Ever wanted to learn how to use the post processing effect EQ? This is two hours of pure EQ talk for your podcast with professional audio engineer Rob Williams. While you still need to get your hands dirty and mess with the settings to truly learn EQ, this episode will help remove the 
first barrier to becoming great at using EQ…knowledge.
The best part of this interview (to me) is the focus on dialog and the human voice. You can find many tutorials for using an EQ to post process your audio but as podcasters we have specific needs. Rob and I dive specifically into what those needs are and how to use an EQ for podcasting (spoken word).
Some of the topics regarding EQ that Rob and I cover include:
- what to know before you ever apply an EQ
- setting up your recording environment to get the best recording possible
- microphone technique and how EQ is affected by the microphone you choose and how you use it
- achieving natural sounding/professional audio. Avoiding over-processing
- dealing with audio issues caused by environmental factors (low-cut filter)
- Creating a custom, signature sound
- Other gear related to post processing such as headphones
Rob and I spend a large amount of time discussing his Vocal EQ Cheat Sheet. This is “all the main frequencies you need to consider when EQing vocals into one easy to follow diagram.”
This is how I found Rob. I was looking for a diagram that would do exactly this and he did a great job on it. Even better, he has generously made it available to us for free with a video that walks you through the entire diagram. It’s a must download and watch if you are going to use EQ for your podcast.
*Links mentioned on this episode (in order of appearance).
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Wow Ray, this just hit the nail on the head for me. Without doubt this has to be the single best podcast episode I have ever listened to. More please!!!
Wow, Richard, I'm completely flattered. That is a BOLD statement;) Thanks again, I really appreciate it and I guess that means you made it all the way to the end! lol. #hardcore
Ray, great show. Being originally from Wisconsin (now in NJ as you know) I have that nasal dialect, so I may adjust the EQ a bit.
Thanks Alan. Remember we're all our own worst critic so don't overdo it, messing with something nobody likely hears anyway;) But definitely experiment! Push it too far so you can hear the difference between subtle and too much. Setup a new template with all the same effects but use the new one to play around with the effects and try new things and this way you won't worry about messing anything up. Have fun and thanks for listening!
This was a great episode, I had come across some of Rob's Youtube tutorials before, but the vocal Eq cheat cheat is great and much more applicable for podcasting, thanks to you both for a great episode.
I have one question: When post processing "less than perfect" audio from Skype, Zoom or Google Hangout podcast interview audio, are there any EQ tips you may have? I have noticed that our Skype interview audio is usually compressed and has certain resonance frequencies, depending also on headsets and mics used by our guests.
So Rob's technique of applying notch filters helps a bit, but do you have other good ways to overcome and "restore" or "fix" audio files when they didn't originate from your own mics?
Thanks Ray, keep up the great work, Cheers, Juergen
Check out this recent episode of Go Creative Show that I just listened to, they talk a little about processing Skype http://gocreativeshow.com/gcs043/. Thanks as always Juergen!
Lots of great information. Thank you for putting together this show. Listening to Rob Williams is a treat. (Listening again on tap.) …always good to hear from a knowing professional. I am certainly going to investigate his class.
Thanks Richard, really glad the interview was helpful!
Great episode @podcasthelper aka Ray Ortega thanks for sharing.
Thanks Carlos!
Really enjoyed this one Ray – keep putting out the detail that actually makes for better recordings!
I've never actually had a good low-down of the segments of the frequency range and what effects they have on a vocal. Great to find out the areas that contribute to boomyness, and where to look to cut down sibbillance. I'm off to try out that frequency sweep technique you were talking about.
Cheers!
Colin
Thank you Colin, will do! Rob\’s EQ chart is great.
Great show Ray. A term that might be helpful to listeners to describe that low end booming sound in some rooms is sympathetic vibration. As we all study and venture in studios, acoustics and have parallel tracks w musicians sympathetic vibration is a term to know. My vrworkforcestudio.com is still under construction and first sample episodes are on track. First podcast to be up for distribution in March. I would have never been able to negotiate the subscription categories and WordPress environment without your help. Your product review on tascam D60 and fethead was awesome. As a lifelong audio head its hard to resist the big voice sound but that is good advice. Thanks for helping new guys get started. Always interested in more shows on interview techniques to get content u want so the editing in post doesn’t take years. I’m using focusrite USB interface with condensor microphones but have the blessing of access to a audiologist test booth on Fridays. Its like recording in heaven. Using TASCAMD5 for field recording so audio from the field is a lot thinner and I have ambient sound that makes spliced field recordings obviously sound more like sound bites. But the audience I’m going for wants those things. Any suggestions on style types for incorporating lots of field clips appreciated. I’m so obsessed with podcasting that every second is being put into the start up learning curve and making the first episode worthy of the listener’s attention. Thank you thank you thank you for all the help with start up
Thanks Rick! So glad I could help. Sounds like you are doing great getting your show up and running, looking forward to hearing some.