The Reality of Processing Podcast Audio Using Your Eyes vs. Using Your Ears

First question you may have is: How do people process audio using only their eyes? Example 1: By only looking at an EQ’s frequency curve analysis and making EQ adjustments based solely on that visual information, instead of listening to how the EQ is affecting the sound. Example 2: By only looking at a compressor’s gain reduction meter and making compressor adjustments based solely on that visual information, instead of listening to how the compressor is affecting the sound. There are many more examples.

The practice of ONLY using your eyes when producing audio is HIGHLY NOT recommended because what you see visually is a TERRIBLY incomplete representation of how the audio sounds.

Of course there are many helpful ways in which using visual information when producing audio can be extremely helpful, but visual information should never be the only information you use.

Tattoo this on your chest: Your ears should always be the final judge when producing audio. Period.

Furthermore, using only your eyes to EQ audio is not always perfectly reliable because, regardless of the raw recording’s frequency curve, each individual human voice has a unique timbre (tone color) and each different microphone has a unique timbre. This means you will NOT want every recording’s EQ curve to be identical. For instance, some microphones sound better with accentuated lower frequencies BECAUSE the microphone itself does an exceptional job of representing the clarity and articulation of the mid/higher frequencies, so “seeing” accentuated low end with your eyes doesn’t always mean you should reduce the level of those low frequencies.

Does any of this make sense to you? LOL

Let me know what you think in the comments 🙂

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