Good to read this. Gonna actually watch the video tomorrow. I sometimes do EQ a bit, and while at first my settings do sound really good, after a few songs I always hate it.
@@MarcelNL EQ on music is a trap, different songs have been mastered differently so if you adjust your EQ listening to one song, chances are you're spoiling the sound on the other. That's why I haven't had a traditional eq for years, the only tuning I do is measurement based DSP if anything. The key is to have good quality speakers and you'll never need an eq.
Yes! Don't listen to videos that give you specific "tricks", listen to people who teach you how to THINK about the concepts you're not confident about. Great channel
You know what's crazy about this? I've watched quite a few videos of EQ lessons, maybe 50+ over the past 5 years in order to try and keep improving and this particular one probably was the most comprehensive and helpful one of them all. Thank you Julian that was a great break down.
@@whoeverofhowevermany No, it's not. It's absolutely a lot, most people don't watch that many videos on just that one subject. Hell, most people download a preset or see a shitty instagram post with a picture of an EQ on it and go with that. Even if all of those videos are only 10 minutes long, that is over 8 hours of video on the topic.
After 50 Years Engineerning and Mixing in Nashville and Muscle Shoals Studios l really appreciate your clear explanations and wisdom beyond your years.
The best, comprehensible EQ-ing video ive seen in a long while. It takes a lot of time to actually become confident with equing, but two principles that have helped me are: 1. Listen unbiasedly. Does what youre doing actually sound good? (Also in the context of musical applications) If not- stop doing it 2. Repeat step one and start LISTENING. What does your rcording actually need to become better? Listen to everything with fresh ears and if you end up making changes, compare it with the original and stop focusing on your ego
@@gregvanpaassen well, if i use headphones for mixing i use open-back ones but i will never trust headphone mixes. i always check with my monitors. headphones tend to be not as relieable for broad mixing situations.
As a singer-songwriter that is now on youtube and no longer goes to a studio for a professional recording, I now manage my own music at home. I have no training in sound frequencies and have been struggling to learn on my own with different softwares. I have never really understood the explanations I have seen. Your video was easy to understand and with your demonstration & explanation of each frequency really has helped me learn what to look for in my home settings. Thank you for sharing your input, as a beginner, you have saved me a lot of frustration & a lot of time. Peace ✌🏽 rock on . Thanks 🙏🏽
One thing to keep in mind is that most vintage modelled EQ plugins - all the fancy looking stuff - tend to push your eq to the kind of curve he is addressing here. Working with something like TDR Nova or TDR Slick EQ would be a great learning experience. The Nova works like the one in the video and allows for correcting issues, while the Slick EQ provides the 'color' and musical types of EQ he is talking about. Both are free.
@@ReddenDoom Thank you 🙏🏽 so much for adding help on this. I’ve spent a lot of time & energy just trying to get my vocals to sound natural, & I don’t really understand complex recording software, so anything is definitely helpful for me if its simpler
As an amateur producer myself, one of the biggest vocal recording mistakes I used to make was mic distancing. I would get the singer too close to the mic, in doing this I wouldn't capture all of the vocal making it flatter with less character. After learning (from RUclips) the error of my ways my vocal recording is so much better and Mixing vocals is so much easier. I hope this is helpful😊
This is definitely not a rant. It's pure logical, real-world, audibly observable good advice. I have terrible hearing, but I know when a voice sounds appealing rather than irritating. All of your examples point out why. This is super helpful. Thank you so much for sharing what you know. You've removed a bit of my confusion.
That point at :30 is what everyone needs to know! It's so true. There is no 1 EQ that works for every voice, every mic, every preamp, every room (boxy or not), there's no 1 magic formula. Great points as always! What works on them may not work on you, and works on you may not work on them. You have to go through it methodically and develop what works for you. Great points!!
Sound engineer here for over 40 years, and this video is one of the better tutorials to get straight to the WHY and WHEN, great job. Julian basically, without stating it, emphasized the GMPW method over the EQ method... that's---good mics placed well. Then season to tase and don't overdo it.
Mic placement. Lo cut. That's about it. If anything I might add some midrange and a touch of treble, if a voice has to poke through a dense mix. I'm glad you made this video. You Tube is full of people who know nothing but repeat false ideas, so hopefully some of those viewers will watch this and have a better view.
Good ol' "smiley face" eq still around 🤣🤣 as an "old dog" live and recording engineer, the best tip I am able to pass on to newbs is to try to stick to subtractive eq and bracketing. Aloha Julian! Love your work!
@@hinky7729 sure! Bracketing is simply the use of a hpf, a lpf, either or both. It's setting frequency boundaries, tracking those boundaries so that you can play one tracks frequency range against another's. Too many full range components in a busy track cloud the mix. So, a mix artist, or even recordist in some cases, will find instruments or whatever that will not suffer from bracketing and just go ahead and "nip it in the bud". You probably know the concept, just hadn't heard it called bracketing.
@@hinky7729 yep, you definitely need to understand the potential pitfalls! Like, you don't put a sharp cornered and steep highpass filter right next to the fundamental frequencies, that's just not going to sound good. Like on bass sounds, you don't want to "squeeze" against the fundamentals. But if you use a slow slope and a round corner, and place the filter safely away from the fundamentals, yeah you can definitely bracket every single track without negative impact. Know your tools 👍
This is probably the best voice EQ explanation video there is. The part where you go through the different frequencies, with us hearing to real-time results, is extremely helpful. Thanks!
I EQ all my voiceovers differently, every time. Sometimes it's because I am not exactly in the same position when recording or maybe I'm recording in a different room. I make small adjustments and to solve specific problems. Over time I've been able to hear better and better what's good and what's not...but it takes practice and there is no preset that will help with every situation. Nice video. Your advice is better than all those other posts and videos out there. One of the few channels I watch regularly for its logic and information.
This is spot on! I also wanna add some of my personal pet peeves as a live sound engineer in terms of EQ : - #1, HPF 80Hz on everything including vocals to avoid "clouding the mix". Many many times I found that, especially on exceptional female singers with a large range, HPF 80Hz cuts a lot of character from the voice (I'm serious). On male voices, cutting even this low drastically is not something I would do either. Lots of people think that there are "no frequencies produced" in this range by instruments and vocalists with a higher fundamental frequency, bu that's not how harmonics works!! I can *assure* you there are. I only use HPF when necessary to cut rumble. The only exception is when the artist is talking and needs a bit more clarity. TBH I find most problems with air conditioning, feedback resonance, etc happens in the higher range more than the lower one anyway and affects the voice less when using a LPF. Note that "low-pass" cut the highs and "high-pass" cut the lows (don't ask me why lol). - #2. everything in the vocals - and most of the music - is in the mids. I understand the V-shape, it's pleasing immediately just like turning up the saturation knob on an image, but it's just lazy to do ti every time and you end with no information in the mid range which is where most of the information is in the first place.
Yeah, I'm on the very ignorant amateur level, but I feel like most of the depth of voices in in the mids too. The "V" or "M" curve seems to make everyone hollow with a nasal tone and a warm rumble. *I appreciate you sharing your experience to help the rest of us.*
This is the best video on vocal EQ I have ever watched. The fact that Julian managed to squeeze this into under ten minutes, including some rants regarding the various EQ myths and "one size fits all EQ curve" advice that gets copied/repeated over and over by self-proclaimed mastering experts, is a testament to his uncanny ability to provide very high quality, concise, and well thought out hands-on practical video instruction.
I just stumbled on your video Julian and in a few minutes you provided solutions to a problem I've been trying to solve by watching dozens of RUclips videos. Needless to say, you have a fan and yes...I subscribed.
I was only 30 seconds into your video and you hooked me with the intro, and the great sounding audio capture of your voice. I'm very interested in audio so I subscribed! Also - I really like your sweater. You video quality is also exceptional!
Thanks for the video. This is really enlightening. I've been working with music for a long time but when it came to vocal narration I needed to learn a little more about using EQs on that. Thank you!
Along with my bipolar depression issues, I also have a bipolar way of looking at life, or so it seems. That includes my use of EQ for probably 40 years! Now that I'm older, some of my wisdom has been not only acquired, but I am now actively using it. All that to say that when I would adjust stereos or EQs in the studio, I would increase or decrease oftentimes by 10-15 dB! Since finally realizing that my recordings simply did not hold up to scrutiny by others, I finally got the message: "Stop being so radical and dramatic with your settings!" So now, when adjusting EQ, I try to limit myself to no more than +/- 2-3 dB. That alone has helped me so much in making far better recordings. And as you've mentioned in your video (which is tremendously well-done, by the way), there has to be a *reason* for making *any* adjustments! Even in my 60s, I still have so much to learn. But I'm doing it.
Well said! It works the same way with video, people tend to slap a LUT on thinking it’s going somehow make their video look professional regardless of the footage or how it was filmed.
I found this VERY informative. I will never claim to know much about audio, despite having messed with it on and off for many years. What complicates things is having a mixer that has all sorts of built-in compressors, de-essers, gating, etc. So figuring out which of these filters to use, when, and how much is always a challenge.
This was SO helpful. I've struggled to wrap my head around EQ for ages, following advice without understanding the purpose of each adjustment and then being confused as to why it sounded bad. Your demonstration of the different mics and systematically boosting then reducing each frequency range in turn while using the adjectives that always get tossed around with little context was EXACTLY what I needed to understand what's going on. Thank you!
An incredibly helpful video, I admire people who can explain complex topics like this with such clarity and without even pausing for a breath in between. So impressive. I can't wait to put your advice to good use. Subscribed!
This is always what I've been looking for, a common starting point with a bit of a crash course in the most accessible ways to adjust the sound. Thanks!
I work with a lot of different microphones from a wide-range of people. I wasn't so familiar with frequency adjustments and all that but I wanted to make the audio better. I fell for the "V" curve without a lot of explanation behind *why* it "makes your voice sound better". This video helped me understand EQ a ton. Watched a ton a videos, none of them described editing EQ the way you did
This was a very helpful video. You really broke down the frequency zones in detail to help plebians like me make sense of it, and encouraged me to dive in and play with EQ with some direction. Thank you so much Julian!
Great stuff. As a more-amateur-than-not type of "bedroom producer", I can definitely identify with the desire to have these kind of easy solutions. I've been so frustrated at times with my inability to figure out how to fix what my ears know to be a bad mix. It's so tempting to go to the interwebs for easy answers (like this v-curve). The problem for me becomes how to use the technology to get to a place where your ears are happy. I guess it really just comes to you eventually with patience and experimentation.
Man, I'm going to be completely honest. I'm blown away. I've been attempting to produce my own music for decades, and I've had other people process the same track I've been trying to dial in for literally years now. I'm completely amazed at how much sense this video made and now my vocals sound great, audible and not so abrasive without a De-Esser or rerecording my track which I was fearing. Thank you so much, you earned a sub my dude!
Julian - continue to really enjoy and benefit from your knowledge. Had a teacher once say if you know WHAT you are trying to achieve you'll always be able to look up HOW. Meaning, the Semantics are more important than the syntax, and in the art of sound, guiding principles like WHY we use an EQ, proximity effect, different mic characteristics, fundamental frequencies are key. Loved the illustration of high EQ shelf driving unnecessary need for a de-esser. Your gear reviews continue to be informative, but these more practical sound engineer type articles really benefit me, and I imagine many other folk too. Thanks.
So good and so true, thank you! As a producer of commercial podcasts, I rarely find myself using an EQ to "shape" the tone, usually minor individual notches or low cuts to compensate less ideal recording environments. If you have an okay-ish mic and a decent acoustics, curves like those will ruin your material.
That was very helpful. My problem is so many things sound OK to me. And then you have all these audio snobs and self-appointed experts who have OPINIONS. If it sounds bad, I know, and can fix it to a degree. But deciding what sounds "right" is so much spaghetti on the wall. Could be so many different kinds of OK, but in the end you have to make a decision and live with it. I have the same problem judging visual things, like photography. I know if I like it, but what is good and bad to others is a mystery.
Came for the straightforward, no-nonsense technical evaluation and advice. Stayed because I laughed 3 times in the first 20 seconds! 😂 Subscription earned!
I am entirely new to voice acting, and the equalizer scared the crap out of me. This was exactly as detailed as it needed to be. I understand the "why" now, whereas before it was just a set of sliders. This video really helped a lot, thanks!
I do narrations, and have a different sound to my voice from recording to recording. The only EQ change I can reliably make is an 80Hz Low Cut. Aside from that, many recordings are similar, but not all... and thus, my long journey with EQ. -- Thanks for your helpful insights.
Best explanation I've seen so far! I'm quite a noob in Eq'ing my videos and thanks to your tips I went from too bassy and muffled to a great clear voice without lashing a ton of money on new hardware. Great! 👍
The way hearing works the pinnae around our ears create various peaks and notches that occur above about 1.6 K depending on where a sound source is located and we actually use those to determine where a sound is. So that might help explain why we’re not super sensitive to notches at high frequencies, because they are there all of the time anyway, from all of the interference patterns that already exist due to reflections, and the shape of our ears and head.
After watching many other videos on EQ-ing voice (yet before I watched this one) I found myself doing my EQ seemingly all wrong compared to other people and wondered if I was "getting it right" or not. For a while I thought that perhaps my EQ settings were just going to be vastly different because of how different my voice is, and your video helped confirm that. Thank you so much for making this. Best EQ advice EVER. :)
There are a few videos out there covering this topic but this is probably my favourite. Clear, concise and with plenty of examples to illustrate your points. Cheers.
Finally! Someone who actually brought me all the clarity i was seeking. There are 100s of videos out there, who just recommend factory presets as blanket solution to make your voice better, which only ruins the audio.
I am constantly fiddling with mine in edit, depending on the recording I've done! It's one of those things where I can sound completely different from one day to the next, and sometimes use different microphones. I feel like it's like when I was a kid and I thought the rear-mirror in cars were set specifically to one person and then when I started driving realized how much I change and adjust it to fit different scenarios (it always bothered me when my parents would drive and change the other one's "setting") 😆 Loved this video. You have a very nice voice!
In a busy context (like music or voice overs for movie trailers) we boost the highs and then de ess them to allow the higher freqs of the voice to sit on top of other sounds with high energy without being too sibilant, I also like this effect (to a much less extreme extent) in podcasts or commentary as it can help when the listener is perhaps listening on a phone in the kitchen whilst cooking, this can help the voice overcome some of the background noise. I find the issue is that people take this idea way too far until they sound like Drake when they have nothing to compete with and it can just sound harsh and unnatural. Not to mention you can only boost as high as you can go without beginning to intrtoduce unnatural mouth and body noises. Anyway Julian as per usual your video is great but there is my awkard little idiosyncrasy, not that it detracts from your general message, just that like you said, every voice, mic, and use case is different!
I use a Shure MV7 and a GOXLR and I've struggled for months getting my voice to sound right. it has been a very long and frustrating ride getting a proper eq from my voice bc every single tutorial i watch on youtube is always some guy teaching me how to sound like markiplier and then i over EQ and get some weird curve and just. . . ive thought about going back to the ASMR mics(and i dont even make asmr content) since nobody seems to know how to audio engineer female voices :') This video helped explain a lot thank you so much!!
Excellent advice - I have always felt when dealing with EQ - many of the 'suggestions' maybe good for a single user - but don't translate to others as well. Thanks
Excellent video - I've been playing about with different mics recently and, of course, watching RUclips reviews, and the amount of BS advice out there is astonishing. This refreshingly all made perfect sense :)
Thanks for this video… I use the same mic in the same room everytime I record… and I’ve found that I have to use different EQ settings for different songs, styles, and keys… You’re advice is spot on. There’s no one size fits all setting… For this reason, I no longer spend money on presets and pre-made vocal chains
Good advice. If I can add something of my own: don't mix vocals (or anything) soloed. Listening to it soloed can be useful, but don't EQ or change things while it's in isolation because it will almost never sound right in the mix when you EQ it solo. Even frequencies that sound awful solo, can sometimes complement a mix in weird ways.
What blows my mind is that people don't just record their voice, listen to it, play with EQ settings, learn how the settings affect their voice, and decide what sounds best. I'm glad you're encouraging people to take that approach, because it's the only one that works long-term.
As usual, excellent presentation, Julian. You're one of the best out there for audio information. If your viewers are interested, here are a couple of examples of using different EQ. The first one, the vocal was done with an GLS Audio ES57. I hiked up the bass a bit, and hiked the high end even higher. The classis 57 sound is known for being a bit dark, a bit nasally, and somewhat brittle. When I hiked the high end up, I went in to each silibant section, isolated it, and lowered the volume. This was the price that I had to pay for raising the high end. The second video is a demo of the Behringer BA85a. You can see on the graphic, the EQ curve. Because this mic has plenty of bass and can even make for a muddy mix (when combined with instruments that compete in the upper bass/low mid range), I lowered the bass. Note that this is in contrast to what I did with the ES57. Thanks again for your excellent presentation, Julian. ruclips.net/video/dwaCmEdlLEk/видео.html And ruclips.net/video/kBiz8rKc6MY/видео.html
This is excellent advice. Me, an adult male, uses ReaEQ i use 4 bands only on my SM7b. First band is a Low shelf at 142.4 with a gain reduction of -inf and bandwidth of 2.00. Second eq is a Band filter at 457.4 hz with a gain of 1.6 and a bandwidth of 2 third eq is band filter at 7657.3 at -4.4 with a bandwidth of 0.27 (this one is there to de-ess myself) forth is a band filter at 10210.3 at 0.9 with a bandwidth of 2.53 to ad some top end to my SM7b NOW with this said, the best way to not make this microphone to bass heavy is to keep it an distance from my mouth. I make a 🤙with my right hand and place the thumb in my mouth and my pinky at the end of the microphone. THAT's my ideal distance..
Seems people don't want to hear this - I didn't when new to Audition - but there is no quick, one approach fits all correction for audio. Even with Audition, there is a sharp learning curve. Hell, I'm still trying to ascend it a couple years on. But this video? Definitely helps.
You have a good aproach to eq voice! What might be a good tool or good to know and understand, not only for voice eq but eq in general is to know were the hearing is most sensitive. It is most sensitive around 3 - 4 kHz approx and if we use an eq that gets these frequensy's louder it might make it a disservice for listening at higher volume, higher sound pressure levels. The high sensitivity in this region comes from the ears length from the beginning of the tunnel to the ear drum which have a resonance at the frequensy because of the length of said tunnel. Aleays monitor you recordings on high volume (high SPL's). EQ is not just an adjustment of how loud a cover frequensy band is, it a resonance and as such it is storing energy in the time domain. It rings one can say. In the low regions that you took up, for mitigate a room standing wave, its ringing can actually be useful since it is of opposite phase from the rooms ringing. For higher frequensy it is not useful since you cant get all those short waves to align like you can when the wavelenght are much longer! You not one fits all idea is very true. If you need to eq, treat the voice as needing a unique eq. This can also translate to mastering where we have prosessing done on the final stereo track. An eq applied there will do the same eq on all sounds and it is utterly stupid sinse it could just as well be done by in the multichannel mix! There you have can do anything a master technichian can do and much much more! Whats the likelyhood that all sounds need an adjustment of +x dB in y Hz? And my last point here are again about how we hear. Psychoacoustically awareness is key! When listening to two sound wich only differs in how loud they are, like two identical copies were one copy are playing a dB or two louder, will always get that the louder sounds better! At least at non very loud levels. And we tend to rather raise some frequensies than to lower them. When we raise a frequensy we also raise the avarage SPL volume. It means just by the reason that is is louder after an eq that add some to a frequensy we will often prefer it. It means we should ideally lower the eq:ed version to the level that the uneq:ed version has to be certain we not get fooled by the SPL difference! It is not user friendly to have to do these adjustments but with a computer it is easy to have two track with different volumes if one decide to test this. At the absolute minimum, one shall be aware of this effect. All people prefer a 1 dB SPL louder sound, even those aware of this that tries to mitigate it by thinking hard about it! It is an important aspect of the difficulties mixing sounds acctually can be! I like your RUclips channel very much// John
Just played this again. Still good advice - EQ sparingly, and only for a specific reason to cure a specific, identified acoustic fault - reduce unwanted frequencies before boosting desired frequencies - and EQ for each voice, microphone, venue individually. That is my advice, and I think that is what Julian recommends here. Use your head, including your ears, and don't follow single minded formulas - they simply do not work for all cases. Julian says it well. JT
The Schoeps CMC-6 is my desert island mic. It's good on absolutely everything, and I've owned dozens of the most expensive mics from all vendors from DPA, Neumann, AKG et al. The secon one is the SM-57. A close companion is the AKG 414, which also works on anything from voice to brass, guitars, drums, etc.
Solid advice. Every mic and voice/source is vastly different. For my voice, I typically pull -2 to -6db from 300hz and 800hz with a decent bandwith. Then depending on the mic, maybe +1db boost at 80hz or 100hz and same for 12khz. High pass filter around 60hz. On my MXL V67G, no high end boost. RE27, slight 10khz-12khz boost. No low end boost. RCA 77DX and MXL R144 ribbons, no low end boost (might cut actually), but +6...or even +12db at 10khz to 12khz. Ribbons are VERY dark, but take EQ like a champ. Anyways, EQ is not one size fits all. Play with it. The "cardboard" sound is going to be in those low-mids around 200hz to 1000hz. A slight cut in that range will sound more pleasing....but not always.
An issue that has come to my attention, via an AKG C7 mic that has a non-switchable 12dB per octave, 150Hz, low cut filter, is the significant asymmetry caused to the envelope of the signal due to the LF phase shift. The same will apply to a U87 with its low cut switch engaged and/or the AKG C636, etc. etc. The same effect of asymmetry will apply to a signal that has been recorded as symmetrical, and then a low cut effect applied. This is why the audio enthusiast dislikes "tone controls" or is super sparing with the mixer EQ. In addition, and primarily, this will cause problems with dynamic processes, such as compression and/or limiting with the top or bottom of the signal becoming heavily sawn off, compared to the opposite pole. To remedy this, I use a phase modifier process, such as that which applies to Audition's Graphical Phase effect or Audacity's "allpass2 track x x "Nyquist prompt. Try this with the SM7B, with its filters applied, for an impressive example.
Great info! Adding it to "watch later" for future reference. Quality vocal audio has always been challenging and I feel lacking in knowledge for sure. It's especially difficult when a project requires multiple microphones and recording devices. I need to try to make the different sources sound more similar. 😅
I use a template of an EQ I created from some standard approaches to EQ'ing vocals. Then I dial it in to my liking. Ultimately if you get it to sound the way you want you've done a good job.
Thanks for sharing, i stumbled here looking for ways to eq a voice. We have a good branded audio devices in venue where I sing but surprisingly when listened to the stream, my voice sounded like heavily filtered 50’s transistor radio.. while the rest of other 3 singers sounded clear.. so my first reaction is I need to record again my voice at home to validate if what I heard in livestream is indeed correct bec I dont remember sounding like someone with severe covid cold singing from a lofi transistor radio. I am new singer in the team and I don’t know how to say to audio tech politely- they might think the newbie is acting like a pro singer demanding some eq’ing.. to which I believe tone shaping is their job.
Great video! So helpful. One should only EQ vocals, or any track for that matter, to bring out certain frequencies in a mix so they stand out better. Reductive EQ works better to make room in a mix so that the elements aren't fighting for space. Thanks!
Good advice - No single EQ setting works for all voices, with all microphones in all venues. Start with a flat EQ and adjust only what you must, and reduce undesired frequencies before boosting desired frequencies. Good vid. JT
To me that looks like an aggressive "loudness curve" out of context. It is one thing for a microphone to have the best "flat" frequency response possible, it is quite another how our ears perceive "flat" frequencies, in which case applying a loudness curve to the microphone *IS CORRECT* so that we hear all frequencies at the same level. That being said, it is not just applying a "loudness curve" to anything and everything without any criteria. As you said, you have to consider the frequency response of the microphone, the room, the environment, the person's voice, etc., before applying that amount of EQ.
Thanks! I recently got the Shure SM7B, paired with the Elgato Wave XLR and was trying to get a little bit more of that "clean" sound. I ended up boosting at 5k with a High Shelf +1,7db and 100hz +1,3db, its awesome! Low Cut Filter is 80hz with the Elgato Wave XLR, tho I will try 60hz out via EQ!
Hola Julian, coincido mucho contigo. Hace años que grabo mi voz para emisoras de radio de todo tipo, AM,FM y ondas cortas en HF. Cuando la ecualización suena bien a mis oídos, en general es un tanto desagradable para la mayoría de oyentes calificados, que escuchan mis grabaciones en estudios con equipamiento de alto nivel. Entiendo que mi voz es la suma de lo que escuchan mis oídos, más el sonido captado a travéz de los huesos del cráneo. E intentar ecualizar intentando duplicar esa sensación, es un error. Nuestros micrófonos captan nuestra voz de forma muy diferente, y no es de utilidad medir desde el DAW con sus analizadores de espectro. Yo he enviado mis grabaciones a varias personas y he tocado las frecuencias donde todos coinciden que falta, o sobra énfasis. Una vez ajustado, final, grabo hasta hoy con esa curva. Saludos desde Estudio VH Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Thank you! More ppl need to see and listen to this. I swear so many template gremlins slap it on and then bend the hell out of a MB comp to control it lolol you never miss with the actual facts!!
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
As a sound engineer with about 30 years of experience, I can say that your advice here is dead on. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome validation.
Good to read this. Gonna actually watch the video tomorrow.
I sometimes do EQ a bit, and while at first my settings do sound really good, after a few songs I always hate it.
What creations have you been a part of in your 30 years of experience?
So people apply EQ randomly instead of actually listening how it sounds? lol
@@MarcelNL EQ on music is a trap, different songs have been mastered differently so if you adjust your EQ listening to one song, chances are you're spoiling the sound on the other. That's why I haven't had a traditional eq for years, the only tuning I do is measurement based DSP if anything. The key is to have good quality speakers and you'll never need an eq.
Yes! Don't listen to videos that give you specific "tricks", listen to people who teach you how to THINK about the concepts you're not confident about. Great channel
As old saying goes, those that don't have enough skills to do great work proceed to teaching.
You know what's crazy about this? I've watched quite a few videos of EQ lessons, maybe 50+ over the past 5 years in order to try and keep improving and this particular one probably was the most comprehensive and helpful one of them all. Thank you Julian that was a great break down.
I need more umpf bro! Give me the umpf!
@@X320riginal That’s a preset bro 😂
That's like 10 per year. Less than 1 a month. That's nothing.
Seriously.
@@whoeverofhowevermany No, it's not. It's absolutely a lot, most people don't watch that many videos on just that one subject. Hell, most people download a preset or see a shitty instagram post with a picture of an EQ on it and go with that. Even if all of those videos are only 10 minutes long, that is over 8 hours of video on the topic.
After 50 Years Engineerning and Mixing in Nashville and Muscle Shoals Studios l really appreciate your clear explanations and wisdom beyond your years.
Wow! You must've been involved in some awesome music!
Have you worked with Steve Cropper by any chance?
What are your Tips/Experiences with Eq? I think all of us could benefit from that. Thanks!
The best, comprehensible EQ-ing video ive seen in a long while.
It takes a lot of time to actually become confident with equing, but two principles that have helped me are:
1. Listen unbiasedly.
Does what youre doing actually sound good? (Also in the context of musical applications)
If not- stop doing it
2. Repeat step one and start LISTENING.
What does your rcording actually need to become better?
Listen to everything with fresh ears and if you end up making changes, compare it with the original and stop focusing on your ego
You need good headphones to listen with, though. Most of the cheaper ones are far too bass-heavy. Some are also bright (they have a built in V curve).
@@gregvanpaassen well, if i use headphones for mixing i use open-back ones but i will never trust headphone mixes. i always check with my monitors. headphones tend to be not as relieable for broad mixing situations.
By the way this is not just valid for eqing, but basically for everything in music production.
I do this. Still come up with a V-shape. My IEMs are also tuned into a V-shape. And I love every single part of it. Suck it up.
@@l4kr you definitly seem to be very happy with your smiling EQ. Im glad you love it so much. Please, continue having a wonderful day with that
As a singer-songwriter that is now on youtube and no longer goes to a studio for a professional recording, I now manage my own music at home. I have no training in sound frequencies and have been struggling to learn on my own with different softwares. I have never really understood the explanations I have seen. Your video was easy to understand and with your demonstration & explanation of each frequency really has helped me learn what to look for in my home settings. Thank you for sharing your input, as a beginner, you have saved me a lot of frustration & a lot of time. Peace ✌🏽 rock on . Thanks 🙏🏽
One thing to keep in mind is that most vintage modelled EQ plugins - all the fancy looking stuff - tend to push your eq to the kind of curve he is addressing here. Working with something like TDR Nova or TDR Slick EQ would be a great learning experience. The Nova works like the one in the video and allows for correcting issues, while the Slick EQ provides the 'color' and musical types of EQ he is talking about. Both are free.
@@ReddenDoom Thank you 🙏🏽 so much for adding help on this. I’ve spent a lot of time & energy just trying to get my vocals to sound natural, & I don’t really understand complex recording software, so anything is definitely helpful for me if its simpler
As an amateur producer myself, one of the biggest vocal recording mistakes I used to make was mic distancing. I would get the singer too close to the mic, in doing this I wouldn't capture all of the vocal making it flatter with less character.
After learning (from RUclips) the error of my ways my vocal recording is so much better and Mixing vocals is so much easier.
I hope this is helpful😊
This is definitely not a rant. It's pure logical, real-world, audibly observable good advice. I have terrible hearing, but I know when a voice sounds appealing rather than irritating. All of your examples point out why. This is super helpful. Thank you so much for sharing what you know. You've removed a bit of my confusion.
My voice has never sounded better on my mic until after seeing this video. Thanks for being so concise!
This has to be the BEST dialogue-EQ tutorial I have come across. Fantastic work!
I’ve just learned more about EQ in the last 10 minutes than I have done in the last decade. What a video!
That point at :30 is what everyone needs to know! It's so true. There is no 1 EQ that works for every voice, every mic, every preamp, every room (boxy or not), there's no 1 magic formula. Great points as always! What works on them may not work on you, and works on you may not work on them. You have to go through it methodically and develop what works for you. Great points!!
No free lunch theorem
Sound engineer here for over 40 years, and this video is one of the better tutorials to get straight to the WHY and WHEN, great job. Julian basically, without stating it, emphasized the GMPW method over the EQ method... that's---good mics placed well. Then season to tase and don't overdo it.
A bit like make-up…less is more.
Awesome.
Sound engineer here for 65 years. Great video!
Mic placement. Lo cut. That's about it. If anything I might add some midrange and a touch of treble, if a voice has to poke through a dense mix. I'm glad you made this video. You Tube is full of people who know nothing but repeat false ideas, so hopefully some of those viewers will watch this and have a better view.
Good ol' "smiley face" eq still around 🤣🤣 as an "old dog" live and recording engineer, the best tip I am able to pass on to newbs is to try to stick to subtractive eq and bracketing. Aloha Julian! Love your work!
Hi, what is bracketing? I‘m not a native speaker. Thanks !
@@hinky7729 sure! Bracketing is simply the use of a hpf, a lpf, either or both. It's setting frequency boundaries, tracking those boundaries so that you can play one tracks frequency range against another's. Too many full range components in a busy track cloud the mix. So, a mix artist, or even recordist in some cases, will find instruments or whatever that will not suffer from bracketing and just go ahead and "nip it in the bud".
You probably know the concept, just hadn't heard it called bracketing.
@@dighawaii1 thanks! I dont do that very often, due to phase changes - maybe I need to dig a little deeper on that topic.
@@hinky7729 yep, you definitely need to understand the potential pitfalls! Like, you don't put a sharp cornered and steep highpass filter right next to the fundamental frequencies, that's just not going to sound good. Like on bass sounds, you don't want to "squeeze" against the fundamentals. But if you use a slow slope and a round corner, and place the filter safely away from the fundamentals, yeah you can definitely bracket every single track without negative impact.
Know your tools 👍
This is probably the best voice EQ explanation video there is. The part where you go through the different frequencies, with us hearing to real-time results, is extremely helpful. Thanks!
I never used such curve. It's true that every voice-mic combination should be treated in its unique way. Thank you for this comprehensive explanation.
I EQ all my voiceovers differently, every time. Sometimes it's because I am not exactly in the same position when recording or maybe I'm recording in a different room. I make small adjustments and to solve specific problems. Over time I've been able to hear better and better what's good and what's not...but it takes practice and there is no preset that will help with every situation.
Nice video. Your advice is better than all those other posts and videos out there. One of the few channels I watch regularly for its logic and information.
Love it! I've certainly ruined my audio in the past with some bad EQ lol
Good advice. Thank you.
Bass & Treble correction used to be my ultimate choice after frustrating failures at EQ voice corrections.
This is spot on! I also wanna add some of my personal pet peeves as a live sound engineer in terms of EQ :
- #1, HPF 80Hz on everything including vocals to avoid "clouding the mix". Many many times I found that, especially on exceptional female singers with a large range, HPF 80Hz cuts a lot of character from the voice (I'm serious). On male voices, cutting even this low drastically is not something I would do either. Lots of people think that there are "no frequencies produced" in this range by instruments and vocalists with a higher fundamental frequency, bu that's not how harmonics works!! I can *assure* you there are. I only use HPF when necessary to cut rumble. The only exception is when the artist is talking and needs a bit more clarity. TBH I find most problems with air conditioning, feedback resonance, etc happens in the higher range more than the lower one anyway and affects the voice less when using a LPF. Note that "low-pass" cut the highs and "high-pass" cut the lows (don't ask me why lol).
- #2. everything in the vocals - and most of the music - is in the mids. I understand the V-shape, it's pleasing immediately just like turning up the saturation knob on an image, but it's just lazy to do ti every time and you end with no information in the mid range which is where most of the information is in the first place.
low-pass is called low-pass, because the lows can pass, the highs cannot (hence they are cut away)
I loved your reply - I am curious if you do EQ consulting
Yeah, I'm on the very ignorant amateur level, but I feel like most of the depth of voices in in the mids too. The "V" or "M" curve seems to make everyone hollow with a nasal tone and a warm rumble. *I appreciate you sharing your experience to help the rest of us.*
This is the best video on vocal EQ I have ever watched. The fact that Julian managed to squeeze this into under ten minutes, including some rants regarding the various EQ myths and "one size fits all EQ curve" advice that gets copied/repeated over and over by self-proclaimed mastering experts, is a testament to his uncanny ability to provide very high quality, concise, and well thought out hands-on practical video instruction.
a very straight forward man without visible charisma, still like it, because he's still right. sending this to some friends who need some help
Nice coverage of EQ, Julian. Thanks for the measured advice!
Just realized I've been mindlessly slapping on an EQ curve for a while now. Many thanks for this knowledge.
I just stumbled on your video Julian and in a few minutes you provided solutions to a problem I've been trying to solve by watching dozens of RUclips videos. Needless to say, you have a fan and yes...I subscribed.
I was only 30 seconds into your video and you hooked me with the intro, and the great sounding audio capture of your voice. I'm very interested in audio so I subscribed! Also - I really like your sweater. You video quality is also exceptional!
Thanks for the video. This is really enlightening. I've been working with music for a long time but when it came to vocal narration I needed to learn a little more about using EQs on that. Thank you!
Along with my bipolar depression issues, I also have a bipolar way of looking at life, or so it seems. That includes my use of EQ for probably 40 years! Now that I'm older, some of my wisdom has been not only acquired, but I am now actively using it. All that to say that when I would adjust stereos or EQs in the studio, I would increase or decrease oftentimes by 10-15 dB! Since finally realizing that my recordings simply did not hold up to scrutiny by others, I finally got the message: "Stop being so radical and dramatic with your settings!"
So now, when adjusting EQ, I try to limit myself to no more than +/- 2-3 dB. That alone has helped me so much in making far better recordings. And as you've mentioned in your video (which is tremendously well-done, by the way), there has to be a *reason* for making *any* adjustments!
Even in my 60s, I still have so much to learn. But I'm doing it.
Well said! It works the same way with video, people tend to slap a LUT on thinking it’s going somehow make their video look professional regardless of the footage or how it was filmed.
I found this VERY informative. I will never claim to know much about audio, despite having messed with it on and off for many years. What complicates things is having a mixer that has all sorts of built-in compressors, de-essers, gating, etc. So figuring out which of these filters to use, when, and how much is always a challenge.
Exactly. The situation/context is important.
This was SO helpful. I've struggled to wrap my head around EQ for ages, following advice without understanding the purpose of each adjustment and then being confused as to why it sounded bad. Your demonstration of the different mics and systematically boosting then reducing each frequency range in turn while using the adjectives that always get tossed around with little context was EXACTLY what I needed to understand what's going on. Thank you!
An incredibly helpful video, I admire people who can explain complex topics like this with such clarity and without even pausing for a breath in between. So impressive. I can't wait to put your advice to good use. Subscribed!
Thanks so much for this! This is the first time I’ve seen someone breakdown what the *middle* frequency ranges especially do with the voice!
This is always what I've been looking for, a common starting point with a bit of a crash course in the most accessible ways to adjust the sound. Thanks!
This is the only tutorial where I actually learnt something about EQing voice recordings. Thank you!
I work with a lot of different microphones from a wide-range of people. I wasn't so familiar with frequency adjustments and all that but I wanted to make the audio better. I fell for the "V" curve without a lot of explanation behind *why* it "makes your voice sound better".
This video helped me understand EQ a ton. Watched a ton a videos, none of them described editing EQ the way you did
This was a very helpful video. You really broke down the frequency zones in detail to help plebians like me make sense of it, and encouraged me to dive in and play with EQ with some direction. Thank you so much Julian!
Great stuff. As a more-amateur-than-not type of "bedroom producer", I can definitely identify with the desire to have these kind of easy solutions. I've been so frustrated at times with my inability to figure out how to fix what my ears know to be a bad mix. It's so tempting to go to the interwebs for easy answers (like this v-curve). The problem for me becomes how to use the technology to get to a place where your ears are happy. I guess it really just comes to you eventually with patience and experimentation.
Man, I'm going to be completely honest. I'm blown away. I've been attempting to produce my own music for decades, and I've had other people process the same track I've been trying to dial in for literally years now. I'm completely amazed at how much sense this video made and now my vocals sound great, audible and not so abrasive without a De-Esser or rerecording my track which I was fearing. Thank you so much, you earned a sub my dude!
Julian - continue to really enjoy and benefit from your knowledge. Had a teacher once say if you know WHAT you are trying to achieve you'll always be able to look up HOW. Meaning, the Semantics are more important than the syntax, and in the art of sound, guiding principles like WHY we use an EQ, proximity effect, different mic characteristics, fundamental frequencies are key. Loved the illustration of high EQ shelf driving unnecessary need for a de-esser. Your gear reviews continue to be informative, but these more practical sound engineer type articles really benefit me, and I imagine many other folk too. Thanks.
So good and so true, thank you! As a producer of commercial podcasts, I rarely find myself using an EQ to "shape" the tone, usually minor individual notches or low cuts to compensate less ideal recording environments. If you have an okay-ish mic and a decent acoustics, curves like those will ruin your material.
That was very helpful. My problem is so many things sound OK to me. And then you have all these audio snobs and self-appointed experts who have OPINIONS. If it sounds bad, I know, and can fix it to a degree. But deciding what sounds "right" is so much spaghetti on the wall. Could be so many different kinds of OK, but in the end you have to make a decision and live with it. I have the same problem judging visual things, like photography. I know if I like it, but what is good and bad to others is a mystery.
Came for the straightforward, no-nonsense technical evaluation and advice. Stayed because I laughed 3 times in the first 20 seconds! 😂 Subscription earned!
I am entirely new to voice acting, and the equalizer scared the crap out of me. This was exactly as detailed as it needed to be. I understand the "why" now, whereas before it was just a set of sliders. This video really helped a lot, thanks!
One of the best videos on RUclips regarding this topic. Well done sir👍🏾
I do narrations, and have a different sound to my voice from recording to recording. The only EQ change I can reliably make is an 80Hz Low Cut. Aside from that, many recordings are similar, but not all... and thus, my long journey with EQ. -- Thanks for your helpful insights.
Very good, Dr. Krause. I love your empirical approach, passion, and skill as a communicator. Thank you :)
Julian is always super solid in what he says. Keep it up, mate!
Best explanation I've seen so far! I'm quite a noob in Eq'ing my videos and thanks to your tips I went from too bassy and muffled to a great clear voice without lashing a ton of money on new hardware. Great! 👍
The way hearing works the pinnae around our ears create various peaks and notches that occur above about 1.6 K depending on where a sound source is located and we actually use those to determine where a sound is. So that might help explain why we’re not super sensitive to notches at high frequencies, because they are there all of the time anyway, from all of the interference patterns that already exist due to reflections, and the shape of our ears and head.
Best basic broad rule of thumb advice I’ve seen.
After watching many other videos on EQ-ing voice (yet before I watched this one) I found myself doing my EQ seemingly all wrong compared to other people and wondered if I was "getting it right" or not. For a while I thought that perhaps my EQ settings were just going to be vastly different because of how different my voice is, and your video helped confirm that. Thank you so much for making this. Best EQ advice EVER. :)
I'm a newbie--but, I was having the same thing happening. Sure glad I found this video...
Der beste Audiokanal, den ich bis jetzt auf RUclips gefunden habe. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
There are a few videos out there covering this topic but this is probably my favourite. Clear, concise and with plenty of examples to illustrate your points. Cheers.
Thank you. I too often see RUclipsrs giving EQ advice that assumes every environment, recording, capture device and mix will always be the same.
Finally! Someone who actually brought me all the clarity i was seeking. There are 100s of videos out there, who just recommend factory presets as blanket solution to make your voice better, which only ruins the audio.
Thank you so much for this video! For the life of me, I couldn't wrap my mind around EQ's but with your tutorial, it made it easier to understand.
The best things come to you randomly, so did this video. Thank you you're the best
Not a rant -it's very useful information that is difficult to find online and learn.
I am constantly fiddling with mine in edit, depending on the recording I've done! It's one of those things where I can sound completely different from one day to the next, and sometimes use different microphones. I feel like it's like when I was a kid and I thought the rear-mirror in cars were set specifically to one person and then when I started driving realized how much I change and adjust it to fit different scenarios (it always bothered me when my parents would drive and change the other one's "setting") 😆 Loved this video. You have a very nice voice!
In a busy context (like music or voice overs for movie trailers) we boost the highs and then de ess them to allow the higher freqs of the voice to sit on top of other sounds with high energy without being too sibilant, I also like this effect (to a much less extreme extent) in podcasts or commentary as it can help when the listener is perhaps listening on a phone in the kitchen whilst cooking, this can help the voice overcome some of the background noise. I find the issue is that people take this idea way too far until they sound like Drake when they have nothing to compete with and it can just sound harsh and unnatural. Not to mention you can only boost as high as you can go without beginning to intrtoduce unnatural mouth and body noises. Anyway Julian as per usual your video is great but there is my awkard little idiosyncrasy, not that it detracts from your general message, just that like you said, every voice, mic, and use case is different!
Not all heroes wear capes! 100% correct and simplistic at the same time. All the best Julian!
I use a Shure MV7 and a GOXLR and I've struggled for months getting my voice to sound right. it has been a very long and frustrating ride getting a proper eq from my voice bc every single tutorial i watch on youtube is always some guy teaching me how to sound like markiplier and then i over EQ and get some weird curve and just. . . ive thought about going back to the ASMR mics(and i dont even make asmr content) since nobody seems to know how to audio engineer female voices :')
This video helped explain a lot thank you so much!!
This is only the second video of yours I've watched, and I already know it. You are a born educator! Every word is on its place.
Thanks!
Thank you too!!
Excellent advice - I have always felt when dealing with EQ - many of the 'suggestions' maybe good for a single user - but don't translate to others as well. Thanks
Excellent video - I've been playing about with different mics recently and, of course, watching RUclips reviews, and the amount of BS advice out there is astonishing. This refreshingly all made perfect sense :)
Thanks for this video…
I use the same mic in the same room everytime I record… and I’ve found that I have to use different EQ settings for different songs, styles, and keys…
You’re advice is spot on. There’s no one size fits all setting…
For this reason, I no longer spend money on presets and pre-made vocal chains
Good advice. If I can add something of my own: don't mix vocals (or anything) soloed. Listening to it soloed can be useful, but don't EQ or change things while it's in isolation because it will almost never sound right in the mix when you EQ it solo. Even frequencies that sound awful solo, can sometimes complement a mix in weird ways.
What blows my mind is that people don't just record their voice, listen to it, play with EQ settings, learn how the settings affect their voice, and decide what sounds best. I'm glad you're encouraging people to take that approach, because it's the only one that works long-term.
As usual, excellent presentation, Julian. You're one of the best out there for audio information. If your viewers are interested, here are a couple of examples of using different EQ. The first one, the vocal was done with an GLS Audio ES57. I hiked up the bass a bit, and hiked the high end even higher. The classis 57 sound is known for being a bit dark, a bit nasally, and somewhat brittle. When I hiked the high end up, I went in to each silibant section, isolated it, and lowered the volume. This was the price that I had to pay for raising the high end. The second video is a demo of the Behringer BA85a. You can see on the graphic, the EQ curve. Because this mic has plenty of bass and can even make for a muddy mix (when combined with instruments that compete in the upper bass/low mid range), I lowered the bass. Note that this is in contrast to what I did with the ES57. Thanks again for your excellent presentation, Julian. ruclips.net/video/dwaCmEdlLEk/видео.html And ruclips.net/video/kBiz8rKc6MY/видео.html
You explain these things well, Julian!
This is excellent advice. Me, an adult male, uses ReaEQ i use 4 bands only on my SM7b.
First band is a Low shelf at 142.4 with a gain reduction of -inf and bandwidth of 2.00.
Second eq is a Band filter at 457.4 hz with a gain of 1.6 and a bandwidth of 2
third eq is band filter at 7657.3 at -4.4 with a bandwidth of 0.27 (this one is there to de-ess myself)
forth is a band filter at 10210.3 at 0.9 with a bandwidth of 2.53 to ad some top end to my SM7b
NOW with this said, the best way to not make this microphone to bass heavy is to keep it an distance from my mouth. I make a 🤙with my right hand and place the thumb in my mouth and my pinky at the end of the microphone. THAT's my ideal distance..
Seems people don't want to hear this - I didn't when new to Audition - but there is no quick, one approach fits all correction for audio. Even with Audition, there is a sharp learning curve. Hell, I'm still trying to ascend it a couple years on. But this video? Definitely helps.
You have a good aproach to eq voice! What might be a good tool or good to know and understand, not only for voice eq but eq in general is to know were the hearing is most sensitive. It is most sensitive around 3 - 4 kHz approx and if we use an eq that gets these frequensy's louder it might make it a disservice for listening at higher volume, higher sound pressure levels. The high sensitivity in this region comes from the ears length from the beginning of the tunnel to the ear drum which have a resonance at the frequensy because of the length of said tunnel. Aleays monitor you recordings on high volume (high SPL's).
EQ is not just an adjustment of how loud a cover frequensy band is, it a resonance and as such it is storing energy in the time domain. It rings one can say. In the low regions that you took up, for mitigate a room standing wave, its ringing can actually be useful since it is of opposite phase from the rooms ringing. For higher frequensy it is not useful since you cant get all those short waves to align like you can when the wavelenght are much longer!
You not one fits all idea is very true. If you need to eq, treat the voice as needing a unique eq. This can also translate to mastering where we have prosessing done on the final stereo track. An eq applied there will do the same eq on all sounds and it is utterly stupid sinse it could just as well be done by in the multichannel mix! There you have can do anything a master technichian can do and much much more! Whats the likelyhood that all sounds need an adjustment of +x dB in y Hz?
And my last point here are again about how we hear. Psychoacoustically awareness is key! When listening to two sound wich only differs in how loud they are, like two identical copies were one copy are playing a dB or two louder, will always get that the louder sounds better! At least at non very loud levels. And we tend to rather raise some frequensies than to lower them. When we raise a frequensy we also raise the avarage SPL volume. It means just by the reason that is is louder after an eq that add some to a frequensy we will often prefer it. It means we should ideally lower the eq:ed version to the level that the uneq:ed version has to be certain we not get fooled by the SPL difference! It is not user friendly to have to do these adjustments but with a computer it is easy to have two track with different volumes if one decide to test this. At the absolute minimum, one shall be aware of this effect. All people prefer a 1 dB SPL louder sound, even those aware of this that tries to mitigate it by thinking hard about it! It is an important aspect of the difficulties mixing sounds acctually can be!
I like your RUclips channel very much// John
Just played this again. Still good advice - EQ sparingly, and only for a specific reason to cure a specific, identified acoustic fault - reduce unwanted frequencies before boosting desired frequencies - and EQ for each voice, microphone, venue individually. That is my advice, and I think that is what Julian recommends here. Use your head, including your ears, and don't follow single minded formulas - they simply do not work for all cases. Julian says it well. JT
Great advice! And remember, cutting is preferable to boosting❤️
The Schoeps CMC-6 is my desert island mic. It's good on absolutely everything, and I've owned dozens of the most expensive mics from all vendors from DPA, Neumann, AKG et al. The secon one is the SM-57. A close companion is the AKG 414, which also works on anything from voice to brass, guitars, drums, etc.
Solid advice. Every mic and voice/source is vastly different. For my voice, I typically pull -2 to -6db from 300hz and 800hz with a decent bandwith. Then depending on the mic, maybe +1db boost at 80hz or 100hz and same for 12khz. High pass filter around 60hz.
On my MXL V67G, no high end boost.
RE27, slight 10khz-12khz boost. No low end boost.
RCA 77DX and MXL R144 ribbons, no low end boost (might cut actually), but +6...or even +12db at 10khz to 12khz. Ribbons are VERY dark, but take EQ like a champ.
Anyways, EQ is not one size fits all. Play with it. The "cardboard" sound is going to be in those low-mids around 200hz to 1000hz. A slight cut in that range will sound more pleasing....but not always.
An issue that has come to my attention, via an AKG C7 mic that has a non-switchable 12dB per octave, 150Hz, low cut filter, is the significant asymmetry caused to the envelope of the signal due to the LF phase shift. The same will apply to a U87 with its low cut switch engaged and/or the AKG C636, etc. etc. The same effect of asymmetry will apply to a signal that has been recorded as symmetrical, and then a low cut effect applied. This is why the audio enthusiast dislikes "tone controls" or is super sparing with the mixer EQ. In addition, and primarily, this will cause problems with dynamic processes, such as compression and/or limiting with the top or bottom of the signal becoming heavily sawn off, compared to the opposite pole. To remedy this, I use a phase modifier process, such as that which applies to Audition's Graphical Phase effect or Audacity's "allpass2 track x x "Nyquist prompt. Try this with the SM7B, with its filters applied, for an impressive example.
Great info! Adding it to "watch later" for future reference. Quality vocal audio has always been challenging and I feel lacking in knowledge for sure. It's especially difficult when a project requires multiple microphones and recording devices. I need to try to make the different sources sound more similar. 😅
I use a template of an EQ I created from some standard approaches to EQ'ing vocals. Then I dial it in to my liking. Ultimately if you get it to sound the way you want you've done a good job.
Thanks for sharing, i stumbled here looking for ways to eq a voice. We have a good branded audio devices in venue where I sing but surprisingly when listened to the stream, my voice sounded like heavily filtered 50’s transistor radio.. while the rest of other 3 singers sounded clear..
so my first reaction is I need to record again my voice at home to validate if what I heard in livestream is indeed correct bec I dont remember sounding like someone with severe covid cold singing from a lofi transistor radio. I am new singer in the team and I don’t know how to say to audio tech politely- they might think the newbie is acting like a pro singer demanding some eq’ing.. to which I believe tone shaping is their job.
Great video! So helpful. One should only EQ vocals, or any track for that matter, to bring out certain frequencies in a mix so they stand out better. Reductive EQ works better to make room in a mix so that the elements aren't fighting for space. Thanks!
You are doing the Lord's work Julian. Thank you
Good advice - No single EQ setting works for all voices, with all microphones in all venues. Start with a flat EQ and adjust only what you must, and reduce undesired frequencies before boosting desired frequencies. Good vid. JT
To me that looks like an aggressive "loudness curve" out of context. It is one thing for a microphone to have the best "flat" frequency response possible, it is quite another how our ears perceive "flat" frequencies, in which case applying a loudness curve to the microphone *IS CORRECT* so that we hear all frequencies at the same level.
That being said, it is not just applying a "loudness curve" to anything and everything without any criteria. As you said, you have to consider the frequency response of the microphone, the room, the environment, the person's voice, etc., before applying that amount of EQ.
Best tutorial on EQ on youtube, and I think I have seen them all!
YES! Nice to see you back Julian! 😄
(Already knew all this, but watching again anyway, coz it's Julian! 😅)
Best audio advice I found in years, Subscribed and looking on your channel for more! Thank you!
Thanks! I recently got the Shure SM7B, paired with the Elgato Wave XLR and was trying to get a little bit more of that "clean" sound. I ended up boosting at 5k with a High Shelf +1,7db and 100hz +1,3db, its awesome! Low Cut Filter is 80hz with the Elgato Wave XLR, tho I will try 60hz out via EQ!
Amen. Preach it. Far too many youtubers who focus on video spread such painful nonsense about audio.
A sigh of relief from me...sensible and credible logic. Thank you. 😊
Hola Julian, coincido mucho contigo. Hace años que grabo mi voz para emisoras de radio de todo tipo, AM,FM y ondas cortas en HF. Cuando la ecualización suena bien a mis oídos, en general es un tanto desagradable para la mayoría de oyentes calificados, que escuchan mis grabaciones en estudios con equipamiento de alto nivel. Entiendo que mi voz es la suma de lo que escuchan mis oídos, más el sonido captado a travéz de los huesos del cráneo. E intentar ecualizar intentando duplicar esa sensación, es un error. Nuestros micrófonos captan nuestra voz de forma muy diferente, y no es de utilidad medir desde el DAW con sus analizadores de espectro. Yo he enviado mis grabaciones a varias personas y he tocado las frecuencias donde todos coinciden que falta, o sobra énfasis. Una vez ajustado, final, grabo hasta hoy con esa curva. Saludos desde Estudio VH Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Thank you! More ppl need to see and listen to this. I swear so many template gremlins slap it on and then bend the hell out of a MB comp to control it lolol you never miss with the actual facts!!
Excellent advice! It was great to see the frequency display too
The best video ive ever seen on vocal eq. Great visual and audio demonstrations.
Danke!
Ich habe zu danken :)
Finally!!! Someone that is explaining how to dissect my own voice! Thank you