Looking for advice for dialogue and speech plugins

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Toby Davey

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Dec 7, 2020, 6:57:51 PM12/7/20
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Hi Guys, 


Looking for some advice on plugins for working with dialogue and speech.  


This is all pretty much new to me so maybe some simple questions here! from me


AS you all know I work in radio and mainly with speech output plus also putting some music shows together too.  I have been playing around with some of the AudioSuite plugins that come with Pro Tools which work well but now looking for adding in some other plugins to my workflow if it is all fairly straight forward to do.


One thing I have read about online is how it might be possible to find a plugin that will do upward compression to bring variations in speech up to give a more even volume and level.  Not sure if there is a plugin out there that does this although I have seen a video using a Waves plugin for vocals which seems to smooth out the sound of the voice.  Also a friend has mentioned some of the Waves Arts plugins too. 


So how easy is it to add in plugins and how accessible are they with Voice Over in Pro Tools. 


I have seen a lot of traffic on the WhatsAp group about many music and instrument plugins and talk about the various Plugin files in the Dropbox folder. 


If I do start to look at adding some plugins into PT how accessible is the process with VoiceOver, do I need to download VOCR  and if I need to use any of the files from the Dropbox plugin folders is it fairly straightforward to do this.


If there is anything in the dropbox folder or online that would be good to read first please do point me in the right direction. 


Cheers 


Toby 


Michael Holmes

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Dec 7, 2020, 9:19:59 PM12/7/20
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If you have an active subscription, the Avid Complete Pro Dynamics are a must-have. The compressor would be my go-to, and for quick setup there are presets for broadcast speech under the vocals submenu. The multiband plugin can do up and down compression or expanding. The expander has a really easy duck mode for sidechaining from spoken word. Lastly, the limiter is designed with EBU specs. As for Waves, they are also great, and their new installer seems to have been redesigned for accessibility, which was the only accessibility issue before. Their plugins make up the majority of my third party go-to picks.

On Dec 7, 2020, at 18:57, Toby Davey <tobyda...@gmail.com> wrote:


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Toby Davey

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Dec 8, 2020, 11:48:45 AM12/8/20
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Hi Michael, 
Thanks for the quick response.  Is the Avid Complete Pro Dynamics plugins pretty much accessible with Voice Over or would I need to download VOCR to work with thek?
From what I could see Waves looks great but maybe more expensive although I do like how they have been described online. 
Thanks 
Toby  

Michael Holmes

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Dec 8, 2020, 2:52:18 PM12/8/20
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Glad to help ☺️ The only accessibility issue in Avid’s I’m aware of is the lack of a ratio setting in the real time plugins. This isn’t an issue usually because you can load a preset and adjust the rest as normal, and the diff listen/compression solo/expansion solo switches make it really easy to check when audio crosses the threshold. It saves a lot of time when setting times and thresholds, because you will only hear what’s being affected, and can adjust until you hear the problem area. Like, when I’m gating a kick to remove snare bleed, I’ll hit the solo, and adjust til I hear the snare and no kick beater hits.

On Dec 8, 2020, at 11:48, Toby Davey <tobyda...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Michael, 

Ramy Moustafa Saber

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Dec 21, 2020, 4:55:37 PM12/21/20
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HI Michael:
Can i ask, do you use 3 pro compressors in your chain? i mean you use the pro compressor, expander and the  lemeter one? or what sorry for asking


Michael Holmes

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Dec 21, 2020, 5:43:47 PM12/21/20
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My bad, I wasn’t describing a chain, just the ways each plugin could be helpful. Also, an update! A friend of mine recently got me into Waves MV2 and C4 for vocal tracks. C4 in particular has really solid vocal presets. It’s definitely worth trying them out.

On Dec 21, 2020, at 16:55, Ramy Moustafa Saber <ramy.mo...@gmail.com> wrote:

HI Michael:

Ramy Moustafa Saber

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Dec 22, 2020, 8:36:18 AM12/22/20
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Aha thanks so much Michael.


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