How many times have you tried to mix down a spot and just couldn't get the VO track to stand out like you think it should? You figure you need a new mic. Or maybe for now you can just bump up the 3,000 to 6,000 khz range or something. Well, it may be what you can subtract to make what you have stand out.
Steve Murphy addresses some examples in his recent Opinion Column in Pro Audio Review Magazine.
Ironically, the VO track – usually the focal point of the ad and the only of the sources recorded in a “controlled environment”—can be the most problematic. Instead of a decent recording of a voice that can be evaluated in the full mix and then treated appropriately, I’ve spent quite a bit of precious mix time digging out of the overuse of “radioready” voice processing (over-excited, overcompressed, over-sibilant and/or over-modulated) printed on the takes.
The first step is to pre-process the music tracks on the timeline by manually evening out dynamic changes in musical sections, turnarounds, hits etc. I do this by splitting the sections, adjusting the clip levels and applying generous x-fades to smooth the changes. I also insert a Waves L2 (or similar smooth-leveling limiter) to aid in the dynamic consistency of the bed.
Second, carve out a healthy EQ scoop across the music tracks centered around the VO range (typically spanning 700 to 1500 Hz and down about 3 or 4 dB)—this does wonders to free up space for the voice elements while retaining a good perceived music level.
Third, very gently duck the music (2 or 3 dB) with a sidechain from the voice subgroup. Subtly is the key—this duck is a building block, not the means to an end. Lastly, some automation of the music track will always be necessary, but by employing the above (with all plug-ins, EQ and the side-chain already set up in the template, of course), an effective voice-tomusic mix can be reached quickly and the amount of time spent on automation can be drastically reduced.
Read Steve's full article here.
No comments:
Post a Comment