Reducing Bass

[psyclguy]

I've recorded about 20 songs using Audacity from an audio receiver. The highs and mids are good but there is too much bass on each. Is there an effect in Audacity to reduce the bass? It has effects for bass boost but no bass reducer. I tried the high pass filter but the results weren't good. I've reduced the incoming bass for future recordings. Just wanted to know if I could improve the ones I've already recorded.

[steve]

Use the Equalizer effect (a lot better in Audacity 1.3 than 1.2)

[psyclguy]

Should I use one of the Equalizer presets? How would I reduce the bass using this effect?

[steve]

Here is a screenshot from Audacity 1.3 of the kind of thing:

screenshot.png (42.01 KiB) Viewed 15853 times

If you were using Audacity 1.3 I could have sent you a plug-in for boosting/reducing bass/treble

[psyclguy]

Steve, Actually I am using 1.3. I just realized I posted in the wrong area. So, there's a plug-in for reducing bass?

[steve]

So, there's a plug-in for reducing bass?

Here's one I prepared earlier
(in case you don't know, that was a catch phrase from the BBC children's program "Blue Peter")

Download the attachment and unzip it into your Audacity plug-ins folder.
Restart Audacity and the new plug-in should be listed in the Effects menu as "Shelf Filter".

The default settings will probably be close, but have a play with it. Start off by testing a short sample of audio (Nyquist plug-ins can get very slow on long tracks).

I've only tested this on Audacity 1.3.8 alpha, so let me know how you get on (feedback and suggestions most welcome).

[Edit] See later post for new version.

[psyclguy]

Steve, I downloaded the plug-in, opened a recording, selected 30 seconds, and tried to run the Shelf Filter but I keep getting an error message which I've attached. What do you think could be the problem?

[steve]

I thought that might happen, but I didn't have time to test it before going away for the weekend. There have been some updates to Nyquist in Audacity 1.3.8, and the version that I posted requires the new version.

I've also noticed a small error in the 1.1 version (not related to the error message that you are getting) which I have fixed in "shelf.ny v1.2"

To make the plug-in compatible with earlier (1.3.x) versions of Audacity I'll have to make some modifications - not sure what I should call it, (since it is a backward step)... I'll call it "shelf.ny v0.91"

Come back in a short while and I'll have the new versions uploaded.

[steve]

OK, here they are.

For Audacity 1.3.8 and later

shelf-v1.2.zip

version 1.2 for Audacity 1.3.8 and later

(874 Bytes) Downloaded 1904 times

For Audacity 1.3.7

shelf-v0.91.zip

version 0.91 for Audacity 1.3.x

(1000 Bytes) Downloaded 858 times

[psyclguy]

Steve, I downloaded the 1.3.7 version plugin and it worked great! Made a huge difference in reducing the overwhelming bass. Thanks for your help!