In Summary
Wildly varying levels in things like speech or certain instruments can be dealt with using automation into compression, but when the amount of work seems never ending, tools exist to rival the old ways. We show you one of them and how to use it.
Going Deeper
Balancing Acts
Some sources can have wildly varying levels, whereas others seem to behave well with little processing, if any. Flying a static mix that works with the faders staying where they are is possible, but it’s hardly optimum. Engineers 99.9% of the time are going to automate and compress their way to the desired result with the static mix providing only the foundation.
One of the most dynamic sources is the human voice itself. Whether sung or spoken, different voices can have a lot of variation in dynamics and timbre that can conspire to make them either get lost or stick out compared to others. Any program such as film dialogue or concert recordings can feature a huge dynamic range between voices as well as within them.
Fader automation into some compression can go a long way towards striking a balance between the impression of natural dynamics and actual control, but some long form content will take a lot of work. Using a dedicated tool where a broad approach is needed could make life much easier.
Using Sound Radix POWAIR
In the video we use POWAIR from Sound Radix to do the work of a trained human ear. Comprising of an integrated loudness leveller calibrated in LKFS and an original design compressor, POWAIR’s action is broadly comparable to the dynamic balancing act that engineers perform day in, day out.
Taking a selection of spoken word snippets from a live concert recording, we fix their disparate levels that would need hours of manual intervention to fix without Powair. Using its Leveler, we set a target loudness value and demonstrate its ability to ignore very low level unwanted signals. We also set the LU Integration time to balance Powair’s reactivity for the best result. Following that we take advantage of its Adaptive Comp control to get consistent gain reduction despite variations at the input.
Recently I’ve found myself mixing a number of long form concerts with a wide variety of styles and sources. In the video, the excerpt shows the enormous variation in levels which is helped no end by POWAIR’s ability to ride the waves across an enormous dynamic range. Human voice is a great test of any processor’s mettle, and POWAIR has saved me a lot of time and delivered results that come easily and are more fun than the onset of fader-blindness following any automation marathon… Just set the Leveler and tickle its compressor with the result if you like. To paraphrase its creator, now I have the POWAIR…
A Word About This Article
As the Experts team considered how we could better help the community we thought that some of you are time poor and don’t have the time to read a long article or a watch a long video. In 2023 we are going to be trying out articles that have the fast takeaway right at the start and then an opportunity to go deeper if you wish. Let us know if you like this idea in the comments.