The proper order of audio effects for beginners - sound better series - part 4

Sound Better Series

Author

Master Editor
October 05, 2024

In my last post, I talked about the audio-processing mindset. “Mindset“ seems like a term for motivational speakers, but it has lot to do with audio quality.

If you don’t have the correct mindset or attitude, you will run after a magic that does not exist.

It is okay to think at the beginning that some magic exists, but you also need to realize the reality as soon as you gain some experience.

That’s what separates those who achieve their audio goal from the rest. Let’s explore some effects of the proper mindset.

If you are following my YouTube tutorials, I always provide this sequence:

  1. Normalize

  2. Noise Reduction

  3. EQ

  4. Compressor

  5. Normalize

The above sequence holds true for any audio editing software. This is a beginner-safe sequence that guarantees to improve audio quality.

If your audio quality is not improved after applying the above effects, then the issue is your recording quality.

In such cases, focus on improving recording quality instead of searching for solutions left and right.

I see many beginners waste hundreds of dollars on software, hoping for better audio quality. Any audio software or plugin is not going to magically improve audio quality.

Those software and plugins have specific use cases, and you have to use them for those use cases.

All of these things start with the above five effects. I would like to repeat that those effects are independent of your software.

It does not matter which software you use, you have to follow that order. That is the first step towards making a better sound.

In the above effects, noise reduction is optional. How much noise reduction you have to do depends on your recording quality and the purpose of the recording.

For example, for audiobook narration, you have to follow a specific guideline for noise level. But in content creation or for generic voice over, you do not need to follow such strict rules.

Other than noise reduction, the rest of the above 5 effects are kind of mandatory.

However, the configuration of EQ and Compressor varies from recording to recording. You have to find out the best EQ and compressor settings for your voice and recording setup.

That means if you change the recording setup, the EQ and Compressor settings need to be adjusted.

But that is for advanced-level audio quality. For the beginner level, you can follow the generic guidelines on my YouTube videos.

For Audacity, follow » this video.

For Adobe Audition, follow » this video.

The only consistent effect is the Normalize effect. It does not matter what type of recording you have; the best configuration is to Normalize to -3 dB.

You can follow the Normalize to -3 dB settings in any software with any recording for different purposes.

You should take note of the normalised effect. It is one of the rare audio effects that you can use multiple times without any side effects.

Please read the above sentence again. You can use Normalize multiple times without any side effects on the audio.

You can not use other audio effects at will multiple times. If you use effects like Noise reduction, EQ, or Compression multiple times, it changes the tone and inner quality of the audio.

In case you are using EQ or Compression 2 or 3 times, you must know why you are using it more than once.

But with Normalize, you do not have to worry about audio quality. Normalize acts as a volume control and does not alter the inner quality or balance of the audio.

In my suggested audio effects order, I used Normalize 2 times, at the beginning and at the end.

There are a couple of reasons for using Normalize 2 times. The first Normalize effect sets the peak level of the audio for further processing.

Not every audio recording will have the exact same peak. Once I Normalize it to -3 dB, the peak is set to -3 dB.

The rest of the audio processing is set according to that. If the peak of the audio is not close to -3 dB, the generic compressor settings I use, will not work.

Setting the peak to -3 dB will also let me hear the audio at an ideal volume level.

So, if after the first normalise, I can not hear it properly, my recoridng has some serious problem.

Another benefit of the first Normalize effect is that it creates a 3 dB headroom. Keeping some headroom during the processing is important to avoid distortion during processing.

We can boost some signals in EQ and compression, so some headroom will prevent the signal from being distorted.

The last Normalize is for setting the peak to -3 dB again. Because after the first processing, the peak can be altered significantly.

The last Normalize will set the peak to industry standard -3 dB for the final audio.

So you see lots of going on with those five effects. The order is important for beginners.

An expert audio editor may not follow that sequence, but they know how each effect affects the audio.

For beginners, that order is risk-free. If you learn advanced EQ and compressors techniques, you can get the desired tone of voice using those effects.

You may already have the EQs & Macro pack from me or have seen it before. If you have access to it, you can check the EQ curve on separate macros to study how a particular tone can be achieved.

For example, the EQ curve that makes Clear voice improvement will be different from intelligent voice improvement and so on.

In my next post, I will talk about the “compression sandwich technique”. That term was coined by me, and its purpose is truly magnificent.

Once you know the Compression Sandwich technique, you will have the superpower to achieve any loudness level.

Will see you in that post. In the meantime, if you are looking for a one-stop solution for different audio purposes, you can check the following bundles:

So the new Bundles will be: