How to necessary is it to learn compression/equalization?

[Cyath]

Hi all. Thanks for the help on my other thread. I want to start a YT channel for song covers, but I thought I'd do a little research first.

I once attended a voice acting class where the teacher taught us a little basic equalization (which I have forgotten now...) I'd like to know just how important knowing mixing techniques is to producing a quality recording. I have a Steinberg pre-amp for better recording quality, but do I need to know more than that? Or can I just get away with recording as it is?

I fiddled a bit with it in Audacity but I don't note an increase in sound quality either way. Of course I am not a professional.

Any advice is welcome!

 

[Steenamaroo]

Hi there, and welcome to HR,

Necessary is defined by your personal needs and circumstances.
If you want to capture a natural dynamic performance and are not concerned with the idea of competing with commercial releases, in terms of volume, then you may not need compression at all.
Compression is used to make things less dynamic which, in turn, means the whole thing can be (seem) louder.

Say you have three levels - Shout, speak, and whisper.
If I compress that heavily, then turn it up, the shouts are still shouts, the speaks are shouts, and the whispers are speaks. See?

EQ, again, just depends. If you have good gear and a good environment and your source sounds good (read:in the ideal world) you won't need EQ.
In the real world, you probably will.

Whether it's as simple as rolling off a little bass or boosting high end slightly to make your recording slightly brighter, it's probably good to have these tools in your arsenal.


The aim of your channel should play a part in your approach.
If you have a snazzy well produced channel with great graphics and introductions, then a vocal performance recorded in a bathroom with a webcam, that's not going to fit well.
If, on the other hand, your videos are very personal and low-fi, it's probably not a big deal.

Tell us more.

 

[Cyath]

Sure! Thanks for the interest and reply.

Well I have a lot going on in my life so I'm not going to be too ambitious with my channel (at least at first) I plan to do covers of anime and game songs and see where I would want to go from there. I don't mind learning whatever it takes to make my sound better, but slowly does it (I'm a fulltime student and work on the side)

I do have :

4 years of musical training (and a lot of unofficial training...)
Steinberg Cubase UR 22 (so my sound is at least decent!)
Kaotix Eyeball (for better recording)
JTS - PDM 3 Dynamic Mic

I've been told my setup is above average for a home studio. I didn't want to drop a lot of money into it, but I did want to do a little better than just Sound Recorded and an on-board mic.

 

[ecc83]

I wonder what "modern mixing thinking" would make of the attached clip?

Ella's voice makes you jump! Especially if listening on cans. The fact is however 'if you had been THERE' that is what you would have heard, the voice coming in some 10dB over the guitar.

I am NO mixer (ears are shot for one thing) and I have no opportunity to record musicians these days but to 'mess' with that track WITHOUT the artist's permissions would be arrogant and sacrilege IMHO.

I would suggest the OP learns basic mic techniques (Ella maybe could have done with some!?) but also the nuts and bolts of sound? Noise floors, gain staging, decibels and FCS, go out and LISTEN to some live music! Preferably acoustic jazz or classical.

Dave.