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