Wednesday, July 9, 2014

The Hollywood secret on EQing voice


It is a great mistake in music to assume that a voice must be recorded and reproduced with flat frequency response.


To have a natural voice reproduction from the vocal chords of the actor or singer to the brain of the listener, the low and high frequencies must be reduced in order to restore presence.


This is due to 2 reasons.


1    The voice is usualy reproduced at higher volume than original. According to the Fletcher Manson curves the higher intensity makes our brain think there is more low and higher frequency content.


2    A soft speaking voice has a predominance of low and high frequency content than a loud speaking voice.


Both of these human mechanisms important for survival have to be taken into account.


The Pleiades filter is an attempt to implement this curve with just one electrical component.


references:

 p.11, p.59, Elements of Sound Recording, John G. Frayne, Halley Wolfe, John Wiley & Sons 1949


D.P. Loye and K.F. Morgan:  Sound Picture Recording and Reproducing Characteristics, Journal of Society of Motion Picture Sound Engineers, 1939



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