r/VideoEditing • u/Easy-Cantaloupe-3879 • 2h ago
Workflow Sound engineer here: the “third space” trick to keep music loud AND the voice clear
I keep seeing the same question in this and similar subs: “if i lower the music it disappears, if i cut the voice frequencies out of the music it gets muddy. how do pros do it?”
the answer is that pros don’t mix in 2D (low to high frequencies), they mix in 3D. besides low/high you also have center vs sides:
- mid = what’s the same in left and right, the center (mono)
- side = what’s different between left and right, the width (stereo)
a voice lives almost only in the center. music lives both in the center and on the sides.
what most people do: cut 1-4 kHz on the whole music track to make room for the voice. you lose that range completely, so the music gets muddy and small.
what we do in the studio: cut those frequencies only in the mid, and give a little of the same range back on the side. the total amount of those frequencies stays almost the same, they just move out of the center. the voice gets a clean pocket in the middle, the music stays wide and full around it.
how to try it:
- put an EQ that works in M/S mode on the music (Fabfilter Pro-Q, TDR Nova which is free, most DAWs have one)
- on the mid: cut 2-4 dB around 1-4 kHz, wide bell
- on the side: boost 1-2 dB in the same range
- keep the music around 10-12 dB under the voice instead of 15-20
- check on phone speakers: the voice should be clear and the music still “there”
if your editor’s EQ can’t do M/S (Premiere’s stock one can’t), do this step in a DAW or with a plugin.
it’s one of the things that make films and anime sound so different from youtube videos: huge music and perfectly clear dialogue at the same time.
happy to answer questions, and if you try it, tell me how it went
