Noisy ventilation...background noise

[WhiteScarfSyndrome]

I just finished a shoot in a lab with ventilation that could not be turned off. It's not pervasive, but it's no sound studio. It's a steady and constant woosh sound. I recorded 30 seconds of "silence" to use as reference, but I have no idea how to incorporate this 30 second recording into my editing.

How do you use this "silent" recording along with the audio from the shoot in the timeline? I have an idea of why you would want to record that, but not how to apply it.

Thanks!

PS: This was with a DVX100B, with XLR wired lav mic into Ch. 2 input and ch1 and ch2 switches pointed to input2.

"Reference" 30 sec. clip (if that's even the name for it), was recorded the same way.

 

[Luis Caffesse]

Well, having a clip with no voicetrack isn't really going to help you get rid of the backgroudn sound. Ambient tone is usually recorded in order to get rid of unwanted sounds - like sound from the crew, or footsteps that are too loud, etc etc. If for example you had an isolated sound that you wanted to get rid of, you could cut to a few seconds of your "silent" clip and cover it with that, and since the background noise is the same you'd be able to get away with it. But as far as a constant background sound, you'll have to either live with it or try to filter it out somehow.

You could try using something like 'Soundsoap' to get rid of the background sound. It's not that cheap ($129), but I don't know of any free alternatives, and I've had good results with this one.

 

[WhiteScarfSyndrome]

Well, having a clip with no voicetrack isn't really going to help you get rid of the backgroudn sound. Ambient tone is usually recorded in order to get rid of unwanted sounds - like sound from the crew, or footsteps that are too loud, etc etc. If for example you had an isolated sound that you wanted to get rid of, you could cut to a few seconds of your "silent" clip and cover it with that, and since the background noise is the same you'd be able to get away with it. But as far as a constant background sound, you'll have to either live with it or try to filter it out somehow.

You could try using something like 'Soundsoap' to get rid of the background sound. It's not that cheap ($129), but I don't know of any free alternatives, and I've had good results with this one.

Ahh OK! That makes perfect sense! I was just getting the purpose of that background noise confused with something else. But what happens when you get a door slam or footsteps or car horn during the exact time the subject is talking? I can't see how anything but some extreme filtering would get rid of that if you hear it over the voice of your subject.

Add that trick to my editing technique...thanks a lot! I use PP1.5, which filter do you think would help the most with this?

Know what's really dumb? I just found out that they aren't going to be using most of this video, only the audio. If I had known that, I would've brought these guys into a carpeted conference room for much better sound!!!! Grrr!

Thanks again!

 

[Luis Caffesse]

what happens when you get a door slam or footsteps or car horn during the exact time the subject is talking?

At that point, if the audio is unusable, I imagine you would have to resort to ADR, having the talent revoice the line and attempt to sync it up with the video, using your ambient background track to fill in the missing background sound.

I use PP1.5, which filter do you think would help the most with this?

No idea - hopefully someone else can help with this question.
Best of luck.