Voice Over Recording Levels Vs. Mastering Levels. They Are Different And Here's Why.

How do the pros get their voice-over so loud? How can you get a loud recording if everyone tells you to lower the recording level? The answer is mastering, and you'll understand once you see how it is accomplished in this video. Recording and mastering are two separate processes that, when combined together, give you control and loudness while retaining the intended sound.
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Equipment In This Video:
Scheps Omni Channel by Waves: waves.alzt.net/15ZNma
FabFilter Pro-Q 3 EQ sweetwater.sjv.io/Qyj6XY
Fabfilter Pro-L2 Brickwall Limiter sweetwater.sjv.io/R5mdL9
My Gear
Universal Audio Apollo Twin sweetwater.sjv.io/zNxjVm
Neumann TLM 103 Microphone sweetwater.sjv.io/0ZQ6ZL
About Lenny:
Audio engineer, producer, and radio broadcast professional located in Southern California.
Website www.lennyb.com
A custom processing preset by Lenny B for voice-over is a series of plugins explicitly tuned for your voice, in your room, and on your microphone. To compete in today's voice-over world, you must ensure that your demos and auditions are extraordinary. Voice-over artists at every experience level from all over the world are fighting to win work. However, if you don't have a professional sound, you will lose out to someone who does. Custom voice-over processing presets can take your audio presentation quality to the level necessary to compete with the pros. Instead of taking it upon yourself to tweak the parameters like EQ compression, DeEssing, and saturation, you can hire a professional voice-over audio engineer to create it for you. Once you have the custom preset on your system, you have "The Sound" every time you press the record button.
Affiliate Disclosure
Some of the links on this page are links to affiliate websites, and I receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links. My affiliates include Sweetwater, Waves, and Amazon.

[@simonswiss]

I am learning so much through your channel, thank you so much. Always wondered how to boost the audio how to boost the noise floor and unwanted frequencies - thinking about the EQ/processing as one step, and adding the limited after on the master channel is a big eye opener to me and I wish I knew this, makes total sense now that I think about it!

[@cyberdefenseddi]

Can’t wait for more !

[@calleybliss]

This was so helpful, thanks Lenny. The description of signal levels at each stage is something that I realized I didn't know what is "recommended." Thanks for breaking it down.

[@UnderstandingUKPrivateTrusts]

Awesome Teaching. Thank you so much for clarifying

[@CaraHillVoiceoverArtist]

Wow! Awesome! 😃

[@olakunle5139]

You the man for this!!!! Thank You

[@cwalling1438]

Well presented and covers an area I don't fully understand yet.

[@themidstream]

Brilliant.

[@nunojorgenjstudio7954]

Nice tip, Lenny. Thanks

[@DrPedroCastroLopes]

Olá Nuno Viva, afinal já somos dois os Portugueses (pelo menos) que seguem o Lenny B. Abraço. By the way Lenny, that custom preset that you've made for me.... just fenomenal!! Thanks for helping us out.

[@rildoalves333]

Lenny B Você é um excelente profissional. Seus vídeos estão me ajudando muito. PARABENS .

[@stevejeffery4857]

Holy sh*t! I gotta get me one of those! I've been pushing it to the edge manually and\or normalizing... and still haven't been happy with the results. This is a no-brainer! You are my new hero sir!

[@HeyLennyB]

I love to hear this. Thanks for watching!

[@999Lucas]

Like ice in a great cocktail, levels and gain in general are oft overlooked, and a critical, backbreaking part of the task. That headroom is there for flavor and smoothness. Its not like recording a bass or guitar DI where you slam the channel diode and let an EQ shave off the fuzz.

[@marcguillemette2399]

What an absolute revelation! I am hooked! I was so intent on normalizing audio between 6 and 3. THIS is way better. WOW!

[@HeyLennyB]

@Marc Guillemette I felt the same way when I first learned about this. Thanks for watching

[@AjushiPhotography]

Would love a video on using Saturn 2 for voice overs - I can’t find one on KZbin 🙏

[@HeyLennyB]

Hi Ajushi, I've been wanting to do that too! As soon as Saturn goes on sale, I'm going to get it. You may see that video soon! Thanks for watching.

[@finitudeimperial8930]

THANK YOU!! Finally I understand now that Recording levels and Mastering Levels are different!! So recording levels should live between -18db and -10db? But Mastering levels should be what exactly? What decibel should Mastering levels come out to? I think it says -3db in your limiter. So should Mastering levels not ever come out more than -3db?? thank you once again for this informative video

[@HeyLennyB]

Ah, that's where you may be getting confused. Mastering levels are not usually measured in dB; they are measured in LUFS, which is average loudness based on human hearing. To master correctly, you must use a loudness meter, not a peak or VU meter. Also, Loudness level targets are different for different platforms. For example, KZbin requests your master to be -14 LUFS; Apple Music is -16 LUFS, Spotify is -14 LUFS, etc. So, you need to find the loudness target for the specific platform you will post the audio on and then master that. I hope that helps. Thanks for watching!

[@EmerichJ]

Hey Lenny, do tv shows master the vocals first and then put in with the rest of the mix like with sound effects and music or do they take the entirety of the sounds and then master it?

[@HeyLennyB]

Hi @EmerichJ, that's a great question!!! The "mastering" process is usually done after everything else. However, there are some situations where you might process (like adding EQ and compression) to groups of tracks in a project. This is referred to as "Bus Processing." For example, you may add a limiter to a "Mix Bus" where all the dialogue tracks are routed through. Or you may add a limiter to just the sound effects on a "Mix Bus," where all of the sound effects are routed through. Even if mix bus processing is used, mastering is still applied at the very end of everything. Learning this concept helped me understand that adding these types of effects in a series like this is usually a delicate process because a little goes a long way. I hope this answers your question. Thanks for reaching out and watching my videos!!! 👍

[@EmerichJ]

@@HeyLennyB Thanks man appreciate it!

[@covetedpixel3238]

I see that you have the True Peak Limit set at -1db, but what about the general LUFS level, I have heard conflicting advice between -23 LUFS, to -16 LUFS with a TPL of -1db to -2db. Awesome channel by the way!

[@HeyLennyB]

Hey Coveted Pixel, I believe there is conflict advice because it depends on if you are data compressing the file (like to an mp3 or mp4 for video) or not. It also depends on where the audio is going or what platform it will be posted to. Do you have a specific format and destination? I didn't get that specific that in this video because there are quite a few variations. Thanks for watching!!!

[@covetedpixel3238]

@@HeyLennyB This would just be for submitting a Voice-Over audition in .WAV for my wife, when no particular specs are provided, for the potential client to evaluate. We don't want them to be too quiet relative to other submissions nor so loud that it is offensive or too tiring to listen to. Thanks!

[@HeyLennyB]

Yup, great point. The voice over world has totally changed. Competing online with auditions is often the difference between success or being passed on. If it was up to me, for a .wav file, I'd set my TPL to -1db and shoot for a -16 to -14 LUFS. I think the chance that you'd impress the client with the "big sound" would over shadow the potential to offend. If it was a mellow type read, I'd probably pull back a but on the LUFS level. That would be my approach.

[@covetedpixel3238]

@@HeyLennyB That's very helpful, I really appreciate your time and input. My wife already submitted her info for your custom VO chain service. One last thing to thank you for, it is SO much easier (at least for me) to gain stage using the VU meters, I can visualize and see what's what so much better using those. (Maybe because I am so familiar with them from the long-long-ago) I had been scared away from using VU meters on digital audio, and I will still use Waves Loudness Meter for output, but for gain staging and comparisons, VU works great. Thank you!

[@HeyLennyB]

Ha ha yes, I love the VU meters too. I used them Long-long-long ago too :). Are your wife's initials NL? Thanks

[@mitchkaye5174]

Wow. i will get back to you.

[@jclbuxfan]

I’ve seen Rico on fiverr . Does really good

[@marlonmitchell355]

👍🏾🤜🏾♨️✌🏾

[@michaell.445]

What about all the sticky mouth noises

[@HeyLennyB]

Hi Michael, I always suggest using "mic techniques" that help eliminate those noises before they ever get to the microphone. Any of the restoration or "RX" plugins may help fix those problems, but they all degrade the ultimate quality/fidelity of the recording. I try by best not to resort to plugins to eliminate clicks, noise, breathes, etc... It's best to address those types of problems at the source in my opinion. I hope that helps. I think I may just do a few KZbin videos featuring those specific mic techniques.