Hi all. I recorded some on-the-spot (ie impulse) interviews at a campout several weeks ago. I got fantastic content that I desperately don’t want to lose. However, I had packed my studio for an out-of-state move and so when the opportunity presented itself, I grabbed my iPhone and the earbud mic and went to town. Then I moved and just now, weeks later, I have gotten to sit down to edit. For some reason I thought I would be safe because I had this belief that iPhones don’t pick up that annoying buzzzzzz-tick-tick-tick-buzzzzz crap that other phones can do. Boy was I wrong. In places it’s obscuring the voice almost completely, and that particular section is vital to the story being told so I can’t just cut it. Like I said, I’d really really like to salvage this content if possible. Does anyone have any ideas on how I might fix it, or at least make it better, in Audacity?
I had this belief that iPhones don’t pick up that annoying buzzzzzz-tick-tick-tick-buzzzzz crap that other phones can do
They don’t. That’s the microphone overloading from the phone radio negotiating with the cell tower.
I’m still fuzzy about the microphone you’re using. These things are supposed to work while you’re talking to someone on the phone in real life—with all the radios working.
Are you using Voice Memo or Music Memo?
It’s not recoverable, but it’s not hopeless. You can Hollywood it up. Write out the guest’s words and have someone else read them in a quiet room. Repeat your questions and cut it together in Audacity. Apply telephone effects and a few echoes and fades here and there and pass it off as the real thing.
just now, weeks later, I have gotten to sit down to edit.
Check your work before you pack up. I know people constantly running in 200% overdrive and I appreciate the workload, but in this case, without a lot of extra theater, I think you have no show.
I carry a small stand-alone recorder in my run bag.
As suspected, that’s beyond repair.
You can make the noise a little less harsh, but at the expense of the voice becoming a bit muffled, by filtering out frequencies above about 5 kHz using the"Filter Curve" effect.
The result (also amplified):
Thank you, everyone. I think I can get the original interviewee to help fix it, or I can just beg the listeners’ forgiveness in the intro. Yes, I should absolutely have listened to everything before I left, and I will definitely put a handheld recorder on my list for this type of on-the-fly interviewing. I’ve learned some hard lessons here that are valuable.
