Basic audio boosting crisis

Hello...
I stupidly recorded an entire piece (including interviews etc...) with my attenuator on and of course, all the audio is extremely low. I'm not a real expert in FCP, but I do know that you can boost audio by increasing it 12db (dragging it up to 12db). But what can I do beyond that? Anybody know any other ways to boost audio in FCP? Please reply to sarah4w@aol.com

(PS -- I also have Soundtrack Pro but I've never used it. But if there's a way to use that to boost it, let me know and I'll figure it out!)

Thank you very much!

> But what can I do beyond that?

Effects - Audio Filters - Apple - AUDynamicsProcessor. This filter allows you to add up to 60dB boost on top of the 12dB volume boost. If your sound isn't audible after around 18dB of boost, then chances are your noise-voice ratio is too high to save and you should go to ADR. A Compressor filter should also help.

Soundtrack Pro has other tricks to process sound, but I'm not familiar with it.

You can also raise the clip audio by itself, then do an Audio Mixdown and raise it yet again...but this will also increase ambient noise. BTW Derek's suggestion about ADR is a good one - I would take it into ProTools and fix it there, but this may not be an option for you.

Larry Jordan's August newsletter has details on derekmok's AUDynamicsProcessor suggestion

[www.larryjordan.biz]

Or even simpler, just copy the audio clip and paste the copy below the original. Repeat until you've got it loud enough.

You can solve the volume problem and the possible noise to signal ratio by sending your clip to Soundtrack Pro. Here's how it works.

Right click your clip and choose: Send To: Soundtrack Pro Audio File. Choose a save name and then STP will open.

Make sure nothing is highlighted in the waveform and choose: Normalize from the process menu. That will boost your audio considerably. However, as with other suggestions, it'll boost any hiss or other ambient noise as well, perhaps to an unacceptable level.

Find a spot where no one is talking and you only hear the background noise. Make a selection and go back to the Process Menu and choose: Set Noise Print. This gives STP the basic frequency of the noise to work with. Deselect your selection or hit CMD+A to select the entire wave and go back to the Process Menu, picking: Reduce Noise.

From the dialog box: use the Threshold slider to find the best signal to noise ratio (where the voice is clear and the background noise is gone or almost gone). Use the Reduction slider to kill that frequency completely, or else allow a small amount back in for realism (90% or so on the slider).

Click the: Noise Only button and click play to listen to what STP will be removing. If you can hear the voice, then you probably have the threshold up too high. Move the slider until you can barely hear the voice. Deselect the Noise Only button and listen to the preview.

Click apply and then save. Choose: include source audio. Flip back to FCP. Your clip will have the new effects applied to it.

Keep in mind that every situation is different and that what works on one clip doesn't necessarily work on all soft audio. Also, the higher the threshold, the more metallic and processed your voice will sound. There is a give and take in this, and you may have to live with some noise in the background to avoid clipping the audio you want to keep.

Hope this helps.

Andy

Andy
holy **** - thanks for that tip. i wasn't the original poster, but i run into this problem a lot and the sequence that you just outlined does some pretty amazing things!!!! thanks!!!
greg

Sarah Said:

Thank you so very much, Andy, for the excellent tip. I really
appreciate you taking the time to explain it.
Two quick questions -- first, FCP wouldn't let me choose "Soundtrack
Pro Audio File". It would let me choose "Soundtrack Pro Multitrack
Project" only. Not sure why...

So I went ahead and chose STP Multitrack Project just to see if I could
do it that way. I made sure nothing was highlighted in the waveform,
but I wasn't allowed to choose Normalize from the Process menu either.
Wasn't available to click. So I'm not sure why I'm having those
problems. Any idea?

You sound like a STP genius!

Thanks again...
Sarah


Sarah, i posted your email to me on the site. When you reply, you should reply to the site so everyone can see your question, or get the same answer.

To answer your email though:

No, I'm not an STP genius. I've barely scratched the surface about what it can do. In this case, I listened to a demo by Apple at NAB and remembered it. Plus, I work in broadcast TV, and fixing/enhancing sound is one of the main things I find myself doing when working on a project.

The reason you couldn't select: Audio File Project is because you must've selected multiple clips in your FCP sequence. Audio File Project only works with one clip. More than that and you'll be forced to choose multitrack sequence.

However, if you plan on applying the same effect on multiple clips here's what you do:

Select one and send it to Soundtrack. Do all the things I posted above and save. After that, go to File: Save As an Applescript to the Scripts folder of Soundtrack. This creates a macro of sorts.

Flip back to FCP, and select all the remaining clips you want to affect. Right-click and select: Send To: Soundtrack Script: <<your saved script>>. Soundtrack will automatically effect those clips one at a time to the specifications of the first one you did.

Andy