Seeking Suggestions For Sweetening Voice

jkrepner wrote on 12/9/2005, 8:18 AM
I know this has been covered, but searching the forums didn't turn up the info I am after. So I poise the question: what audio FX (or chain of FX) do you use to make voice-overs and dialogue stand out? A giant part of it is, of course, recording it correctly in the first place. Another part is achieving a good mix of voice, sound FX, music, and background sounds on the TL. Still, I seem to endlessly play with compression settings and EQ settings and can't get zero in on a good standard method of dealing with voice & dialogue. Ideally, I'd like to save an FX chain that I apply to dialogue tracks as a good solid starting point, or failing that, hire a full-time audio pro. (ha ha)

Any suggestions are appreciated.

-Jeff

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 12/9/2005, 8:58 AM
You can start by adding a little EQ boost at 7~8K to give some presence and add 2:1 compression. A large part of making anything stand out in a mix is actually to make room for it. Take other things and pan them slightly left and right and then put the vocals center. Reducing frequencies on other tracks in the human voice range will also make more room for the voiceover. There are 3rd party plug-ins like iZotope Ozone that have presets for vocal treatment and do an amaizing job at getting them to stand out. Something like the BBE Sonic Maximizer on the Vocal setting works well too.

If you want something that is inexpensive, quick and easy to use, try Final Master (FM) from VASST. We did just what you are asking about; i.e., created a collection of audio preset chains that videographers might want to use for male voiceovers, female voiceovers, telephone effects, mastering presets, etc. It includes a custom audio plug-in from iZotope based on their Ozone product so you are getting a lot for the money. (sorry to sounds like an advertisement but we build these tools so solve these kinds of problems that come up over and over again) Download the free trial. One of the male voiceover preset is included in the trial.

~jr
jkrepner wrote on 12/9/2005, 11:44 AM
Oh, great ideas. I will give that trial a try and then see where I am at that point. I also like the idea of taking down frequencies on other tracks that are similar to the range of the human voice and panning other sounds to the L-R to make room for the voice.

I am cutting a trailer for a little film I worked on about 5 years ago, that has less than stellar audio to begin with. When I adjust the volume levels alone, I feel I need to drop the music down to extremely low levels in order to here the VO. I think you are right in that the frequencies in that piece of music are too similar to voice frequencies and the whole thing gets muddy.

On that note, do you tend to add compression on other tracks, say, music tracks even though the music may already have been produced (as in, not a live recording I made)? Or a global compression setting?

Thanks.

jeff
Bob Greaves wrote on 12/9/2005, 12:44 PM
Duplicate the track and highly compress the dupe and mix it back.

Add a short reverb to the voice. Duplicate the reverb but reverse the phase. Pan one reverb hard left, the other hard right. Keep the reverb very low in volume.

Record voice overs on a high quality microphone placed at least 10 inches away from the mouth in a room with an ambience that is easy to ignore. If you use a vocal booth with no ambience add the ambience back in.

Add just a hint of chorus effect to the voice.
busterkeaton wrote on 12/9/2005, 12:46 PM
Jeff,

I am not expert enough to give you a recipe to take you there, but I would say, get each element sounding good in the mix, then finalize the mix.

If compression on individual tracks helps you do that, then you should do that.
epirb wrote on 12/9/2005, 7:06 PM
Two other suggestions, but are plug ins you must buy.
BBE Sonic Maximizer
db-audioware's dynamic,multiband and mastering limiter package.

Both help me a great deal with my V.O. stuff since I dont have the talent and expertise of The V.O.Guy or Seanfl here on the forum.
I dont use them all at the same time but depending on the situation one or two work nicely to help make the VO stand out.
Sidecar wrote on 12/9/2005, 10:58 PM
Very quick way to pop the voice is to add the Wave Hammer Surround filter to the vocal track and select the "Voice" preset at the bottom of the pulldown preset list.

If you have Sound Forge, it comes with a regular stereo Wave Hammer filter that appears in the Vegas filter list as well.

Don't apply any EQ and don't normalize the track before Hammering. Either might overdrive it. Take a listen, make adjustments.
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 12/10/2005, 12:27 AM
I use US2 - with the Izotope plugins - people can't even believe it's me when they hear it at first - they say, that sounds like a professional recording, who did it?

Then I just smile and think, and just what do you think I am, a nerd with a computer???? :)

Anyway - I'd say that the more I use US2 the more I say it's a MUST have. If you don't need to do all the things it does though, then I suggest getting a FM, or multi-cam/infinity-cam, or photo montage (whatever they call it). Just such time savers and easy to use tools.

:) - and when you hear "That's really you?!?, It just sounds so good?", don't take offense at it. Think, YEA - I DO SOUND GOOD!!! - (:
JohnnyRoy wrote on 12/10/2005, 7:12 AM
I found this tutorial on the VASST site while looking for something else (isn't that always the way) ;-)

La Voz: Getting a good voiceover sound

The beginning is all about what hardware to use but the end talks about plug-ins and what settings to use.

~jr
Chilivonhaus wrote on 12/10/2005, 2:21 PM
Regarding Fridig's response - forgive me I must have missed something here: what is US2 ? I've heard of the Izotope plugin but not US2. Can anyone educate me here ?

Thanks.
epirb wrote on 12/10/2005, 4:52 PM
Ultimate S 2 here:
Vasst.com
Definately most people would agree its a must have in your tool kit.
IMO