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Tweaking narration to perfection
by Craig Anderton
Sony Vegas software allows even those with minimal video chops to make at least credible videos. But where a lot of people betray their inexperience is with narration: Muffled sounds, variations in volume, background noise, and other issues can diminish a video's impact. The following tips will help you get the best possible narration.
Condenser vs. dynamic mics. Most pro narrators would agree that a condenser mic, with its clean high end that improves articulation, is the best choice. But try every mic you have; some voices work well with dynamic or ribbon mics.
The instant vocal booth. If there are too many room reflections, the narration may have a "hollow" quality. Short of doing full acoustic treatment, sE Electronics' Reflexion Filter is a portable acoustic baffle that fits on a mic stand, and provides a dead area behind the mic to minimize pickup of reflections. RealTraps and Modtrap offer similar products.
Use EQ to cut through. Use the Track EQ to roll off the lows below about 100Hz with a 24dB/octave slope (this helps reduce plosives like P and B sounds), and boost the highs to emphasize the sibilants, which increases intelligibility.
Compression is your friend. Vegas software's Track Compressor can help make the narration's level more consistent and "present." The screen shot shows about 6dB of gain reduction, which gives an effective boost of 6dB without distortion.
Use fades to minimize breath sounds and plosives. With Vegas software, you can "slip-edit" a clip to remove distracting breath sounds and inhales (also note that compression tends to bring up their levels). However, this can result in an unnatural sound, so try reducing, rather than eliminating, these artifacts. You can use a volume envelope, but it's usually faster just to add a fade-in over the inhale. Vegas software offers five different fade-in curves; in the screen shot, an exponential fade-in is being chosen.
Figure 1: A fade-in reduces the level of the start of a narrated phrase to reduce inhale sounds. Also, compression is helping boost the vocals, while EQ removes ultra-low frequencies and boosts the highs for increased intelligibility.
Crossfade between sections of narration. Unless you can do your narration in one take, odds are you'll record multiple clips of audio. Do not just cut off the clips - always use a fade-out or fade-in. If two clips are butted up against each other, crossfade them for a smoother transition.
The Sound Forge connection. Although Vegas software has excellent audio processing, Sound Forge can really clean up narration.
- Apply noise reduction to remove mic preamp hiss, computer fan noise, and the like. This can take a track from quiet to pristine.
- Use the Normalize function on individual phrases or sentences so that the narration is at a consistent level before adding compression.
- Sound Forge software's Wave Hammer plug-in is stellar for boosting vocals, as is the Mastering Limiter. (Of course, if you have Sound Forge software, you can also insert these plug-ins into a Vegas track.)
- A subtle amount of reverb can help make narration "sit" better in a video. Vegas and Sound Forge software both offer reverb plug-ins.
Bottom line: Make your narration as good as possible, and people will respond better to the video content as well.
Craig Anderton is Executive Editor for EQ Magazine, and Editor-in-Chief for www.harmony-central.com. He also plays in the band EV2 with Public Enemy's Brian Hardgroove, and lectures on technology and the arts.
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