How to beat the Winter “Nasal” sound

With Spring springing in the Southern Hemisphere, and the Northern parts of the globe about to go into WInter, we thought this would be a good time to talk about what you can do, when the dreaded Drip hits the old snoz, and you either have to record someone, or record yourself whilst sounding like there’s a bunch of cotton wool stuffed up your sinuses.

Andrew, George and Robbo discuss a whole range of potential fixes from Mic placement to software and a few other places in between. So put away the tissues, chuck on the headphones and listen up as we do what we can to save your next snuffly session.

Don’t forget to like our facebook page and if you have a question of your own you’d like us to answer, post it there and we will answer it as best we can.

You’ll also find us on the web at theproaudiosuite.com

The Pro Audio Suite Podcast copyright George Whittam, Andrew Peters, Robert Marshall & Darren Robertson.

00:00
this is the pro audio suite podcast
00:03
quick bytes welcome to another pro audio
00:06
suite quick byte or quick pick because
00:10
we’re talking nasal those of you getting
00:15
this hearing this for the first time
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this is your first priority of suite
00:19
sign know everything you need to know
00:20
right I missed that description of this
00:24
episode what was that again exact this
00:27
is timely because I’ve been fighting a
00:29
little head cold the last three days so
00:32
yeah I got struck down two weeks ago it
00:37
hints the reason I thought and this
00:38
could be a really good topic because
00:40
there’s nothing worse than trying to do
00:42
a voiceover when you’re nasally yeah
00:44
what was funny was actually rang ap when
00:46
he was sick and the first thing I said
00:48
to him when I heard his voice was did
00:49
you have a big night last night can tell
00:54
the difference that’s the problem well I
00:55
definitely want to hear what robber has
00:57
to say about this I I haven’t given it
01:00
that much thought but I don’t know to me
01:02
it’s an EQ thing but ladies but there’s
01:04
only so much you can do really I mean
01:07
yes yeah if it’s slightly slightly nasal
01:10
yes you can clean it up but I’m yet to
01:13
come across someone who’s got a full-on
01:14
head call deeply congested and heard
01:17
anybody makes something that even
01:19
remotely gets rid of it completely a it
01:22
is fixable but there’s only so much you
01:24
can do it’s a bit like the baked cake
01:25
you know in the stereo mix it’s like
01:28
it’s there it’s there
01:29
unfortunately the snot cross bun the
01:31
snot cross no it’s not much you can do
01:37
about it yeah I guess the I did it
01:40
depends yes if someone’s got a tiny bit
01:43
of a head cold and they sound a little
01:45
bit snotty yes I can you can clean that
01:47
up but if the you know if you’re full-on
01:49
like oh my god I’m baking you know you
01:51
can’t fix that it’s just not gonna
01:53
happen
01:54
yeah really I mean there’s some people
01:56
whose vocal quality tends to have a bit
01:58
of a mid-range easel nasality to it so
02:02
for me sometimes mic placement can
02:05
correct a little bit of it mmm
02:07
sometimes people will have like a
02:08
Sennheiser 41 6 you know and they’ll
02:11
maybe they’ll have it aimed too high
02:13
it’s actually pointed at the nasal
02:15
cavity yep that’s not usually a good
02:17
idea I had that’s the other day someone
02:19
who was speaking too far down the side
02:20
of the four one six forty one six I
02:22
should say okay yeah and dis sounded and
02:25
really nicely and dark and dull yeah
02:27
yeah yeah it’s interesting you say that
02:30
because I know I’ve worked with colds
02:32
and one engineer in particular did that
02:34
they’ve just moved the mic placement
02:35
away from that sort of sinus area and
02:38
took it down lower so at least he was
02:41
seeing picking up the chest and mouth
02:43
but I was happy with it not really but
02:46
it was better than what it would have
02:47
been had he not really the microphone it
02:48
would have solved the problem a little
02:50
bit that’s I think and I think that’s
02:51
what we’re sort of saying here is there
02:53
are things you can do but nothing that’s
02:54
going to get rid of it the irony is that
02:56
even when I had that I just picked up a
03:00
new client doing some radio spots which
03:03
you’ve heard Robert but the weird thing
03:06
once I came back and said ah a little
03:07
bit on a try it again and it was right
03:08
at the point where I just I was just
03:10
starting to clear my head but it was
03:12
still pretty nicely
03:13
and they loved it so no how am I gonna
03:20
manage that one when they come back
03:21
looking for wool buds to shove up your
03:23
nose yeah exactly
03:24
oh yeah yes yeah that’s tough right yes
03:27
something that you didn’t like him now
03:29
you have to that’s right but yeah the
03:33
prize that iZotope haven’t come up with
03:36
something yeah I don’t I don’t know what
03:38
do you do I mean it’s I guess you’d
03:42
probably have to look for something
03:43
that’s gonna add frequencies in there
03:45
and that aren’t there and take others
03:48
away I suppose there’d be some magic mix
03:50
you could probably find a way around it
03:52
perhaps if you were that clever yeah
03:54
here’s an idea so if you have a sample
03:57
of your voice when it’s not nicely and
03:59
then you have a sample of your voice
04:01
when it’s nicely and then if you had
04:04
some kind of plugin or something where
04:07
you lay the frequency the good frequency
04:10
over the top of the bad one and what it
04:13
does is replicates the frequencies are
04:15
in that are in the good one and puts
04:17
them into the bad one with that word
04:19
there’s an isotope have a plug-in that
04:21
does I that is not something that
04:22
something exists there’s an it’s not
04:25
isotope there is a
04:27
plug-in that I have seen and I’m just
04:30
checking I think I wrote it down
04:32
but you can actually take like a crowd
04:35
cheering sound effect and put a
04:37
voiceover over the top and it
04:40
manipulates the crowd you tell it to
04:42
look at the voiceover but it manipulates
04:44
the crowd cheering like that to sound
04:47
like the voiceover so it sounds like the
04:49
crowds yelling whatever you want them to
04:51
say I can’t for the life of me think of
04:53
the name of it well actually I just did
04:55
a little search and iZotope has
04:58
something called matching EQ okay that’s
05:03
a neat way to do that but – but well are
05:08
they because to match an EQ you would
05:10
have to have those higher frequencies
05:11
that are missing so you can’t match it
05:14
you’ve got to add a frequency that’s the
05:16
probably I mean if there’s frequencies
05:18
that are just not there yeah you can’t
05:20
put them that’s right that’s or they
05:23
just deep lead are they just deeply
05:25
attenuated I would suggest they’re
05:27
probably not there if you if you’ve got
05:29
a snuffling nose those the frequencies
05:31
you aren’t hearing that make it sound
05:33
snuffling you’re being blocked by all
05:34
the mucus and crap in your head so I
05:37
would imagine they’re not they’re
05:39
interesting I don’t know actually be
05:41
rotten interesting so we’ll get emails
05:43
yeah yeah I want to hear what people
05:46
have to say
05:47
yeah this thing you take a snapshot and
05:49
then it uses 8,000 bands of EQ Wow Wow
05:53
yeah that was in sync Wow digital linear
05:57
phase EQ is what they’re calling it so
06:01
it would be fascinating to see what you
06:04
could do with that yeah Wow yeah
06:06
absolutely
06:06
somebody listening will you do that for
06:08
us yeah that’s right yeah yeah well I
06:17
guess you could just suppose you could
06:18
just record a take pitch in your nose do
06:21
one with your nose pinched do another
06:23
one with your nose open and see if you
06:25
can get them to sound the same that
06:28
would be fascinating experiment yeah
06:29
yeah yep it’s another trick as well
06:32
which is to try and it’s really
06:34
difficult but to try and make all the
06:37
the sound come out of your mouth as a
06:41
to sharing it with your nationality okay
06:44
but that’s really difficult to do if you
06:47
can do it it definitely helps that’s not
06:49
something you can just go I’ve got a
06:51
head cold that’s what I’ll do you slowly
06:52
you need to practice that yeah yeah well
06:55
I think it’s also like training voice
06:57
actors to reduce their siblings
06:59
because you can reduce siblings with
07:02
coaching like unless it’s a biophysical
07:06
physiological I mean to say thing you
07:10
can you can reduce siblings by learning
07:12
how to not be sibilant really so yeah
07:16
you can you can you can coach sibilance
07:18
out of your voice with with practice and
07:22
so maybe that’s something that can be
07:24
coached out of someone’s voice as well
07:26
um you know I’ve heard voice actors who
07:28
have a naturally nasally sounding voice
07:30
that just have a pronounced mid-range
07:34
and I think with some EQ adjustment I
07:38
can counteract for it a bit but it’s
07:41
still part of the character of the voice
07:42
or the what they call the formant of a
07:45
voice that it’s just it’s so it’s a very
07:48
complicated thing that just an EQ
07:50
doesn’t maybe not be the only thing
07:52
that’s gonna fix it yeah it’s funny
07:54
hearing you talk about the the sibilants
07:56
thing though there’s a guy here in
07:58
Australia a guy called Steve Britain
08:00
who’s been around forever
08:01
does voiceovers all over the place and
08:03
he isn’t very sibilant when he’s
08:07
recording but as soon as you touch those
08:10
high end frequencies you know 2k and up
08:13
when you re cueing him just the tiniest
08:16
upward adjustment and he’s s is splatter
08:19
all over the place yeah just incredible
08:23
you can’t you’ve got it he’s got a big
08:25
boomy voice like a like a promo trailer
08:29
voice I guess movie trailer voice so
08:33
when you EQ him if you want in to be
08:34
brighter you’ve actually rather than
08:36
sort of putting more high ending you’ve
08:39
actually got to get rid of some of the
08:40
low end and that obviously that changes
08:42
the curve and makes him brighter in
08:44
general so subtractive yeah subtractive
08:46
EQ in its in exception of you know
08:49
adding stuff in so yeah right he’s um
08:51
he’s he’s
08:53
he’s weird yeah yeah but you would never
08:56
think it listening to his voice you
08:57
would think you would need to add
08:59
top-end
09:00
yeah that’s right it’s that type of
09:01
voice but you just you know you just
09:03
can’t it just splatters all over it
09:05
makes me think of Don LaFontaine and no
09:07
one would have said he was sibilant but
09:08
people always thought of his voice is
09:10
being super Bumi like this giant voice
09:14
and it certainly had this giant
09:16
character to it
09:18
but it wasn’t that it was boo me like it
09:21
wasn’t a boom bottom heavy shake the
09:24
rafters voice it actually had a huge
09:26
amount of mid-range like it cut like
09:29
crazy and that’s why his voice works so
09:32
well as different trailers like his is
09:34
just a natural EQ of his voice the way
09:37
it sounded sounded big and it also just
09:40
cut like a laser yeah you know so that
09:43
was fascinating about his voice it’s
09:45
probably so true for a lot of big boomy
09:47
voice or perceived big boomy voices
09:50
those that yeah you’re right they do
09:51
have that mid-range cut that makes them
09:53
sit up on top of everything yeah people
09:55
have a bad habit of wanting to make
09:57
themselves sound warm and like well
09:58
you’re gonna sound like you’re on the AM
10:00
radio in the 50s if you go to warm you
10:03
know it’s like the whole the warmth is
10:05
not just bass it’s it’s um all the
10:08
frequencies balancing so that what
10:10
you’re doing is intelligible and clear
10:13
comes through it’s actually really
10:19
interesting topic talking about the
10:20
frequencies are the voice and what
10:23
frequencies inner voice work really well
10:25
yeah and I think and people this this
10:29
also dovetails slightly with acoustics
10:31
and a booth like this conventional
10:33
wisdom that you don’t need a bass trap
10:35
in a booth because well you know they’re
10:38
not a you’re not a bass guitar but it’s
10:40
it’s um there’s so many different
10:43
frequencies that cut your voice covers
10:45
such a wide range of frequencies you
10:46
don’t even realize that it’s oftentimes
10:49
dipping into those bass frequencies and
10:51
they’re the hundred Hertz and less so
10:53
sometimes I’ll hear a voice and it
10:56
doesn’t sound boo me but the booth it
10:59
just happens to tickle a frequency that
11:01
the booth resonates at and so it sounds
11:04
even more bass heavy than it really
11:06
should
11:06
because the booth is rule resonating
11:09
with it so yeah it’s it’s fascinating
11:11
how that works sometimes I have a huge
11:13
base trap right in front of me in fact
11:15
and the floor in front of me yeah the
11:17
dog that’s not a base trap it’s
11:27
aromatherapy exactly yeah shaaka
11:32
well so I guess if you know can you I
11:35
guess if you’ve got a call Andrew so if
11:37
you’ve got a cold and you’ve got to do
11:39
the job they’re not they don’t care do
11:42
you try to do anything on your end to
11:45
counteract or do you just hope that they
11:48
can use it I try to not sound too nicely
11:51
when I’m reading but I can’t there’s
11:52
nothing else I can do I certainly don’t
11:54
start a queuing or anything I just leave
11:56
it as is basically like before you go
11:59
into the session do you stick your head
12:00
over some steam and eucalyptus oil well
12:03
I can tell you what I do but it’s pretty
12:04
gross but and this is something I love
12:08
pouring fluid through your sinus cavity
12:10
or something Edie yes you’re on the
12:13
right track there it’s um it’s a thing
12:16
called Neil by fetter Neil bye med I
12:19
think it’s called and you buy the box
12:21
thing and it’s got a little plastic
12:22
bottle with a spout on the top and it’s
12:24
kind of like a bicarb and salt mix in
12:28
these sachets so you mix that with warm
12:31
water and then you flush and I should do
12:33
it every day really because it’s
12:34
actually pretty good for you anyway but
12:36
that’s I just go hardcore on that and
12:38
just try and blow everything out and
12:40
then if I’m doing a session I’ll try and
12:42
push it out as long as I can into the
12:44
day so if I can get to sort of 2:00 or
12:47
3:00 in the afternoon that seems to be a
12:49
sweet spot when things seem to have
12:51
settled down a bit and that’s about it
12:54
perhaps I can help you there a little
12:56
bit my my 13 year old son has some nasal
13:00
issues just in terms of the the width of
13:04
his nasal passages and stuff and he was
13:07
given a nasal nasal spray which does
13:10
exactly what you’re talking about by ear
13:13
nose and throat specialist so this is
13:14
straight out from the doctor if you want
13:17
to try what andrew is talking about
13:19
he uses a teaspoon of salt a teaspoon of
13:22
bicarb of soda mix it with five hundred
13:25
mils of water and that will do exactly
13:27
what aap is talking about yep that’s it
13:30
and that’s what I’ve been doing for
13:32
years so if I feel that if I feel
13:34
someone around me it’s got a cold I’ll
13:36
get straight into it yep and just go
13:38
hard and if I end up with the cold I
13:40
just flushed like crazy and I hope that
13:42
that works whenever when I was a kid and
13:45
whenever I had a head cold my old man
13:46
used to get a bowl of warm salty water
13:49
and told me to go stick my head in it
13:52
and suck it up my nose and I hated it it
13:54
was terrible but I tell you what it
13:56
certainly did the job yeah it’s exactly
13:57
the same thing so there you go great
13:59
well that’s about the only workaround I
14:01
can think of I can’t think of too many
14:03
others that are going to rescue you but
14:04
use the recipe use a peas magic shot and
14:08
I reckon at least you’re on your way to
14:10
clearing it up a little bit yeah
14:13
don’t point the Mike’s a sweet spot
14:15
right in your nasal cavity there you go
14:17
erect yes yeah and then have a good lie
14:20
down lots of orange juice lots of garlic
14:24
my grandma would suggest if you had a
14:25
head cold and rest up gigs a hydrate
14:28
hydrate hydrate that’s it exactly
14:29
Hey exactly and then go boogie boogie
14:33
that’s it yeah on that note I right I
14:36
don’t think we can top that we got to
14:37
get out of here if your nose runs in
14:39
your feet smell your upside-down
14:44
that was the pro audio suite if you have
14:47
any questions or ideas for a show let us
14:49
know via our Facebook the pro audio
14:52
suite podcast
14:57
you
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