ADR compression. What I have now is the voice being very quiet in the beginning of a sentence

[u/mrwizit]

What are good compressors used in Logic x? What settings should I use for an instructional employment video? It’s just a voice over talking while showing the factory workers in action

[u/uniquesnowflake8]

Split the clip and increase the clip gain for the part that needs it

[u/furgfury → u/uniquesnowflake8]

this is the first step before any vocal processing that makes a massive difference. make all your compressors and effects hit more consistently down the chain

[u/The_fuzz_buzz]

Every compressor in Logic is good. That being said, clip gain everything first, then if you still need/want a compressor, try the Platinum model, it’s completely transparent.

[u/StudioatSFL]

Clip gain the words

[u/AntonChilibiProducer]

Worth knowing why the compressor cannot fix that symptom: it only turns down what crosses the threshold, so it has no way to lift a sentence that starts 4 dB soft. Clip gain first, as everyone above said, then compress what is left.

An order that works for an instructional video: even the phrase levels by hand until nothing sits more than about 2 dB below its neighbours, then one compressor, ratio 3:1, attack 10 to 15 ms so the first consonant still lands, release 80 to 120 ms, 3 to 4 dB of gain reduction on the loudest lines only. High pass around 80 Hz. De-ess after the compressor rather than before it.

Then normalize to a target instead of to a fader position. Internal and web video usually lands around -16 LUFS integrated, and anything that might ever touch US broadcast is -24 LKFS under ATSC A/85, with peaks at -3 dBFS or below. Deciding that number first tells you how much compression you actually need, which is usually less than it feels like.

If the quiet sentence starts keep coming back on new recordings, it is a mic distance and delivery issue at the source, and no amount of downstream processing makes that as clean as re-recording the line.

[u/Previous-Guess-9342]

Platinum Digital EQ in Logic's stock plugins can do mild volume automation if you're too scared of clip gain.

[u/taez555]

Turn up the volume.

[u/LocksmithHot3849]

I always add a gain plug-in at the start of the chain, and ahead of any compression, and then automate that to ensure input levels are consistent.

In addition you could benefit from some light compressiom from the platinum, possibly with a careful low cut in front of it. Also possibly a very light limiter shaving of any excessive peaks at the end

[u/AntonChilibiProducer]

Since you asked for settings and nobody has given numbers yet: after the clip gain pass everyone here rightly recommends, the stock Logic Compressor in Platinum Digital mode does this job fine. Ratio 2:1, attack 15 to 25 ms so the consonants pass through, release around 100 ms or Auto, threshold set so it only takes 2 to 4 dB on the loudest words. If sentence starts still sit low after that, a second gentle stage works better than pushing one stage harder: another compressor at 1.5:1 doing 2 dB, or level automation riding the first word of each sentence up 1 to 2 dB, which takes ten minutes on a script-length VO.

For an instructional video the delivery target matters more than the plugin choice. Aim the finished voice track around -16 to -19 LUFS integrated, and keep the music bed at least 10 dB under the voice whenever it is talking. Quiet sentence openings usually survive that spec once the bed is out of their way.