Rubbish Audio correction??

This is bog standard stuff and sound men still make mistakes on audio levels. This is an interview shot on HDV and the first few minutes are over recorded (peaking at 0 db) then the soundman corrects the levels to -20 db. Is there any kind of audio filter that can soften the blow as the audio clips and crackles. My hopes are not high but thanks anyway. Cheers Phil UK

ive found that any of the software for fixing that kind of damage does almost as much harm as good. in my experience the best thing you can do is EQ it to minimize the pain

If you know someone with Pro Tools you can send them a sample and let them try "Bomb Factory Essentials Clip Remover" filter. It has been part of the free software included with Pro Tools software for the last several years. Not sure if there is a similar Logic/Soundtrack Pro filter. We had a problem a couple of years ago with sound that was recorded in camera with the line/mic switch set to mic when the audio guy was feeding it line from a field mixer. We sent it to a Pro Tools guy and he was able to make it passable, not perfect, but he saved it.

If you only got 2 minutes it is feasible to try to fix it "manually" in Soundtrack. I've had a lot of success fixing clicks and pops just by selecting the spikes and lowering the amplitude on problematic parts.

if i remember correctly, sony sound forge (windows) can ease the distortion. i forget what it's called but you can manually "draw" and modify/reshape the sound waves. other than working with that 2 years ago or so, i don't know any other solution.

Thank you boys.

macapptraining Wrote:
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> if i remember correctly, sony sound forge
> (windows) can ease the distortion. i forget what
> it's called but you can manually "draw" and
> modify/reshape the sound waves. other than
> working with that 2 years ago or so, i don't know
> any other solution.


Yeah.. That's what I've been doing with Soundtrack.

I have a similar problem in that we have several bits that are overmodulated.
I'm curious how you were able to modify the sound waves in soundtrack pro?
would be a great help!

Most DAWS these days have a tool that will do this. I have a plugin on my Nuendo system that works well for this. The way they work is to lower the level of the clip overall to give you headroom, then the plugin goes about rebuilding the waveforms at the top (the clipped portion). HOWEVER, for especially overmodulated pieces there is a second kind of distortion involved, that being Intermodulation distortion. Hard to describe but you'd know it if you heard it. It infests the non-clipped part of the waveform and is impossible to remove.