Help mixing sound please?

Could always get Morgan Freeman to narrate… :smiley:

Not sure what you’d need to do, though. Get rid of echo? Cut down noise?

“Mixing” implies mixing different channels of audio, like voice over a music background, maybe adding in some effects, etc.

I hear that’s a good microphone. I bet your real problem is your playback speakers. You are just discovering how wrong they sound.

Try adjusting your distance from the microphone, play with placement and direction.
Even good mics need a strong signal and placement and direction can make a uuuuuuge difference.
If you’re recording in a normal room cover yourself with a thick blanket or comforter to reduce the echo. There’s no reason to introduce the acoustics of your room into the recording, if you want echo you can do it right with Audacity.
I think you’ll be amazed at what a strong signal with placement that captures your best tone AND a blanket over your head will do.
Not pulling your leg with the blanket thing, we used to record vocal tracks that way back in my limited-budget teens with great success.

I just figured out which channel is yours. You sound great when aren’t speaking toward the table top and creating an echo.

“Mixing” is sometimes used to describe adjusting levels within different effects so it is appropriate. I have edited many voice recordings including some radio programs and advertisements. There is definately much room for improvement over any raw vocal recording. Some suttle adjustments, some not so much.

Advise on specific settings is highly dependent on the recording. But using a simple equalizer you will want to make sure you can here the “s” sounds. Put a small bump around 10k hz. Drop off everything below 80 hz. And pull down some at 500 hz.

It would be beneficial to use some sort of dynamics with a bit of compression as well. Staying close to the mic is very good advice. As close as you can without making popping noises. A homemade pop filter from pantyhose or something will be needed.

This is just very simplified advice but could help some. Otherwise just mess around till something sounds nice:)

Haha, I spent days adjusting mine and love the result. But I got almost the opposite of your settings :smiley: My “s” sounded like a dagger before I adjusted, so we must have had opposite problems.
My advise is to plug in your best set of headphones and loop a recording of your voice while adjust your output equalizer. Write down those numbers. Edit the raw audio and play it on your phone, followed by the un-edited and see if it sounds better. If so, keep those settings in your editing software.

EDIT: In my case I learned my speakers needed more adjusting than my microphone.

Alex Labrelle (BaerTaffy) is cheaper :stuck_out_tongue:

i’m going by memory, i saw your “cash money video” on here.

i was struck by you have decent tone, but, you have a sort of “ess”y, hissy….oot a “lisp”, but something very slight of one.

i dont think you are gonna “EQ” that out, but, opinions vary.

first round for me would be FFT noise removal, and setting levels and limits.

i;d be thinking about fooling around with multi-band compression to control the “ssssssss”, followed by “sterilizing” the vocals… heavy compression, followed by expansion… and THEN playing with reverb and related effects.

I work on vocals in “cool edit pro/adobe audition”. you can never guarantee results, and, the “first time” might take me one hour, or, a whole week. Never know… after that first one, assuming similar tracks and conditions, it would be a quicker thing, as i wouldnt be flyng blind.

if you dont have a radio voice? a lot of people will try the humble shure sm-57…

you might not have a situation you can just “do this effect, throw that one on” based on other youtubers “advice”. Many “effects” sound great or horrible, depending on knowing how to set them.

real audio work starts at the source and the signal chain and recording… followed by for lack of a batter word “real” audio software, and a mixer that has experience.

the more “work” your voice needs to make you happy… the less “toss this effect on…” froma youtuber is going to make you happy.

and, an annoying voice is no IMPEDIMENT to success on youtube channel.

“sandman” who does the MGTOW videos? he started off with a “noob” voiceover work…. then he settled into his “annoying voice” as i called it… recently he JUST got a decent sound engineering, i think. sounds decent now.

NOTE: he makes 6 figures a year off of his voice, so, even a highly annoying voiceover didnt stop him? it was his CONTENT we like.

Yep. That’s why pros record in (soundproofed) rooms with anechoic wall-coverings.

Egg cartons are absolutely perfect as such anechoic coverings. The music room of a military school in Brasília is entirely lined with that, walls and ceiling alike, made by the students.

Ha! Love it… :smiley:

Ya, the mic is good. Really considered to be top notch for a usb mic. I’m not really looking for effects. I just want to get it as pleasant sounding as possible. Most of the issue I “think” I’m having is getting the right equalizer mix… Maybe…

To be honest I’m not 100% sure either. I can’t figure out if I truly just dislike the sound of my own voice, or if I’m really just bad at this…

I started out having distortion issues ( This was my first vid with the Yeti).

My voice just sounded really “Scratchy” and rough. Backing a bit further away from the mic seemed to help a little. But even in later vids it doesn’t seem quite right. Maybe that’s just really how I sound?

This is my most recent vid where I feel like a good bit of the scratch and distortion is gone.

Yes. This too is an issue. I am looking at better sound gear, but just the though of barfing up yet another hundred plus dollars (and probly still not getting what I need) is wearing me slick. Sound card? DAC? Speakers? Headphones?

Well, I do hear some echo, so today I put some foam up on the walls. I guess if you guys see me lookin’ like fryer tuck in my next vid we’ll know the foam wasn’t enough.

There may be hope for me yet then. I just listened to one of his vids and hear a similar scratchy sound in his….

A decent set of earmuffs will help. I always liked Sennheisers, and you can get a decent set of Senns for 60bux.

Avoid the “bass boost” ones as they artificially, well, boost the bass response (duh). Good sound from an mp3 player, but not if you want accuracy in how the track actually sounds.

Bose are great, but a bit overpriced by maybe 50bux. Love my QC15s, though.

beats are decent quality with good sound, but way overpriced. (Eg, instead of 250bux I’d put them more at about a 125-150buk price-point. You’re paying for the name.)

My cheapie Senns (60bux, like I said) that I use for listening at work… can’t recall the model #… look kinda cheap (brown plastic all around), but sound great and are so comfy that after a while I forget I’m even wearing them (and often get yanked off my head entirely when I get up to go somewhere).

They’re a bit soft on treble, so if that’s what you like you may be a little disappointed, but I find that for prolonged listening, softer treble is a lot less fatiguing vs the pronounced, almost shrill, treble that I like. And I’ve got hearing like a bat, so I’m sensitive to 10kHz-20kHz sound and can hear it quite well.

Nb: I don’t attribute that to the oft-cited “Sennheiser veil”, just the soft construction and “tuned” response from them. They sound… warm.

Oh, and whichever brand you settle on, get over-the-ear ’muffs, not on-the-ear. They just “seat” better and more consistently, and insulate the sound better from the outside world.

I don’t know if buying anything is necessary, your viewers are listening on the same quality stuff you have. Just be sure to listen to yourself on every set of headphones/speakers you have and be sure you reach a good compromise with those equalizer settings we talked about.

Ages ago I worked with an economy recording studio for awhile. Their sound stage was a room with acoustic tile ceilings and the walls were draped with heavy carpet and old quilts hung a few inches away from the solid walls. It worked excellently to reduce sound reflections. When we did road shows we covered offensive hard surfaces likewise to ‘pink in’ the sound. I also learned that it was very important to match the mic to the vocalist or instrument but I never learned how to select them. The owner had about 20 mics to choose from. I credit a lot of my current deafness to those days of loud rock and roll :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ve seen your vids but with my bad hearing all I can offer you is 1- cover the hard surfaces and the wall(s) opposite or near your mic position; anything is better than nothing and it needs to hang loose. 2- try different mics till you get the one which works for your voice. You need the best sound you can get to start with or the results will sound like modified junk :open_mouth:

The studio is long gone as is my friend who ran it or I’d have better input for you. Had I not been ‘deep in my cups’ during those years I’d remember more :frowning:

Phil

If you want i can pimp your audio too, using Audacity.
Just provide a link to download the audio and i’ll have a go at it.

Having the microphone close to you helps a LOT in reducing room reverb and background noise by the way.

Actually, the “effects” may be exactly what you need (if you’re looking for a simple fix for your recordings). Effects aren’t just for making stuff sound weird. Some effects are made specifically to make stuff sound less weird. Anyway, send me a file if you’d like, and I’ll see if I can figure out the simplest, most effective fixes for you to implement, since you’re talking about doing this from now on yourself.

Since you guys have some experience, I would like some feedback on my settings. Have a listen to this video clip.

It plays:

  1. Laptop Microphone (The reason I bought the Lavalier Mic)
  2. Lavalier Microphone (The reason I bought the CAD Mic)
  3. CAD Microphone (Finally. But a little off.)
  4. CAD Mic, Realism Adjusted (with equalizer settings I think sound more like me)

So of course you have not met me, but does #4 sound the best on your speakers?

send me a link

wle