Hi,
I know there are other posts about removing reverb and that it’s no easy task. But I’d be happy with just improving it as much as I can, and I’ve tried a few things but apparently I’m not very good at it.
I have a few recordings I made using a Blue Snowball mic in a mid-size room where there’s not enough furniture to give me good acoustics.
I already applied noise reduction but it made very little difference. I also tried noise gate but that only made it sound like I muted the mic after every phrase and still there’s a lot of reverb in between so that’s not what I’m looking for. I saw some examples where people got nice results using the DTBlkFx plugin, which I downloaded but I’m completely lost on how to use. Also saw that from “vocal reduction and isolation” the “isolate center” has been used, but again I got no good results from it.
I’m attaching a small mp3 sample of a recording with the reverb I’d like to improve (without any processing applied). Maybe I just need someone to tell me how to use all these plugins, or how exactly to play with the settings so I know what to look for and what to tweak.
There are “de-verb” plug-ins but I haven’t tried any of them. I don’t know if you’ll get good natural-sounding results.
Also saw that from “vocal reduction and isolation” the “isolate center” has been used, but again I got no good results from it.
That won’t work with your mono recording. It assumes you have a stereo recording with the vocals in the (phantom) center. And, you rarely get natural-sounding or professional-sounding results. I consider it to be a novelty effect.
If you had a stereo recording (made with separate left & right microphones) “center isolation” might help a little but there would still be lots of reverb in the “center”. You’re using a directional mic so it’s already reducing sounds from other directions. (The reverb would be worse with an omnidirectional mic.)
This will be a little work, but maybe I have a partial solution.
I used two Audacity windows. One had the show you posted. I selected the echo tails from words with long gaps after them. I collected them (copy/paste) in the second Audacity. The show in the second Audacity is just echoes, no speech. Select the echo track > Effect > Noise Reduction > Profile.
Shift to the first window. Select the speech. Effect > Noise Reduction: 12, 6, 6 > Enter.
The room is so big that some of the echo tones are slightly different from the performance. Different enough that I can use Stiff Noise Reduction to suppress them … a little.
Thanks everyone for all the help and suggestions (and sorry for the late reply). I really appreciate it.
And I loved the victorian room picture My room doesn’t look like that at all, but it’s not that huge either (about 3 x 5 meters, or about 9 x 16 feet), and I even tried in a similar sized room with some more furniture in it (chairs, a sofa, ottomans, which is as far as I can go in terms of a “crowded room”) and there was a slight improvement but still the reverb is there, so I’m not sure there’s a way to really sound good.
I will definitely start recording in stereo from now on, though!
I will definitely start recording in stereo from now on, though!
That only works if your microphone has two elements inside (a stereo microphone) or you’re using two microphones. Audacity can’t record from two USB microphones at once.
You know you’re in trouble when:
– You start a recording session already in Disaster Recovery.
Do you have a car? It’s not the worst idea to park somewhere quiet and record in the back seat.
Yes, I think the Blue Snowball is a stereo mic and probably I should use the “Omnidirectional” setting for that, but then I believe I wouldn’t get any results better than with the “cardioid” setting I’m using right now, so I do see your point. Maybe in this case mono would get me the same result as stereo so it’s not worth it.
Thanks for the feedback
and probably I should use the “Omnidirectional” setting for that, but then I believe I wouldn’t get any results better than with the “cardioid” setting I’m using right now
Cardioid is directional. Most pro recordings are done with cardioid. Most stage mics are cardioid. Normally, the sound you’re trying to record comes from one direction and you point the mic toward the sound source. That minimizes (but does not eliminate) the noise, reverb, and other unwanted sound which come from all directions.
If you have multiple sound sources from different directions omnidirectional may be appropriate.
My room doesn’t look like that at all, but it’s not that huge either (about 3 x 5 meters, or about 9 x 16 feet), and I even tried in a similar sized room with some more furniture in it (chairs, a sofa, ottomans, which is as far as I can go in terms of a “crowded room”) and there was a slight improvement but still the reverb is there, so I’m not sure there’s a way to really sound good.