Make Your Voice Sound Better - Vocal EQ Zones

This video is an in-depth look at post-production EQ for dialogue. This could be for a podcast, voice over or KZbin video where you want the audio to sound professional. I will be breaking down the frequency spectrum into 6 zones to keep the video focused. These zones should be used as a guide only and will have to be adjusted to your dialogue or voice. I would never suggest copying exactly what I do and I hope you use your ears to guide your final EQ choices. These techniques work with condenser and dynamic microphones and with all room sizes.
►Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:10 - 0Hz to 50Hz
2:10 - 50Hz to 200Hz
6:40 - 200Hz to 600Hz
9:00 - 600Hz to 4kHz
10:00 - 4kHz - 8kHz
12:00 - 8kHz+
Room modes calculator: amcoustics.com/tools
Edit: The bandwidth control on the analog style EQ does not actually affect the low boost I was doing. I set it before listening so I wasn’t really aware. Note - sometimes you should read the manual before turning dials randomly!
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[@Podcastage]

Thank you so much for this. You’re saying important things here! 1st) the high pass. I hear people advocating for 80 - 120Hz, and that has always been so aggressive for spoken word. Also the amount of super sizzly and grainy sounding podcasts because folks crank up a high shelf from 5kHz above. Great tutorial here my friend. Keep up the great work.

[@inthemix]

I’m glad you have experienced the same as me. Blessed to have approval from the KZbin VO expert!

[@Design475]

That's high praise!

[@bryan25cool]

Hey Bandrew! Stickers!

[@rosemayangwa]

That was me high shelf from 5khz to deess😫

[@evanbowers8282]

No surprise to me that I see my favorite microphone reviewer commenting on one of my new favorite mixing/production youtubers. Both of you guys have been so helpful to me, a 33 year old who got fed up and finally committed to my own home studio. You guys are a god send! Thank you In The Mix and Podcastage!

[@PingWine]

Finally a guide that doesn't just tell you to boost treble by 12db or something stupid like that

[@DannySullivanMusic]

We needed this

[@ReeseWitherknife]

I've yet to see a video suggest something like that

[@kole076]

@@ReeseWitherknife sounds like you're watching better sources of information.. lol

[@MohdAadilMalik-sj5kd]

You nailed it

[@survive678]

@@ReeseWitherknife there's alot

[@PaulDavids]

*taking notes* Excellent video!

[@inthemix]

Your video and audio quality is top tier Paul! I’m looking forward to that new acoustic course you are making :)

[@schoolyardchampions]

Woah. Two dudes collaborating that i’m stealing secrets from!🙇‍♀️ 🙇‍♂️

[@SeaCryptWeave]

yeah, it is a great video! let me grab my notebook as well! *scribble scribble* ^^ pleasant pleasantries! I also admire both your works! i hope to catch up and be a public creator soon too! I am working hard on it!

[@dejazO0]

you take note i take the girl DEAL?

[@joelstephenson8017]

Paul😮 the most cinematic guitarist on youtube!

[@belewis]

haha he didn't dare correct the wife's voice

[@supjay3945]

Not funny. If you know what will happen

[@inthemix]

►Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 1:10 - 0Hz to 50Hz 2:10 - 50Hz to 200Hz 6:40 - 200Hz to 600Hz 9:00 - 600Hz to 4kHz 10:00 - 4kHz - 8kHz 12:00 - 8kHz+

[@SibaNL]

@@somamahapatra6672 what?

[@magnusgotander7788]

A new Curtis 😉

[@functionalcurve]

Boosting above 8k to get “air” is useful and common in music production for vocal tracks, which is why you hear people talking about that. But dialogue mixing is an entirely different thing than mixing singers into a music track.

[@BruceCarbonLakeriver]

yep besides vocal compression :)

[@nathandorris896]

I found that out. I've done music mixing for years and I brought some things that are great in that field over that was causing me to struggle. I think I'm on the right track now but this video was great to find that what I was hearing wasn't weird.

[@jasonfella265]

Yep exactly. Singing vocals and voice-over vocals are two different animals. There is a little overlap, but definitely need to be handled differently.

[@AVMusic2612]

The videos just keep getting better. Best teacher on KZbin

[@JTFuller]

facts

[@TMOrtseambeats]

Watch Fl studio tips

[@nickpavlou5023]

He's great

[@halfdayofthejackal9372]

Agree, well mannered fellow too.

[@eliasmeza2484]

Your channel is the best for FL tutorials. Everything is professional and to the point. Not only that, your teaching methods are simple and that is what makes your videos amazing. You deserve more attention man! Love your content!

[@CarlBergsdorf]

I can’t thank you enough for this tutorial. I’ve never been really happy with the vocals on my videos but I’m sure this is going to help me improve them a ton further on, especially that part about the room resonance.

[@jidenshaotoko]

Honestly, this video alone deserves 1 billion views. This is by far the most comprehensive and easy to understand video on the subject I've seen on KZbin. It helps you understand what you're doing and why you're doing it. Thank you very much for all the effort and hard work! Wish you the best.

[@crypticvisionary]

I've watched countless EQ'ing for voice videos, and this one has by far been the most in depth. Appreciate you!

[@trinakae]

You explain everything so well in all of your videos. Instead of just showing us how to do something, you always explain why. The why is the most important part! I find this incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for these amazing videos!

[@spacetrig]

This is so good, thank you for making this. I used the Room Mode Calculator and EQd out the problematic resonant frequencies it pointed out, and it made it sound so much better!

[@Georgies_Chronicle]

I’ve been an audio student for over 2 years and his is by far the best explanation I’ve heard to date on eq, thank you for making this video!🙏

[@brian.francisco]

My god, this was INCREDIBLY helpful! So many videos out there are just like "This is how an EQ works, every mic and voice is different, so you'll have to play around with it to get it right". Thank you so much for actually delving into what it is we're supposed to look for when tuning vocal EQ, I understand all settings will differ in the end, but knowing what it is to look for immediately got me on 500% better footing to start with than any other video out there

[@markpeters2317]

dude... that's how EQing works. those are smart people telling you every mic and voice is different. I'll go further. Every combination of room, voice, mic, AND preamp is GUARANTEED to sound different and react differently to the SAME identical processing. engineers who tell you "every mic/voice is different" are smart. Smart like philosophers who admit they know nothing in the grand scheme because they understand how vast 'true' knowledge is, and how nuanced things are. EVERY mic and EVERY voice requires unique processing. the point of being a good audio engineer isn't to apply mindless cookie cutter recipes to recording & mixing; the point is to understand the frequency spectrum itself, and react accordingly based on what session you're currently working on. There is no "one size fits all" approach. its either you understand the frequencies, or you don't. Time and experience is the only thing that can truly improve your ability to create great audio. its not rocket science, but its also MUCH more nuanced and contextual than you could possibly imagine. Good luck to you in your journey. Hopefully you look back at this and say "what the hell was I thinking?? now I understand what I'm doing!"

[@brian.francisco]

@@markpeters2317 @asher myers I probably won't look back at this particular post and think "what the hell was I thinking?" because I never suggested that someone give me a one size fits all answer to how to EQ vocals. In fact, my post states pretty clearly exactly what I was thinking; I understand there are too many variables at play to tell each person exactly how to EQ their particular tracks, but to say "it's different for everyone, play around with it" and call it a day is lazy. Especially when this video here exists to show that you can give people general sound editing know-how so they are least know where to start when they begin to "play around with it". The video gave me exactly what I wanted; a general how-to on troubleshooting audio. "This freq range is usually associated with this stuff", "if you're hearing this noise, you might want to have a look in this range or this range", etc. Every other mic video I could find was literally just "well, it's gonna be different for everyone, so you'll just have to figure out out" with zero first-step guidance.

[@MrCool144]

My favorite music production channel for a reason. Well spoken, knowledgeable, practical and calm demeanor.

[@DeeNelsonDee_nels_on_duty]

8:50 man was scoring points for his wife to say her voice is perfect just the way it is, i see you brother cant wait to flaunt my wife's voice like that😂😂😂😂

[@inthemix]

You got me!

[@rhydes_]

I just finished recording a voice over and I'm about to get into editing it. This video helped so much! Now I have a better understanding of what I'm going for

[@D-Man_Jam]

This is such useful information that youre just giving out for free. Most appreciative. I've even heard voice recordings from massive youtubers that forget to cut the extreme lows when they hit a mic stand.

[@gaberthesnipergaming8335]

Two years later, your time put into this video is still useful. Thank you for uploading this! Very insightful info

[@firebolt81zee24]

I love this man! He's so good! Thank you for all the help!

[@chroniclesofalpha]

I'm officially watching In The Mix on an hourly basis. That's 45 minutes of In The Mix and then 15 minutes of relaxing while watching In The Mix. Unbelievable comparisons, analogies and such golden knowledge coming from this guy. Beyond thankful!

[@shotgun9922]

Same lol. Discovered this guy yesterday. Because I don't have a lot of time to produce before work (I work weird hours), I just stick to learning from this channel until I have enough free time to produce again. I'm actually taking notes and making a document for all sorts of tips on plugins, mixing etc. It's literally golden.

[@StrangeTales135]

You have no idea how much help this video provides to people that are new to the youtube/recording world. It's insane 100/10

[@WighTShadoW]

You are the best and my favorite production instructor. When I have a question or an issue in my studio- I go right to your channel. Ty for sharing. 💯❤

[@mukeshpathak7302]

Thank you so much, bro. Your channel has helped me so much. TBH I can't afford to learn these mixing and production from paid courses that are available but whatever I've gained through these free tutorials on your channels are worth a million dollar content. Someday I'll be big in the music scene and I'll tell you thanks from the stage. But for now, God bless you man, thanks a ton for putting so much of your knowledge and experience into these videos.

[@Aromotsax]

Dude, thank you so much for these videos! I payed 15k to go to college a few years back and I’ve learnt more from your KZbin channel than I did from college! Crazy

[@thirstyblood]

That was exactly what I needed. Thank you, I am not really good with my voice as I never trained it. So your videos help me understand the program and additionally what I have to keep in mind when recording. Your explanations are perfect. Keep up the good teacher role :)

[@HSE_VO]

I always used FX on my voice, but I never really understood how everything worked. But this video really opened my eyes! My voice-over audio is gonna sound so much better now. Thank you so much! I'm going to watch the compression tutorial now, and I plan to watch the rest of your videos in this series.

[@workoutsontwitch1687]

Love this concept of color zones. Im finally starting to conceptualize the frequency spectrum better and seeing this made things clear. Just a friendly suggestion but you should do this for other sounds like synths, kick, etc. Major props keep up the great work man love your channel

[@muchobandz]

I second this

[@hellafarious2782]

Would of been helpful to hear a final A/B after all the cuts/boosts

[@DJPastaYaY]

Your detailed and concise videos are always helpful!

[@creatingourownlane]

Best vocal Eq tutorial I’ve seen on YT hands down! 💯

[@bishalbarman1160]

Damn.. I'd love hear a poem from you... your voice is so relaxing

[@DannySullivanMusic]

It really is. Calm as hell!

[@WighTShadoW]

That is an excellent idea!

[@snowjix]

Its almost like he knows how to make his voice sound good.. kind of a wierd idea tho idk.

[@chandlerclark3826]

Amazing video. I think one of the reasons why some people suggest pushing the low cut off all the way up to 100hz has a lot to do with voice over artists often working with 'voice under video.' I've found that adding too much low end, while it sounds nice on its own, my deep voice tends to sound muddy once its actually put to a commercial or animation.

[@ennasound]

Thank you! I have watched so many videos which said that it's fine to low cut up to 100 or even 150 Hz. And I always struggle with having too thin vocals. This is the best example for "less is more" 🙏 Also, thanks for the quick mic angle tip to point it towards one's chest. Super helpful!

[@BlackNomad1]

Your timing of this is impeccable! Thank you! Just what I needed help with. Great work :) Now to figure out how to “solo” individual bands in Reaper!

[@Syy]

Super helpful. Thank you so much.

[@steezyplaya452]

I finally came around a video that just tells me what each frequency does without going on rants as they almost always seem to confuse me more than I am to begin with. I am new to EQing and it’s very complicated since I have poor experience with it. Thankful for this video man. Subscribing, Liking and commenting 😂👍🏻

[@productionleandre8670]

Thank you for sharing your thought on how you think about treating vocal! I finally have the courage to create creative content here on youtube and your video helped me to create better recording. I love what you do :D

[@fly_8659]

Ok, now this is *the best tutorial* on how to approach fixing up a voice. I've watched lots of tutorials on setting up EQ with Voicemeeter and OBS for streaming, which often boil down to *remove sibilant S sounds, cut off low frequency at 100, adjust X so that your voice sounds better*. With FL Studio's visuals and the clear instructions in this video, I finally get it!

[@BrunoGaspar10]

Man, I'm Brazilian, and tbh with you, we don't find any channel like this in portuguese, this content is gold for producers and Audio Engineers starting their careers, thank you so much for uploading this videos! It's helping me a lot to get the results that I want! Stay safe, Luv u!

[@inthemix]

Obrigado Bruno!

[@dandanliu6500]

This was amazing. Thank you. Can you create a video that shows what all of the sounds sound like? Like boxy? Aggressive? Shimmer? Silky top end? It would be so helpful to have a reference.

[@TheChromaKid]

your channel is an absolute blessing

[@lukejackson1116]

Loving this channel and all the value you give to mix engineers. Thank you for such a great video and great channel overall!

[@vickatnite_]

“As autumn takes a grip on the Highlands and Islands... I lose a lot of that warmth” -In the Mix 2021

[@linmusic69]

Today I came to know you are married 😂 ( belated congratulations )

[@WAZA___]

Brave guy..

[@FortHipHop]

I thought his age was around 17 years old. Congrats!

[@lordofthewoods]

Not sure why that would make someone come, but hey... whatever floats your boat : )

[@andreduarte7206]

thank you for this awesome video! you mentioned really important points, some of which I couldn’t agree with most eq approaches before. the high pass felt really balanced and the high shelf kept the voice very nice to hear for longer periods of time. i see too many videos where these frequencies are pulled so loud that, yes it makes a voice sound brighter, but very harsh to listen specially for longer periods of time. keep up the great work! ✌🏻

[@caizza3]

Bloody brilliant. Great every time I watch your explanations of technicals and all!

[@hadyshiekhal-ared6653]

This is my favorite show ever.. can we please learn something about vocals harmonies and how to actually take them and mix them please.. much love 🤍

[@akonubeng977]

Yes please help us with vocal harmonies and mixing only vocal harmonies

[@YXMATU]

Been waiting for this one since I saw your ig story

[@inthemix]

Thanks!

[@YXMATU]

@@inthemix just finished watching this...another gem from you bro keep the good work up❤

[@DannySullivanMusic]

^^^

[@muviso6]

This has helped me soooooo much with my vocals. Other videos on mixing are complete useless if you don’t know the basics of eq. Thank you so much 🙏🏽🔥🔥

[@brandonquick4659]

FIrst EQ video where i actually feel like i've learned something ... Thank You man!!!

[@AstralYouth]

me who owns a cheap mic : *taking notes*

[@DannySullivanMusic]

^^^

[@msb8013]

Me too. I'm still going to use the built in mic and instrument mics.

[@KAMO99]

Litterally using a headset mic that has white noise just as loud as my vocal

[@msb8013]

@@KAMO99 you can also convert any crappy headphone into a mic. Some are so bad you have to put your lips against the phone. If they are going to use megaphones in recording and compress and distort, the easy way is to mix for your crappy mics. Don't be suckered into dumping money into microphones or preforming surgery on a bad track. Even with bad mics a good performance can come through.

[@sweeneybanac1613]

^^^^

[@Comedy4cast]

As you kept replaying the phrase "so the wind whips up the sea" I began to wonder if you have any suggestions for a good problem areas sample sentence or two to have talent record at the beginning of a session. Something that ticks the boxes on most of the common issues that need addressing. I figure that would be a good benchmark to use to adjust EQ and other plugins.

[@anshuljain8515]

You could look into Harvard Sentences. They're essentially a lot of phrases written specifically for testing out the clarity of voices over phones, microphones, etc

[@Dave-Rough-Diamond-Dunn]

The old "one two, one one two two" is a good start. It might drive people nuts, but "one" brings out any booming and standing waves, and "two" is good for plosives and sibilance, plus that whining sound. As a vocalist I've said "one two, one one two two" possibly millions of times, but that's what works best for EQing vocals. Once you're experienced, you learn how to make the problems surface quickly just by saying "one two" in the right way, making getting a basic EQ set up very quickly. Expose the potential problems with "one two" at the start and EQing that persons' vocals becomes easy.

[@6-Iron]

Outstanding. Thank you sir. I work on corporate videos that are produced in-house. I’m constantly dealing with poorly recorded audio with all sorts of issues. Knowing how to work with a parametric EQ will be extremely helpful.

[@LeonDeVoseII]

I am a beginning podcaster. I saw on another podcast recommendations about sound, but I could not remember which one. I did a search, and yours was the first most practical. Now, I will go through my subscription library and find the first one that I saw discussing this; I am subscribing.

[@swschilke]

If you figured out the EQ settings for your voice with a specific Microphon, does these values stay the same or will it vary? I.e., can I save it as a preset and always use it? Could you do more about audio postprocessing for dialogue, voice over and podcasting? Kind regards .

[@inthemix]

It will be similar but each microphone will have it’s own balance and will focus the voice differently. I would make small adjustments if changing microphones

[@Crowbar11115]

I'm a full-time VO guy...it's best to tweak EQ for each Mic. Set up a template in your DAW for each of your mics and use the appropriate template for each project. If you are going to do Voice Acting (projects that involve whispers/talking/screaming) set up templates for specific performances...I have a separate Template for gigs that require me to be right up on the mic versus "narration" projects. It sounds tedious at first but you will thank yourself in the long run. With 1 click you'll be ready to record a specific mic in a specific scenario...even better, if you need to do any edits/overdubs you can just pull up the exact settings from the original session and match the EQ perfectly. Trust me, Clients LOVE it if you can actually nail overdubs. I've lost track of how many bonus payments I've received just for a proper undetectable edit.

[@inthemix]

@@Crowbar11115 thanks for the info!

[@omicron-prsnl9806]

If you really want to turn the audio spectrum into swiss cheese, at least use a dynamic EQ.

[@tubetone74]

I'm watching this over and over. Sir, you are a great teacher and I'm learning good skills. Many thanks!

[@mlotmadeit7291]

a lot of youtube tutorials skip steps and leave out so information. thank you for providing so much useful knowledge all these years ✌

[@matthiul702]

im having trouble getting my voice to "get over" the beat, it sounds very confided in the track, what do i do?

[@ilikelegos4247]

boost highs and high mids as u like. remove some lows if ur beat is bass heavy. soundgoodizer (C) at 10-30% really boosts the vibe of vocals

[@skyespearfishing]

Cracking video do you think you could do your bigger brother a favour and sort out my audio! For my KZbin?

[@inthemix]

I’ve already offered...you just need to send it over bro

[@olau5478]

@@inthemix lol

[@skyespearfishing]

@USA Ozetesh nope just wanted to see if my brother would pin 📌 my comment 😂

[@inthemix]

@USA Ozetesh I see you

[@jasonanthonywebster8859]

I haven't used FL Studio, I do watch in the mix every chance I can, I can't wait to put his knowledge to make wonders

[@jenks_TV]

One of the best videos I've seen on EQ, thank you!

[@pianofingers8660]

Oh my gosh this cleared a loooot of things up for me. Thank you so much you deserve all the best :DDD

[@frikkie]

This is the tutorial I was looking for! Thanks Michael. The information provided is really helpful.

[@HenriqueOliveiraBR]

I can't believe this content is for free. Thank so much, man! You're a legend.

[@hfranke07]

As a voiceover artist and a boardmember of the Clan Donald Society of the Highlands and Islands, I love your video. Not only the great EQ work, but also the great BBC text of Stephen Moss. Thanks.

[@BryanV4]

This is an amazing video. It is structured in such a useful way - I actually EQd my own song side-by-side and it actually came out incredibly clean by the end of this video. Trained my ear a bit too.

[@andreas1701d]

Just fantastic... Thanks for this, you made my future audio infinitely better in less than 15 minutes. Cheers!

[@steveaustin8817]

THANKS! So far, the best tutorial on this important topic - simple and PRACTICAL!

[@SclimBeats]

This is the best vocal eq tutorial I have ever seen thanks you!

[@kodiakthejuggler]

This is great! Excellent knowledge to be gained here. Thanks for the video!

[@troymosher4877]

Thanks, dude. Understandable and to the point, and somehow exactly what I needed to finish touching up this old recording.

[@mastrebliw4179]

I was just gonna start recording for finals (project) when this popped up. Sometimes i think you're so helpful that it's almost scary. Love it

[@tombuck]

There's so much insanely helpful info here, I know I'm years late to the party, but thank you!

[@zajlord2930]

this is so cool how you watch your voice and hunt things down in your voice and shit... absolute magic

[@DeepanshuJainstrings]

i dont know why nobody teaches like him ....he is the best . took notes, now going to use them . thank you so much sir #respect

[@vaishnavsharmaofficial2057]

Great to see you back in action bro.. Keep it coming 🙂..!!✌️

[@marvinjonathan1093]

You are my favourite channel. The way you explain are just easy to absorb, Thank u

[@tshansen]

Amazing... thank you so much. This was pretty much a home run for my level editing. Great stuff 👏🏻

[@retlwiz]

Subbed. Great to have in-depth stuff on this and really clear, structured presentation. Good visuals in your set-up, too.

[@patricioalvarez6979]

DUDE, your videos are gold

[@richarsenault1004]

So much information in this video. I have come back a few times just to take it all in again. Thank you .

[@RaoulsRandomVideos]

Thanks for the awesome tutorial. Just purchased my first Interface and a AT2020, and now my untreated room is making me cry. I wanted to record my sisters songs and improve the audio quality of my youtube videos. This video has helped me a lot to tackle the resonance issue I was having.

[@bleunoirmobile]

Wow!!! At last, I can see what the sound looks like... and more important what it does. Thanks for making it so simple to understand (although there is still a lot to learn for me).

[@DieterVanHolder]

This is the vocal EQ video I've always dreamed of! Thank you very much!

[@lukewilsontv]

this is awesome, thanks for doing such a great job visualizing and attacking the resonant frequencies

[@emmanueljoseph546]

You keep simplifying it the more .....really good one & thank you.

[@user-mb8rf7qk5q]

I truly appreciate this explanation so much. I’ve never understood EQ no matter how it was explained. I finally do.

[@DaleStrickland]

Amazing video, I need to relearn a lot of these concepts; you've provided a valuable resource!

[@gastibarroule]

Beautiful tutorial! And your voice is quite peaceful! Great work.

[@sirfanatical8763]

Thanks man. I never thought that EQ is important but now I know how I can set my voice to sound like these big youtubers. thanks

[@Plucks_IEM_Wonderland]

What a coincidence! I just started making videos and was wondering how to compress and EQ my vocals, and I saw this video. Great video as always, could always learn a lot from your videos.

[@dekafmusic]

70% of my mixing and mastering knowledge is from your page. This video helped me a lot when it comes to knowing what exactly to look forward to when eq-ing. As an artist who's doing the whole independent thing i appreciate pages like yours. Imma shout you out when i get my grammy in 2025.

[@TC_Conner]

Probably one of The Best tutorials on vocal EQ I’ve watched to date!

[@delgadorozay8403]

Amazing Amazing video, Love the detailed explanation. Ive learned a lot about "Eq'ing" just from how you broke it down for me. Keep up the good work my guy !

[@nnajiharrison5486]

You're simply amazing!!! Thanks for this video 🥰

[@clearthought9736]

Official beat/mix tutorial ASMR. Besides that he’s my favorite. Great work as always.

[@zillazilla1967]

i have been watching your tutorials and it has really helped my music production alot.now i mix and master like a pro,all because of you.thanks alot buddy.i hope we meet one on one someday..bless up🙏

[@jae2production]

Thank you for this tutorial. I always have this up as a reference when doing vocals.