GW voice improvements

nuvolablu · Post by **nuvolablu** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:19 am

Hello,
I think GWvoice starts from a good idea,but the realizazion in not done at the state of the art...

to mix voice and music is a difficult job; gw voice do it but not in the best way; the voice shoud play when the music is going down (and not when the music is down)..so it could be usefull to introduce a new parameter to permit that thing.
the same is for whenever the speaker finish and the music grow up...

Thank you in advance.
S.

nuvolablu · Post by **nuvolablu** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:35 am

the best idea I've had is to make:

fade out time 1 (until voice starts to play)
fade in time 1 (until voice finishs to play)
fade volume 1 (until voice starts to play)

and

fade out time 2 (from when voice starts to play)
fade in time 2 (from when voice finishs to play)
fade volume 2 (from when voice starts to play)

it could be easy to program it!, and very very usefull!!!

Best regards.
S:

nuvolablu · Post by **nuvolablu** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:47 am

to permit to have something like that:

________ HERE MUSIC IS FADING OUT
\
\
\ *AT THIS FADE LEVEL VOICE STRARTS TO PLAY
\
\
\ THIS IS THE LEVEL OF THE MUSIC UNDER THE VOICE CLIP
\______________________________________________

nuvolablu · Post by **nuvolablu** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:48 am

to permit to have something like that:

________ HERE MUSIC IS FADING OUT
------------\
-------------\
--------------\ *AT THIS FADE LEVEL VOICE STRARTS TO PLAY
---------------\
----------------\
-----------------\ THIS IS THE LEVEL OF THE MUSIC UNDER THE VOICE CLIP
------------------\______________________________________________

donrandall · Post by **donrandall** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 4:10 am

If you are talking about the "Voiceover" utility, I can tell you that it works very, very well.

You may need to experiment and practice a little bit in order to make it work well for you.

nuvolablu · Post by **nuvolablu** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 5:06 am

I know that it works, but with that improvement can works better.
I mix audio and voice from 15 years...I know what I'm saying....

nuvolablu · Post by **nuvolablu** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 9:16 am

I explain better....
The voice over plug in works pretty well...but after the mod I explained it could works PERFECTLY-the state of the art-.
the point is that between the fade of the music and the start of the voice, there is an hole ( temporal hole and volume hole respect the general program volume)
You haven't to believe me, just do some tests.

Best regards.
S.

Emmett · Post by **Emmett** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 9:01 pm

The best sound comes when music doesn't begin to duck until the voice is heard and is followed by a very fast fade (100-200ms). The best way is to simply do it manually. When completing a thought, music fades up instantly underneath the last 100ms or so of voice. That is the smoothest sound you will ever hear and it only works well manually. Automatic functions equal speed. Manual work equals quality.

donrandall · Post by **donrandall** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:30 pm

know that it works, but with that improvement can works better.
I mix audio and voice from 15 years...I know what I'm saying....

Sorry.

I didn't mean to offend you. Your fifteen years has me beat. I've only been voicing and producing commercials and other audio since 1970.

Emmett · Post by **Emmett** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:35 am

donrandall wrote:
know that it works, but with that improvement can works better.
I mix audio and voice from 15 years...I know what I'm saying....
Sorry.

I didn't mean to offend you. Your fifteen years has me beat. I've only been voicing and producing commercials and other audio since 1970.

He he he...Showing your age, Don. I bet you're a master with a grease pencil! I've never actually had to use a pencil and splicing block, though I've been at it long enough to have worked with some reels and (my favorite) carts.

nuvolablu · Post by **nuvolablu** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:51 pm

if you have so much experience you can't be agree with me....

nuvolablu · Post by **nuvolablu** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:53 pm

Emmett wrote:The best sound comes when music doesn't begin to duck until the voice is heard and is followed by a very fast fade (100-200ms). The best way is to simply do it manually. When completing a thought, music fades up instantly underneath the last 100ms or so of voice. That is the smoothest sound you will ever hear and it only works well manually. Automatic functions equal speed. Manual work equals quality.

so...you are agree with me...

donrandall · Post by **donrandall** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:02 am

He he he...Showing your age, Don. I bet you're a master with a grease pencil! I've never actually had to use a pencil and splicing block, though I've been at it long enough to have worked with some reels and (my favorite) carts.

Well, you are right about the old guy part. You ain't quite so right about that grease pencil stuff though. I used to fumble and bumble around long enough to cobble something together was all. Some days, that razor blade was not my friend. Geeze, I knew guys that would hold the razor blade in their mouth until they were ready for it - - not me! I was taking a great risk just being in the same room with one of 'em.

donrandall · Post by **donrandall** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:27 am

if you have so much experience you can't be agree with me....

I didn't intend to come off as nasty - but I can see where it would be taken that way. I am sorry and I hope you will accept this as my apology.

I was really just hoping to encourage you to experiment with different setting and adjustments on the GW Voice Plug-In before condemning it as not being very good. I have had very good results and find it to be quite satisfactory.

Here is an old trick that might help: Apply some compression to your voiceover before laying it into the mix. Don't overdo it - try using the "Maximize" tool (Effect > Volume > Maximize). 90% should be about right. Then use the Compressor/Expander to knock down the worst of the peaks and level things out just a bit (Effect > Compressor/Expander > Presets > Reduce Peaks). Once you knock down the strays, go back and Maximize at around 90% again and see if your voice track sits in the mix with a little more prominence. You may even repeat that process for a second time - it may work better for you or you may not like it at all. The only way to find out is to experiment.

Another trick that may help is to attenuate certain frequencies in the music track if they are overpowering your voice track. A light touch is best and do this only in that region where the voicetrack will be inserted.

I recommend making a copy of your original voice track and then closing the original and play around with the copy instead of the original.

nuvolablu · Post by **nuvolablu** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:51 am

donrandall wrote:
if you have so much experience you can't be agree with me....
I didn't intend to come off as nasty - but I can see where it would be taken that way. I am sorry and I hope you will accept this as my apology.

this is not the point...I don't want to litigate with you, I only want to illustrate that GWvoice could be improved without a lot of efforts for the programmer.
I already know the "tricks" you shown me, but the point is that tool can be improved and make it the state of the art in voiover.....