Audio Engineering

Advanced Audio Engineering

Post Processing for Voice Actors

Summary Summary

You have a basic working understanding of how an equalizer or compressor plugin can be used to help tidy up your voiceover recordings to give them a professional sound, but what would you do if you had to re-record some dialogue in a different space - say a hotel room - which sounds completely different to your original audition or submitted recordings, and *you* must provide *finished audio* to match?

The example above is just one of a near-endless number of little tasks that audio engineers face today when working on both studio *and* remotely recorded voiceovers and ADR dialogue. Every voice actor’s home studio has a different acoustic profile, they all use different microphones and interfaces, and not all actors know enough about what happens to their tracks after they stop recording and send off the files.

Over the course of 6 weeks we will take you through time-saving project organization, definitions of and practical excercises in advanced techniques for equalization, compression, de-essing, analyzing & cleaning your noise floor, and much more.

6-weeks.

This class is 6 weeks and will attempt to have multiple timeslots to accomodate all timezones.

Video Recordings

This class is recorded so you'll be able to keep up to date even if you miss a session.

10 Credits

This class takes 10 credits to enroll.

Instructor, TA, and Peer education

This class has an instructor, a TA, and peer run assistance to help answer your questions. This class' format is lecture-based.

Small Class Size

This class' format is feedback-based. There are a limited number of students that can enroll in this class.

Dedicated Weekly Events

This class had a dedicated event specifically designed for it. This is in addition to the normal Closing Credit events.

Outline

Train Your Ears; Improve Your Mixes

Objectives

Week 1: Routing & Signal Flow

After greetings & introductions, dive right in and learn the different names given to different types of tracks in various DAWs and their uses, and then learn how to set up a color coding system to help future you stay organised. Then a practical walk through on Signal Routing in both REAPER and Studio One will finish off this class.

Week 2: Advanced EQ Techniques & Tips

After discussing the different types of EQ hardware & plugins and their uses, you’ll learn about the concept of “Ear Training” and how it can be a beneficial long-term practice. We’ll then explore about how equalization can be used to make the same voice actor sound as similar as possible, despite them having recorded on two different mics in two differently treated rooms.

Week 3: Advanced Compression Techniques & Tips

This lesson will start in a similar way to last week, with a discussion on the different types of compressors - both hardware units and plugins - as well as how-and-why they would have been used. Then Tony will give examples of the different *kinds* of compression techniques that can be used, with explanations on how-or-where each might be useful.

Week 4: Post Production Clean-Up Techniques

We’ll open this week with discussion about how to measure & clean up the noise floor in a recording, and why this is one of the most important first steps to take before doing any other work on voiceovers. We’ll then discuss the processes of de-essing, de-clipping, and de-reverb, and how they can be successfully applied to voiceover recordings.

Week 5: ADR Matching (Reverb)

In this case study-style lesson, Tony will direct Neth in a mock ADR session to record some pickups for a scene from a film. Tony will then demonstrate how to take Neth’s raw audio recording and replicate the space(s) that their dialogue pickups will appear in. This type of reverb-matching / replication is an incredibly powerful tool to have in your mixing arsenal!

Week 6: Working with Picture - Scene Recreation & Sound Design

This final class is also a kind of case study, however Tony will be taking student through the process of completely rebuilding the audio bed, sound effects, and dialogue tracks of a video. This will not only practically demonstrate some of the skills learnt in prior weeks, but will also provide a “live” example of project organisation, sourcing and using music and sound effect files, and learning how to place and process each of these elements in a stereo field and how that differs to working with voiceovers that are typically mono on their own.

Pre-requirements

Previous audio production knowledge and experience strongly recommended.. This class focuses on more advanced post production engineering techniques and skills - it is recommended and preferred that students take the introductory Audio Engineering for Voice Actors for fundamental skills prior to this course.

Software Used

The primary software used in this class will be REAPER as it has a 60 day free evaluation period and the lowest registration cost of any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) available today.

Studio One may also be used in lesson examples.

Neither software is required as the skills taught can be applied in any DAW of your choice. Programs like Audacity and Ocen Audio are *not* DAWs and are not recommended for audio engineering post processing.

Audio Engineering

In a world that has seen an exponential increase in remote-work opportunities in the last few years, the need for multi-skilled individuals in many creative fields has increased also - and voice actors haven’t escaped that shift!

No longer is the job solely about going to someone else’s studio to record, we must know how to set up our own studio at home and everything that comes along with that: sound or acoustic treatment, a technical understanding of our tools, a certain level of competency & troubleshooting skills using computers, and also importantly having an understanding and ability to record, edit, clean-up, and apply post processing engineering skills to our voiceover tracks.

This means leaving programs like Audacity behind and stepping out of our comfort zone to learn how to properly use Digital Audio Workstations, such as Pro Tools, Adobe Audition, Studio One, REAPER, etc.

Standard Member Benefits

What you'll get as a Closing Credits member

Every course comes with extra benefits just for being a member of Closing Credits

Instructor Led Courses

6 to 12 week courses with an industry professional to guide you through.

Closing Credits Community

Access to our private Discord, forums, email lists. Work through fun and interesting challenges with your future colleagues and network.

Weekly Events

New Events, Workshops, Webinars, Panels, and Exercises Weekly.

Material From All Courses

Your interests change, and Closing Credits changes with you. Read and watch all the material from all courses.
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