Skip to main content
D
DigitalSoju
Known Participant
October 17, 2018
Question

What should I do to my audio after a shoot?

  • October 17, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 637 views

Hi,

I've made several viral youtube videos, but never really learned audio on a professional level. I've mostly learned from watching tutorials online. I wanted to get better in regards to audio, so I was hoping to get some help from those of you better versed in audio than me.

Equipment for a typical shoot:

  • Multiple (wireless) Rodelink filmaker kits (3-5 typically). Recording at -20 db
  • Zoom H6 (recording wav at a sample rate of 48000 hz)

On a typical shoot, I mic up the talent with with a Rode filmaker kit wireless mic. We typically use 3-5 wireless mics per shoot which all plug into a Zoom H6, recording each mic into separate wav files. On the Rode receiver, I pop the back open and set it to record at -20 db for each mic. Our videos are typically about food and usually shot at restaurants, so we get some background noise and sometimes humming sounds from refrigerators. If you're curious, here is a sample of how a typical shoot might look: https://imgur.com/gallery/ZhtYxxY

Post shoot workflow:

  • I take the wav files and open them up in Adobe Audition
  • I use "Speech volume leveler" to better compress the audio and level things out
    • I don't know what the best settings are, but this is what I've been using:
      • Target volume level: -10 db (RMS)
      • Leveling amount: 50%
      • Target Dynamic range 45 db
  • If necessary, I try to remove the humming sounds or background noise using "Noise reduction (process)"
  • Then I normalize to -3

This is the part I'm not really confident about. I'm always unsure what to use as the settings for "Speech volume leveler" or if there's a better compressor I should use.

After that I sync my audio in Premiere pro and try to cut out the other mics when they're not speaking (using razor tool). I had originally just left all the mics on because I thought it was too much work, but I found it sounds much better to cut out the mics of the parts when they're not speaking. I don't make a lot of changes to the audio at this point unless there are some parts of the audio I need to use a 'gain' on.

Am I doing this right? Is there anything I'm doing wrong or could be doing better? I wanna get better at this, so I thought this would be the best place to ask. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

SteveG_AudioMasters_
Community Expert
SteveG_AudioMasters_Community Expert
Community Expert
October 17, 2018

In principle you're doing all the right things. There is almost certainly a workflow that would let you achieve individual mic muting without having to razor stuff out, but you'd need to experiment with the whole 'round trip' thing between Premiere and Audition to optimise this. I'm almost certainly not the best person to talk about that, as it's not a part of my normal workflow - you'd need somebody who actually uses it, I think. That said, it's a developing part of the relationship between Premiere and Audition and is potentially very powerful. Yeah, I really ought to try it - I know...

As for compression and speech leveling, it's quite simple - if you like, and don't get complaints about, the processing you're doing, then it's the right thing to do - simple. But with all of these things, it's your ears you should be trusting, not some numbers, which will be different for everybody, as nobody's audio is ever the same as anybody else's. I think I would have gone for a slightly lower target volume level though - setting it at the maximum setting doesn't give the processor as much leeway, Everything other than the default setting uses -18dB...

Yes there are other tools you can use for compression and limiting, but in your case I suspect that they'd be rather harder to set up. The basic aim of this type of processing on speech is the same, though - you limit the peaks, and this allows you to increase the level of the 'body ' of the speech without overload. Where the Volume Leveler scores is that it has target levels, which can make the final level choice for you quite sensibly, which can save a lot of time.

ryclark
ryclark
Participating Frequently
October 17, 2018

You should possibly do your steps in the opposite order. First Normalise the files, secondly remove hum/background noise whilst it is at the same level throughout the audio and then do the Compression/Leveling. Hopefully then the final files should be at the correct level, although final tweaking can be done at the mixing stage when you add all the tracks together

If you have the very latest version 12 of Audition there are a couple of new effects that might simplify setting up your workflow. There is now a DeNoise effect that may make noise reduction easier. Also a more Premiere like Dynamics effect could help your experimenting with Compression of the speech.

Applying noise reduction techniques and restoration effects

Adjust the amplitude and compression effects

    D
    DigitalSojuAuthor
    Known Participant
    October 17, 2018

    Thanks for your reply ryclark​

    Will definitely check out the new effects since I upgraded last night.Also about normalizing, shouldn't I do it last because I want to bring the final levels to -3 (for example)?

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices