Help mixing sound please?

Here’s the raw audio incase that’s what you wanted the link for Wle. Suggestions welcome.
CAD mp4 Recording

Thanks for the feedback Pete.
I got it here on Amazon.

Thanks!

What program/settings did you use to get from #3 to #4?

Thanks Angler, I will have to try audacity.

For anyone wondering, that line I read is from the CAD user manual. It was sitting right in front of me when I hooked up the mic for the first time. I’m not trying to sound like and advertisement!

I used Cyberlink WaveEditor2. It’s a lame program, but I can apply custom equalizer settings to a file and save it. I played with the bars for many hours, and that was the result. To re-create it, you can pull the 2K frequency down to –4 and pull the 125 frequency up to +2. Then shape the rest of the bars into a smooth wave look around them. Ending at 0 at both ends of the equalizer.

Alright, just like going to the eye doctor, I made some adjustments. Please tell me if A or B is best on your speakers :slight_smile:

2 Choices of Audio

I prefer B. The high frequencies in B are more clearly heard, by my ears. :slight_smile:

Thanks Pete, the second opinion really helps :slight_smile:

it actually sounds pretty good
i don;t hear any room reverb or artifacts
you are not popping p’s or s’s
voice range is good , not too low and muddy
i;d just say a little compression, if you have not done it already
be confident, you sound uncertain on the last few words

wle

The original is good, but have a listen to the 2-choice clip. I think the edits in the 2-choice clip reduce the microphone feel.
The hesitation on the last few words was because I have read that line from the manual so many times I was having to resist the urge to speed-read :smiley:

Oh - and I did try Audacity’s compression. It did nothing noticeable. I guess that is good.

i am waiting patiently for someone to ask “what is compression”, and then someone explaining it, lol…

i like to add the “tube” effect… this is where you add digitally (effect) the distortion that people find “warm” and “pleasant” about vintage tube amps and pre-amps…

most of what you “add” to a voice, in the software? remember its like adding PEPPER to your food. You might need SOME, and too much makes it worse.

one fairly standard rule in all “mixing 101” help textx, is….

“when adjusting levels on effects, by the time you find yourself going ”whoa! thats cool!” its usually a good idea to back it off a bit”

less is more, youre trying to NUDGE and be SUBTLE generally. You never want to hit the listener over the head with anything “cool”. Each effect generally nudges the VOX towards better, no one effect should generally do all the “nudging”

think of it like a rich businesswoman applying makeup…

1) she doesnt wanna look like a PORN STAR or a 20 year old girl ina mini skirt going clubbing looking for a guy to drag home with her. She doesnt want people to NOTICE the makeup, but… she does want it to work.

2) she uses SOME foundation, SOME blush, SOME lipstick, SOME mascara… but no one thing is put on with a spackling knife, generally

3) done “right”, which is subjective mind you… the end result is like night and day, shes now “way more attractive”, yet doesnt look like a porn star going to a nightclub. She doesnt look like “she wears too much makeup”.

Compression is bringing the loud sounds down and the soft sounds up.

well yes. great short explanation.

but your bringing the soft sounds up “relative”… you are only reducing volume spikes. Like turning bright lights down so you can see the softer lights near it.

you can also compress some freq’s and let other thru. you can also develop a “stack” of compresions. (multiband)

compression (to flat tops, lol) followed by expander… makes a quick and dirty “sterile” canvas of a VOX… you dont want to do it to a singer on an album? but, for a guest on a talk show…

1) noise reduction
2) compress
3) expander
4) ’verb n tube

That’s why every woman needs a makeup gun…

Compression is very nice for spoken word recordings.
Even nicer is multi band compression, where you compress (and / or limit) the ‘carrier frequencies’ (the main tone of the voice) separately from the higher frequency range that defines the letters you pronounce.
You can cross over at about 1kHz [/edit] hmm… 2 kHz is better [/edit] with a 6dB / octave slope and afterwards mix it together again.

Also a subsonic filter is nice to reduce the punches of the Ps and the Bs and other bumps and thuds. (you should do that before compressing)

Finally limit the product to take out the peaks, preferably with a ‘look ahead’ limiter.

I like the limiter. Do you think it’s better to apply that before or after the compressor?

After.
I use it for ‘sheering off’ the peaks of the end product.
I use a very short release time, so there’s no audible ‘ducking’ effect.

Watch out though, with Audacity ‘fast lookahead limiter’ there will be 200 samples added before the audio (in my set up anyway, YMMV)
You should delete them before mixing with other tracks that you didn’t do that to.

But hey, it’s free… :slight_smile:

Ok, thanks guys. Here’s what I am going with. I think it sounds professional on all the speakers in my house :slight_smile:

Audio Clip