Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

Recording in Protools and using the Digirack EQ

Thanks

Scott

(Scott Sheppard) wrote in
om:

Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

Recording in Protools and using the Digirack EQ

Thanks

Scott


Turn knobs, use ears.

Scott Sheppard wrote:
Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

BYPASS.

It sounds great here.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In article ,
Scott Sheppard wrote:

Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

I take it you've already tried "flat?"

"Scott Sheppard" wrote in message
om...
Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

Recording in Protools and using the Digirack EQ

Thanks

Scott

You may be getting the idea that most professional engineers don't have a
favorite EQ setting for voice recording. Voices are so different that a
single approach can't accomodate all voice qualities (even many) for all
purposes. The voice quality, the mix (of other voices and instrumentation
or sound effects and orchestration) all affect the EQ applied. Much of that
cannot be known until long after the voice is recorded. So most record flat
or with a mild roll-off below 100 Hz, where there is not much that is useful
or pleasant in most human voices.

Steve King

Scott Sheppard wrote:

Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

There is no such thing. EQ is either a problem solving tool or an artistic
tool. Settings therefore depend on the problems one is solving or the
artistic effects one is trying to achieve.

Mixing is not a paint-by-number activity!

--
================================================== ======================
Michael Kesti | "And like, one and one don't make
| two, one and one make one."
| - The Who, Bargain

i forget the exact frequencies, I'm sure someone else here will
know...on an API 560, I seem to find myself somewhere in the range of
+1-2db of the top slider and rolling the bottom one all the way to the
left...what is that -12db at 50Hz...maybe 60Hz...
But, that's not much of anything other than keeping handling noise,
etc off the lowend and adding a bit of sparkle or air on the top.
If you're really needing more eq than that, try another mic or
placement.
later,
m

I just recorded a piano on 7 tracks for a jazz album. The second
engineer looked at me funny when I said just go straight from the mic
pre's to the recorder. "No EQ?" she asked... I countered, "If I can't
get a great sound with the right mic's, the right placement, and right
Mic pre's, no EQ in the world is going to make up for my lack of
knowledge and ears." ... disclaimer: unless of course you are
intentionally going for some modified sound, but even then, a
combination of mic's and pre's and placement can yield an infinate
amount of variations and tone.

EQ? I bet I will have to use very little if any in the final mix. Now
that's great recording to me. Just my two cents.

Ron



(Scott Sheppard) wrote in message . com...
Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

Recording in Protools and using the Digirack EQ

Thanks

Scott

(james) wrote in message news:Zc56c.14189$uh.9588@fed1read02...
In article ,
Scott Sheppard wrote:

Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

I take it you've already tried "flat?"


Yes... I want to add EQ in the final mix to brighten things up and add
something to the mix.

Thanks

Scott

Ron wrote
"If I can't
get a great sound with the right mic's, the right placement, and right
Mic pre's, no EQ in the world is going to make up for my lack of
knowledge and ears."

True indeed but you forgot the correct environment (room) and better yet the
proper talent for what you recording.
For example you would have a hell of a time trying to get a good sound from a
loud singer in a closet (I mean, "to small a room"). And you wouldn't
(normally) go hire a country style singer to make a death metal recording.
As stated before this will depend on many factors, so you need to get
everything strait before you hit the record button.

Scott Sheppard wrote:

Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

Just what color car is the fastest in a GP race? - reminds me, the local
Bentley dealer had a _real_ Bentley in the showroom for some time, that
car is actually kinda petite, I think it was blown even.

Recording in Protools and using the Digirack EQ

This is difficult, because you need one setting for Protools overall and
another for the digirack eq, the latter because the center position for
some digiral faders may not be correct, depending on whether there ar
tytops in the code ...

IF there is a "issue" with voice recordings, then examine whether the
room recorded in is sonically OK, too small a room may have resonances
that matter. Reflections off of table surfaces can also cause problems.
There is probably some text somewhere about how to handle such issues.

Tone control use is the last resort, not the first. 4006's with standard
grid doesn't need much in terms of tone control use anyway, and with mic
left undefined we all tend to assume that you use those or similar.

Thanks

Scott, sarcasm above is intentional, but not aimed at you personally,
but rather at underlining what really matters so that all later readers
of this thread, not just you know & here, understand how the thought
track that led to the question is less than optimally suited. Fix
problems by fixing the cause is the first resort.

Scott


Kind regards

Peter Larsen

--
*******************************************
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*******************************************

In Article ,
(Scott Sheppard) wrote:
Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

Recording in Protools and using the Digirack EQ

Thanks

Scott

Scott,

There is no way to answer this question with any degree of accuracy.

Mitigating factors (in no particular order) include:

The voice
the mic
the preamp
the distance from the mic

Regards,

Ty Ford

For Ty Ford V/O demos, audio services and equipment reviews,
click on http://www.jagunet.com/~tford

In Article ,
(Scott Sheppard) wrote:
Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??



As a musician, I cut a lot of vinyl back in the 50's and 60's. Only the LARGE
studios in the major recording centers (NY, Nashville, LA, Motown etc) had EQ,
limiters and such. Most studios did it with:

Room acoustics
Instrument, amp tone and volume changes
Vocal techniques
Different mics
Different mic placement
And some I can't remember (gr)

If you do use EQ, try to use "minus" EQ.
Take out the bad stuff cause that leaves the "natural" tones in tact. If you
have to add a lot of "plus" EQ, we probably didn't get the tracking right in
the first place. I usually don't track with EQ either.


--Wayne

-"sounded good to me"-

"Scott Sheppard" wrote:
(james) wrote:
Scott Sheppard wrote:

Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

I take it you've already tried "flat?"


Yes... I want to add EQ in the final mix to brighten things up and add
something to the mix.

So, try:
a. cutting the lows
b. boosting the highs
c. both

-jw

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 18:42:38 -0600, "Steve King"
wrote:

"Scott Sheppard" wrote in message
om...
Does anybody have a nice baseline EQ setting for voice work ??

Recording in Protools and using the Digirack EQ

Thanks

Scott

You may be getting the idea that most professional engineers don't have a
favorite EQ setting for voice recording.

Exactly.

The voice quality, the mix (of other voices and instrumentation
or sound effects and orchestration) all affect the EQ applied.

Yep.

But maybe the OP would like to try the EQ I used today on a VO for a
promo. Let's see,,, about +10dB around 100Hz with a Q of about 3,
some 4K lift Q about 1 and a huge amount of HF shelf from 5K-ish.
Outrageous! I've never been so extreme before. But wait - look and
what those compressors and limiters are doing!! Someone certify me
NOW. Client ABSOLUTELY LOVED it :-))

--
'Reply to:' is valid

m.
in Milton Keynes, UK

PGP key available

Martin Tillman wrote:

But maybe the OP would like to try the EQ I used today on a VO for a
promo. Let's see,,, about +10dB around 100Hz with a Q of about 3,
some 4K lift Q about 1 and a huge amount of HF shelf from 5K-ish.
Outrageous! I've never been so extreme before. But wait - look and
what those compressors and limiters are doing!! Someone certify me
NOW. Client ABSOLUTELY LOVED it :-))

Sure, but did you use the TRIPLE FLANGER preset?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On 18 Mar 2004 17:04:42 -0500, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Sure, but did you use the TRIPLE FLANGER preset?

Dammit - there goes my BAFTA...

--
'Reply to:' is valid

m.
in Milton Keynes, UK

PGP key available

Martin Tillman wrote:

You may be getting the idea that most professional
engineers don't have a favorite EQ setting for voice
recording.

Exactly.

The voice quality, the mix (of other voices and
instrumentation or sound effects and orchestration)
all affect the EQ applied.

Yep.

But maybe the OP would like to try the EQ I used today
on a VO for a promo. Let's see ... [gruesome details
omitted, this is a daytime followup ...] I've never
been so extreme before. But wait - look and what those
compressors and limiters are doing!! Someone certify me
NOW. Client ABSOLUTELY LOVED it :-))

You forgot to use a microphone. Just what did you record, the Letterman
show?

m.


Kind regards

Peter Larsen

--
*******************************************
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*******************************************

On Fri, 19 Mar 2004 12:25:41 +0100, Peter Larsen
wrote:

compressors and limiters are doing!! Someone certify me
NOW. Client ABSOLUTELY LOVED it :-))

You forgot to use a microphone.

I did?

Just what did you record, the Letterman
show?

Wassat??

Actually, it was a couple of marketing promos to sell two well known
game shows.

NOW. Client ABSOLUTELY LOVED it :-))

But the client's client didn't (like the VO - even though they were
present at the recording (which is why it took three hours to record
two three minute pieces...)). So we're recording it again on Monday
with different talent. Ho hum.

--
'Reply to:' is valid

m.
in Milton Keynes, UK

PGP key available

Martin Tillman wrote:

You forgot to use a microphone.

I did?

You did at least not mention any, oh - you mean that you only forgot to
mention it? - not just a joke, because EQ starts with the mic selection
and next we have mic placement, and certainly mic distance.

Just what did you record, the Letterman
show?

Wassat??

It seems to spill over into anything .... O;-) ... they must use a
mighty strong tv-transmitter, if it can enter keyboards directly and
thus appear in this newsgroup then surely it also can enter an
unterminated mic input ... O;-)

Ho hum.

That's life.

m.


Kind regards

Peter Larsen

--
*******************************************
* My site is at: http://www.muyiovatki.dk *
*******************************************