The Purpose of Post Processing

I discuss the purpose of post processing and one of the biggest mistakes people make when processing their audio.

00:00 - Intro
00:26 - Step 1: Good Audio Before Record
01:40 - Step 2: Process With a Purpose
02:36 - Step 3: Make It a Good Listening Experience
03:41 - Step 4: Stop That! It Sounds Bad!
05:46 - Outro

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[BrianKRoss]

After 24 years in pro audio, I couldn't agree with you more. More people need to watch this!

[zacksage]

Great video - as a voice actor who does home recordings I've spent so much time and energy learning how to do all this the right way. Most of us consider audio quality an afterthought or think the engineers can just fix it in post, but there's such a difference when everything is done right from start to finish.

[curtisjudd]

I agree with you AND you are just a little bit crazy which is why I love your videos.

[RockG.o.d]

should do a tutorial into recording perfect as possible sound. As a sound engineer,
my tips.
0. remember, shit in/shit out.
1. get as close to your microphone as possible. Some mics, like SM7B you can almost touch the mic with your lips and it sounds amazing, but you need to turn up the gain or get a cloud lifter if the gain isn't enough, or there's other mics like condenser mics, where they pick almost everything up, which are great for sound controlled rooms and recording multiple things in the room and best thing is they don't need as much gain. You also don't need to get as close to the microphone and do have a little more control as to microphone placement.

2. aim to record -6db. can always turn the gain up if its too low, but can't correct clipping.
3. editing should be done to remove any unwanted background noise like breathing or clacking.
4. post processing, compressor/eq ect.. so it fits better with what you are going for, or to make it fit with the rest of the audio.

[culturedsquid]

5 years of home studio experience here is the tips I find most important :
1) If your room is untreated : Dynamic > Condenser. Unless you're in a sound booth, condenser microphones will just pick up noise, not just room noise like reverb and stuff, they will pick other things in the house, they'll pick up the truck or the motorcycle that just did a fly by etc. dynamic microphones are less sensitive and you'll get away with some of these things.
2) Never get only one take : Even if the take sounds great to you, always get at least 2, ideally 3. Because you never know, maybe overtime you'll notice a little detail that goes unnoticed at first, the recording is where the magic actually happens, half assed recordings always sound bad and unnatural.
3) Background noise removal : It is easy and it helps get rid of preamp hissing and some background stuff
4) Microphones sound the best when they're being themselves : Your mic is tuned this way for a reason, do as little as possible, because otherwise you'll end up with an unnatural sound.
5) "test" your recording through as many things as possible. Whenever I record something, I test the audio out of my booth headphones, my reference, my daily driver earbuds, sometimes through cheap earbuds, my speakers and a phone speaker. To get an idea of how it'll sound, to everyone
6) Don't bother with usb mics: If you're serious about recording something quality, usb mics are not for you, sure they'll humiliate any webcam mic, but a cheap xlr mic with a cheap audio interface will be better, and will offer cleaner gain and better upgrade paths .
7) If your recording sounds wrong, it's you fault : You don't need a Shure SM7B, you don't need a Neumann to sound good, a cheap Behringer can do the trick. If you sound like shit, it's almost never your equipment's fault, You'd sound bad out of an expensive setup too.

[_thewidow_]

These new relatively short guides are a very nice addition to your channel!! Much appreciated!

[treecavecreative]

Bandrew...Thank you. THANK YOU! As a post pro for spoken word (audiobooks) and this is the most difficult/frustrating part of the work that I do with my clients and students and will be linking to and sharing this to the end of time. THANK YOU! Keep doing what you do.

[northsurrey]

Great video as always! I would add that the “sound”, including post-processing, should match the emotions in the content. Eg Don’t overcompress and eq an emotional or sad story. Bear in mind your intended audience demographic too and be empathetic. Always go for intelligibility and listen on as much different kit as possible before publishing.
Mark (37 years doing this stuff at BBC Radio and still not always getting it right!)

[ramabay]

Totally agree with you. Based on your reviews we ended up recording audio books with the Procaster as well as the RE20. Still I do love to fiddle around in RX for subtle mouth de-clicks and such, but to have an unedited rough cut that could be just loudness normalized and published like that is just a joy to work with.

[SparkY]

Here's a tip for the newbies trying to get into streaming: Don't learn how to process audio by watching advertisements on youtube.
Bonus tip: The famous streamer trying to sell you a streambeets subscription or some USB affiliate garbage that can be "just as good" as an expensive studio mic doesn't actually want your stream to sound good. You're not just his/her customer, you're also their competition.

[NewHampshireWild]

Thanks for the spiel, Bandrew!! Post-processing for audiobooks has become less hectic. I've done over 50 now and it wasn't until book 42 I was in okay shape thanks to audio peeps like you.

[JoeCastellon]

Guilty as charged. I've used post processing to essentially change the way my voice sounds, as well as removing background noise and what not. I will now limit my post processing to removing background noise and do little to no EQ. Thanks Bandrew.

[michaelhotten]

Totally agree that great audio starts at the mic. But also believe that there is a time and place for post processing. In my case, my audience is often listening while working out. I need to make sure our content is not drowned out by the sounds of the listener's environment. So yeah, I do reach for an eq, stage some compression and limiting to help my audio cut through. I also use the same effects to create a little excitement when the content changes gear. It is also my goal to make sure that all the voices in our podcast are level matched. We are a show that helps people reach an athletic goal and we try to keep the positive energy flowing on a content and audio level. So I would say, know your audience first and then respond with the kind of dynamics and EQ that best fits how they listen to your content.

[gabrielforsberg]

I want these videos to be called "Audio rants" so bad 🥺 I love it so much

[LowDoughTech]

I really appreciate these commentary videos. Helps self-directed learners like myself to make necessary improvements when we can grasp what should(and shouldn't) be done. Thanks!

[Adamantiumsporks]

I needed this video a couple years ago when I was first starting out in Audiobooks. Hopefully this prevents folks from doing the same mistakes. You don't need that compression, past me! You don't!

[IAmNeomic]

A lot of people don't seem to understand that the "phat" radio vocal sound was out of necessity rather than an artistic choice. Radio signals are inherently very noisy, so we use a lot of tricks to get around that, the most common being pre- and de-emphasis. Basically, all of the signals coming out of the studio are boosted in certain frequency ranges (pre-emphasis or PE), and then the receiver in your radio will look for a metadata flag that tells it whether to apply de-emphasis (DE). This lowers those frequencies back down, which also lowers the signal noise in those ranges too, making the signal artificially sound "cleaner". The problem though is that some stations started boosting past the needs of PE, and thus when DE is applied, you have that "thick" radio sound that makes the DJs sound like James Earl Jones.

[RocknRollkat]

You are absolutely CORRECT.
99% of all post processing is UNNECESSARY if you recorded the signal correctly 'going in'.
Bill P.

[BlurredTrees]

So right. With music too. This saves so much in mixing. People waste endless amounts of time thinking they need to add stuff.

[jrkern]

The mad-lad does it again! I completely agree with this video and epitomizes my work as a podcast post-producer. I'm definitely going to be saving this video for the future.