Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In this week's session, we demonstrate some simple things you can do in DaVinci Resolve Fairlight 18.5 to make your audio sound better. We'll cover EQ, noise reduction, de-essing, and compression. Then we'll answer your sound for video related 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:
- 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
- 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
02:44 Beginning of stream
03:05 Agenda
03:50 Sweetening audio in Fairlight
15:26 Lav vs boom sound
17:32 Lav mic used in demo recording
18:49 Boost level for boost & sweep
20:15 Fairlight cont.
24:33 Intelligibility vs articulation
25:41 Fairlight cont.
32:01 Native Fairlight plugins vs VSTs
33:22 Smoothly switching between lavs and booms
36:17 Dialogue leveler + compression
39:19 Fixing clipped ambient outdoor sounds
43:45 Details on acoustic treatment
53:46 Tascam XLR hotshoe for hybrid cameras…?
56:12 Mini XLR advantages/disadvantages
58:17 The ambiguous definition of a ‘short’ cable
59:44 Lavs, booms, and wide shots
1:01:14 Recommendation: headphones for mastering
1:02:36 Why open-back headphones?
1:03:32 End of stream
In this week's session, we demonstrate some simple things you can do in DaVinci Resolve Fairlight 18.5 to make your audio sound better. We'll cover EQ, noise reduction, de-essing, and compression. Then we'll answer your sound for video related 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:
- 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
- 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
02:44 Beginning of stream
03:05 Agenda
03:50 Sweetening audio in Fairlight
15:26 Lav vs boom sound
17:32 Lav mic used in demo recording
18:49 Boost level for boost & sweep
20:15 Fairlight cont.
24:33 Intelligibility vs articulation
25:41 Fairlight cont.
32:01 Native Fairlight plugins vs VSTs
33:22 Smoothly switching between lavs and booms
36:17 Dialogue leveler + compression
39:19 Fixing clipped ambient outdoor sounds
43:45 Details on acoustic treatment
53:46 Tascam XLR hotshoe for hybrid cameras…?
56:12 Mini XLR advantages/disadvantages
58:17 The ambiguous definition of a ‘short’ cable
59:44 Lavs, booms, and wide shots
1:01:14 Recommendation: headphones for mastering
1:02:36 Why open-back headphones?
1:03:32 End of stream
