Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In this week's session, it's time for some ear training. When working with dialogue audio, I find it helps to train your ears and so that's exactly what we'll do here. We'll use a compressor to help you HEAR how this changes the quality of sound. After that, we answer your sound for video questions.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses at school.learnlightandsound.com including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. We have a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini and just added Introduction to Izotope RX for Dialogue Audio.
Gear I often use or that we mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVE Store, Waves, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Mackie DLZ Creator — B&H, Amazon geni.us/42KrX0
- Earthworks ETHOS microphone — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon geni.us/8G8UdBB
- Sound Devies 888 field recorder/mixer — Trew, B&H, Sweetwater geni.us/zAryW4J
- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon geni.us/O8e0
- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon geni.us/InspOl
- Teleprompter Ikan 17" high bright — B&H geni.us/RcuXD3
- Canon C200 Camera - B&H geni.us/9Zi4m4a
- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 lens — B&H, Amazon geni.us/kZyU7e
- ATEM Mini Extreme & Extreme ISO - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon geni.us/b8my
- Allen & Heath SQ5 Digital Mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon geni.us/sRxFU90
- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, pre-amp, EQ, compressor - Sweetwater, B&H geni.us/9ZfE77
- Universal Audio 6176 channel strip pre-amp, EQ, compressor — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon geni.us/505L55n
The intro and outro music for this episode is from Musicbed. Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself: geni.us/G7by
Copyright 2023, Curtis Judd
00:00 Start
02:37 Beginning of stream
03:15 Agenda
04:06 Compression & ear training!
21:16 About the Hold setting
29:16 Compressing stream audio
36:04 De-essing & reducing sibilance
43:34 Rec pre/post-fader on Zoom F8n
44:23 Zoom F6 timecode cable adapter
48:35 When to avoid compression
49:33 Using low threshold/high ratio combos
50:28 Compressors vs. levelers
52:05 Thoughts on Hollywood
55:46 Signal chain: compression
58:07 Can limiters replace compressors?
1:00:05 Signal chain: phase rotation
1:01:01 Limiter vs. loudness normalization
1:03:15 End of stream
In this week's session, it's time for some ear training. When working with dialogue audio, I find it helps to train your ears and so that's exactly what we'll do here. We'll use a compressor to help you HEAR how this changes the quality of sound. After that, we answer your sound for video questions.
If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses at school.learnlightandsound.com including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. We have a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini and just added Introduction to Izotope RX for Dialogue Audio.
Gear I often use or that we mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVE Store, Waves, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- Mackie DLZ Creator — B&H, Amazon geni.us/42KrX0
- Earthworks ETHOS microphone — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon geni.us/8G8UdBB
- Sound Devies 888 field recorder/mixer — Trew, B&H, Sweetwater geni.us/zAryW4J
- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon geni.us/O8e0
- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon geni.us/InspOl
- Teleprompter Ikan 17" high bright — B&H geni.us/RcuXD3
- Canon C200 Camera - B&H geni.us/9Zi4m4a
- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 lens — B&H, Amazon geni.us/kZyU7e
- ATEM Mini Extreme & Extreme ISO - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon geni.us/b8my
- Allen & Heath SQ5 Digital Mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon geni.us/sRxFU90
- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, pre-amp, EQ, compressor - Sweetwater, B&H geni.us/9ZfE77
- Universal Audio 6176 channel strip pre-amp, EQ, compressor — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon geni.us/505L55n
The intro and outro music for this episode is from Musicbed. Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself: geni.us/G7by
Copyright 2023, Curtis Judd
00:00 Start
02:37 Beginning of stream
03:15 Agenda
04:06 Compression & ear training!
21:16 About the Hold setting
29:16 Compressing stream audio
36:04 De-essing & reducing sibilance
43:34 Rec pre/post-fader on Zoom F8n
44:23 Zoom F6 timecode cable adapter
48:35 When to avoid compression
49:33 Using low threshold/high ratio combos
50:28 Compressors vs. levelers
52:05 Thoughts on Hollywood
55:46 Signal chain: compression
58:07 Can limiters replace compressors?
1:00:05 Signal chain: phase rotation
1:01:01 Limiter vs. loudness normalization
1:03:15 End of stream
