Podcasts are an extremely popular form of content these days as they provide artists, brands and influencers with a platform from which to engage with their audiences and communities from. Recording a a short podcast is relatively straightforward if a well thought out plan is in place. Editing can also be simple if the recording went smoothly. Mixing a podcast is usually where people start to struggle.
In this free tutorial series, brought to you with the kind support of Waves, we show you a podcast dialog plug-in chain worth experimenting with if you feel your podcast mixes need improving quickly.
Episode 1: Treating Noise
The most common form of noise in a podcast recording is low level hiss which can prove distracting for the listening audience. Noise can be reduced if care was taken prior to recording but often, depending on the gear chosen for the job, the presence of the noise floor is unavoidable. Luckily there are many noise reduction plug-ins which can quickly reduce the level of unwanted hiss which help to both clean up the sound of dialog and make podcasts sound more professional. In this episode we show how Waves NS1 can quickly treat noise before any tone or dynamics shaping is applied.
Episode 2: Addressing The Tone
EQ is as important in podcast mixing as it is in vocal production. Often dialog tracks need EQ to address boomy chatter or sweeten boxy sounding conversations. Mostly, voices need to have a sense of authority. In this episode we show you how EQ can give dialog a powerful yet clean tone.
Episode 3: Dialling In Dynamics
Dynamics is as important in a podcast mix as EQ. Compression works as a general purpose levelling tool to ensure listeners have a pleasurable experience without jumps in level from any of the presents. In this episode you will hear how Waves H-Comp treats the dynamics of this podcast mix.
Episode 4: Sorting Sibilance
Sibilance is a top end harsh sound which many find fatiguing to listen to, especially for long periods of time. Podcasts shows are usually quite long so it is crucial that sibilance is addressed. Compression has a habbit of exaggerating sibilance, which is why this final episode shows you how to use it at the end of the dialog mixing chain.
Visit Waves for more information on all the plug-in used in this series.