Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio

It's very important to know that every compressor is different and it will make your audio sound differently depending on how it processes the gain reduction. There is a time and place for every different style of compressor, and in this episode we listen to 4 different styles of compression at 3 different amounts of compression applied to my voice. JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON! Links: Join the Clean Cut Audiophiles Discord Server! Clean Cut Audio on YouTube UA Article on Compressor Topologies 4SoundEngineers Article of Compressor Topologies IzoTope's 4 Different Types of Compressors SoundBridge Article on Types of Compressors Compressors sampled in this episode: VCA: API 2500 Stereo Buss Compressor by Waves FET: CLA-76 Compressor by Waves Optical: CLA-2A Compressor by Waves Vari-Mu: u73b by Audified My Signal Chain Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm Software: IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves Vocal Rider Waves CLA-2A oeksound Soothe2 Waves LinMB Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter Waves Abbey Road Studio3 -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!- *most of these links are affiliate links Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud Closing Song: Something New by Joakim Karud http://www.joakimkarud.com For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to [email protected]

I vow to never stop talking about local recordings until every podcast on Earth at least KNOWS it's an option. Whether or not they choose to sound good is up to them. A local recording eliminates all the fail points and fidelity degrading processes by writing all your 0's and 1's directly to your computer without any consideration of WiFi strength, bandwidth availability, or whatever noises your cohost is making on the other end. If you're using a platform like Zoom or Skype to record your podcast, keep doing what you're doing, just consider adding a local recording via your DAW of choice, Quicktime, or an interface with onboard recoding options. You'll immediately see a dramatic improvement in your audio quality. JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON! Links: Local v. Zoom Audio Comparison Double Ender Video Using Quicktime in Addition to Zoom Demo Video Consider donating to these foundations: George Floyd Memorial Fund Campaign Zero Reclaim the Block The Bail Project Black Visions Collective My Signal Chain Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm Software: IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves Vocal Rider Waves CLA-76 Waves API 2500 oeksound Soothe2 Waves L2 Limiter Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter Waves Abbey Road Studio3 -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!- *most of these links are affiliate links Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud Closing Song: Love Mode by Joakim Karud http://www.joakimkarud.com For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to [email protected]

When it comes to mixing audio, you'd be hard pressed to find a more lively debate than the one between headphones and studio monitors. There are a LOT of pros and cons to each, and in this episode we explore many of the arguments for each side along with some brief lessons on HRTF (head related transfer function) and the psychoacoustics of how we localize audio in a 3D world. JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON! Links: The Science of Sound 101 Episode Waves Nx Virtual Mix Room Waves Abbey Road Studios3 HRTF (head related transfer function) Gear Suggestions: Affordable Closed Back Headphones Quality Closed Back Headphones Affordable Open Back Headphones Quality Open Back Headphones Affordable Studio Monitors Quality Studio Monitors My Signal Chain Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm Software: IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves Vocal Rider Waves CLA-76 Waves API 2500 Waves PuigTec EQP-1A oeksound Soothe2 Waves L2 Limiter Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter Waves Abbey Road Studio3 -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!- *most of these links are affiliate links Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud Closing Song: Electro Brass by Joakim Karud http://www.joakimkarud.com Find me online! Patreon | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Website

My father always taught me the worst thing you can do is to constantly compare yourselves to others. It can be limiting, anxiety inducing, and can guide you off the path you should be taking in life. Every person, every voice, and every experience is unique and should be treated as such. However! When we're duding our own audio quality, it's important to keep comparing our audio against that of other podcasts and voices that are KNOWN to be of good quality. Here's the reason why... I've said it many times in past episodes, our ears are more susceptible to change than constants. When we listen to nothing but our own audio for an extended period of time, we become deaf to less than ideal qualities in our sound. When we first hit play, we may think "oh, that sounds a bit off...". But after 20 seconds, our ears adjust to the sound and the longer we sit with that audio, the more it becomes normal to us. It's not until we take a break and listen to a show with audio we love that we realize we took a left turn somewhere in our mix and now we have to undo a lot of moves to get back on track. If we take periodic and frequency breaks from our audio to listen to a show with amazing production quality, we will keep our own audio in check, constantly comparing our sound to something great so we know where we should be heading. It's like a beacon of light letting us know which path we should take when we hit a fork in the road. There are several tools we can use to quickly switch back and forth between our audio and the audio of others, but the process of A/Bing can be as simple as you want it to be. Hit pause in your DAW, hit play in the browser of NPRs website. Take stock of the differences in quality. Maybe you'll realize your voice could use a little bit more low end. Maybe it needs a little less midrange, and we wouldn't have noticed that if we didn't have a comparison to look to. This is also extremely helpful to compensate for the coloration of our output devices. In past episodes I've mentioned that EVERYTHING affects how we hear sound. The shape of our ears, the size of the cones in our studio monitors, the quality and accuracy of our headphones, and the environment in which we are listening. When we have something to compare our voice to, we can compensate for the coloration of our output devices, and this is EXTREMELY helpful when we're not 100% comfortable with the way our devices translate sound. JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON! Links: Metric AB by ADPTR (free 14 day trial) Fabfilter ProQ3 (free 30 day trial) Cortex Podcast by Relay FM The Way I Heard It by Mike Rowe My Signal Chain Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm Software: IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves Vocal Rider Waves CLA-76 Waves API 2500 oeksound Soothe2 Waves L2 Limiter Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!- *most of these links are affiliate links Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud Closing Song: Luvly by Joakim Karud http://www.joakimkarud.com Find me online! Patreon | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Website

I wanted the opportunity to let you all know that I'm taking a break from the podcast for a while! I plan on coming back in a few months with a greater sense of purpose, focus, and a stronger grasp of how I can best educate those who are looking to make their podcasts sounds better! If you're looking to stay connected and updated, you can keep up with what's going on in the Discord server or on Patreon! Thank you all so much, and I'll still be seeing you most weeks over on the YouTube channel. Links: Clean Cut Audiophiles Discord Server My Signal Chain Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm Software: IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves Vocal Rider Waves CLA-2A oeksound Soothe2 Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter Waves Abbey Road Studio3 -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!- *most of these links are affiliate links Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud Closing Song: Rainy Days by Joakim Karud http://www.joakimkarud.com For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to [email protected]