Workflow for Interviews in Audition - Multitrack vs Waveform and Dynamics Clipping

[parkercorr]

Hey all, I'm having some issues with trying to get dynamics to work in Adobe Audition and i'm probably doing the wrong thing!

I cut up interview segments in Premiere Pro and export into Audition so my Dialogue track in Audition is compromised of about 20 short audio clips.

My previous workflow was to stay in the Multitrack editor and then use the Essential Sound Panel to Match Loudness and use Dynamics (setting it to about 3.1) and set the audio to 'Vocal Presence'. However, the audio clips as soon as Dynamics is used. I'm not sure how to combat this.

I tried a new workflow that i found here: How To Make Your Voice Sound Better (Secrets Revealed) - YouTube

However, in that tutorial, the Waveform view is used to add the effects, like Normalise etc. The problem for me is, I have about 20 audio clips that compromise that short piece-to-camera interview, so does that mean i need to go through all 20x clips in the waveform manager and add compression, normalise etc. Won't that also mean that all the clips will be different volumes?

I'm still new to audio mixing and i'm so confused! Thank you everyone for your patience!

-Patrick

[Bob Howes · Accepted solution]

The Essentials Panel tries to make everything easy, sometimes with the effect that the settings don't work well on everything.

There are a couple of things you can try.  First off, in the Essentials Panel, if you scroll right to the bottom, there a volume setting which probably defaults to 0dB.  If you turn that down a bit you should be able to take your track out of clipping.

However, OCD type that I am, I prefer a bit more control.  If it was me, instead of the Essentials Panel, I'd go to the Effects Rack for your track and select Effects/Amplitude and Compression/Single Band Compressor.   In there, try either the Voice Leveler or Voice Over presets (or even Voice Thickener--just listen and see what you like).

On those, the bottom control is "Output Gain".  This allows you to control how much gain is added/removed when the effect is applied.  Try it out and either turn the gain up or down until you get the levels you want without clipping.  As an example, on a normal recording, I tend to add between 4 and 6dB output gain when using Voice Over.  However, the exact setting will depend on how loud your originals are.

Hope this helps.

[parkercorr]

Bob thanks so much! I noticed you give a lot of helpful advice here!

I was wondering if you apply your effects in the Waveform editor or the Multitrack editor?

[ryclark]

Until Bob responds I suspect that he is suggesting that you use the Effects Rack on your Track in the Multitrack view for your Compression.

However often in Post Production sound it is easier to do some basic processing on the original complete interview audio to get levels and add some compression before video editing. But adding it later is no problem if you use Audition's Multitrack view where all the clips will remain in position and, since Multitrack view is non destructive, you can go back and tweak things before doing your final mixdown. You can even come back later after the audio is back in Premiere if further adjustments are required.

[Bob Howes]

Sorry..had a reply half written then my wife called!

Anyway, ryclark is correct--I was suggesting the effects rack in multitrack as a way around your 20 clips.

As a more general reply, I probably do a lot more in Multitrack simply because it's non destructive and also lets me layer multiple effects in one pass. I'd normally only use Waveform for simple applications of a single effect--or for effects that take too much processor power for real time in Multitrack.

Sent from my iPhone

[parkercorr]

Thank you so much!

[parkercorr]

ryclark thank you I really appreciate it!