2kHz is unnecessary. I just makes the voice sound really soft. I get the appeal but I usually go for clarity and brightness for better volume and just a crisper high end. Getting rid of any boxiness or room noise.
That's a legitimate approach - this is art after all.
can you recommend a course for a total begginer? I do wedding videos and i want to have better audio quality.
This was amazing, btw
I have several courses over at school.learnlightandsound.com. One of them might fit your needs.
this way - depending on the quality of the recording - a different disturbing frequency is going to pop up, once you started filtering. You cut out a mid frequency and suddenly something in the low mids pops up, that you didn't hear in the first place... This could easyly become a never ending eq chain. Don't eq anything just for the sake of it, unless something is disturbing you... Don't sweep through the frequencies, unless something is really not ok and you want to locate it because you will always find something while sweeping like this... and once you start, you will have to adjust all the other recordings to fit the sound then if you're working with more than 1 track. And after 8 hours of mixing/eqing you ears will hear different too, so be careful with what you start when it comes to eq or you can easyly end up with a lot of unneccessary work. But this method is good to exercise your ears and learn about the frequency spectrum...
Thanks for the input. I agree that this can easily be overdone. I usually stick with 1 or 2 cuts because I find that more than that *usually doesn't help.
If the data is helpful for anyone, I've just got these modest Mackie CR4 monitors running out of my 2013 iMac and the difference at 3:04 is already clear as day. So useful for folks like me who are kind of limited on the variety of mics they have on hand to work with and want to get as professional a sound as they can. Thanks as always! -Dave
Thanks Dave.
Hey Curtis, rookie here in audio.
Does a PreMix3 or something similar help with not having to go in a surgically do this?
What would help for not having to do this if not that?
Finding a microphone which complements the voice you’re recording is the biggest thing one can do to avoid this.
I wasn't expecting you to boost at 150Hz range. 90% of the time I cut there because that's where mud lives.
This is all personal judgement. You definitely never want to overdo it because you are right - that's where the mud lives when there's too much energy there. And a cut can be a perfectly legitimate way to cut down on the muddy sound.
Thank you for this. Massive learning curve trying to tune my voice. Your little tutorials have really helped
Thanks Irishpixel.
How would you handle EQ for dialogue audio where you have audio from say five actors? Would you just copy the EQ per clip, or make separate tracks per actor (DaVinci Resolve).
In post, I'd generally apply the cuts to fix the harsh resonances for each channel independently.
I enjoy your channel because you don't have your voice adjusted too bassy. We're conditioned as listeners in this decade to expect voices to be deeper so natural is out of favour and sounds thin online. In the sixties I started meeting several of the radio announcers working in Toronto and they were all about 4 inches shorter and 30 lbs. lighter than what I was expecting :) And that was just the AM guys. In the 70's the FM announcers sounded like James Earl Jones. I could spin into a rant about the abuse on RUclips of the SM7B with EQ.
Good EQ is possible like you demonstrate. I used to get unintentionally pranked in a sound room because they had my director's voice so dialed in that myself and others would "talk" to him thinking he was behind a door and there was no one there. It was the playback of his voice overs. Even the guy who did the original recording and mixing got confused sometimes.
Thanks Charlie. We prefer to keep it real around here. 👍
Awesome video, I've been looking for this during years. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Thanks Jose, glad it helped.
Hello, i guess you sir might have the answer to my question. I want to adjust the equalizer to volume up vocals in a song way too much. Like i want the vocals really loud and music low. I want to hear clearly the vocals. How can i do this on samsung music equalizer?
I don't know anything about Samsung Music Equalizer, but turn the vocals up and everything down with faders. Then you might also do something like this: ruclips.net/video/fvUn8l30VLc/видео.html
Great video!!!! Do you have one video on compression? How to level up the volume recorded on the mixpre3?
Yes: ruclips.net/video/lHNhxGojFRU/видео.html
This is soooo good!!
So I just listen to shit to then reverse the shit, brilliant!
Definitely one of the better EQ explainer videos, thanks a lot, man. :)
Hahaha! Thanks. Find the crappy parts and cut there.
I can notice the difference, but I can't "hear" what is wrong when he is finding the problematic spot... My ears need serious training...
Just a bit of practice will do.
Thanks for the link. I had subscribed to your channel a week or two ago. I need to go back through your library! This was exactly what I was looking for.
Glad it was helpful!
Are there other programs like adobe that go this in depth with equalization? I can't afford any of the Adobe stuff so I use Audacity for my audio, but it doesn't seem to be able to make the same kind of adjustments, at least not while I listen to the playback like what you have here.
Almost every DAW (digital audio workstation app) has an included EQ. If you're looking for free, you might have a look at Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve which has the Fairlight DAW build into it.
Between you and Lenny B, I am beginning to get a handle on eq. Just beginning to, though.
Lenny B is great at EQ!
I love your videos. I watched your reviews on the tascam x8 and zoom f3 like a million times
👍🙏
Oh a new EQ video from Judd. Hey Judd, been awhile since I harassed you. I'm making another round on my audio studies again.
Welcome back and enjoy your studies!
That’s impressive. Thx for sharing. How do I finish the sound making it wide and rich?
Thanks. That's a topic for another video.
So much harsh sibilance in the voice over, surprised you didn't process that as well for the video.
That’s a different video.
This video was amazing Curtis. I can’t believe this exists for free on RUclips. You truly are such a great resource for filmmakers!
Thanks Griffin, means a lot coming from you!
When I was doing concert PA, one trick that I used after the vocals' EQ had been set, and I needed a little help making a singer's voice cut through the din of the instruments, so the audience could hear the vocals and enunciation clearly was to find that range, usually somewhere between 1 & 4 kHz where the clarity of the voice was, boost it and cut the instruments by the same amount. I used the same method to find the center frequency at high Q, then lower the Q (broaden the frequency range) to cover just the desired frequencies. That is the most efficient way to use a parametric EQ IME.
Good point - when you need that mid-range to cut through a mix, you don't want to be cutting it like we did here. Context definitely matters. Thanks for sharing this!
This technique can be automated in most DAWs using sidechain EQ, sending the voice track to the music track as a control. When the voice signal is hot, it ducks the EQ band on the music, but leaves it alone the rest of the time.
@@baza210 Good for post workflows, not necessarily for live (concert PA).
Much appreciated Curtis!
Thanks!
Hi Curtis , how can I connect this to my Canon 90d camera 📷 so when I record the video it gets the audio from the mic? Thanks
Hi Victor, I'm sorry, I'm not sure I follow. This is a tutorial on how to do EQ in your video editing or audio editing app.
Amazing tutorial. Instantly subscribe to your channel.
Thanks!
Thanks man i appreciate a lot your work, i learned a lot from your videos.
Thanks Zuma.
Hello good day... new friend here
Watching from Singapore
Thanks for coming by! I hope the video was helpful for you.
Love this technique. The “magic numbers” never work for me, now I know how to find them on my own.
Happy mixing 👍
Wonderful, has done it before but not with this moore profound sharp knowledge.
👍
Amazing as always Curtis! Thanks
Thanks Kreigh!
My question is what are you listening for when scanning over the frequencies? Lots of folks show this but dont really explain what to listen for
Harshness. You can turn the EQ plugin on and off to really hear the difference. Sometimes that harshness sounds like whistling, sometimes super nasally, shrill, or overwhelmingly bassy.
@@curtisjudd Thank you, Curtis! I'll be on the listen out for this in my audio
Hello Mr Judd.
I recorded dialogue scene in a gym with a T Bone EM 9900 Shotgun mic with a mogami gold xlr cord and an H4N pro zoom.
I watched your parametric equalizer video and went to learn to do this.
Should I use the parametric equalizer before I match loudness of the audio clip?
I was matching loudness of the audio clip at -14 or -16 lufs for RUclips standards and then cleaning up some of the ambient noise by using capture noise print and doing light noise reduction.
Should I just use the clean audio using light noise reduction snd parametric equalizer for the dialogue clips only?
If you match loudness for whole clip let's say it would smooth out peaks and valleys and I could set whole clip to lets say -6 dB a s it would match loudness to hit the -6b mark for the whole dialogue clip.
I want to learn how to do dialogue clips and tracks better using your parametric equalizer video in adobe audition.
Do you all March loudness of a dialogue clip and then use parametric equalizer?
I was wondering your process on this as well.
I practiced and just did light noise reduction and maybe match loudness in adobe premiere for the dialogue clip and then used the slider panels in Essential sound panel in adobe premiere on the same audio clip after I cleaned it up some in Audition. Then in premiere I used essential sound panel to make it sound good to my hears.
But I want to use parametric equalizer process. Do you match loudness of your clips for dialogue scenes in movie? What dB level do you set you match loudness dilogue audio clips to in Audition?
Do you compress and amplify clips?
Should I use a single band compressor to make the actors vocals sound consistent all the way through and then use parametric equalizer on it?
Also have you used an auto gate before in Audition or premiere.
Wanted to pick your process before I dive deep into the dialogue scenes I have saved those for last.
Thanks for answering my questions about the rode ntg5 shotgun mic months back.
Sincerely Jan Bryan Dixon
Hi Jan, I usually use this method to EQ each talent’s dialogue audio first. The noise reduction. Then loudness normalize which usually includes some compression and then boost the levels. Loudness normalizing is the VERY LAST STEP after finish everything else in the mix.
@@curtisjudd Hello sir. Thanks for your reply.
I am using Adobe audition to do this and Premiere to edit.
OK use EQ video parametric equalizer first on each actors dialogue first. Then noise reduction. I usually use denoise or light noise reduction in Audition with capture noise print.
3rd step you do is Loudness normalize after finish everything in else in mix.
I am not sure how to loudness normalize and do some compression in Audition so I will have to learn. Do you have any videos using loudness normalization and compression in Audition?
My workflow is slow because I am learning and teaching myself these things.
What I did do was this. I watched a podcast video and they talked about match Loudness in Audtion. So for sound effect punches from RUclips that would peak loud I matched their Match Loudness to -4db true peak and put lufs to -16 or -19lufs and then export back to Premiere Pro and they would be matched. They would sound not at loud but more smooth!
Also for when actors did their fight choreography I had clips that would peak bc I had my input at 90 on H4N and I was too close to them with my boom mic. So for all those ambient noise clips that peaked and clipped I match loudness to -6db true peak and set lufs setting to -19 lufs for each clip.
Something I learned with this is when a audio clip sounded good and was a low level of ambient noise when the actors were about to start to fight if you match loudness of a quiet ambient sound it would boost it up and sound distorted so I left those audio clips alone.
I watched two of your other videos and you said -16 or 17 lufs for RUclips when you export because -14lufs is more for music videos.
What if I have a mix of music and fight scenes and sound effects? Dialogue scenes going to have light music.
Can I use Match loudness of an actors dialogue clip and set it to match true peak to -6db and set the lufs to -16 for each clip for a dual mono shotgun mic recording? It would hit that mark everytime for all the words spoken in that clip after I use the Parametric equalizer and noise reduction in Audtion?
Again that would be to learn and I am not sure that is a way to go but it could be.
You saying you can do a whole mix for a dialogue scene and apply your methods and steps for a whole dialogue scene in adobe audition?
Last question sorry for long post I am a learning.
When I export the whole video from Adobe Premiere for RUclips in your opinion set it to -16 or -17 lufs for the audio and a true peak limiter to 1 -dB. What if I knew a clip was clipping or peaking and set my true peak limiter to lets say -3db when I exported it would not let that sound effect clip bc I set the limiter.
What should I set the attack time and release Time to for a dialogue scene using match loudness in Adobe Audtion?
What is attack time and release time in layman's terms?
Thanks for sharing your videos they are incredible and very educational and awesome to learn from.
thank you! I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be hearing but this helped!
Glad it helped! Listen for harsh, sometimes whistling types of distortion. Unpleasantness in general.
I need a good pair of headphones to hear any difference!
Agreed. 😀
We have a priest with a rather thick India accent and is there a way to clear it up…he does speak In English
You can certainly use EQ like this to optimize the sound of the priest's voice, but I don't know that there is a way to...neutralize their accent.
Amazing tip - thanks, this video helped immensely
Thanks 👍
Hi Cutris. I've completed editing a 1-hour podcast in Audition and wanted to know if there's a way of duplicating the entire multitrack podcast as a backup?
In Premiere Pro I would usually copy paste the entire timeline into a new sequence titled backup version one/two etc. Do you know of any ways to do something similar in Audition with the track effects?
Thanks :)
Hi Florence, I usually just make backup copies in the OS - Finder or Exporer or whatever Windows calls it these days.
@@curtisjudd Appreciate the reply. Thank you.
Helpful? It sure was!
Subscribing.
Thanks!