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Question

Fatten cheap mics

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
June 16, 2021
6 replies
1299 views

Hello Chums,

I am wokring on dubing & relaying VO tracks a series of films for Africa for a development agency.

Many of the VO rcordings have seeminlgy been recorded on cheaper mics. I have now done dozens of thses short films and I have experiemented with several ways to fatten the sound which often seems to lack presence and tone.

There are some very handy presents in the various standard Audition EQ tools, I am using some compression and other filters for pops, clicks and noise etc. i am using a rboadcast compressor on the master bus and I can manage to have things sounding 'OK".

But, in the never ending quest for decent tone, I'd really like to hear any tips & tricks for sewateing up cheap mics. I appreciate I can't replace what is not there, but there maybe a few nuggets of info out there...

Thanks

How to

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chrisw44157881

Inspiring

EQ first, maybe raise 150hz-200hz. and play with 1150hz, and 4-5khz.

also, sounds like you have some distortion in there.

to get a fuller sound, use multiband compression and enhance certain freq. don't go above 2:1 compression.

mic modeling is to try to make one mic sound like another. you can record pink noise in both mics and match them up in freq graph if you want, but ear is where you want to go.

some high end tools just automate multiband compression but they aren't really 'better'.

there's also transient modelers, but I didn't hear too much high end. just wanted to let you know they exist.

also, for really bad mics, you can add micro studio reverb at 150-170hz which is what some mics do to give warmth. has to be used sparingly and only for isolated ranges.

Andrew JohnstoneAuthor

Known Participant

That's all really helpful. The batch of audio I am wrest;ing with this week is even worse, but all these tips are handy.

SuiteSpot

Inspiring

It is very difficult if not impossible to add something that was never recorded in the first place

Andrew JohnstoneAuthor

Known Participant

Indeed. But the really top knob twiddlers have their own brand of magic sauce...I am just trying to lure them out of their hidey holes for some top tips...!

SteveG_AudioMasters_

Community Expert

My top tip is to try a Mic Modeler... Best microphone modeling plugins

SuiteSpot's right, though. And it's not just about what wasn't recorded, it's also about distortion. And it is absolutely impossible to fix distortion, because you have no reference to what it should have sounded like - and if you had, you wouldn't need to fix it anyway!

EuanWilliamson

Community Expert

Hi Andrew,

I'm not sure of course what you've tried.

I had a look and listen to the file an used the frequency analysis on a section.

It shows a general lack of presence in the bass frequencies.

This analysis was of the section highlighted in the next pic.

A correction made with the FFT filter ( or you could use the parametic equaliser ) boosts the bass frequencies

to counteract the lack in the recording. Perhaps combined with your other "fixes" this may help.

Of course as you say, you have many variations of many mics so it's not possible to find one solution that fits all 😞

Best regards, Euan.

Andrew JohnstoneAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks for taking the time to have a look Euan, I appreciate it.

I have done a lot of bog standard audio dubbing for broadcast TV/docs and as a rule, for a lot of factual content, you don't need to do much more that ensure that the content is audible (!) and the basic tools in FCPX/Premier or whatever are more than adequate to sweeten things up and meet TX requirements.

This project as been a bit more advanced. Some of the files that have been sent in have been bang on. Lots of presence in the recordings, a broad tonal/frequency range, little room tone, so very easy to work with. Other files have been frankly shocking, but the cavet is that that some radio stations in rural parts of africa are no kitted out like a pro studio in London or whereever.

I have been able to fix most things, but those recordings where you can clearly hear that the mic quality is poor are very tough to work on. One trick I have used on a few tracks has been to double them and EQ each track differently (one gets a lot of bass and the other a load of treble for example) and this works quite well. I gues I am just looking for that magic bullet!

EuanWilliamson

Community Expert

Thanks Andrew,

I'll take a listen and get back to you

Best regards, Euan.

Andrew JohnstoneAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks for the reply. Here's a clip - well a few clips bundled together form a scene where a couple are chatting/arguing. There are no FX on this clip, no compression & no EQ. The film sis about contraception & family planning.

You can tell from the performances that there are clearly variations in the actor's position on the mic (eg the shouty bits) there's lots of room/reverb and I am not sure what the singla chain was, but I should imagine that there was pretty much no compression or EQ running before it hits the tape - as it were.

I have had dozens of these short films to work on and each one presents a differnt challenege. I have a retty good process running and as I said depending on the qulity of the input, I can usually get the thing sounding OK, but I realise there will be better dubbing mixers than me out there and I'm always keen to learn...

WD_audio_test_2_track_6.zip

EuanWilliamson

Community Expert

Hi Andrew,

Can you post us a small sample, max 30 secs, of what you have to contend with so we can take a listen 🙂

Best regards, Euan.

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