Should I Use EQ On My Voice Over?
The journey you take by learning voice-over production leads to this question. Should I use EQ for my voice-over? The fact that you are curious about this subject confirms that you are on the right path to becoming a better voice-over producer. EQ is one of the most critical processes used to optimize audio quality. It comes at the end of the production workflow and separates a professional from an amateur voice-over sound. However, before you decide to use EQ on your voice-over, you must consider a few factors.
If you record your voice, the production workflow will be different from if you intend to stream your voice. Once you know your path, you’ll need to see if you will be part of the production workflow before handing it off or will you be handling the entire workflow yourself.
The Role Of EQ On Voice Over Audio
The world of commercial voice-over is a competitive business. Due to robust software and the availability of cutting-edge affordable home studio equipment, more people than ever are looking to be successful in the voice-over market. In addition, an increasing number of people are doing voice-overs for their marketing efforts. Making sure your voice-over can rival your competition or eliminate them can mean life or death.
EQ is a powerful tool that ultimately improves the emotional impact of your voice message. No matter what your voice-over message consists of, your ability to connect emotionally with the listener is imperative. Failing to make an emotional connection with your voice presentation can brand you as unmemorable. In addition, clients and, most importantly, listeners will unlikely want to hear more of what you have to say without compelling content and an attractive voice sound.
EQ on voice is like a filter on an Instagram photo to make it more attractive. EQ works by manipulating the volume of separate frequency segments that, when combined, make up your voice sound. The concept might appear simple, but its uses are vast, and its effect can be staggering. It can accentuate the warmth and weight of your voice sound if necessary. It can remove harsh sounds or thicken a thin-sounding voice if it’s needed. It can also improve voice clarity and help separate the voice from other elements like music or other voices.
When Is EQ Appropriate?
Using EQ on your voice-over depends on where you fall in the order of the ever-important production process. Voice processing happens towards the end of a live broadcast and at the very end of the recording production process. If you are recording a voice-over that is to be sent directly to a client, you’ll want to handle the entire production process yourself and have your audio sound as best as possible. That includes using EQ.
Will your voice-over be sent to someone else for further editing before distributing? Will it be combined with other elements such as music or another voice-over? If you are sending your voice work to a production house to be used as part of more significant production, you are only one of the elements in the project. Likely, more steps need to be taken before effects like EQ are applied. In this case, you may want to skip the EQ process. This choice will give more options to the producer further down the process of constructing the final project.
On the other hand, if the project you are working on will add your voice-over to another production, leaving the voice in its original state is a good idea. This way, EQ and other processing can be applied after the other elements have been added. For example, are you producing voice over for your podcast or Youtube channel? Will it be sent directly to the client hiring you for your voice work? Or are you streaming your voice on Twitch or other live platforms? If you are a one-person shop recording, producing, and distributing your project, you are responsible for the entire production process. Therefore, you can benefit from the use of EQ to optimize your audio.
Become Proficient With EQ
The thought of learning how to EQ may feel intimidating, but once you know how an EQ works, the prospect becomes exciting. Once you understand what the controls of an EQ do, the skill becomes clear. Finally, once you become good at deciphering independent frequency bands and how they interact, you become proficient. EQs come in many types and styles. Today’s producers have an unprecedented opportunity to access affordable software EQ modeled after legendary hardware units of the past. Jump in and play. The more you use an EQ, the better you’ll get at it.
See How The Pros Use EQ On Voice Overs
3 EQ Voice Over Techniques Used By The Pros
What Is A Custom Preset And Why Do I Need One?
A custom processing preset for your voice-over is a series of plugins explicitly tuned for your voice, in your room, and on your microphone. If you want 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 to name a few, 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. The investment pays for itself with the money and time saved. Here are the top reasons why they are so popular:
- A custom processing preset lets you focus on your strengths, leaving more time for pitching your voice-over and less time stumbling with engineering.
- A custom processing preset gives you the confidence necessary to help you perform your best.
- A custom processing preset allows you to outshine the competition, win more auditions, and get more work.
Demo Your Custom Voice-Over Preset Sound Free!
Once you submit your voice for processing, you will be notified if your audio recording quality needs improvement or if it's ready for prime time. If your production quality needs improvement, you will be offered suggestions to help identify and resolve any issues before being asked to resubmit audio. On the other hand, if your audio recording quality is up to par, you will receive a sample of your custom-tuned processed sound to review for free.
About The Author
Lenny B is a professional voice-over audio engineer. Thousands of voice-over artists worldwide trust Lenny to improve their voice-over production quality and presentation.
