audacity editing help

Poststructural Pub
1

I made a recording of a live performance. Unfortunately, there are two “peaks” when the mic got overloaded or something and it is a sharp chirp in the sound. I tried using noise reduction, normalization, and the high pass and low pass filters to try and get rid of the chirp, but was unable to. Can an editing wizard give some pointers as to what to try. You can hear the plonk 17 seconds into “Acoustic Whalesong.”
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/9/billchinmusic.htm

Thanks,
Bill

2

You can isolate the plonk, sample it and remove it, but you will end up with a tiny gap in sound. If its a chorus and there was a similar moment without the plonk, you could cheat and cut and paste that version right over it.
Very frustrating situation, I know from my experience.

3

Thanks Weekenders, I did a cut, paste from a nearby section, then deleted the hiccup, and uploaded the new version to SoundClick. There is still a hiccup, but it is not as disturbing as the original recording.

As an aside, when I first started listening to recordings of myself, I would cringe. These days that reaction occurs less often. There are two interpretations, one that I am getting better, two is that I am getting used to listening to poor performances :slight_smile:

  • Bill
4

A couple more tips to help you avoid this problem in the future:

  1. Before you start recording, determine the desired recording level on each instrument by playing a hard note (e.g. second-octave B) at point-blank range to the mic, then adjust it so that the peak stays below the threshold.

  2. Always have fresh batteries for your mics and f/x. Weak batteries will introduce unwanted distortion and/or equipment noise.

5

I’d run into similar problems editing voiceovers for the CD-ROM educational tools we do at work–some talents were particularly forceful on their “A” attack and would throw all the other levels off.

Using my audio editing software (SoundForge, in this case), I’d select the peak, going from 0 to 0, and reduce the volume on it until it matched the rest.

Or copy and paste over it.

M

6

#1 gave me a chuckle. That kind of sound check will certainly rouse any nappers in the crowd at a live performance :slight_smile:

  • Bill