Voice processing technique

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2002 3:18 pm

Hi all! Many times I must take a voice track, narration mostly, and with people that have limited voice control. I discovered many different ways to process these to make them much more robust and intelligiable. One way I have found was to mult to a dual compressor. I then set the main track EQ, but on the comps I use it like a multi-band, and send the outs of the comp to 2 input strips. Here, I apply the gate, attack, release, and compression for both tracks seperately on the highs and lows using each channels EQ's. The sound from this process can give a great high average level, and very good clarity, even at low levels, and in multi-languages.

Anyone have any other techniques for narration, for the non-announcer types? Please feel free to share.
--Rick

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2002 8:18 pm

Interesting that you should talk about narration -

I just recently began to record a narration CD series for a management consultant. I started out recording him straight to Mini-disc (upper-end Denon) through a Neumann M149 ---> UA1176 set-up. The M/D was set to record in Mono. (Side note: there is no script Rolling Eyes

Anybody know of how I might go about making the two (M/D & DAT) sound alike in the end? There is FAR too much material on M/D to do it over! I played around with it the other day and it sounded like adding a lo-cut to the DAT AND cutting a couple dB at about 2kHz on the M/D got me pretty close. Is there some kind of phase issue going on or is there something about recording in Mono mode?

Thanks for any ideas.

Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2002 9:53 pm

Quote:

Originally posted by On-Track Recording:
through a Neumann M149

You used a single mic. So there is no stereo, so far!

Quote:

Originally posted by On-Track Recording:

I (not thinking) patched out of the 1176 directly into the DAT, whereas before I had patched through a channel to use the lo-cut going into the M/D.... No surprise, the DAT sounds better & fuller than the M/D (but is recorded in stereo - his one voice is actually present in each of the 2 tracks - it literally sounds stereo).

Think back about how you did that patch, was one side still through the comp? How did you get 2 channels, when you were doing mono on the MD.

Quote:

Originally posted by On-Track Recording:

Anybody know of how I might go about making the two (M/D & DAT) sound alike in the end?.... Is there some kind of phase issue going on or is there something about recording in Mono mode?

Since the majority of the material is on the MD, I would use that as the sound base. An easy way to check if it is a phase issue is to combine the channels on the DAT, and listen for cancellations. Another cause might be the DAT having a tracking episode, this would show it's ugly face with M-S for sure, it will sound like a flanger with a fast modulation, and mild depth. I use MD's sometimes too, there will be no apparent frequency variation, maybe some dynamic issues with some music, but for voice, it works well. Take the DAT, best sounding side (only one) run it back through the strip to MD. A/B the DAT sound, and MD sound, adjust the strip EQ and level to get a close match. Once you are as close as you can get, continue tracking on the MD, from the DAT. When you got all your tracks and edits finished, then process the whole MD for best possible sound.

Smile

Not to ramble too much, I have an MD 4 tracker for location, or finding a quick quiet place, I tuck it under my arm, and take it anywhere. I start out with a script for sure mostly, I understand the TOC thing, but mine does not seem to be slow at all, if a playback is needed, I just back up to the next track marker, play it and continue on. I know this is just a rare (I Hope), situation for you, the (script vs. add lib thing). But, what I like most about mine is, instead of stopping, even if a mistake is made, with script, I cue take again, next track and keep flying. After the session, I number all the takes on the script, and edit out the bad tracks, when finished everything lines up perfectly, then in post, or whatever production, I can easily thumb through the takes.
Sorry for the ramble, and I hope this helped,
--Rick

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2002 7:48 pm

Well, here's the scoop:

I asked the studio owner (I am an independent engineer) if he would take a look at the board/patch bay when he got a chance and see if he saw anything peculiar to my situation. Here is what he told me:

When I changed the patch from the MD to the DAT, I routed the signal out of the 1176 directly into the patch point that feeds the DAT Left input (the board is a D&R Cinemix so that is 2TA Left). In doing this I bypassed the channel strip that I had originally used to provide a lo-cut before feeding the M/D which explains the fuller sound of the DAT as opposed to the M/D. I also made a patch from the 2T out to CTRLRM into the mix bus of channel 24 and routed it to the main L/R bus so I could monitor the DAT. Well, on his board, the main L/R output is normalled to the DAT. So, when I patched the DAT out to mix bus 24 & sent that to the main L/R, the signal then got routed back into the DAT on the Right channel and was recorded there (with just enough delay to cause the stereo effect - only heard when playing the DAT back in a normal set-up). Rolling Eyes

Can you say, SCREWY Surprised

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