How To EQ For Voice Over Recording!

hey everybody it's randy from voices and welcome back to another episode of creative 101 and in today's episode we're going to talk about eqs the different types of eqs how to eq for voice over and how to eq like a pro let's get right into it you can think of an eq like a filter on a lens that only allows certain colors to pass through essentially it's doing the same thing for your audio so in some cases it may be boosting certain frequencies in other cases it may be cutting today we have two different types of eq's to talk about we have graphic eqs and we have parametric eqs graphic eqs range from three band right up to 32 band eqs and these bands are basically ranges of the frequency spectrum that you're able to alter so humans hear from 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz and so a three band eq would be low mids highs and a 32 band would be that whole range divided into 32 unique variables and you can alter these frequency ranges just by sliding the faders up or down parametric eqs are similar but they do have their differences so we still divide the whole spectrum into bands and these bands you can boost or cut using the gain knob but parametric eqs also have a frequency knob which allows us to move the center of that booster cut within a defined range and then we also have a knob called cue or bandwidth what this does is makes that curve either really steep or really gradual so this is great if you want to just boost a little bit of low end you can make it a really soft curve versus if you want to notch out a specific frequency you can make it a really tight curve both eqs are awesome options and they certainly have their applications graphic eqs you tend to see them more in pa systems or stereo systems and things like that whereas parametric eqs you tend to find more on recording consoles channel strips uh basically the front end of the recording process so they work really well for voiceover for that reason now obviously parametric eqs have a bit more control with the ability to change the shape of the curve with a graphic eq as you bring up one fader you're also making that q more steep so that's one of the disadvantages of a graphic eq now that we know the different types of eqs let's talk about the eq rules or how to use an eq like a pro rule number one is always remove the stuff that you don't need and so by that i mean let's use my voice as an example here so my voice probably only goes as low as about 100 hertz maybe 120 hertz so i'm going to remove everything below 100 hertz with a roll off so i'll use a high pass filter to roll off all of that low end because all the stuff down in that sort of really low subspace is just it might be air going to the microphone it might be a car going by outside uh a plane flying by you know a subway down the street any of those types of low end rumbling sounds i i don't need in the recording because it's it's just it's not my voice and it's useless information the second thing i'm going to do is remove some of the high end so in music we keep all that top end it's kind of the air the brightness in the recording in dialogue recording like speaking to the camera you don't need all of that information especially above about 15 16 kilohertz so i'm just gonna put a slight roll off at the top end as well all right rule number two always cut before boosting uh eqs work on a phase relationship so they actually sort of introduce phase into your signal to remove certain frequencies it's really convoluted and complex all you need to know is better audio fidelity comes from cutting rather than boosting so let's say i want a sound that has you know a bump in the mid-range i can actually accomplish the same thing by shaving out the other frequencies around that which is basically going to emulate a boost but it's going to sound a little bit better so always cut before boosting rule number three on the same topic as the last one with cutting and boosting we want to reserve the really sharp cues so the really really tight notch filters for cutting only you never want to boost with a notch filter because it's going to introduce the most artifacts into your signal in general try to be as wide with the cues as possible that's going to give you the most natural and transparent eq and rule number four is always be mindful of how your frequency content is going to affect your compressor eq and compression they work hand in hand there's a widely discussed topic do i eq first and then compress or do i compress first and then eq i always recommend eq'ing before compressor or at the very least just putting a filter to roll off the low end and the reason being is low end is incredibly powerful so uh all that low end in your voice or in your room the fridge the car down the street that's going to trigger your compressor to work even if you're not even hearing that sound it may still be affecting the way your compressor is working on your voice i always roll off all of that low end first and then compress and then you can eq after for some sweetness or taste but always roll off that low end before it hits your compressor well that's it for this episode of creative 101 if you guys have any feedback or topics you'd like to see covered in a future episode feel free to throw that down below and make sure you subscribe to catch those episodes as always happy auditioning and we'll see you guys in the next one you

Channel: Voices

Views: 28,312

Keywords: EQ, EQ For Voice Over, Voiceover EQ, Equalizing Voice, Voiceover, voice actor, how to record voice over, eq for radio, equalizing, eqs, voice over, voicesdotcom, voices.com, voices, voice.com, audio, recording, creative101, creative 101, recording tips, hot to record voice

Id: aZsnl0qCFZc

Length: 5min 14sec (314 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 12 2021