Audio filters

Michael LaVoie · November 3, 2015

"Does every line reading have to sound like his larnyx is being dragged on the floor of a gravel library?" - Jeremy at Cinemasins' youtube video on Interstellar. He's referring to how Matthew McConnaughy sounds in the film.

It's actually how Tom Hardy sounds in Mad Max, how Vin Diesel sounds in Riddick.

However I'm beginning to see this overuse of deep bass applied to male dialogue tracks in nearly every leading man part in even non blockbuster films. Even Kevin Durand and Lukas Haas in Dark was the Night. And I know Lukas Haas doesn't sound like that. It's as ridiculous as putting that voice on McCauly Culkin. What exactly is this filter people are applying to make these leading male vocal tracks sound so heavy and loud? At times it's ridiculous next to the voices of women and children in the same scene.

Is this a plug in similar to a LUT or is it a cocktail of settings in Pro-tools or a similar program. I understand the effect in wanting the dudes to seem more "bad-ass" or whatever and I think it's cool when used sparingly. Just wondering what the typical technique is and why it's suddenly getting so popular. Any thoughts?

Edited November 3, 2015 by Michael LaVoie

Christoph Helms · November 3, 2015

I'm not an expert at this, but I think part of the audio processing involves boosting frequencies in the 60-250Hz range. If you are familiar with Adobe Audition there is a plugin called Vocal Enhancer for male voices that aims to do just that. Find it either as a standalone or under the parametric equalizer presets. Also check out the Multiband compressor with broadcast preset. After that you can play with the different frequencies. To thicken the voice in the low bands just push the slider a bit up. I think Multiband Compressor is as close to a "LUT" as you will get with audio processing.

Michael LaVoie · November 4, 2015

I'll give it a shot if I find I need that sort of effect. Seems to be a common practice and I can see the dramatic effect. Used sparingly it's probably something that'll come in handy here and there. Thanks for the breakdown.

Giacomo Girolamo · January 2, 2018

Just use a normal EQ and start messing with the audio file. If you can't achieve the effect, try to use a bar compressor (a compressor in which you can use compress different each family of frequencies) and there you go.