Podcasts-Recording and Producing: Using Post-Effects

Now that we have our audio arranged the way we want it is time polish our tracks.

In this section we will talk about using various effects to polish your podcast in the first step of the mixing process, including EQ, reverb, and compression.

Equalization

What is it: Equalization or EQ, is adjusting the volume of specific ranges within a track. For examples just raising or lowering the low end frequencies on a track.

What should I use it for: EQ can be used for a wide variety of things.

• Raising the high end (also known as treble) will add clarity or brightness to your recording. Lowering them will make them should less harsh or tinny, and can often remove high-pitch humming or background noise.
• Raising the middle frequencies will add presence and punch to your sound. Lowering them will give a more ‘clean’ or ‘modern’ sound, but also might make your track sound hollow.
• Raising the low frequencies (also known as bass) will give your track more weight and make it sound warmer. Reducing the bass will make the track less muffled and can be used to cut or low frequency noise, such as a fridge running in the background.

How to use it:

1. Solo the track you want to add eq to, we want to hear it on its own first. To do this click on the ‘solo’ button on the track. It should be the third button from the right and looks like a pair of headphones:

2. click on the show instruments button, or the first button on the left. This should open the presets, and depending on the track you might see options to EQ, such as Bass or Treble, this should work for a podcast, but we do have some more advanced options too.

Equalizer

If you click on the ‘add effects’ button you will see one option is called ‘Equalizer’. This is probably the next best option if you looking for something more advanced than simple ‘bass’ and ‘treble’ knobs. Here you have ten individual sliders that you can adjust, each for a different range of specific frequencies.

Parametric EQ

This is the most advanced equalizer in Soundtrap. To us it go to the ‘add effects’ button under ‘show track’. The Parametric EQ has three different sections, a high, mid and low. The way a parametric eq works is that it allows you to select a specific frequency and either boost or the lower frequencies around it.

The first knob on the left (labeled High Freq, Mid Freq, or Low Freq) lets you select the frequency you want to adjust. The second knob, the ‘gain’ lets you decide how much you want to boost or cut the frequency. The final knob, sometimes referred to as the ‘Q’ sets how wide an area around your selected frequency is going to be effected, just the ones right next to it (turn it all the way to the right) or wide range of nearby frequencies (all the way to the left).

Compression

What is it: Compression is one of the most widely used audio effects and one of the biggest things you can do to make your podcast sound more 'professional'. What Compression does is it makes the loudest parts softer and soft parts louder, in other words it compress the audio closing the gap between the highest and lowest parts of signal.

Why Use It: Almost all recorded audio we come across these days uses compression, from podcasts, to music, to movies and radio. It does a few different things for us:

• It evens out uneven volume- especially with voices volume can change a lot over the course of a recording, compression can prevent listeners from having to constantly adjust the volume.
• It can make a track sound louder, without actually being louder- without getting into the science of it, compression typically does create the impression that a track is louder and adds clarity and presence to the sound

How to Do it: Unfortunately, using compression well and effectively is one of the most difficult things about mixing and producing audio and it's easy to go overboard with compression. Most compressors are complicated tools and knowing how to use one well is one of the biggest things that separates amateurs from professionals. Fortunately, Soundtrap does have a compression effect that is very simple and easy to use. 

Luckily, the Compressor One effect has just a single knob, allowing you to experiment with it easily. The higher the knob, the more compression. Adjust and play around with it until sounds right to you. Also, just as when you were using the equalizer, remember to solo the track first. This single knob compressor should work well enough for anything that we might we want to do. 

If you want to, and feel up to the challenge you can also use the Dynamics Compressor, which works much more like a traditional compressor.

Reverb

What is It: Reverb is an effect that  simulates the reverberations and echoes you get from being in a room, hallway, auditorium or any other enclosed space.

Why Use it: When recording yourself with a microphone (especially if you are using mic that you have to hold close to yourself) the microphone won't pick up the sound of the room. The audio can then sound sterile, stiff, or artificial. Adding a little reverb can help to bring that feeling of being in a room back in. 

How to Use It: Some of the tracks and instruments in Soundtrap have a reverb knob under 'Show Track'. This might work well enough but you might also want to use the Room effect available

This is just a simple one knob effect, the knob adjusts the amount of reverb on the track. You can also adjust the type of room being simulated by using the drop down menu above the knob.