HELP! BAD AUDIO

Hi, and thanks in advance:

I'm under the gun here, and have a terrible audio problem. I had to shoot an interview in a room where the building engineer said he could turn off the air conditioning. HE COULDN'T !!!

I tried every audio filter in the 2 effects folders, searched FAQ here (and don't know how to use Soundtrack Pro). I'm desperate with not so much time before I deliver. Any help?

Thanks so much,
Richard

(FCS 2, Macbook Pro)

Wow. Sounds like the season for mixing audio... how bad is it? Can you upload a short sample? You're likely to have to use the noise reduction in Stkpro for that, as well as EQs, and maybe noise gating or expanders, if things get tougher.

For noise reduction in soundtrack pro, select a section with only the noise, click "set noise print", and highlight the section with excessive noise and hit "noise reduction", then tweak from there. For EQs, cutting below 100hz is usually in order, and probably a slight boost around the nasals around 2khz.

I'm hoping you recorded with lapels and any directional mics you had on set wasn't directed towards the air conditioner.

If it's bad, you might be looking towards ADR.



www.strypesinpost.com

"Soundsoap" is ok as a last resort, and almost completely automatic. It does very much the same trick as Soundtrack Pro, but you don't have to learn anything.

Just don't overdo the "cleanup" effect or it makes people sound as if they are underwater.

It costs about $75.

Harry

Reshoot the interview. You can waste a lot of time (and a little money) trying to improve the audio, but in the end it will still sound bad. We've all been there, and tried like mad to eliminate echoes/air conditioners/traffic... all to little avail, if indeed the problem is "terrible."

<<<if indeed the problem is "terrible.">>>

None of these tools will rescue bad audio as much as we wish they did. They all turn a good or OK show into a very good show.

If you have a seriously ratty track, the best you can do is make perfectly clear speech that sounds underwater--or you can change the audio without making it any better.

My license for SoundSoap has presets for voice work, and if you tell it which country you're shooting in, can suppress some hum. But I don't think I've ever used it on an actual show. It's too easy to make an interview from Mars.

You can have video problems and still deliver the show, but sound kills.

Koz

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the help. In the end, I just used music to mask it.