I’m working on documentary-style YouTube videos and trying to improve my audio quality, specifically my voiceovers.
I’m still relatively new to DaVinci Resolve and learning as I go. My goal is to get that clean, full, consistent narration sound you hear from established documentary and commentary YouTubers.
Right now I’m using a fairly basic onn USB microphone, and I’ve been experimenting with EQ, compression, normalization, and Dialogue Isolate in Fairlight. I’ve gotten some decent results, but I feel like there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
I’m curious how everyone else approaches this.
What’s your typical processing chain for narration?
Do you use track-level EQ and compression, or process individual clips?
How do you keep your volume and vocal tone consistent across different recording sessions?
Are there any underrated Fairlight tools, plugins, or techniques that made a noticeable difference in your audio?
Do you have any tips for getting better results from a cheaper USB microphone?
I’m not necessarily looking for a magic preset, just trying to learn better techniques and develop a repeatable workflow.
I’d especially love to hear from anyone editing documentary, video essay, or commentary-style content.
Thanks in advance

TL;DR: Looking for a tool to save specific video moments from any platform with visual previews for quick reference later.

As a video editor, I often come across interesting edits, transitions, motion graphics, typography, sound design, or creative shots on YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms that I want to save for future reference.

The problem is, I don't just want to save the entire video or post. I want to save the specific section that caught my attention so I can quickly find and revisit it when working on a project.

Ideally, I want a tool to save specific moments from videos across platforms in one place, with visual previews so I can quickly find them later. YouTube playlists save entire videos, bookmarks lack visual previews, and Behance is limited to its own content.

How do you guys manage your inspiration library? Is there a tool specifically designed for this, or have you found a convenient workaround?

A lot of quality loss comes from two separate encodes: exporting a large master, uploading it, and then letting the platform resize and recompress it again.

A workflow that works better for delivery files:

1. Keep the camera or editing master untouched.

2. Export a separate delivery copy for the destination.

3. For broad compatibility, MP4/H.264 is usually safer than an unusual codec.

4. Match the frame rate to the timeline and avoid sending 4K when the destination will downscale it to 1080p anyway.

5. Use VBR instead of choosing an arbitrary “small” preset.

6. Remember that file size is mainly duration × bitrate, so a 3 MB target means very different quality for a 10-second clip and a 2-minute clip.

7. Check difficult frames: small text, foliage, gradients, grain, and fast motion.

8. Listen to dialogue and music, then check the first and last frame.

9. Upload the delivery copy once. Do not repeatedly recompress an already compressed file.

For vertical social video, I usually make a 1080×1920 delivery copy instead of uploading a 4K master and leaving all the resizing to the platform.

There is no single bitrate that works for every source. Motion, noise, grain, duration, codec, and the platform’s own re-encoding all affect the result.

I edit in Final Cut on a Mac, mainly for Instagram, YouTube and other social platforms. I recently got an ASUS ProArt PA32UCDM, and even with it fully calibrated for Rec. 709, what I’m seeing on the monitor doesn’t really match how my videos look on my iPhone.

When I switch the monitor to its P3 preset, it looks much closer to my phone. I’m talking about the monitor setting here, but it’s made me wonder whether I should be editing and monitoring in P3 instead. Does anyone use P3 for this kind of work?

Pretty much everything I’ve read says to use Rec. 709. I’m trying to understand why that’s the right choice when it looks different on the device I’m checking the finished videos on. Obviously everyone’s screen is different, but most of my content is being watched on phones rather than TVs.

What monitor preset, macOS colour profile and Final Cut project settings are you using? Am I missing something in the colour-management setup rather than needing to change colour spaces?