How to make your Dialogue POP in Post Production!

This video will show you how to make your dialogue sound better using a technique called a basic audio grade. This video will guide you through the process of using EQ plugins to pinpoint and eliminate ugly frequencies in human voices while boosting frequencies which sound great. By the end of the video, you will have an understanding of how basic audio grading works and how it can help improve the sound of your film.
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[@gabinsky]

Oh, yes! Jack...Jackie Boy.

[@brandonmanderson]

I've met this guy before, just in an hour of conversation I learned an entirely new element to audio that I never knew.

[@jasonthesnow]

This video was uploaded at the most perfect time ever. I'm doing a series of like 2-minute shorts on different cast/crew for a theatre production and this made EQing *so incredibly easy* thank you

[@TheFilmLook]

No problem!

[@TheToneWork]

Great video! So helpful! Not many video people appreciate this process, but will spend just as much time (or a lot, at least) color grading and correcting.

[@DefiantFilmsTV]

@@cinema_sound5003 Took your course on MZed, and jeeeeeeez it's comprehensive. Learned a ton though! Best audio course ever.

[@brainwasher3742]

This is a misleading video. First off, there’s nothing called a ‘grade’ in film sound. It’s a mix. Second, this way of subtractive eq is more detrimental to the dialogue than helpful. The dialogue ends up sounding ‘tinny’ and over processed, with the amount of eq bands used to cut unnecessarily. The eq ‘rings’ because you’re using a narrow Q band to sweep the spectrum and simply locating harmonics. The practice of trying to cut all these harmonics is a bit silly. You can’t, without seriously comprising the dialogue tone and quality. Under process always. A well levelled dialogue balance is more valuable than a dialogue track that has had all life squeezed out of it. This tutorial does more harm than good.

[@TheFilmLook]

Calling it an "audio grade" is a simple way to give some video lingo to audio beginners - something they can understand and how it works compared to colour grading, for example. I think anyone who works in sound knows it's a mix, but this video is not for them. This is just the nature of how to market videos on KZbin. For the most part, identifying and reducing those stabbing/whistling harmonics from the dialogue is gonna make it certainly sound more tolerable to the ears. I agree with you, you gotta use your ears and check to see if your processing is doing more harm than good. I'd say the audio in this video needed some heavy subtractive EQ considering the quality of the microphone used and the environment it was recorded in. Mark did a great job transforming our mediocre sound into something a lot nicer on the ears haha

[@brainwasher3742]

The Film Look all right I get how using video jargon makes things easier to understand. In regard to what was needed for the audio in the video, you’re the producer and director, if you like it then it’s good. In my opinion it’s over processed, harmonics will always sound ‘whistly’ when isolated. Thanks for the reply.

[@TheFilmLook]

@@brainwasher3742 No probs Brian, we're always up for a discussion here in the comments. Appreciate the input 👍

[@brainwasher3742]

The Film Look That’s a great attitude. I’ve always felt indie film makers don’t get the sound team they deserve. Take care, also it’s ‘brain’ 😅

[@TheFilmLook]

@@brainwasher3742 Haha all this time I'm thinking you were called Brian Washer! Brain washer...of course!

[@CrocsAreNice]

Why is Spider-Man teaching me filmmaking lol

[@braxtonwoullard1188]

😂😂😂

[@nathancrowe4444]

Uff that is WAY too much resonance reduction. 1. Listening in at +20db will bring out resonances that do not need removing, making you take out far too much of the vocal quality. If you need three different instances of your EQ, you're doing too much. 2. Cutting 10-15 db is also unnecessary. The aim is to REDUCE, not REMOVE resonance. It is so easy to perceive those ringing tones as "problems", but a lot of the time there is also quality within those resonances that get lost when completely removed.

[@adampeters9684]

I work primarily with music and have been starting to dip my toes in the world of film and trying to get a grip on how the fundamentals differ from mixing music, and as soon as I picked up on what he was doing with the EQs here I just about lost it lmaooo

[@mauriciochavez3564]

I don't like this approach either, because there's so much information that you're losing when you cut 10db. I feel that voice is where all the emotion comes from, so just cutting everything is something I don't like. There's something called dynamic eq, I would recommend Nova wich is a free plugin you can load into audition I think and also another daws like reaper, I think the advantage of using audition is that everything is already there but you can do pretty much the same in a different daw, reaper is not free but it has a trial that neves expires. Anyway, what a dynamic eq does is reduce the gain only when a frequency is too loud, so it actually reacts to the performance in real time, instead of just cutting a certain frequency all the time, it may be a bit harder but I think it's better than this. I would also recommend in the mix videos for this kind of topics. Maybe I'm overthinking but whatever, I don't like this but if you're recording a dialogue with only one mic then things are so much worse, because some frequency may be bad for an actor but for the other maybe a bit different, so cutting the frequencies os one will going to kill the voice of the other actor.

[@MattyE_]

Agreed. I work as a dubbing mixer for documentaries and online content & to me this whole process is a classic example of overcomplicating EQ. Usually I use way softer Q values when trying to mix dialogue, and I will only use 3-4 bands usually as in my experience a lot of recordings need cleaning up around the bass frequencies, low mids (300-500 hz) and then some harshness in the top end, but it differs on a case by case basis. I feel like doing it the way that’s told in the vid may produce unnecessary comb filtering and take away a lot of the naturalness in the human voice. As with a lot of things in life, I definitely think that less is more when it comes to mixing. It’s wayyyy better to underdo it than overdo it with audio so a more natural and straightforward approach to eq if essential imo.

[@finder2267]

@@MattyE_ I do a lot of dialogue editing and one thing I dislike is over eqing as well. You could use a less evasive approach and get better results. Also, the translation is horrible in reality. if the end-user puts on headphones (as we dialogue editors do) they will have an uncomfortable listening experience.

[@ApplicableProgramming]

Thank you for this video, i've looked at several tutorials to try to improve my audio for tutorials, but this was the only tutorial that clearly explained how to find the resonating frequencies for the cuts. Thanks!

[@TheFilmLook]

No problem!

[@boomergrace1271]

Whoa...never bought an on-line training before but really... really considering it now! Just when I begin to get comfortable with my craft, I am reminded that I know nothing!

[@Adrian_Liska]

I dont know how that goes in movies.. i only starting to learn. But.. i make mixing in music for some years. And this is the most wrong thing you can do with eq.. just Imagine how many audio content you lose when you make 10db cut every 100 hz. And the results are incredibly unnatural. Please is there difference im the filmmaking?

[@vegardpedersen]

That was some great tips! I am so bad at sound editing, so I will try to use Audition and learn some stuff :-)

[@noobinaction5422]

dope

[@shastablue221]

wow super useful tutorial!

[@gamedevmanti4578]

it never occurred to me that you could use multiple EQs on a track before

[@AdamOpie]

Wow, impressive what you can do to audio!

[@drsjamesserra]

Awesome

[@abhishekkyadav1]

ooh yes!

[@corbo8592]

I didn’t know their was so much to eq!

[@TheFilmLook]

Same!

[@TheArtOfB]

this was an awesome video, great info!

[@harryparlane]

He's very good at this.

[@TheFilmLook]

He really is!

[@GeoffreyPheasantFilm]

Interesting approach. Can I ask, Do you use Audio Compression or a Limiter? As used in music vocal recording?

[@SyedAsad]

Ah yes, jack...jackie boy

[@TheFilmLook]

😅

[@poissonpuerile8897]

Wow! Can't believe Audition's parametric EQ has only 5 bands. The free, top-notch ReaEQ that comes with Cocks' Reaper has unlimited bands.

[@Jawmsie]

Damn. This was incredibly useful information to me. I'm definitely gonna try to apply this info to my next project. Thanks, crew!

[@denebolafilms]

everytime I listen to this Cinemasound guy I feel like his voice has too much EQ tweaking. sounds like he puts a highpass filter or something... compared to the guy from the intro at least which I prefer...

[@KINGDOMKONCEPT]

I've been trying to use this as a reference because I use Logic are there any tutorials for Logic users?

[@ghoulishjoe]

Audio is such a big deal most people don't realize all the tools out there. I mean yeah, microphones, but what about all the nitty gritty? Personally I know I'm trash at it and have a whole team to help me out, it's too big a deal to ignore.

[@GenesisMoss]

I didn't understand a bit of this. Sent it to my audio guy and he knows exactly whats going on here lol

[@TheFilmLook]

Haha once you know the basics, this is really the next level. I'm still practising this technique, it's a little tricky at first, but MAAAN does it improve the audio!

[@iron-bitz6860]

We Love Parametric Eq

[@TheFilmLook]

It is the tool of the gods!

[@taylormaid6721]

@@TheFilmLook it is the precursor tool of the gods...if you find problems, graphic opens the door to a more surgical approach...IMO

[@hamzafundikira9188]

Thanks for the info spiderman lol

[@TheFilmLook]

No problem 👍 🕷️

[@EmilioVela]

Damn, audio is so complex

[@TheFilmLook]

It's the dark art of filmmaking!

[@krustiversial1323]

Scottish tom Holland

[@leondego8445]

by the way u processed your own voice, I can see u don't know anything about sound kiddo

[@showmaster13]

😂 I cannot comprehend how wrong this is. HAS ANYONE HEARD OF COMB FILTERING? If I want to hear glottal stops smacking and clicking I’ll call this guy.