I filmed a short and one of the characters was really loud and the audio levels peaked.. I guess they call it digital clipping. What can I do in either Pro Tools, FCP, etc to help eliminate the scratchy noise when it peaks? I want to try everything I can before trying to do ADR. Please help with some recommendations. Thanks.
Audio Levels Hitting Red (Nasty Noise)
- Thread starter Jebs19
- Start date
10s
Veteran
I take it that this was recorded with the distorted peaks due to too hot of a signal/proximity overload, & this is not something you're doing inside Pro Tools? If so, there isn't much you can do, it'll sound bad and no matter what you do. You can attenuate those peaks manually or using a limiter/compressor plug-in, but it will not be what you want. This is just a bad audio recording. I've yet to find a remedy for a bad recording. Maybe someone here can enlighten me of their magic.
I hate to preach but this is why you have someone record audio who knows what they're doing, or you practice before hand and learn what to do, and it's also a reason why you need to turn on the camera's limiter if you happen to own a DVX-HVX.
Always PRACTICE with your tools beforehand so you know the boundaries.
I hate to preach but this is why you have someone record audio who knows what they're doing, or you practice before hand and learn what to do, and it's also a reason why you need to turn on the camera's limiter if you happen to own a DVX-HVX.
Always PRACTICE with your tools beforehand so you know the boundaries.
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
Sound Soap 2, might help. Turn up the scratch filter. RX by Izotope is much better. SS2 runs around $80 street and RX is I think around $250 street.
There is also a plugin that is bundled with some or all of the PT setups called "essential clip remover". On some things it helps but on most things it just destroys it, so not recommended. But if you have no $ and you have it give it a chance it might help.
With out specialized plugins your pretty much hosed.
One other long shot is to use a limiter with a slowish attack. It won't get rid of the distortion but it can smooth the edge of the clip and make it less harsh. I would start with RX though, the rest are long shots.
There is also a plugin that is bundled with some or all of the PT setups called "essential clip remover". On some things it helps but on most things it just destroys it, so not recommended. But if you have no $ and you have it give it a chance it might help.
With out specialized plugins your pretty much hosed.
One other long shot is to use a limiter with a slowish attack. It won't get rid of the distortion but it can smooth the edge of the clip and make it less harsh. I would start with RX though, the rest are long shots.
SonicStates
Well-known member
I don't know man. Clipping means your recording is up the s#&t. Depending on how many times you have this problem it may be better to rerecord the actor...if possible. I use Cubase SX3 for music and sound work and you can go into the wave form and reduce individual points on the wave. This is good for tiny pops and crackles which you miss while recording (you shouldn't have any of these in the first place) but by the sounds of it, you have a bigger problem on your hands. Attempting this would be a pretty intensive undertaking plus like 10s said it's a bad recording and your stuck with it for the most part unless you do ADR which will actually take less time me thinks. Technically speaking sucky sound is going to make your short suck.....gotta maintain peoples focus on your film and not have them thinking..."What was up with the audio?".
In any case, good luck.
In any case, good luck.
SMuir
Well-known member
Did you record the overmodulating mic to both channels at the same level? If the second audio track was used to record a lower-level alternate version, then you may be able to simply discard the primary track and use the backup. Otherwise, I hope for your sake that the second audio channel was still set to record the on-camera mic (it won't be pretty, but it may be useable).
If you don't have a butt-coverring safety option, your left with five options: stitch together a dialogue edit using any takes that weren't overmodulated, reshoot the scene with someone minding the audio, ADR the character, recut the scene to omit the particular character, or throw your hands up into the air and live with it.
Overmodulations happen, even when you have an experienced audio team. The important thing is someone has to alert the director to the problem, and request a re-take.
If you don't have a butt-coverring safety option, your left with five options: stitch together a dialogue edit using any takes that weren't overmodulated, reshoot the scene with someone minding the audio, ADR the character, recut the scene to omit the particular character, or throw your hands up into the air and live with it.
Overmodulations happen, even when you have an experienced audio team. The important thing is someone has to alert the director to the problem, and request a re-take.
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
While I pretty much agree with the "your screwed" assessments above. I will add that I have worked on a number of documentary's and shorts with bad to horrendous production takes. You get a lot more latitude with a doc because of lower expectations of sound quality but you still have to keep the bad to a minimum or you loose your audience. Anyway there are a lot of tools and tricks that can improve the perceived quality of the tracks. A LOT depends on how bad the tracks are. Clipping over dialog that is still understandable can often be greatly mitigated. On a doc you can salvage almost anything. Narrative is a bit different but it is also a bit dependent on what your planning for a sound track. If your going to have someone who knows what they are doing give you a "real" sound track (full FX, Foley, BG's - the "Hollywood" sound) then A) they should be the one fixing the dialog and B) it will be a lot easier to mask problematic production tracks (depending on the film and a bunch of other stuff). If your just going to do the "no-budget indi" sound (bare production tracks with some music and a few generally not well chosen FX), then it may not make that much difference if some of the dialog is skanky.
ADR is the "easiest" solution but low budget ADR is often worse than skanky production sound. If your doing ADR then you need to do a full sound track. If you have someone capable of giving you a good full track they should also be able to save a lot of that bad production sound.
If your trying to do this your self and your not very experienced (asking this here sort of confirms that) or you have a $0 budget for sound post then you are probably screwed.
ADR is the "easiest" solution but low budget ADR is often worse than skanky production sound. If your doing ADR then you need to do a full sound track. If you have someone capable of giving you a good full track they should also be able to save a lot of that bad production sound.
If your trying to do this your self and your not very experienced (asking this here sort of confirms that) or you have a $0 budget for sound post then you are probably screwed.
Humanwire
Active member
I have used the X-Crackle plugin by Waves to help take some of the harshness off of distorted dialogue. It doesn't fix MAJOR problems, but it certainly helps. Another thing to do as well is to roll off all of the high end, maybe starting around 12,000hz with a not too steep slope, to also help soften the distortion. The dialogue on all hollywood films has a lot of the high end rolled off, and you probably wouldn't notice it unless you compared it side by side with dialogue that wasn't rolled off. They do this to reduce noise, hiss, and the high frequency "ring" of TV monitors on the set.
I've also heard of a plugin now being used around town here in LA that does amazing things to fix distorted dialogue. The plugin actually comes with its own computer to run it, so I'd imagine it's pretty ridiculously expensive, with very few post houses actually owning it.
I've also heard of a plugin now being used around town here in LA that does amazing things to fix distorted dialogue. The plugin actually comes with its own computer to run it, so I'd imagine it's pretty ridiculously expensive, with very few post houses actually owning it.
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
Rx has a function called spectral repair that can do some amazing things also. It will let you "rebuild" parts of the spectrum by sampling before and after the event your trying to "fix". You get a sonogram window where you can highlight parts of the spectrum that have weird things going on and "repair" them. It's not a fast process but it can work wonders. There demo clip shows removing a phone ring that is stepping on dialog.
TyFord
Well-known member
You are pretty much hosed. The audio op should have told you that the screaming crashed the mixer or camera audio.
Regards,
Ty Ford