Hello!
I have recorded some interviews with a lapel microphone using a jack to micro-USB adapter. Unfortunately, it turns out the conection was loose and throughout my interviews I get bits like the sample I’m attaching. Is there a way to fix this using Audacity? Excuse my ignorance as I’m a complete newbie… Thank you so much!
Adobe AI podcast enhance is worth a go, as it’s free.
But in your case there’s a lot of damage …
(before-after Adobe enhance)
You have brief portions of the interview with no voice. Hard to fix that.
There’s the Hollywood Method where you hire someone with a similar voice to re-announce the interview in a soundproof studio. You’ll need to sit down and type out the words into a script.
There’s the AI method where you get a fake but similar voice to re-record the work.
So now you know how not to record interviews. It is strongly recommended that you listen to the sound during the interview.
This was a radio broadcast where I shot the Los Angeles portion of an interview. They recorded the host and I recorded a famous graphic artist. That’s audacity on the left.
That’s Conference Room One which is soundproofed. Yes, there is occasionally a race when the executives need to have a meeting and I need to record something.
The artist just picked up the phone and started talking in front of that yellow microphone. I took care of everything else. Being obsessive, that second microphone to the right is a backup recorder. We didn’t need it.
You don’t have to go nuts, either. This is a Zoom Corporation H1n stand-alone sound recorder capturing an audiobook segment. Note the headphones. And the heavy furniture moving pads for soundproofing.
Listening to yourself like that It does take a little getting used to, but again, it’s highly recommended. You don’t want to get to the end of a presentation and discover the recorded sound is broken.
Quick note. You can’t listen to the computer when you plug the microphone straight in. There will almost always be a delay or echo—even if everything is working right.
Under Duress, I have listened to and monitored a live recording like that. I had to go and lie down later, but I got the recording.
Many USB microphones have a place to plug the headphones right at the microphone. Forget wireless headphones. I know people who can make those work, but I’m not one of them.
Koz
One more note. I have made some very good recordings with Lossless Voice Memo App on my iPhone.
That’s not the worst backup recorder. Lying on the table like that is called “Pressure Zone Configuration.” I’m not making that up. Obviously the table can’t be making noises.
I recorded a freeform restaurant interview like that.
I was lucky the restaurant doesn’t have background music. No you can’t remove that from an interview. That’s one of the four good ways to kill an interview.
Koz
No miracle tools that can save the day here, I see, but thanks so much everyone for your valuable tips! Definitely a lesson learned!
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