Hi Folks,
I’m wondering if there is a tool in Audacity that can fix “Peaking Audio?”
On one of my cameras the Panasonic HC VX1 and using the Rode Video Mic Pro Plus to enhance the speech - no problem on my other Sony Camera but on my Panasonic I didn’t activate “AGC” Here is the screen shot bellow of an audio clip that I’m looking to fix…
I hope you can help me?
Cheers
Rob
There is a [u]Clip Fix[/u] effect but it’s imperfect. It’s impossible to know original wave height or shape.
Normally it has to be prevented. Usually (with digital recording) it’s the analog-to-digital converter that gets clipped so you have to reduce the analog signal into the ADC. Low levels aren’t a problem* with digital recording but clipping is a problem.
You’re clipping at 0.5 (50% = -6dB) and that’s unusual. An ADC clips at exactly 0dB, (You’ll get clipping at -6dB if you record in mono from a stereo interface with one unused input but you have stereo.)
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Does it sound harsh, crispy, ticky, and crunchy? If it doesn’t, you may be able to just pretend the damage didn’t happen and hope nobody notices. The kiss of death is when the sound gets very bright only when the performer punches it a little too hard. The damage switches in and out. You can’t ignore that and it’s almost impossible to fix.
Once you overload the digital performance, you’re stuck. The digital system “ran out of numbers” and just stopped following the voice. If you reduce the volume, you will just get lower volume distortion.
Clip Fix is a terrific tool good for fixing one or two clips every twenty minutes, not twenty minutes of constant clips.
You can “fix it” with the Hollywood method. Hire someone with a similar voice to read the printed interview in a quiet room. If you do that just right, even the original performer may not notice. I’m assuming you can’t get the original performer to do it again.
Will you ever make that mistake again?
Koz
