How to rescue sound?

[acexl1]

I have an audio problem with a sound engineer not familiar with the DVX100. I had a boom on Ch1 and Lav on Ch2. He switched both inputs on Ch2 so all boom mic sound is lost. Recorded in large room, only sound on the interviewer with Lav on Ch 2. Large room broadband sound affects voice - what program is best to bring out to best clean audio?
Please Help!!!! ???

[mrbimmer]

Pro Tools!!!! Bias Deck isn't bad to mess around with audio...are you on a mac or PC?

[acexl1]

Mac, FCPHD. Will Soundsoap do the trick?

[cheap_producer]

You wrote that your interviewer was on a lav. Does this mean you had subjects who were unmiked? Can you hear what anyone other than your interviewer said? Can you recreate the situation?

[Barry_S]

Yes, please describe the problem a bit more thoroughly--audio fixes are very specific to the problem. What do you mean by "broadband sound"? If you have unwanted noise from an omni lav like a hum or a rumble from a refridgerator or HVAC system--you can ususally do a good job of attenuating it with equalization. Sony Noise Reduction or ProTools DINR or Soundsoap all do an analysis of background noise and do some sophisticated equalization to remove or attenuate it.

If the problem noise is discontinuous and varied--like people talking or moving about. it can be imposible to remove, other than by clipping out offending sounds between words and inserting room tone.

[acexl1]

The interviewee is only picked up on the lav from the interviewer. Broadband noise relates to HVAC system in background. Soundsoap can reduce the level but then I lose the level of the voice. Should I boost the signal and then remove the hum and room noise?

[Barry_S]

If you have access to some sound editing tools, you should be able to attenuate the HVAC noise and boost the interviewee's voice before applying the automated noise reduction. *This type of work requires a fair amount of experimentation and time if you want to do a good job. *Without hearing or analyzing the sound it's tough to give specific suggestions, but there are a few general techniques you can try. *

--Use a sharp highpass filter to remove everything below 130 Hz.

--Try adding a boost around 3.5 or 4 kHz with a parametric equalizer.

--If you can do a "sweep" try identifying noise frequencies that don't overlap with voice frequencies and attenuate them.

--Try using a noise gate with the ability to attenuate (but not eliminate) sound below a set threshold.

If you can do some processing prior running a noise reduction tool, you may get some better results. *I've heard that Soundsoap is not as sophisticated a tool as some other noise reduction plugins, so you could try some other plugs if they're available. *Also, don't assume that the default settings will do the job for you. * Good luck.

[cheap_producer]

How far away was the interviewer from the subject/s and what type of lav were you using?