EQ for Smoothing Dialogue Audio

Sometimes dialogue audio sounds just a little harsh, even though you recorded it at a good level without clipping or distorting. This is just the nature of some microphones combined with some voices. So what can you do?

This is a good case for using an EQ plugin. EQ stands for equalization and what an EQ plugin does is allow you to emphasize or boost some frequencies of sound or de-emphasize or cut others. The harshness is usually a few certain frequencies that are a little too strong. This is different for every mike and every voice, but here we show you how to find the problems and de-emphasize them which will make your audio smoother.

I show how to do this in Adobe Audition using the standard Parametric EQ plugin that comes with Audition. But keep in mind, you can do this in almost any audio editing app including Audacity, Garage Band, Logic, Cubase, Pro Tools, etc.

I also found an interesting app for Mac or Windows that helps train your ear so that you can EQ more quickly. It allows you to import any audio clip and then applies various EQ settings and quizzes you. A few hours with this have helped me a ton. The app is called Train Your Ears EQ Edition. Definitely worth a look if you're interested in refining your ear.