Multi Track Mix in Adobe Audition 3.0

Panning

Let’s be technical for a bit – and I’m going to use tech terms and jargon in this posting so be prepared if you’re new to the production game.  This post is for all you creative services directors, production directors – whatever it is you call yourselves in radio these days.  Me?  I prefer prod guy (or girl) or if I’m feeling particularly cocky: prod guru.  Yesterday I was working on a piece with a very high production value.  Lots of compression, reverb, EQ, various whooshes, stutters and gizmos.  You get the idea.  I decided to spice it up a bit more with some creative panning and that’s when I broke one of Hart’s rules:

Hart’s Rule #214

“Never pan a track more than 30% out of center”

I was playing with a plugin I’ve got that has some pretty neat panning effects and it sounded great in the studio.  Just awesome.  So I finished the piece up and ftp’d it on out into the ether.  On my way to pick up my son at daycare I decided to listen to it on my iphone because; boy I just really nailed that one.  Hmm, where’s that cool panning effect?  Yeah, couldn’t hear it at all.  I plugged the phone into the truck’s sound system.  Still couldn’t hear it.  That portion of the VO had vanished faster than  Bernie Madoff’s golf buddies.  That  reminds me of another of Hart’s rules:

Hart’s Rule #3

“Listen to your mixes outside of the studio”

But that’s a topic for another post.  Back to panning.  When you are playing with stereo effects in your mixes it’s generally a good idea to mix for mono compatible stereo.  Don’t pan a track more than 30% out of center.  Your vocal track or effect or whatever it is will stay nicely in the mix if you have to convert to mono at some point in the future.   And there are reasons you might.  If you happen to have an AM stick in your cluster you know what I’m talking about.  Sure some AM setups will handle a stereo file but what if the sum gets reversed somewhere?  Engineers do make mistakes occasionally despite what they may tell you. That beautiful commercial or promo you produced either sounds like crap or is unintelligible over the air.

Believe it or not a small percentage of your audience still listens to your FM in mono too so a mono compatible mix keeps them happy as well.  For that matter I know quite a few FM talkers that broadcast in FM mono to help out the signal footprint.

Mono files work best for phone systems and some internet applications too if you plan on playing the station or a set of promos through your phone system for example.  So it’s generally a good idea to keep your panning at a reasonable level.

Like most rules this one IS meant to be broken:  There’s a PSA about driving out right now where the VO only speaks in the right channel for a bit.  It’s cute, it’s clever and memorable, and it emphasizes the point of the PSA very well.

I’ve heard some killer imaging where the stereo field is wider than Kevin Smith’s butt.  And there are times when I too follow the sage words: Go Big or Go Home.  Just make sure you know the final destination of your mix and that it doesn’t need to be mono compatible for sure before you break that 30% threshold.

Now the savvy among you are saying, “But wait, Brian you played your mix in stereo devices so it shouldn’t have mattered.”  Right.  It shouldn’t have but it did. So I investigated today.  The new plugin I was playing with sounded great in the multi track mode but after I ran the mixdown through a multiband compressor with the brickwall limiter set it royally screwed it all up.  Yet another lesson – pay attention to how your plugins interact with each other.

So there you have it.  Hart’s rule #214

Agree?  Disagree?  Leave a comment below.

-Brian Hart is a prod guy guru and voiceover  actor.

I understand the thought of hiring a voice actor can be overwhelming to many so I have written an article called “How To Hire a Voice Over” as a service to my clients and prospective clients.

I have done my best to explain the process as concisely as possible but the article does have a good amount of meat in it.

If you find the online version hard to read you may download the PDF version instead:

How to Hire a Voice Over by Brian Hart

Please  leave a comment if you find “How to Hire a Voice Over” helpful,  if you find that I need to clarify or correct any information, or  if you have your own thoughts on the process you would like to add.

The article begins after the jump:

How to Hire a Voice Over

By Brian Hart 02/18/2010

Finding the right voiceover can be a daunting task.  You may feel that it would better to enlist professional help and hire a marketing firm or talent agency when searching for voice talent.  There are also times when you may want to manage a talent search on your own.  In either case, by following these simple steps as you begin your search for that perfect VO will make the process much more efficient, increase the effectiveness of your project and contribute to its overall success.

Assess Your Needs

It is important to assess your needs at the beginning of your project.  The first step is to define exactly why you need a voice over.  Perhaps you are integrating an automated interactive voice response system, also known as IVR, into your company’s automated phone system. As part of your marketing strategy you might be crafting a radio or television commercial. You might be searching for a voice over for a business presentation, a video introduction to your website, or a narration for an audio book.   Depending on your project it is possible you can do the voice over in house and may not need to hire a professional VO talent.   If that is your decision the process ends here.

But you may decide that a professional voice actor would better serve your project.  “The key to obtaining a successful voice over, regardless of application, is hiring the right voice over professional to record your message… in other words, finding the person whose voice and interpretation of your script best aligns with your brand,” says Stephanie Ciccarelli, Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of Voices.com.   “Remember, the talent chosen for this project will represent you and your company and may serve as the first impression prospective customers receive of who you are and what you stand for.” A professional voice talent can bring credibility to your project and engage your audience.  Ciccarelli continues, “Their voice and artistic interpretation will also need to resonate with how current customers presently perceive your brand.  The human voice is one of the most persuasive tools known to mankind for expressing messages because the voice, when used properly and effectively, can evoke emotional responses in a deeper, more personal and primal way than any other form of communication. “

Choosing the proper voice for your message is critical but how do you determine what type of voice best represents you?