Interviews - silencing tracks when one person is talking

[Newbie altert!]

Hi Guys - searched for ages and havent found this one.

New to podcasting. Recorded a ~30min interview using two lavilier microphones.

When one person is talking I am going through the tracks silencing the other microphone to remove breathing noise, crackles, and the weaker signal of the other person talking.

This is taking a loooooong time :smiley:

This may be life but just in case I am missing some real simple and invaluable tip I thought I ought to ask the experts :slight_smile:

TIA

Mike

Try the Auto Duck effect: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/auto_duck.html

This may be life

It is, yes. If you put a second microphone in, the noise doubles, but any one performer’s voice doesn’t. If somebody told me what you just did, I’d enroll them in Lav School.

Crackling and breathing noises usually means you mounted the lav wrong or put it in the wrong place. The lav is mounted about two-thirds to three-quarters up between the belly button and chin. It’s supposed to go in the “chin shadow” of the performer. This usually eliminates the breath noises. Then do a loop with the cable so it doesn’t drag on the performer clothing thus minimizing the scratching and clothing noises. This is impossible to describe to somebody in words. See attached.

If the performer’s hair is hitting the microphone, then I’m sorry.

You minimize crosstalk by having the performers far apart. It’s not accidental that Charlie Rose’s desk is as big as it is or that Rachel Maddow is sitting six or more feet away from the guest.

After you do all that, then you can go for the software patches. They tend to sound funny and they’re difficult to adjust. Much better to fix it in hardware.

Koz
lav-cable.jpg

One more. If your mixer has a “100Hz Low Cut Filter,” turn it on. The voices will sound a little tighter, but breath thumps should go away.

Koz

I do have one.
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/lavalier2.jpg

Koz

Many thanks guys for your prompt, helpful and very kind replies. My workflow on podcats is veeery long - right now running round drinking coffee non stop to score an interview for two weeks time. Tomorrow back at my desk to fix the mix so will have time to address your comments then.

So holding note for now but thanks!!

If your interview is in the same room could you use a single table microphone? 2 mics are good so long as you cable to reach both people and the mixer.

No, because then it would be impossible to cut out noise from one person while the other person is speaking (which is what the original poster is wanting to do).

And you’re more likely to record the room noise and echoes. The Mic In The Middle thing works perfectly in a soundproofed studio. But even then The Big Kids use two microphones for balancing and production of one without affecting the other.

I do have one. Both of these people are wearing lavaliers on their ties. Note how far apart they are. That’s not an accident.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/CharlieRoseSpacing.jpg

Koz