| Production Tip:
EQ’ing A Voice Track To Cut Through On The Radio
One of the biggest misconceptions about achieving that “bigger than life” voice in a radio promo or sweeper is “the more bottom end in the voice track the bigger the voice will sound.” Most of the time the only thing that gets bigger when you boost the bass frequencies is the mess you end up with. Here is a screenshot of the Wave’s 6 Band Renaissance EQ Plug-in. If you understand the concept of this EQ curve you can duplicate the effect with any other EQ. The basic idea behind it is reducing the bottom end below about 150hz. Then giving the voice track little boosts at several frequencies that are important in human speech. These are right around 150hz, just below 2k, between 4 and 5kz, and around 10k. This leaves plenty of sonic room on the bottom end and in the valleys for the music and effects to cut through with punch and power without fighting with the voice track. Try it and experiment and you’ll see how this is a great way to make your sweepers cut through the music while still blending with it. Every voice is different so make sure to play with each eq's "Q" as well as the exact frequency and amount of boost.
|
|
| Production Tip:
Setting Your Delay For A Voiceover Stereo Spread Effect
Do you want your mono voice track to jump out of both speakers while still delivering the message clearly - even when played back in mono - play around with these delay settings. The screenshot is of the Adobe Audition Delay Plug-In - but these settings will translate to any platform. The effect comes from the short (but slightly different) delay times in both channels (19 ms - Left and 6.2 ms - Right). You still want the original voice track to come through along with the delayed signal - so start with a 60% mix of dry voice track in each channel and adjust your mix from there. Click on the screenshot to see a larger picture if you'd like a closer look at the settings.
|
| Production Tip:
EQ Setting for Cleaning-up Phone Audio
With line buzz and hiss, the best place to start cleaning up listener audio over the phone is with subtractive EQ. Start by getting rid of all those frequencies that don’t add anything to the clarity of the voice. Get rid of everything above and below the voice range using high and low pass filters set to about 500 hz (high pass) and 5k (low pass). Then play around with a tight "Q" setting to find and boost the sweet spot that will really helps the caller’s voice cut through.
If you'd like to see more of these "Production Tips" - shoot us an e-mail (tips@rickallencreative.com) and we'll let you know when we add new ones.
|
|
| Rick On Two Conclave Production Panels
Rick has spoken at many audio and radio conferences... but one of his favorite memories was speaking on two different production panels back at the 2006 Conclave Radio Convention in Minneapolis. The morning panel was a group of experts each speaking about specific digital recording systems. Rick was there to discuss his experience and expertise with Pro Tools. The afternoon session was a general discussion about current trends in radio station imaging and how to cut through the clutter and drive your message home to the listener in entertaining ways. The reaction of people there to some of Rick's thoughts and suggestions about the art and science of making your production stand out - was the reason Rick started adding various EQ and other production tips to our web site.
|
|
| The Story Behind The Old "Behind" Ad
It's been said we bend over backwards at Rick Allen Creative Services to make sure production people get the sounds they need. But Rick's wife Tammy, pitched in as our "pitch" woman and bent over the other way for this shot. At the time they were just dating. Seems even today she never has a problem turning the other "cheeks" for a camera. Rick admits this ad was the inspiration to expand his love of the digital world into video. You'll have to admit you can understand one of the many reasons he married her.
Check out some of the new imaging sweeprs from Climax (click here...)
|
|
| The Annual Production Dinner
Yes - the rumors are true. Many years ago for over 6 years - we loved throwing a dinner party for production people - with the emphasis on "party." Wild things happened when you filled a room with free food, free drinks and people like Eric Chase, Jim Cook, Jeff Thomas, Kwazi, Ron Shapiro, Bryan Apple, Jeff Berlin, Robert Dudzic, Kelly Kelly Kelly and... well, you figure it out - look at the pictures! It was like herding puppies and as much fun to watch! We haven't done one in a few years. Might be about time for another one! What do you think? E-mail us and we just might start planning... party@rickallencreative.com
|
|
