OK so i was recording some footage for my youtube channel with my buddy and we were using 2 separate mics on two separate computers with audacity on them and i was just wondering if its at all possible to remove his voice (which is alot quieter in my track) from mine, and to remove my voice (also quieter in his track) from his. I am very new to audio editing and i have tried everything i can click on to remove it and i was just wondering if there is a trick to it or something, because when i put the two tracks together it gets this weird hollow, kinda robotic sound. and i dont like that kind of thing.
The hollow sound is what happens when the two tracks are not in perfect (or near-perfect) sync. It can appear in two ways: you start at the same time but you didn’t mix the two tracks perfectly, and also, sync can drift over the course of the show. The drift thing can also happen if you try to use two different USB microphones at the same time even on the same computer.
You can use the Time Shift Tool (two sideways black arrows) to ooze the second track into sync with the first. You can create problems if you try to move the first track.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tools_toolbar.html
If you get the top of the show OK but the end is still hollow, you may need Effect > Change Speed on the second track.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/change_speed.html
The up side of this is you can build the corrections into the show. When you start recording, one of you yells “Sound Mark” and claps their hand (a lot like the movie people do with the zebra-striped clapboard and for exactly the same reason). Even without the clap, you may be able to find a sound effect like a thumb snap or door closing or some other sharp noise that you can find in the blue waves on both tracks. It’s rough to find sync by trying to line up the first word, but you can do that, too, with enough trials. I know people who can do that and I’m not one of them.
The clap will give you a good sound point to use for matching in post production. If you always use the same microphones, then the speed correction will always be the same. The second microphone is always 0.02% slower than the first.
If you don’t correct it with timing and speeds, then you have no show. Number 4.
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 mum’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.)
Koz
If this is a video show, most video editors will only let you match to the nearest television frame which isn’t near close enough. You need to split the sound off, match them in Audacity and then match the sound back to the picture (in as close sync as you can).
This is why post production can take five times the length of the show—or more.
Also, if this is a video show, you should be in video sampling rate 48000 not Audio CD rate 44100. You can cross them like that, but it’s not best.
Koz
Also you may be able to reduce the problem in future by recording farther apart and setting the mics to “cardioid” position if they support that.
If you need more help please provide the information requested at the top of the page.
Gale