I don’t totally agree that unprocessed audio can be perfect completely. Why? Every mic has advantages and disadvantages. I always eq etc before post, that way I know my mic will sound how I want and I know that no problems can occur. The amount of eq added/subtracted will depend on your mic. Like I said no mic is completely perfect, plus every body knows wat sound they want so they should do this pre record.
Great video - as a voice actor who does home recordings I've spent so much time and energy learning how to do all this the right way. Most of us consider audio quality an afterthought or think the engineers can just fix it in post, but there's such a difference when everything is done right from start to finish.
Here's a tip for the newbies trying to get into streaming: Don't learn how to process audio by watching advertisements on youtube. Bonus tip: The famous streamer trying to sell you a streambeets subscription or some USB affiliate garbage that can be "just as good" as an expensive studio mic doesn't actually want your stream to sound good. You're not just his/her customer, you're also their competition.
THIS! A lot of the people in the industry gotta start being more open that they are influencers, and nothing else. I talk to people every day who base their purchases of these influencers. It's their job, which i can respect, but man...they have got to start being a bit more honest.
Great video as always! I would add that the “sound”, including post-processing, should match the emotions in the content. Eg Don’t overcompress and eq an emotional or sad story. Bear in mind your intended audience demographic too and be empathetic. Always go for intelligibility and listen on as much different kit as possible before publishing. Mark (37 years doing this stuff at BBC Radio and still not always getting it right!)
5 years of home studio experience here is the tips I find most important : 1) If your room is untreated : Dynamic > Condenser. Unless you're in a sound booth, condenser microphones will just pick up noise, not just room noise like reverb and stuff, they will pick other things in the house, they'll pick up the truck or the motorcycle that just did a fly by etc. dynamic microphones are less sensitive and you'll get away with some of these things. 2) Never get only one take : Even if the take sounds great to you, always get at least 2, ideally 3. Because you never know, maybe overtime you'll notice a little detail that goes unnoticed at first , the recording is where the magic actually happens, half assed recordings always sound bad and unnatural. 3) Background noise removal : It is easy and it helps get rid of preamp hissing and some background stuff 4) Microphones sound the best when they're being themselves : Your mic is tuned this way for a reason, do as little as possible, because otherwise you'll end up with an unnatural sound. 5) "test" your recording through as many things as possible. Whenever I record something, I test the audio out of my booth headphones, my reference, my daily driver earbuds, sometimes through cheap earbuds, my speakers and a phone speaker. To get an idea of how it'll sound, to everyone 6) Don't bother with usb mics: If you're serious about recording something quality, usb mics are not for you, sure they'll humiliate any webcam mic, but a cheap xlr mic with a cheap audio interface will be better, and will offer cleaner gain and better upgrade paths . 7) If your recording sounds wrong , it's you fault : You don't need a Shure SM7B, you don't need a Neumann to sound good, a cheap Behringer can do the trick. If you sound like shit, it's almost never your equipment's fault, You'd sound bad out of an expensive setup too.
When testing your recording, I got a couple of HomePods, airpod, some Sony headphones and a 5.1 Sony system that I test on after mixing on my trusty audio technica headphones. When it sounds good, I will go to car, if it sounds good, then I call it done. Because the HomePods get very bassy, if you get it sounding good on there, then it usually sounds great on everything else.
@@RockG.o.d yeah, that's it, the last one reminds me, there was an old studio monitor, that most studios tested it, everything sounded so bad at itt because of the way it was tuned, it was so flat everything was completely soulless , and audio engineers said "if it sounds good on this, it sounds good everywhere." I see some of that statement in your last sentence hahahahaha
@@culturedsquid8442 haha well they knew what they were doing. Though I wasn’t saying the homepod sounds bad. The HomePod is a nice tuned speaker made to play music from one place. It can get very bassy and not distort. I recommend it for like a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen speaker. Even throwing one or 2 in the living room for when you have a party.
4 and 6 are bullshit. The rest are great tips. 4. It absolutely depends on what you're recording and in what context you're gonna use that recording. A recording of an acoustic kick drum isn't gonna sound very good within a metal mix if "as little as possible" is done to it, vocals in modern pop mixes are intentionally made to sound "thin" and "harsh" (no microphone that I know of naturally sounds like that), "hard hitting" orchestral percussions are often just really boring sounds EQed and compressed to 11, and so on. 6. "but a cheap xlr mic with a cheap audio interface will be better" Pretty sure this isn't universal. Really depends on what cheap usb mic and xlr+interface combo we are comparing. There's also the fact that microphones sound much less different to each other than the average person expects. What matters *way more* is the space you're recording in. A cheap usb mic recorded in a well treated room is going to sound orders of magnitude better than an u87 recorded in a trashy room.
Totally agree with you. Based on your reviews we ended up recording audio books with the Procaster as well as the RE20. Still I do love to fiddle around in RX for subtle mouth de-clicks and such, but to have an unedited rough cut that could be just loudness normalized and published like that is just a joy to work with.
Thanks for the spiel, Bandrew!! Post-processing for audiobooks has become less hectic. I've done over 50 now and it wasn't until book 42 I was in okay shape thanks to audio peeps like you.
Bandrew...Thank you. THANK YOU! As a post pro for spoken word (audiobooks) and this is the most difficult/frustrating part of the work that I do with my clients and students and will be linking to and sharing this to the end of time. THANK YOU! Keep doing what you do.
Guilty as charged. I've used post processing to essentially change the way my voice sounds, as well as removing background noise and what not. I will now limit my post processing to removing background noise and do little to no EQ. Thanks Bandrew.
I just think we should all use unprocessed ribbons so we can sound like the announcer on the Mercury Theatre saying, "The Columbia Broadcasting system and its affiliated stations...." Actually, we should just all use ribbons because they sound really cool.
@@gaborkiss1425 The KU5A has a high pass filter that helps with lows. But your results may vary. I know that Orson Welles in the Mercury Theatre days was actually on a condenser because his voice was so deep.
@@gaborkiss1425 I suppose it depends. Certain ribbons are way darker than others. The KU5A is a great example of a ribbon that has a surprisingly open and clear top end even though it’s still very smooth and low midforward as you would expect from a ribbon. Then AEA also has the KU4 which is very bright for a ribbon, almost condenser like, but that one is $4k lol. It sounds excellent though. So really it depends.
I really appreciate these commentary videos. Helps self-directed learners like myself to make necessary improvements when we can grasp what should(and shouldn't) be done. Thanks!
Totally agree that great audio starts at the mic. But also believe that there is a time and place for post processing. In my case, my audience is often listening while working out. I need to make sure our content is not drowned out by the sounds of the listener's environment. So yeah, I do reach for an eq, stage some compression and limiting to help my audio cut through. I also use the same effects to create a little excitement when the content changes gear. It is also my goal to make sure that all the voices in our podcast are level matched. We are a show that helps people reach an athletic goal and we try to keep the positive energy flowing on a content and audio level. So I would say, know your audience first and then respond with the kind of dynamics and EQ that best fits how they listen to your content.
I needed this video a couple years ago when I was first starting out in Audiobooks. Hopefully this prevents folks from doing the same mistakes. You don't need that compression, past me! You don't!
The mad-lad does it again! I completely agree with this video and epitomizes my work as a podcast post-producer. I'm definitely going to be saving this video for the future.
A lot of people don't seem to understand that the "phat" radio vocal sound was out of necessity rather than an artistic choice. Radio signals are inherently very noisy, so we use a lot of tricks to get around that, the most common being pre- and de-emphasis. Basically, all of the signals coming out of the studio are boosted in certain frequency ranges (pre-emphasis or PE), and then the receiver in your radio will look for a metadata flag that tells it whether to apply de-emphasis (DE). This lowers those frequencies back down, which also lowers the signal noise in those ranges too, making the signal artificially sound "cleaner". The problem though is that some stations started boosting past the needs of PE, and thus when DE is applied, you have that "thick" radio sound that makes the DJs sound like James Earl Jones.
@@TriWaZe Oh absolutely. There's times I enjoy it myself, but there's sadly too many people who just think that's the way good mics are "supposed" to sound, rather than it just being a sound our ears grew accustomed to because of choices made by radio stations.
This dialogue re-recording mixer gives a phat thumbs up to this video. My job is to make the dialogue serve the story. To that end we record well, edit with great care and mix to make the sound invisible for lack of a better word.
Grreeettiiingggss Marrssliiinngggss .. I would like to know how to make my audio EASY TO LISTEN TO my audiences .. Jokes aside, I would love to see Podcastage recommendations for audiobook processing 😊
I usually prefer to have the gain a bit lower to start with and tweak the levels a bit higher if necessary later , because it's easier to add a bit of volume and keep it clean than have it too loud and clean it in post, I'm saying this as a singer knowing that my vocals can vary from soft to screaming
Based on some of these comments, i can tell alot of ppl are still missing his point. ppl are practically saying " If you cant drill a screw through the wall u can always reach for a hammer and bang it in!"' guys move the nail over an inch and try again... theres a pipe there. ... u get the point.
no processing is better than too much, but a little bit can go a long way. On my streaming setup I have a noise gate, a high pass @60hz and a small 0.5db high shelf to not sound dull and I love it, I doubt anyone but me would notice the difference to unprocessed though Edit: also a transparent limiter to not accidentally blow out viewers ears
I agree by default. I record the best I can according to my wife's opinion. I seldom do any post processing because my old ears can't hear any difference. Enjoy your show and am a regular viewer. Cheers.
5:18 🤣 Oh my goodness, exactly!!! Every RUclipsr and their mom processes their vocals like that and it sounds horrendous. I listen on studio monitors/headphones and it's so boomy and peakey. I have an EQ set on my computer to cut the lows and highs just so I can listen to them. It sounds okay on a phone, but yeah, I just can't with some people. I love Piximperfect but I've never been able to watch his videos all the way through because he has a $2000 Neumannmic right on his lips with bass boosted and compressor set super high. He makes his it sound like a $10 mic from Amazon. EposVox just did a 1 hour video about audio for streaming/RUclips and by the end of it he still EQ's it to sound like garbage (boost lows+highs, cut mids, hard compressor settings). I just don't get it. 😵
It is with astonishing regularity that I come upon RUclips videos in which the presenter's audio quality is dramatically lower than the price of the equipment on display would suggest. Misapplication of processing is common, as is ignorance of fundamental principles like how to position and address a mic, which polar pattern to use and how set input gain levels. More astonishing is the frequency with which these videos are reviews of microphones or other audio equipment, or of recording techniques. What can you do.
Excellent points in an excellent video! I have to admit, I do process our podcast audio pretty heavily to get that up front sound, but I also do my best to get it as clean as possible at the source. 2-SM7B and 1-RE20 plus 4 additional laptop/ipad audio sources with ground lift where needed. I cut 70 and below, I boost a little in the low range, then lightly boost a high shelf at 3k on up. I also use a gain rider to help control the overall level of each person, then comp, then limit. I also use a gain rider and a limiter on the additional audio sources. So far, so good. It does have that "radio compression" only because I can't stand having to adjust the volume every time i listen to a podcast. Honestly, a voice sounding like it's in an echo chamber and the lack of output level control are two main reasons i shut off podcasts. I think you made a great example of an echo chamber, too. I could always learn more tips, though.
I'm the person people hie to "fix it in post". I can say it's always better to get it right going in. It is possible to get rid of noises without much artifacting. (I could've cleaned up that noise without nasty artifacting) What you can't "fix in post" is microphone placement, burned in processing or bad acting. "Fixing it in post" will make editing/mixing take longer too.
Well i agree. Adding to many filters, as not the idea. I should had realised this as well, being in music myself. All i added is a EQ, gain and a filter that removes background static. It sound so much better. Will be looking at a xlr mic. Right now, im able to work with my nw 7000
As the Proverb says, you cannot make a silk purse from a sows ear. Start with quality audio and tweak it not freak it. Loved the vid Bandrew. Keep it up.
In Reaper for indoor recordings I subract out the computer fan noise, add a highpass filter, then either a de-esser or a narrow EQ for sibilants with a limiter at the end of the chain just to be safe. So mostly I am just dealing with noise.
I couldn't agree more. When you use your voice as professional tool, like I do, you should know that the voice carries almost all of the information. Not the picture. And the more you process your recordings, the more of the information is destroyed. For some recordings that might be good, though.
Hi - You are bang on with your first point. Any amount of post processing won't cure a poor recording. Also, - you've got me on a roll now lol - So many over use the toys like compressors, noise removers, even removing breath noise!! - People have to breath...... lol. Rant over - Love your videos - keep up the great work. .
should do a tutorial into recording perfect as possible sound. As a sound engineer, my tips. 0. remember, shit in/shit out. 1. get as close to your microphone as possible. Some mics, like SM7B you can almost touch the mic with your lips and it sounds amazing, but you need to turn up the gain or get a cloud lifter if the gain isn't enough, or there's other mics like condenser mics, where they pick almost everything up, which are great for sound controlled rooms and recording multiple things in the room and best thing is they don't need as much gain. You also don't need to get as close to the microphone and do have a little more control as to microphone placement. 2. aim to record -6db. can always turn the gain up if its too low, but can't correct clipping. 3. editing should be done to remove any unwanted background noise like breathing or clacking. 4. post processing, compressor/eq ect.. so it fits better with what you are going for, or to make it fit with the rest of the audio.
@@Podcastage I was looking at reviews of two notes captive x when this video popped up. After recording my first single, I got a noise complaint. Problems with valve amps.
To be honest post processing can help for certain audio devices. I've often used it to a bit better sound out headset microphones, such as with the Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless. The "Clearcast Microphone" used on those headsets can sometimes sound rather nasaly, but the recent release of the Steelseries Sonar software, I can choose the "Deep Voice" preset, which boosts the low end slightly while reducing a lot of background noise. The slightly boosted low end also helps microphone just sound a bit more natural in my opinion.
"I'll fix it in post" is like saying "It'll buff out"... maybe but maybe not. I had that mindset until I started getting complaints about my audio. My biggest conundrum now is do I get a dynamic or condenser mic to give guitar lessons in an untreated room.
As always, great advices ! I realise it is a "make your own podcast" channel but I'd like to add my two cents about podcast/video editing and post : a decent half of the video and podcast clients that employs me are not audio tech (or don't bother to add a sound field recorder for the video ones) and fail to provide me good audio materials. Thing is, retakes (and ADR) are pretty expensive and almost always cannot fit in the client budget or schedule so he/she is open to quality compromises. You will often face poolry recorded files, messy edits/exports from previous long-gone collaborators or dodgy gain-rides and the client will expect you to attenuate those problems to a mid-range level (i.e. podcasts, shorts, Netflix, ...) - thus paying you for this tech part. Of course you can avoid working on such projects if you manage to get enough income from your activity and only work with top-notch recordings - I wish I was able to do so ! Long story short, I've been mastering and teaching iZotope's RX advanced for years and could only advise young audio techs to get into this type of restoration software because at some point most of the clients will ask for some de-noising of pitch edits and those software are time saving in terms of workflow. Use it with parsimony though, don't be greedy : it can cause more harm than good when used in a wrong way ! There's plenty of documentation online, it's worth it.
The audio in all of your videos but especially this one there's some type of really annoying resident frequency somewhere in the mids that drives me bananas
For the brief time I did my own podcast, any post effects were added tastefully. Very mild EQ on the final mix to bring back what was lost to mixing or limiting. My thought was always get it as tight as you could on the master because anything you add may very well bring up a defect that you didn't or couldn't hear prior. I used my channel as a lead, then any other channel had a noise gate. Kept the floor lower and because it was quiet enough in the room I used, with very light compression it sounded very natural. I did roll off low end slightly only because my voice tended to come off as muddy sounding and it is. It is a characteristic of my voice and all I did was mix it so it wasn't detracting from the recording. Again, very very mild, 3db max change.
Loudness war went from the CD format to livestreaming format. People try and be louder than the channel next to them because the loudest or the least clothed one wins the viewers, science fact. Personally I just EQ and then limit for clarity. It's nicer to listen to a voice that doesn't peak to distortion or pump up and down, but it's equally nice to listen to a voice that's not compressed to a 3db dynamicrange. Basically I trust people to adjust their own volume, I'm sure they can do that. If you're uploading to an online service, then you kinda have to be aware of the technical limits the service has for the audio. But I'd imagine that's a different discussion altogether.
I'm personally kind of a "centrist" on this issue, for lack of a better term. I am just a layperson and I actually love that radio-y compressed sound, but even I hear all too often in RUclips videos that people just overdo them way too much and it's just grating to listen to. I guess it's the go-to easy way to try and sound professional, which ironically can quickly make it sound cheap and try-hard.
THAT EQ CURVE!!!!! Interesting because I feel like I saw that EXACT "crazy" looking EQ decision in some other RUclipsr's video last week. I was like HUH?????? 😱
Hey Bandrew, I have caught wind of a new Rode device to end all devices for podcasting, with 4 mic inputs. 4 headphone amps and a screen and ll the DSP power in the world, I really need you to review it as soon as you can. I bet it's awesomeersome
You summed it up in one sentence. A pig with makeup is still a pig. Likewise you can't fix garbage. Garbage in, garbage out. If you are not happy with your flat audio then there is no amount of EQ that will fix it. I think we've all been guilty of this, it's just some people have to learn this in harder ways than others. It's like my primary interest which is actually photography. If your RAW file is terrible and your highlights are blown out (the same effect of clipping in audio) then good luck fixing it in post... and actuality It's worse in audio, unlike photography, you can't just replace the sky in post if you don't like it. Clipped audio (like clipped anything) is gone forever, that information will never come back. I wish people knew at least at the bare minimum especially if you are going to record in 24bit audio how to set your levels right, and where to stand in relation to your microphone to at least get your best flat audio recording first. Everything works from there.... People need to stop thinking they can just fix audio in post. You can't and even if you can with 32bit float to more of an extent, you still can't fix bad mic placement.
personally I enjoy the \ slope to all my audio recordings and I have tried and tested basically all methods of achieving my preferred audio profile. Post processing is the only true way to get the best audio experience out of a recording. I must admit that there are steps that can be done per-recording to enhance the flavor so to speak. Removing the wobbly rubbery bits and hard fixing the microphone to the arm is key. I've even tried mounting a Hitatchi magic wand at full power directly to the arm just to prove that I can fix anything in post just using EQ tweaks (Yes, I am a self taught audio engineer) and I enjoy the challenge so much it's a staple of my rigging. Anyway, I've worked hard for my signature sound that will violently tickle the eardrums, while requiring the full attention of any listener filtering out the uncommitted. Sincerely Every Upstart Pod-caster.
I can't help but agree with this. I am against any post processing. I prefer to have everything as is. For a while I used noise reduction but now I don't need to.
Good advice as always, especially that you need to start with great audio to end up with great audio. I always try to get the best audio and then I don't need to do much, if any fixing in post.
Why do so many radio stations compress the audio so heavily anyway? Even big names like Howard Stern have insanely compressed audio with the hosts (not so much the guests, which seem to have way less processing).
As I was taught in the recording studio back in the 1 and 2 inch tape days. “ Fix it and the mix my ass” “Sh!t in Sh!t Out”. There are examples of post processing repair when something like a phone rings during a chamber orchestra recording and you use a repair tools such as RX 9 and or Spectral Layers, but in a controlled environment like a Vocal Booth. Post production involves plosives, sibilance and maybe compressor limiting in my opinion.
0:53 That raw recording into the Neumann U87 sounds pretty thin, dude. Even with the relatively close miking. According to my research, the U87 is a side-address mic, right? I'm wondering why it doesn't sound more robust.
This video and the one before it are gold, I tell you! GOLD! Would you consider making it a trilogy with a video about The Purpose of Pre-Processing? You get the same alliteration and plosives, and who wouldn't want that? As you said in this one, get it right going in, and you have less to do before it goes out.
Off topic. Which is best for bedroom. Yamaha Hs8 Adam audio t8v Focal evo 80 I thought I’d ask you since you make the most sense of all the videos on RUclips lol.
I made that same mistake a few times with heavy post-processing after following some tutorials claiming it would make me sound better, but I find that I like hardly any processing, just minimize the background, fix the clicks, de-ess a bit, normalize, fix a couple of things, bam ez done.
"Rich, dark chocolate with sweet, soft centers flavored with exotic fruit juices." That's been my line for practicing sibilant cuts during delivery. I also had a problem with coming out of the gate hot and loud at the beginning of sentences then tapering down very low, and compression and limiters made it sound even worse. I do notice mud with close proximity of my mic, which is a shotgun, and only figured out that EQ fix today. I made it onto Bunny Studios yesterday, at my first attempt. I was so friggin' nervous. I knew that I had to alter the way that I read and processed in order to meet their standards, and not spend HOURS manually lowering my peaks. WOOOHOOO!
Hi, what's the name of the microphone you're talking? I didn't find it in the description. Thank You and congratulations on what you do. I envy you for all the microphones you have :D
I do have a question tho, when you do microphone reviews you often don’t put post processing, does that mean you don’t compress, add a noise gate, or anything
Would you prefer the Samson Q2U or the Zoom ZDM-1? I am on a budget and things that cost $100 USD cost almost double in my currency (NZD New Zealand Dollar). I found the ZDM-1 for a good price and I am wondering if saving the $30 plus a Behringer UM2 is worth the downsides of upgradability but plus side noise rejection (from my understanding). I do think the ZDM-1 sounds good with almost similar thoughts about the Q2U. Thanks for reading and are eager on seeing what your response is!
As much as I value your every word, I'm afraid I must disagree with one thing. The most embarrassing moment on the channel, hands down, has to be you falling over in the chair after throwing a box. You can't know how much I appreciate you leaving that in. But you're still the best and we love you for it.
I wish more audio schools would look at this video. Every lecture on compressors equalizers and any DSP should start with learning How to compare the processed audio with the original audio. And why do you want to equalize a voice that's perfect for the role its playing and that's got the perfect timbre?
Great video as always. I would still say that for the post post processing you need to test in different audio gear, cause sometimes you do EQs, for example, that sound amazing with your gear, but the viewer is going to hear it and it sounds terrible for their gear. RUclipsrs love to boost their bass frequencies, what sometimes make them so hard to understand if your gear also has a bass boost (very common in cheap headphones, for example).
If you polish a diamond it will look like an even more beautiful diamond. But, if you apply the same polish to a piece of asphalt, it will still look like an old piece of asphalt. Post processing is polish for something already good, not a miracle cure for garbage.
I agree with you AND you are just a little bit crazy which is why I love your videos.
The king has spoken. Bandrew's opinion is now law. Bandrew is also now officially crazy.
@@zaim_ipek We knew that, but... anyway :D
We NEED a little crazy in a Podcastage Video.
I don’t totally agree that unprocessed audio can be perfect completely. Why? Every mic has advantages and disadvantages. I always eq etc before post, that way I know my mic will sound how I want and I know that no problems can occur. The amount of eq added/subtracted will depend on your mic. Like I said no mic is completely perfect, plus every body knows wat sound they want so they should do this pre record.
Little bit 😳
Great video - as a voice actor who does home recordings I've spent so much time and energy learning how to do all this the right way. Most of us consider audio quality an afterthought or think the engineers can just fix it in post, but there's such a difference when everything is done right from start to finish.
After 24 years in pro audio, I couldn't agree with you more. More people need to watch this!
Here's a tip for the newbies trying to get into streaming: Don't learn how to process audio by watching advertisements on youtube.
Bonus tip: The famous streamer trying to sell you a streambeets subscription or some USB affiliate garbage that can be "just as good" as an expensive studio mic doesn't actually want your stream to sound good. You're not just his/her customer, you're also their competition.
THIS! A lot of the people in the industry gotta start being more open that they are influencers, and nothing else. I talk to people every day who base their purchases of these influencers. It's their job, which i can respect, but man...they have got to start being a bit more honest.
Great video as always! I would add that the “sound”, including post-processing, should match the emotions in the content. Eg Don’t overcompress and eq an emotional or sad story. Bear in mind your intended audience demographic too and be empathetic. Always go for intelligibility and listen on as much different kit as possible before publishing.
Mark (37 years doing this stuff at BBC Radio and still not always getting it right!)
Indeed: context!
5 years of home studio experience here is the tips I find most important :
1) If your room is untreated : Dynamic > Condenser. Unless you're in a sound booth, condenser microphones will just pick up noise, not just room noise like reverb and stuff, they will pick other things in the house, they'll pick up the truck or the motorcycle that just did a fly by etc. dynamic microphones are less sensitive and you'll get away with some of these things.
2) Never get only one take : Even if the take sounds great to you, always get at least 2, ideally 3. Because you never know, maybe overtime you'll notice a little detail that goes unnoticed at first , the recording is where the magic actually happens, half assed recordings always sound bad and unnatural.
3) Background noise removal : It is easy and it helps get rid of preamp hissing and some background stuff
4) Microphones sound the best when they're being themselves : Your mic is tuned this way for a reason, do as little as possible, because otherwise you'll end up with an unnatural sound.
5) "test" your recording through as many things as possible. Whenever I record something, I test the audio out of my booth headphones, my reference, my daily driver earbuds, sometimes through cheap earbuds, my speakers and a phone speaker. To get an idea of how it'll sound, to everyone
6) Don't bother with usb mics: If you're serious about recording something quality, usb mics are not for you, sure they'll humiliate any webcam mic, but a cheap xlr mic with a cheap audio interface will be better, and will offer cleaner gain and better upgrade paths .
7) If your recording sounds wrong , it's you fault : You don't need a Shure SM7B, you don't need a Neumann to sound good, a cheap Behringer can do the trick. If you sound like shit, it's almost never your equipment's fault, You'd sound bad out of an expensive setup too.
Lots of good well grounded advice here. Thanks for taking the time to post it.
When testing your recording, I got a couple of HomePods, airpod, some Sony headphones and a 5.1 Sony system that I test on after mixing on my trusty audio technica headphones. When it sounds good, I will go to car, if it sounds good, then I call it done. Because the HomePods get very bassy, if you get it sounding good on there, then it usually sounds great on everything else.
@@RockG.o.d yeah, that's it, the last one reminds me, there was an old studio monitor, that most studios tested it, everything sounded so bad at itt because of the way it was tuned, it was so flat everything was completely soulless , and audio engineers said "if it sounds good on this, it sounds good everywhere." I see some of that statement in your last sentence hahahahaha
@@culturedsquid8442 haha well they knew what they were doing. Though I wasn’t saying the homepod sounds bad. The HomePod is a nice tuned speaker made to play music from one place. It can get very bassy and not distort. I recommend it for like a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen speaker. Even throwing one or 2 in the living room for when you have a party.
4 and 6 are bullshit. The rest are great tips.
4. It absolutely depends on what you're recording and in what context you're gonna use that recording. A recording of an acoustic kick drum isn't gonna sound very good within a metal mix if "as little as possible" is done to it, vocals in modern pop mixes are intentionally made to sound "thin" and "harsh" (no microphone that I know of naturally sounds like that), "hard hitting" orchestral percussions are often just really boring sounds EQed and compressed to 11, and so on.
6. "but a cheap xlr mic with a cheap audio interface will be better"
Pretty sure this isn't universal. Really depends on what cheap usb mic and xlr+interface combo we are comparing. There's also the fact that microphones sound much less different to each other than the average person expects. What matters *way more* is the space you're recording in. A cheap usb mic recorded in a well treated room is going to sound orders of magnitude better than an u87 recorded in a trashy room.
Totally agree with you. Based on your reviews we ended up recording audio books with the Procaster as well as the RE20. Still I do love to fiddle around in RX for subtle mouth de-clicks and such, but to have an unedited rough cut that could be just loudness normalized and published like that is just a joy to work with.
No love for the SM7B?
These new relatively short guides are a very nice addition to your channel!! Much appreciated!
Thanks for the spiel, Bandrew!! Post-processing for audiobooks has become less hectic. I've done over 50 now and it wasn't until book 42 I was in okay shape thanks to audio peeps like you.
Bandrew...Thank you. THANK YOU! As a post pro for spoken word (audiobooks) and this is the most difficult/frustrating part of the work that I do with my clients and students and will be linking to and sharing this to the end of time. THANK YOU! Keep doing what you do.
Guilty as charged. I've used post processing to essentially change the way my voice sounds, as well as removing background noise and what not. I will now limit my post processing to removing background noise and do little to no EQ. Thanks Bandrew.
GIRATS. Get it right at the source.
YES!
The process of learning how to do audio the right way has been exhausting. Thank you for your videos, I am slowly learning how it all works.
I just think we should all use unprocessed ribbons so we can sound like the announcer on the Mercury Theatre saying, "The Columbia Broadcasting system and its affiliated stations...." Actually, we should just all use ribbons because they sound really cool.
Based.
Would you recommend them to a guy with an already dark-ish (bass-baritone) voice?
@@gaborkiss1425 The KU5A has a high pass filter that helps with lows. But your results may vary. I know that Orson Welles in the Mercury Theatre days was actually on a condenser because his voice was so deep.
@@gaborkiss1425 I suppose it depends. Certain ribbons are way darker than others. The KU5A is a great example of a ribbon that has a surprisingly open and clear top end even though it’s still very smooth and low midforward as you would expect from a ribbon. Then AEA also has the KU4 which is very bright for a ribbon, almost condenser like, but that one is $4k lol. It sounds excellent though. So really it depends.
I laughed so hard at the radio sound, it was so damn accurate, reminds me of Howard Stern's show
bUt HoWaRdStErN sOuNdS sOoOoOo GoOoOoD!
Dat scooped sound 🤢
radio sound = bassy MC type sound
I really appreciate these commentary videos. Helps self-directed learners like myself to make necessary improvements when we can grasp what should(and shouldn't) be done. Thanks!
Totally agree that great audio starts at the mic. But also believe that there is a time and place for post processing. In my case, my audience is often listening while working out. I need to make sure our content is not drowned out by the sounds of the listener's environment. So yeah, I do reach for an eq, stage some compression and limiting to help my audio cut through. I also use the same effects to create a little excitement when the content changes gear. It is also my goal to make sure that all the voices in our podcast are level matched. We are a show that helps people reach an athletic goal and we try to keep the positive energy flowing on a content and audio level. So I would say, know your audience first and then respond with the kind of dynamics and EQ that best fits how they listen to your content.
I needed this video a couple years ago when I was first starting out in Audiobooks. Hopefully this prevents folks from doing the same mistakes. You don't need that compression, past me! You don't!
The mad-lad does it again! I completely agree with this video and epitomizes my work as a podcast post-producer. I'm definitely going to be saving this video for the future.
So right. With music too. This saves so much in mixing. People waste endless amounts of time thinking they need to add stuff.
Even when you purposely try to make bad audio, it still comes out good. Magic.
A lot of people don't seem to understand that the "phat" radio vocal sound was out of necessity rather than an artistic choice. Radio signals are inherently very noisy, so we use a lot of tricks to get around that, the most common being pre- and de-emphasis. Basically, all of the signals coming out of the studio are boosted in certain frequency ranges (pre-emphasis or PE), and then the receiver in your radio will look for a metadata flag that tells it whether to apply de-emphasis (DE). This lowers those frequencies back down, which also lowers the signal noise in those ranges too, making the signal artificially sound "cleaner". The problem though is that some stations started boosting past the needs of PE, and thus when DE is applied, you have that "thick" radio sound that makes the DJs sound like James Earl Jones.
Very true but if they like that sound then they like that sound haha.
@@TriWaZe Oh absolutely. There's times I enjoy it myself, but there's sadly too many people who just think that's the way good mics are "supposed" to sound, rather than it just being a sound our ears grew accustomed to because of choices made by radio stations.
This video is grossly underrated
This dialogue re-recording mixer gives a phat thumbs up to this video. My job is to make the dialogue serve the story. To that end we record well, edit with great care and mix to make the sound invisible for lack of a better word.
Grreeettiiingggss Marrssliiinngggss .. I would like to know how to make my audio EASY TO LISTEN TO my audiences .. Jokes aside, I would love to see Podcastage recommendations for audiobook processing 😊
I want these videos to be called "Audio rants" so bad 🥺 I love it so much
Totally agree with ya. Garbage in, garbage out. You can have absolutely stellar audio with even cheap gear if you educate yourself a little bit.
I usually prefer to have the gain a bit lower to start with and tweak the levels a bit higher if necessary later , because it's easier to add a bit of volume and keep it clean than have it too loud and clean it in post, I'm saying this as a singer knowing that my vocals can vary from soft to screaming
That's a great approach o setting level. You can always add some level, but can't take away clipping.
Based on some of these comments, i can tell alot of ppl are still missing his point. ppl are practically saying " If you cant drill a screw through the wall u can always reach for a hammer and bang it in!"' guys move the nail over an inch and try again... theres a pipe there. ... u get the point.
I follow your channel because your reviews are honest and informative. Now I see your recent videos are mor informative. Happy to subscribe .
Great message. My audio sucked until I got rid of everything and went super simple. Sm7b into a MicPre3 and got rid of all the other crap. :)
Same. Re20 into an Apollo. Boom.
no processing is better than too much, but a little bit can go a long way. On my streaming setup I have a noise gate, a high pass @60hz and a small 0.5db high shelf to not sound dull and I love it, I doubt anyone but me would notice the difference to unprocessed though
Edit: also a transparent limiter to not accidentally blow out viewers ears
I agree by default. I record the best I can according to my wife's opinion. I seldom do any post processing because my old ears can't hear any difference. Enjoy your show and am a regular viewer. Cheers.
5:18 🤣 Oh my goodness, exactly!!!
Every RUclipsr and their mom processes their vocals like that and it sounds horrendous. I listen on studio monitors/headphones and it's so boomy and peakey. I have an EQ set on my computer to cut the lows and highs just so I can listen to them. It sounds okay on a phone, but yeah, I just can't with some people.
I love Piximperfect but I've never been able to watch his videos all the way through because he has a $2000 Neumannmic right on his lips with bass boosted and compressor set super high. He makes his it sound like a $10 mic from Amazon.
EposVox
just did a 1 hour video about audio for streaming/RUclips and by the end of it he still EQ's it to sound like garbage (boost lows+highs, cut mids, hard compressor settings).
I just don't get it. 😵
It is with astonishing regularity that I come upon RUclips videos in which the presenter's audio quality is dramatically lower than the price of the equipment on display would suggest. Misapplication of processing is common, as is ignorance of fundamental principles like how to position and address a mic, which polar pattern to use and how set input gain levels.
More astonishing is the frequency with which these videos are reviews of microphones or other audio equipment, or of recording techniques. What can you do.
I love how when you listed the different platforms of content creation, you visibly winced on TikTok
Excellent points in an excellent video!
I have to admit, I do process our podcast audio pretty heavily to get that up front sound, but I also do my best to get it as clean as possible at the source. 2-SM7B and 1-RE20 plus 4 additional laptop/ipad audio sources with ground lift where needed. I cut 70 and below, I boost a little in the low range, then lightly boost a high shelf at 3k on up. I also use a gain rider to help control the overall level of each person, then comp, then limit. I also use a gain rider and a limiter on the additional audio sources. So far, so good. It does have that "radio compression" only because I can't stand having to adjust the volume every time i listen to a podcast. Honestly, a voice sounding like it's in an echo chamber and the lack of output level control are two main reasons i shut off podcasts. I think you made a great example of an echo chamber, too.
I could always learn more tips, though.
Amen. Put this message on loud and on repeat. Thank you.
I'm the person people hie to "fix it in post".
I can say it's always better to get it right going in.
It is possible to get rid of noises without much artifacting. (I could've cleaned up that noise without nasty artifacting)
What you can't "fix in post" is microphone placement, burned in processing or bad acting.
"Fixing it in post" will make editing/mixing take longer too.
Well i agree. Adding to many filters, as not the idea. I should had realised this as well, being in music myself. All i added is a EQ, gain and a filter that removes background static. It sound so much better. Will be looking at a xlr mic. Right now, im able to work with my nw 7000
As the Proverb says, you cannot make a silk purse from a sows ear. Start with quality audio and tweak it not freak it. Loved the vid Bandrew. Keep it up.
I agree 100%. The post processing should make the audio easier to listen to, and you should get everything as good as possible before you start.
In Reaper for indoor recordings I subract out the computer fan noise, add a highpass filter, then either a de-esser or a narrow EQ for sibilants with a limiter at the end of the chain just to be safe. So mostly I am just dealing with noise.
That's awesome that you've developed a work flow that fixes the one thing you aren't able to control. Good job Wayne. Happy recording.
I actually liked the radio sound propeller hat audio. Do more with that EQ pls.
I couldn't agree more.
When you use your voice as professional tool, like I do, you should know that the voice carries almost all of the information. Not the picture.
And the more you process your recordings, the more of the information is destroyed.
For some recordings that might be good, though.
Hi - You are bang on with your first point. Any amount of post processing won't cure a poor recording. Also, - you've got me on a roll now lol - So many over use the toys like compressors, noise removers, even removing breath noise!! - People have to breath...... lol. Rant over - Love your videos - keep up the great work. .
should do a tutorial into recording perfect as possible sound. As a sound engineer,
my tips.
0. remember, shit in/shit out.
1. get as close to your microphone as possible. Some mics, like SM7B you can almost touch the mic with your lips and it sounds amazing, but you need to turn up the gain or get a cloud lifter if the gain isn't enough, or there's other mics like condenser mics, where they pick almost everything up, which are great for sound controlled rooms and recording multiple things in the room and best thing is they don't need as much gain. You also don't need to get as close to the microphone and do have a little more control as to microphone placement.
2. aim to record -6db. can always turn the gain up if its too low, but can't correct clipping.
3. editing should be done to remove any unwanted background noise like breathing or clacking.
4. post processing, compressor/eq ect.. so it fits better with what you are going for, or to make it fit with the rest of the audio.
All very good advice, thanks for sharing your input and thoughts on this topic.
@@Podcastage I was looking at reviews of two notes captive x when this video popped up. After recording my first single, I got a noise complaint. Problems with valve amps.
To be honest post processing can help for certain audio devices. I've often used it to a bit better sound out headset microphones, such as with the Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless. The "Clearcast Microphone" used on those headsets can sometimes sound rather nasaly, but the recent release of the Steelseries Sonar software, I can choose the "Deep Voice" preset, which boosts the low end slightly while reducing a lot of background noise. The slightly boosted low end also helps microphone just sound a bit more natural in my opinion.
Can you please review these 2 mics?
1. Fifine K658
2. Fantech Leviosa MCX01
Sounds like good advice, get it right first then play about if you want
"I'll fix it in post" is like saying "It'll buff out"... maybe but maybe not. I had that mindset until I started getting complaints about my audio. My biggest conundrum now is do I get a dynamic or condenser mic to give guitar lessons in an untreated room.
As always, great advices ! I realise it is a "make your own podcast" channel but I'd like to add my two cents about podcast/video editing and post : a decent half of the video and podcast clients that employs me are not audio tech (or don't bother to add a sound field recorder for the video ones) and fail to provide me good audio materials. Thing is, retakes (and ADR) are pretty expensive and almost always cannot fit in the client budget or schedule so he/she is open to quality compromises. You will often face poolry recorded files, messy edits/exports from previous long-gone collaborators or dodgy gain-rides and the client will expect you to attenuate those problems to a mid-range level (i.e. podcasts, shorts, Netflix, ...) - thus paying you for this tech part. Of course you can avoid working on such projects if you manage to get enough income from your activity and only work with top-notch recordings - I wish I was able to do so ! Long story short, I've been mastering and teaching iZotope's RX advanced for years and could only advise young audio techs to get into this type of restoration software because at some point most of the clients will ask for some de-noising of pitch edits and those software are time saving in terms of workflow. Use it with parsimony though, don't be greedy : it can cause more harm than good when used in a wrong way ! There's plenty of documentation online, it's worth it.
You are absolutely CORRECT.
99% of all post processing is UNNECESSARY if you recorded the signal correctly 'going in'.
Bill P.
Thank you so much for the awesome video. I just started my channel and learned a lot from you. Keep the great work going!
The audio in all of your videos but especially this one there's some type of really annoying resident frequency somewhere in the mids that drives me bananas
Best advice I ever got "Less is more"
You're welcome...
What would you recommend as a good program for post processing? I have a brand new iMac and am looking to record some good quality podcasts.
I’ve been trying to figure this out myself. GarageBand, which is free, and logic pro seems to be the two most popular options.
Give Reaper a try. It has a huge library of video tutorials on its site and a thriving community. It‘s also easy to try with no limits and cheap.
For the brief time I did my own podcast, any post effects were added tastefully. Very mild EQ on the final mix to bring back what was lost to mixing or limiting. My thought was always get it as tight as you could on the master because anything you add may very well bring up a defect that you didn't or couldn't hear prior. I used my channel as a lead, then any other channel had a noise gate. Kept the floor lower and because it was quiet enough in the room I used, with very light compression it sounded very natural. I did roll off low end slightly only because my voice tended to come off as muddy sounding and it is. It is a characteristic of my voice and all I did was mix it so it wasn't detracting from the recording. Again, very very mild, 3db max change.
Loudness war went from the CD format to livestreaming format. People try and be louder than the channel next to them because the loudest or the least clothed one wins the viewers, science fact. Personally I just EQ and then limit for clarity. It's nicer to listen to a voice that doesn't peak to distortion or pump up and down, but it's equally nice to listen to a voice that's not compressed to a 3db dynamicrange. Basically I trust people to adjust their own volume, I'm sure they can do that. If you're uploading to an online service, then you kinda have to be aware of the technical limits the service has for the audio. But I'd imagine that's a different discussion altogether.
this has strong Professor Dad energy and I am here for it. Preach brotha.
I'm personally kind of a "centrist" on this issue, for lack of a better term. I am just a layperson and I actually love that radio-y compressed sound, but even I hear all too often in RUclips videos that people just overdo them way too much and it's just grating to listen to. I guess it's the go-to easy way to try and sound professional, which ironically can quickly make it sound cheap and try-hard.
THAT EQ CURVE!!!!! Interesting because I feel like I saw that EXACT "crazy" looking EQ decision in some other RUclipsr's video last week. I was like HUH?????? 😱
Hey Bandrew, I have caught wind of a new Rode device to end all devices for podcasting, with 4 mic inputs. 4 headphone amps and a screen and ll the DSP power in the world, I really need you to review it as soon as you can.
I bet it's awesomeersome
Great video !! Your demonstrations, along with the concepts, were very effective, in this video. Thanks !!
With a great sounding/treated room and no background noise from fans or aircondition, you can get great sound with a super cheap soundcard and a 58.
You summed it up in one sentence. A pig with makeup is still a pig. Likewise you can't fix garbage. Garbage in, garbage out. If you are not happy with your flat audio then there is no amount of EQ that will fix it. I think we've all been guilty of this, it's just some people have to learn this in harder ways than others. It's like my primary interest which is actually photography. If your RAW file is terrible and your highlights are blown out (the same effect of clipping in audio) then good luck fixing it in post... and actuality It's worse in audio, unlike photography, you can't just replace the sky in post if you don't like it. Clipped audio (like clipped anything) is gone forever, that information will never come back. I wish people knew at least at the bare minimum especially if you are going to record in 24bit audio how to set your levels right, and where to stand in relation to your microphone to at least get your best flat audio recording first.
Everything works from there.... People need to stop thinking they can just fix audio in post. You can't and even if you can with 32bit float to more of an extent, you still can't fix bad mic placement.
Yeah the bottom line is garbage in garbage out. A lot of people don't want to accept this though.
Thank you for opening my eyes on things that wasn't aware of them
personally I enjoy the \ slope to all my audio recordings and I have tried and tested basically all methods of achieving my preferred audio profile. Post processing is the only true way to get the best audio experience out of a recording. I must admit that there are steps that can be done per-recording to enhance the flavor so to speak. Removing the wobbly rubbery bits and hard fixing the microphone to the arm is key. I've even tried mounting a Hitatchi magic wand at full power directly to the arm just to prove that I can fix anything in post just using EQ tweaks (Yes, I am a self taught audio engineer) and I enjoy the challenge so much it's a staple of my rigging. Anyway, I've worked hard for my signature sound that will violently tickle the eardrums, while requiring the full attention of any listener filtering out the uncommitted.
Sincerely
Every Upstart Pod-caster.
Hi man! A big follower and fan from Baghdad. I like to host you in a Zoom meeting to talk about your recommended mics for teachers.
Jack Black, Lewis Black Both are good right?
Well can you do now some tutorial on how to achieve some of those sought after sounds / flavors in post?
“Plugin Post Process with a Purpose” is a great plosive test phrase
I can't help but agree with this. I am against any post processing. I prefer to have everything as is. For a while I used noise reduction but now I don't need to.
With this all being said, how would you eq a clean good coming in recording using the re20 that’ll sound good and make a listening experience good?
He did a good job doing the radio guy impression
Good advice as always, especially that you need to start with great audio to end up with great audio. I always try to get the best audio and then I don't need to do much, if any fixing in post.
The next to the last section is hysterical! Thanks for the laugh and the education!
Why do so many radio stations compress the audio so heavily anyway?
Even big names like Howard Stern have insanely compressed audio with the hosts (not so much the guests, which seem to have way less processing).
As I was taught in the recording studio back in the 1 and 2 inch tape days. “ Fix it and the mix my ass” “Sh!t in Sh!t Out”. There are examples of post processing repair when something like a phone rings during a chamber orchestra recording and you use a repair tools such as RX 9 and or Spectral Layers, but in a controlled environment like a Vocal Booth. Post production involves plosives, sibilance and maybe compressor limiting in my opinion.
0:53 That raw recording into the Neumann U87 sounds pretty thin, dude. Even with the relatively close miking. According to my research, the U87 is a side-address mic, right? I'm wondering why it doesn't sound more robust.
Definitely needed to hear this.
This video and the one before it are gold, I tell you! GOLD! Would you consider making it a trilogy with a video about The Purpose of Pre-Processing? You get the same alliteration and plosives, and who wouldn't want that? As you said in this one, get it right going in, and you have less to do before it goes out.
Just make an audio course already! TAKE MY MONEY!!! ❤️
Excellent advice. Thank you so much :)
Off topic. Which is best for bedroom.
Yamaha Hs8
Adam audio t8v
Focal evo 80
I thought I’d ask you since you make the most sense of all the videos on RUclips lol.
I've seen the hide and seek episode with the boom guy. Glad you're both alive and not eaten by bears
Recently, I'm been using Soothe 2 and Nectar 4 (podcast), and any mic I use will sound super smooth.
I have heard people rave about it but haven't tried it before.
I agree with you 100%. Just record it good and forget about post altogether. Even if it takes 1000 takes it'll at least still sound better in the end
I made that same mistake a few times with heavy post-processing after following some tutorials claiming it would make me sound better, but I find that I like hardly any processing, just minimize the background, fix the clicks, de-ess a bit, normalize, fix a couple of things, bam ez done.
"Rich, dark chocolate with sweet, soft centers flavored with exotic fruit juices." That's been my line for practicing sibilant cuts during delivery. I also had a problem with coming out of the gate hot and loud at the beginning of sentences then tapering down very low, and compression and limiters made it sound even worse. I do notice mud with close proximity of my mic, which is a shotgun, and only figured out that EQ fix today. I made it onto Bunny Studios yesterday, at my first attempt. I was so friggin' nervous. I knew that I had to alter the way that I read and processed in order to meet their standards, and not spend HOURS manually lowering my peaks. WOOOHOOO!
I have two broken front teeth, a de-esser's dream :)
Time to get them fixxxxed.
Hi, what's the name of the microphone you're talking? I didn't find it in the description. Thank You and congratulations on what you do. I envy you for all the microphones you have :D
I do have a question tho, when you do microphone reviews you often don’t put post processing, does that mean you don’t compress, add a noise gate, or anything
Great video Bandrew as always and a great topic for sure.
Would you prefer the Samson Q2U or the Zoom ZDM-1? I am on a budget and things that cost $100 USD cost almost double in my currency (NZD New Zealand Dollar). I found the ZDM-1 for a good price and I am wondering if saving the $30 plus a Behringer UM2 is worth the downsides of upgradability but plus side noise rejection (from my understanding). I do think the ZDM-1 sounds good with almost similar thoughts about the Q2U. Thanks for reading and are eager on seeing what your response is!
As much as I value your every word, I'm afraid I must disagree with one thing. The most embarrassing moment on the channel, hands down, has to be you falling over in the chair after throwing a box. You can't know how much I appreciate you leaving that in. But you're still the best and we love you for it.
I wish more audio schools would look at this video. Every lecture on compressors equalizers and any DSP should start with learning How to compare the processed audio with the original audio. And why do you want to equalize a voice that's perfect for the role its playing and that's got the perfect timbre?
Teaching what to listen for would be a great tool for a school to teach.
Great video as always.
I would still say that for the post post processing you need to test in different audio gear, cause sometimes you do EQs, for example, that sound amazing with your gear, but the viewer is going to hear it and it sounds terrible for their gear. RUclipsrs love to boost their bass frequencies, what sometimes make them so hard to understand if your gear also has a bass boost (very common in cheap headphones, for example).
Thanks for the video!
This video is perfect and much needed!!!
If you polish a diamond it will look like an even more beautiful diamond. But, if you apply the same polish to a piece of asphalt, it will still look like an old piece of asphalt. Post processing is polish for something already good, not a miracle cure for garbage.
Preach