Can This Audio File Be Cleaned Up?

Chris Messineo

Chris Messineo

Veteran
I have a couple of minutes of footage (that I have to use and cannot reshoot or dub) that was recorded in a tiny bathroom. There is some echo, but that is the least of my problems. The big problem is the bathroom fan was running during all of the takes and the sound of that hum is brutal.

Here is a 24 second sample : http://www.offstagefilms.com/files/soundtest.aif

I tried sending the sound file to SoundTrack Pro to remove the noise, but the results weren't great.

I have spent the last 3 hours playing with the Audio Filters in FCP. I am stumbling around in the dark and occasionally a filter does seem to help. I have had some luck with the following (even though I don't know exactly what they do):

Hum Remover
Parametric Equalizer
Band Pass Filter

But I can't seem to find the best combination. My ears are numb at this point.

I realize there is no perfect solution (bad audio is bad audio). But I was hoping someone out there who is better at this than me (most of you), could take a moment to listen to the file, try a couple of things, and offer me some specific suggestions.

If someone can help me out with this, I would really, really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Chris
 
Chris-

Icky- classic example of bad production audio. :) Mic is too far away from your actors and sounds like the fridge and the sink/bathtub are really close.

Yeah you can probably cancel out some of the fridge noise or AC or whatever it is in STP and then cut out the drips whenever they don't fall right on a line. Too aggressive noise reduction sounds warbly in STP. So my advice would be sample a small part of the noise as your noise print, then lightly apply it as noise reduction. Then resample elsewhere in the clip and lightly apply again. Keep doing this until you have the most dialogue without warble, then normalize. But to be honest the STP noise reduction is pretty weak. You might try Sound Soap instead:

http://xserve1.bias-inc.com:16080/products/soundsoap2/


But for me I'd probably just loop this scene and move on. No shame in looping if it's done well. But for next time, get Barry's DVD here or on our store:

http://www.callboxlive.com/store/sound-film-television-p-40.html

Noah
 
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I've got Barry's DVD (purchased after the shoot). :(

Thanks for the reply.

I actually want the drips (they are supposed to be there). All I want to try and do is cancel out some of that hum from the ceiling fan.

I think the audio filters in FCP, should be able to help with this, in fact, I have been able to make some progress with them. But I am guessing and it could take me another 3 days before I stumble on the right combo.

I was kind of hoping someone out there who is good with sound and FCP audio could suggest a combination of filters (and some frequencies) for me to try.
 
With the parametric equalizer, what you do is set the gain to maximum, and slowly hunt for the frequency where the offending sound jumps out at you, then set the gain to minimum and watch the sound disappear. I listened to your file and it's pretty bad, but this should help some.
 
Yeah the hum does sound very prominent in the recoding.
Best way I have found to get around hums like this one is to select a part of the clip containing the least amount of dialogue. For instance the pause after she says "...send someone else in the future..." cut it out as a separate clip and apply a 3 way EQ to it. Set 2 of the bands to 0 gain then adjust the third to around 400hz lower the gain on that one play it in a loop and adjust the frequency of it until it effects the humming sound. Once you achieve the most reduction on that band repeat the same process with the other 2 bands on different low frequencies until the hum is the least noticeable. Once you've got a good combo, copy the filter from with all your set parameters and apply it to the whole sound track of the scene.
Good luck.
 
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