Clean Cut Audio | The Science of Sound and the Art of Great Podcast Audio – Details, episodes & analysis

I wanted the opportunity to let you all know that I'm taking a break from the podcast for a while! I plan on coming back in a few months with a greater sense of purpose, focus, and a stronger grasp of how I can best educate those who are looking to make their podcasts sounds better!   If you're looking to stay connected and updated, you can keep up with what's going on in the Discord server or on Patreon!   Thank you all so much, and I'll still be seeing you most weeks over on the YouTube channel.   Links: Clean Cut Audiophiles Discord Server     My Signal Chain Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm   Software: IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves Vocal Rider Waves CLA-2A oeksound Soothe2 Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter Waves Abbey Road Studio3   -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!-   *most of these links are affiliate links   Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud Closing Song: Rainy Days by Joakim Karud http://www.joakimkarud.com   For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to hello@cleancutaudio.com

It's very important to know that every compressor is different and it will make your audio sound differently depending on how it processes the gain reduction. There is a time and place for every different style of compressor, and in this episode we listen to 4 different styles of compression at 3 different amounts of compression applied to my voice.     JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON!     Links: Join the Clean Cut Audiophiles Discord Server! Clean Cut Audio on YouTube UA Article on Compressor Topologies 4SoundEngineers Article of Compressor Topologies IzoTope's 4 Different Types of Compressors SoundBridge Article on Types of Compressors   Compressors sampled in this episode: VCA: API 2500 Stereo Buss Compressor by Waves FET: CLA-76 Compressor by Waves Optical: CLA-2A Compressor by Waves Vari-Mu: u73b by Audified     My Signal Chain   Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm   Software: IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves Vocal Rider Waves CLA-2A oeksound Soothe2 Waves LinMB Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter Waves Abbey Road Studio3     -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!-     *most of these links are affiliate links   Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud Closing Song: Something New by Joakim Karud http://www.joakimkarud.com     For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to hello@cleancutaudio.com

The title says it all. You can almost stop reading now if you want to. But, I find buying used gear to be one of the most valuable "life hacks" when it comes to buying audio gear for podcasting. Podhacks? Anyways, in audio production, with very few exceptions, you get what you pay for, and usually spending a *little* extra money can go a very long way. This is where buying used comes in! If we have a fixed budget, which most of us do, we can get MUCH higher quality gear if we buy used and spend the same amount of money.   With a couple extra dollars typically comes a better sound, better build quality, sometimes better features, and possibly better customer support from the manufacturer. Over the years I've saved tens of thousands of dollars by buying used, and many of these items I've bought from eBay, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Guitar Center, or Sweetwater (yes the latter 2 have used sections to their websites!) are still working perfectly after owning them for 5-10 years. We should try our best to buy fewer things, and buy things of higher quality. I've seen several folks go through 4-5 low quality USB mics that kept breaking after 4 months only to finally realize they should be buying a more rugged and field tested microphone like a Shure SM58. These folks spent $200-300 on USB mics by trying to save a little bit of money (which totally backfired!) when they could have just bought a BRAND NEW Shure SM58 for $99, or a used one for $40, which is damn near guaranteed to last a lifetime.   Next time you want to buy a new piece of gear, check the used sections on Guitar Center and Sweetwater. Check eBay and Facebook Marketplace for a seller with good reviews. Check the manufacturers website for B-stock and factor refurbished gear. It's a super easy way to get great gear at an even better price.     JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON!       Episodes Referenced: 7. Things to Keep in Mind When Buying Podcast Equipment, Microphones, Interfaces, etc. 8. Comparing Preamp Noise on Interfaces, Mixers and Recorders  

 

My Signal Chain

Hardware:

Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble

Microphone: Shure SM7b

Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x

Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II

Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7

Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm

 

Software:

IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click

IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise

FabFilter ProQ3

Waves Vocal

Rider Waves CLA-2A

oeksound Soothe2

Waves L2 Limiter

Waves WLM Meter

Waves Durrough Meter

 

-Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!-

 

*most of these links are affiliate links

 

Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud

Closing Song: Hurricane by Joakim Karud feat. Andrew Applepie

http://www.joakimkarud.com

    Find me online! Patreon | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Website  

 

No matter what instrument you are recording, how it was recorded, or what hardware it was recorded with, you will always capture unwanted frequencies. That's what this entire series on frequency has lead to, identifying and properly removing unpleasant sounds. While there's more to it than this, one type of very unpleasant sound is a resonant frequency, which is simply defined as a build up on energy in a located area on the frequency spectrum. There can be several of these resonant frequencies in a recording, and once we know they're there and have the tools and abilities to properly identify them, we can transparently remove them, leaving behind a more pleasing arrangement of sounds.   In this episode we define in greater detail resonant frequencies, why they're bad, how to identify them, and how to remove them.   Full show notes with graphics and illustrations available at my website.       JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON!      

My Signal Chain

 

Hardware:

Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble

Microphone: Shure SM7b

Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x

Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II

Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7

Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm

 

Software:

IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click

IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise

FabFilter ProQ3

Waves Vocal

Rider Waves CLA-2A

oeksound Soothe2

Waves L2 Limiter

Waves WLM Meter

Waves Durrough Meter

 

-Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!-

 

*most of these links are affiliate links

 

Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud

Closing Song: Clouds by Joakim Karud

http://www.joakimkarud.com

    Find me online! Patreon | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Website

As we start to wrap up this long series on frequency, we work our way towards the natural conclusion, export settings. While sample rate and bit depth can be and are recording settings and are decided at the beginning of the session, we also have options when bouncing down (see also: exporting) our sessions. The same goes for what bitrate mp3 to convert our audio to. Each of these settings affects frequency either super directly or mildly indirectly so we're going to focus a bit on HOW our voices are converted and encoded into a digital signal, as well as how it's converted back into an analog signal.   Full show notes with graphics and illustrations available at my website.   JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON!  

My Signal Chain

 

Hardware:

Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble

Microphone: Shure SM7b

Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x

Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II

Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7

Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm

 

Software:

IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click

IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise

FabFilter ProQ3

Waves Vocal

Rider Waves CLA2A

Waves L2 Limiter

Waves WLM Meter

Waves Durrough Meter

 

-Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!-

 

*most of these links are affiliate links

 

Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud

Closing Song: Great Days by Joakim Karud

 

http://www.joakimkarud.com

  Find me online! Patreon | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Website

This episode focuses on a phrase I say often on the show, humans are more perceptive to change than to constants. So far, this series on frequency has been in relation to 1 voice, but most podcasts feature at least 2 speakers. The fastest way to lose podcast listeners is to have a wild difference in loudness between the 2 or more speakers. However, we need to take this a step farther. While the podcast loudness standard is -16LUFS for stereo tracks (my podcast is always exported in stereo), -16LUFS can mean many different things. It's an average across all frequencies for an extended period of time.   JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON!   The entire series on frequency has been leading up to this point. The importance of the midrange and presence frequencies. In the human voice, they're entirely responsible for the intelligibility of our voice, and when we dig deeper, it's also the most important ranges because ALL output devices can represent these frequencies regardless of cone size, amount of drivers, quality, etc. Every device will (for the most part) accurately represent this frequency range, so what we actually should be doing when mixing our podcasts is soloing this range and matching the loudness of the mid and presence range between speakers.   View the full show notes here!  

My Signal Chain

 

Hardware:

Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble

Microphone: Shure SM7b

Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x

Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II

Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7

Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm

 

Software:

IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click

IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise

FabFilter ProQ3

Waves Vocal

Rider Waves CLA2A

Waves L2 Limiter

Waves WLM Meter

Waves Durrough Meter

 

-Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!-

 

*most of these links are affiliate links

 

Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud

Closing Song: That Day by Joakim Karud

 

http://www.joakimkarud.com

 

For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to hello@cleancutaudio.com

Could this title sound any more clinical? Geez. Anyways, this is a super exciting episode! Building upon the frequency band listening exercises last week, we are now exploring more subtle and intentional moves when it comes to equalizing vocals for a podcast!   In this episode we look at 10 different octave bands ranging from 32Hz to 16kHz and explore how my voice sounds when we boost each of those frequency by 2 and 4 dB, and when we cut by 2 and 4 dB. While listening to each move made in this episode, I discuss the characteristics of that frequency band and how my voice changes as we manipulate those frequencies.   JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON!

 

My Signal Chain

 

Hardware:

Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble

Microphone: Shure SM7b

Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x

Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II

Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7

Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm

 

Software:

IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click

IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise

FabFilter ProQ3

Waves Vocal

Rider Waves CLA2A

Waves L2 Limiter

Waves WLM Meter

Waves Durrough Meter

 

-Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!-

 

*most of these links are affiliate links

 

Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud

Closing Song: Smile by Joakim Karud

 

http://www.joakimkarud.com

 

For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to hello@cleancutaudio.com

In order to produce a great sound, we first need to learn how to hear good sound. In this listening heavy episode, we isolate the 7 frequency bands in the audible spectrum to hear what they sound like in isolation, and what it sounds like when they're completely removed from the signal.   All of the previous episodes and these listening exercises, in addition to the ones upcoming are critical to build a foundation of understanding what these frequencies sound like and how they affect the signal as a whole. We'll continue to build on this foundation as we learn what it is that makes up our voice and how to best treat it in post production.   JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON!     Links: Full Episode Show Notes and Blog Post Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science by Bob Katz Master Handbook of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest and Ken C. Pohlmann How I Mix My Podcast on YouTube     My Signal Chain   Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm   Software: IzoTope RX6 Mouth De-Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves Vocal Rider Waves CLA2A Waves L2 Limiter Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter   -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!-   *most of these links are affiliate links     Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud Closing Song: Bingo Thrills by Joakim Karud     http://www.joakimkarud.com     For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to hello@cleancutaudio.com  

When it comes to audio and creating a good sound, everyone will tell you "just trust your ears". It's a blanket statement that really means "spend the next 30 years figuring this out, because this rabbit hole is deeper than you could possibly imagine". This becomes exponentially more difficult when we realize our audio is lying to us, ALWAYS!   Building on what we know about frequency from last week, we're now exploring all the things that impact how we perceive these frequencies in every day life. From the shape of our ear and how it perceives loudness along the frequency spectrum, to the way our microphone capture sound, the way our speakers translate that sound at different decibel levels, and how our room colors the sound. We can never be sure that what we're hearing is actually real! It's a huge problem, one that takes a long long time to understand, then diagnose, and properly handle.     JOIN THE FUN ON PATREON!  

Full show notes at www.cleancutaudio.com/podcast/13

      My Signal Chain   Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm   Software: IzoTope RX6 De-Mouth Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves Vocal Rider Waves CLA2A Waves L2 Limiter Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter     -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!-   *most of these links are affiliate links     Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud Closing Song: Future Funk by Joakim Karud       http://www.joakimkarud.com     For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to hello@cleancutaudio.com

You can't master your craft until you've mastered the fundamentals ten times over. This week's episode is all about the fundamentals. What is sound? How does it travel from one place to another? What is wavelength and how does it correspond to a frequency?   All of these questions are answered within the episode, and plenty of visual can be found in the show notes at www.cleancutaudio.com/podcast/12     Find me online! Patreon | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Website     My Signal Chain   Hardware: Audio Interface: Apogee Ensemble Microphone: Shure SM7b Headphones: Audio-Technia ATH-M50x Earbuds: Klipsch R6i II Studio Monitors: Yamaha HS7 Mic Stand: Rode PS1A Boom Arm   Software: IzoTope RX6 De-Mouth Click IzoTope RX6 Voice De-Noise FabFilter ProQ3 Waves LA2A Waves Vocal Rider Waves L2 Limiter Waves WLM Meter Waves Durrough Meter   -Save 10% off the plugins above with this affiliate link from Waves!-   *most of these links are affiliate links   Midroll Song: Road Trip by Joakim Karud   Closing Song: Twerk by Joakim Karud   http://www.joakimkarud.com     For more info, or to ask any questions, check out my website and reach out to hello@cleancutaudio.com