Narrator EQ/Compression settings

[Quadrophonic73]

Hi all,

I just recorded a jingle for a commercial submission by some filmmakers trying to get a new Amazon Kindle commercial. They asked me to take care of everything in the audio, including the narration. I don't think I've got a voice suited for narration, but it's better than nothing. Anyway I couldn't help but notice that no matter what I tried to do, I sounded really flat and dry in the talking portion. I've attached the final audio. That's me singing and playing everything.

Any advice on that would be appreciated as I'm still very new to post production and film/commercial scoring.

-Alex

[Whitecat]

The voice needs compression for sure. I usually do something between 2 and 2.5:1, but as high as 4 in emergencies (for very thin voices!) and drop the threshold till it sounds good. I like a bit of analogue "character" sometimes on the VO too - the Softube Tubetech CL1B has done very well for me lately on stuff very similar to this, just as an example.

I will usually also carve a subtle dip in the music bed around 2-4k-ish (again, depends on the voice) to "make room" for the VO. Sometimes I do it on the whole track but it it costs you any 'detail' then you can always automate an EQ to do it with the fade.

Personally, I'd bring the BG music down (volume) even a bit more as well.

EQ is to taste and voice-dependent but I'll put a hipass on at 80hz almost as a matter of habit and then start messing around around that 2-4k area again. If you have a good EQ then a small boost is not necessarily a bad thing to "counter" any cuts you've made on the music - the contrast will work very well and help it "pop."

Good luck...

[mikevarela]

I agree, I'd say dip the music a little. Remember that the dialogue is king here, even though you spent a lot of time on the music (sounds great by the way) the client wants the message to be heard.

The voice sound weak, lack of conviction and strength. Compression will definitely help (for this type of commercial work, even 6db gain reduction can sound great), as will bringing it up in the mix (or dipping the music). It needs some more low end ooomf - this is probably because the mic wasn't close enough. Try a few takes with a dynamic, using the proximity effect to your advantage.

Also, you might be trying to save money.. but a good voice over artist is just that, an artist!. Maybe audition some friends or hire a VO guy. Of all the voice overs I've recorded, the working artists are hands down 90% of the sound, the rest is editing and plugs.

[Quadrophonic73]

Yeah after I finished it I realized what a bonehead move I just pulled. I did the singing through my 414 and just left it on to do the VO when I have a brand new SM7 sitting in the corner. Derp....

Thanks for the feedback. I'll experiment some more with the compression. The client is happy with it anyway since I've been working for free to build up a reel of my work for the future. I got hooked up with an interesting group of college guys who make short films and commercials of all sorts (I did a 3 minute musical for them last month and right now I'm scoring a 3 minute film in addition to this jingle I just did). They've never worked with a musician before, just samples and music libraries, and I've never made music for anything other than producing my compositions so we're all learning together.

-Alex

[Bill@AudioVision]

Please don't take offense, but I think the main thing lacking is voice direction. Adding emphasis, word pace and rhythm could go a long way to getting this to stand out. You'll have a lot less to do to the recording if you can notch up the performance. Get inside the script, try to memorize it and say the words like you wrote them. Your musical abilities are overshadowing the VO, try to get them on an equal footing.
I like to use the famous music critic line,"Well, they played all the notes.", meaning, the soul and emotion was missing from the performance.
Good luck!

[Quadrophonic73]

Originally Posted by Bill@AudioVision

say the words like you wrote them. Your musical abilities are overshadowing the VO, try to get them on an equal footing.
I like to use the famous music critic line,"Well, they played all the notes.", meaning, the soul and emotion was missing from the performance.
Good luck!

Hehe, I did write the words. I was on a deadline and after singing those insipid lyrics 50 times to get the harmonies right I was pretty zonked out when it came time to do the VO. Now I know I should wait to do that on its own time and spend a lot more time perfecting the delivery. Actually, I'd really like to hire a real VO guy in the future.

Thanks for listening and commenting, and no offense taken at all.

-Alex