I am using Audacity v 2.0.2 on Mac OSX v 10.6.8, Intel. The Wiki suggests that for changing the reverb I might use the Plug-in FreeverbToo.
I downloaded the FreeToo172.zip, unzipped it, and placed the FreeverbToo.dll in my Applications/Audacity/Plug-ins folder. Then ticked the Preferences/Effects/Search on Startup, and re-started. The Plug-in does not appear in the Effects menu. I tried it with and without the VST-Bridge.so (which I understand is not really needed now) in the same folder, but no improvement. I then tried placing the FreeverbToo.dll in the User/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST folder, but it still does not appear.
Any ideas, please, on how to use the Freeverb plug-in, or, any oher suggestions. I really need to try to REDUCE the reverb in a speech audio track.
Thanks.
.dll files (such as FreeverbToo.dll) are for Windows only.
VST-Bridge.so should not be used with Audacity 2.x. That was for old versions of Audacity only.
Reverb cannot be removed once it is present. You need to take steps to reduce the amount of reverb in the original recording, such as recording in a location that has lots of sound absorbent material, and/or using a microphone close to the thing that you are recording.
Thanks for your reply Steve,
So it seems that I cannot use FreeverbToo on a Mac anyway, which explains my inability to install it. I didn’t understand that from their website
I know about it being better to record without reverb in the first place. In this case, though, I am presented with a ‘fait accompli’, and trying to make the best of it. I’ve helped a bit by reducing the lower frequencies.
Happy Days !
What Wiki page exactly were you looking at?
There is a Freeverb2 for Mac ( http://www.dancetech.com/file-library/PLUGIN/freeverb.sit ) but it could be for PPC Macs only. I have not tested that.
Freeverb2 for Mac is listed on http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/GVerb#Downloads along with the original Freeverb and Freeverb 3 (both with Mac versions), so I am not sure what the problem is.
Please check.
Gale
I downloaded freeverb3 for mac, and got a folder full of .vst plugins. when i put one in the vst folder on my system, i get an error message from audacity, something about an xml file. any thoughts?
I downloaded Freeverb3 and put Freeverb3VST_Freeverb.vst in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST. Unfortunately despite also putting the freeverb3cfg.xml file in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST, Freeverb did not stop asking for that file until I put it in /Users//Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST, despite there were no plug-ins in there.
Audacity cannot do anything about it, but you could suggest to the author that the plug-ins try looking for the cfg file in the same folder that they are in.
Gale
Echo or reflections from the room or hall walls is very difficult to remove because there’s no “hook” or identity of the offending echo. Since the echo is the performers voice arriving at the microphone multiple times, you are in effect asking the software to remove the performer from himself.
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The Four Horsemen of Audio Recording (reliable, time-tested ways to kill your show)
– 1. Echoes and room reverberation (Don’t record the show in your mom’s kitchen.)
– 2. Overload and Clipping (Sound that’s recorded too loud is permanently trashed.)
– 3. Compression Damage (Never do production in MP3.)
– 4. Background Sound (Don’t leave the TV on in the next room.)
Echoes are always lower in volume than the main performance, so tools like Noise Gate might be useful, but that service depends on the speaker always maintaining exactly the same volume voice. In other words, mono-emphasis boring. Even if it does work, the result comes out choppy and robotic.
The grownup still do things like the illustration because it’s impossible to fix the sound gathered any other way.
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/microphoneNewsCluster.jpg
Well, there is one other way, but it’s not compatible with rapid newsgathering and they tend to be delicate and expensive.
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/sennheiserShotgun.jpg
Koz