How to EQ Your Dialogue from Start to Finish: Editing Step 7

^{(Hear audio example in blue box)}

We've made it to the end of the editing phase learning to use EQ to remove resonances and soothe sibilance.

Now, we'll learn how to get your podcast recording's sound one step closer to a professional sounding voice recording.

So, how do we use an EQ to do broad sculpting or to sweeten the tone of our voice recordings during editing?

Why Are We Doing This?

You might find broad sculpting or sweetening with EQ more commonly in the mastering phase. Perhaps as part of a dialogue mastering chain.

However, there are no hard and fast rules in workflow, so long as the voice recording sounds good when all the processing is done.

Of course, sweetening or broad sculpting with EQ is done to improve the final sound for your listeners.

You want to deliver your voice recording in a way that is as clear, intelligible and beautiful sounding as possible and learning this technique can really help.

With the continued sculpting of the overall tone of the dialogue, we're bringing it ever closer to a finished and professional sounding product.

I did my sweetening and sculpting step here at the end of the editing process because it worked well for my workflow.

Doing it here helped to minimize the tonal shaping I had to do in mastering and also lessened the CPU load in my mastering session (less high quality plug-ins used at the same time).

What Direction Do You Take?

But how do you know where to get started with your broad sculpting?

Isn't there an EQ preset that can be used on all your voice recordings to make them sound good?

Unfortunately no, because this method doesn't take into account all the variables that go into the sound of individual voice recordings.

Things like the room, the microphone and especially the individuality of our voices change the tone of each recording.

This leaves us with different sounding voice recordings which is why you can't just plug in a "dialogue sweetener" EQ preset and expect it to improve any voice recording that's processed by it.

Until you get very familiar with the way your voice and room will be recorded with your particular mic, you'll want to dial in EQ settings that are tailored for each voice recording.

To learn how to set up these tailored EQ settings, let listening guide your EQ moves.

Start by listening and comparing your voice recording to a good sounding reference recording and this comparison will guide your EQ decisions!

Specifically, you would volume match your recording to the reference recording and then listen carefully back and forth to both.

Listen for tonal differences between the reference and your recording and take notes that you'll refer to for your EQ sculpting and sweetening.

For more guidance on how to compare to a reference recording see my video: "Puny to Professional Sounding Voice Recordings | A New Way to Listen".

As an example, for my voice-over project, the notes that I gathered from my listening comparison led to the broad EQ moves seen in the image below.

My exact findings were:

• that my voice-over had less of an open sounding top end and upper midrange compared to the reference...
  
  
• that my recording even sounded a bit muffled in comparison to the clear sound of the reference...
  
  
• but that the reference sounded a touch sibilant in that upper midrange area.

^{[ EQ Balancing Moves for Voice-Over Recording ]}

How Do You Do It?

So how do you translate the findings above into broad EQ sculpting moves and nudge your voice recording closer to the pleasing tone of your reference?

Here was some of my thinking based off of my notes that may guide your EQ moves as well:

• I knew that I would need some broad boosting in the upper midrange and top end ======> Because my voice-over had less of an open sounding top end / upper midrange
  
  
• At the same time, sibilance in those areas above would become more of a problem ======> Because my boosting from above includes typical sibilant areas
  
  
• Another way to bring out those upper mids and top would be to reduce in the lower midrange ======> So there could be less boosting higher up and less of the added sibilance issue
  
  
• However, I didn't want to lose too much of the heft and body found in the lower areas ======> While still aiming to unveil that muffled sound from my notes, so everything in balance and moderation.

A great tool for the kind of broad sculpting and sweetening we're doing is the TDR SlickEQ Mastering plug-in.

It has some really wonderful sounding filter bands optimized for broad EQ sculpting, but you could use any EQ where you can set the broadness of the bands.

To take the next step toward learning to translate problems in your voice recordings to simple audio corrections, grab this valuable, but free resource:

Voice Recording Problem Solving Guide

Here are my settings on the TDR SlickEQ Mastering EQ (see below) to see how my thinking above translated into certain EQ moves:

• fairly broad 0.5 dB bell boost at 2293 Hz: to open up some more midrange clarity in my voice while trying to affect the sibilant area above as little as possible
  
  
• more steep -2.0 dB bell cut at 4.6 kHz: this is to reduce the problem sibilant area while it's being boosted a bit with the various boosts around it (mostly 2 of them - bell and tilt filters)
  
  
• somewhat steep 1.0 dB high shelf boost at 8.5 kHz: this opens the top end above the sibilant area while the slope tries to reduce as it approaches the sibilant spot below it
  
  
• 0.5 dB boost of special brightness or tilt filter: this filter simultaneously cuts the lower midrange (tilts down) while it boosts (tilts up) the upper mids and highs 

 ^{[ Close-Up: EQ Moves for Voice-Over Recording ]}

AUDIO EXAMPLE (at top of page in blue box):

Listen to the before and after audio from my voice-over project to hear how these EQ moves changed the sound of my audio:

• the before version will play, then the after version - two times in a row
  
  
• the difference in sound is very subtle (may not be obvious at first) - in my headphones I can hear a touch more of the upper mids and top end coming through in the after example
  
  
• see if you can hear the difference as well!

***NOTE: listen with your best set of headphones unless you're really confident in the acoustics of your room.

I've got some acoustic treatment in my room, but know that there are still problems in the low-mids where it sounds like there's more mud or content in those frequencies than there really is when listening on monitors (but headphones take care of this issue).

Broadly Speaking

In review, remember that broad EQ sculpting helps to bring our voice recordings one step closer to a professional sounding podcast, voice-over for video or sermon. 

Next, to know what EQ moves to make, first compare your voice recording to a good sounding reference recording and note the differences in tone.

Finally, begin your EQ moves by addressing the problems or differences in tone from your notes.

Try out broad filters with small boosts or cuts for general tone shaping (for example: "it needs more heft" or "it has too much upper midrange" or "it needs more top end").

Don't forget that broad cutting in one general area can effectually boost its opposite. Namely, broadly reducing lows can bring out highs or reducing highs can make up for not enough lows.

Try your hand at broad EQ sculpting and sweetening today by following these simple steps.

With practice, you'll notice the difference in your voice recordings and your listeners will enjoy the beautiful tone coming through their speakers!

Have you used these steps on a recent voice recording? How did they help?

Cheers, Bryan
Your Dialogue Editing Mentor