Hey. So I shot with a shotgun mic into a GH2 with a hosa adapter. The audio is somewhat thin. How do I add a bit of bass in FCP7? Thanks 
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Adding bass to sound.
- Thread starter Sweeney Jet
- Start date
GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out
If the production sound is thin to begin with there's not too much that you can do about it without a lot of effort.
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You will have to insert a parametric EQ on the audio track(s). This is what a parametric EQ looks like in Pro Tools:
In the above example the Mid Frequencies - MF - centered on 1000Hz are being enhanced.
You choose which frequencies are being affected by raising or lowering the Freq. The frequency range (Q) being affected is fairly wide. The Q can be set to affect a very narrow range of frequencies by increasing the Q. You decide "how much" the selected frequency(s) are increased or decreased by raising or lowering the Gain.
In the above example a wide range of Mid Frequencies are enhanced just a bit. There is a narrow range (narrow Q) of High Mid Frequencies (HMF) being more enhanced. The High Frequencies (HF) are being enhanced a bit. There is a narrow Q on the Low Mid Frequencies (LMF) and the LMF is greatly reduced (notch), probably to reduce a hum or rumble. The High Pass Filter (HPF) is engaged as well, probably for the same reason as the the LMF - to reduce a hum or rumble.
What you will have to do is use the LMF and maybe some Low Frequency (LF) to increase the amount of low end in your thin audio. It's going to take a bit of experimentation. You have a couple of problems to deal with.
First, your speakers. I don't know what type of speakers you are using, but if they aren't "smooth" and "flat" - giving you an accurate representation of what the audio really sounds like - you will have a difficult time.
Second, your listening environment will also be an issue; untreated rooms will have enhanced or degraded audio frequencies, so you will be EQing to the room, only partially to the audio itself.
The last issue is, of course, the audio clips themselves. When you have accurate speakers and a controlled listening environment you will find that there is A LOT - and I mean A LOT - more rumble in most production sound than you could imagine, so "beefing up" the thin audio by increasing the low end will probably also increase the rumble present in the audio.
Even with good speakers and a controlled listening environment beefing up thin production sound audio is a series of trade-offs. If you add low end, you add noise/rumble. The "trick" is to find the frequency(s) that beef up the low end without hyping the rumbles and hums. The big problem is that hum/rumble and the "beefy" part of most (male) voices occupy the same frequency spectrum.
I hope that this has helped a little bit. I'm sure that APE will chime in at some point with a more professorial explanation/how-to.
If the production sound is thin to begin with there's not too much that you can do about it without a lot of effort.
---------------------------------------------------------
You will have to insert a parametric EQ on the audio track(s). This is what a parametric EQ looks like in Pro Tools:
In the above example the Mid Frequencies - MF - centered on 1000Hz are being enhanced.
You choose which frequencies are being affected by raising or lowering the Freq. The frequency range (Q) being affected is fairly wide. The Q can be set to affect a very narrow range of frequencies by increasing the Q. You decide "how much" the selected frequency(s) are increased or decreased by raising or lowering the Gain.
In the above example a wide range of Mid Frequencies are enhanced just a bit. There is a narrow range (narrow Q) of High Mid Frequencies (HMF) being more enhanced. The High Frequencies (HF) are being enhanced a bit. There is a narrow Q on the Low Mid Frequencies (LMF) and the LMF is greatly reduced (notch), probably to reduce a hum or rumble. The High Pass Filter (HPF) is engaged as well, probably for the same reason as the the LMF - to reduce a hum or rumble.
What you will have to do is use the LMF and maybe some Low Frequency (LF) to increase the amount of low end in your thin audio. It's going to take a bit of experimentation. You have a couple of problems to deal with.
First, your speakers. I don't know what type of speakers you are using, but if they aren't "smooth" and "flat" - giving you an accurate representation of what the audio really sounds like - you will have a difficult time.
Second, your listening environment will also be an issue; untreated rooms will have enhanced or degraded audio frequencies, so you will be EQing to the room, only partially to the audio itself.
The last issue is, of course, the audio clips themselves. When you have accurate speakers and a controlled listening environment you will find that there is A LOT - and I mean A LOT - more rumble in most production sound than you could imagine, so "beefing up" the thin audio by increasing the low end will probably also increase the rumble present in the audio.
Even with good speakers and a controlled listening environment beefing up thin production sound audio is a series of trade-offs. If you add low end, you add noise/rumble. The "trick" is to find the frequency(s) that beef up the low end without hyping the rumbles and hums. The big problem is that hum/rumble and the "beefy" part of most (male) voices occupy the same frequency spectrum.
I hope that this has helped a little bit. I'm sure that APE will chime in at some point with a more professorial explanation/how-to.
Alcove has covered the basics of EQ, explaining more detail about EQ beyond the basics would probably serve to confuse rather than help at this stage. One thing I would add though:
Before diving straight in and using EQ to boost the low-mid frequencies, I would want to know WHY your dialogue sounds "thin"! One common cause of a thin sound is phase related issues, for example: It's not uncommon for a filmmaker/picture editor, who knows little about audio, to double a dialogue track/channel, to try and get more volume. Another common cause of phase issues is the acoustics of your monitoring environment (as Alcove mentioned) and even the acoustics of the location where you recorded the dialogue. Another possible, though generally rarer, cause of thinness is a faulty mic or other piece of equipment in the recording chain which may have caused insensitivity to some low-mid frequencies.
In all the above cases, boosting frequencies with EQ will either help little, not at all or will actually make the situation significantly worse (even if it appears to be an improvement)! This is why it's important to identify the cause of a "thin" sound rather than just automatically whacking up the boost on an EQ.
G
Before diving straight in and using EQ to boost the low-mid frequencies, I would want to know WHY your dialogue sounds "thin"! One common cause of a thin sound is phase related issues, for example: It's not uncommon for a filmmaker/picture editor, who knows little about audio, to double a dialogue track/channel, to try and get more volume. Another common cause of phase issues is the acoustics of your monitoring environment (as Alcove mentioned) and even the acoustics of the location where you recorded the dialogue. Another possible, though generally rarer, cause of thinness is a faulty mic or other piece of equipment in the recording chain which may have caused insensitivity to some low-mid frequencies.
In all the above cases, boosting frequencies with EQ will either help little, not at all or will actually make the situation significantly worse (even if it appears to be an improvement)! This is why it's important to identify the cause of a "thin" sound rather than just automatically whacking up the boost on an EQ.
G