I hope this is allowed, but I have a 23 minute mp3 file (of a recording taken in a car), I need the background noise reduced, volume made a bit louder and to get rid of the distortion.
I have tried to play around with audacity, but I am not very technical at all and it’s really important I get this done in the next few days. Is there anyone who can help me in return for a small payment over Paypal?
If the recording is of your partner with someone else and you can’t hear what they’re saying, we get asked for that sort of thing a lot and don’t get involved in audio forensics.
Otherwise try Noise Removal and Normalize. You may not be able to do anything about the distortion if the recording was made far too loud or if the distortion is there due to limitations in the recorder.
No, It’s nothing “personal” like that. It’s a recording with a business partner who we are suing and I think the recording has information on it that backs up my side of the story, but just a bit hard to make out.
I’ve tried the noise reduction feature and to increase the volume (via equalizer), but the speech volume is still going up/down and there is a still a bit of “interference” which makes parts of the audio hard to make out.
Same difference. Where courts are concerned, pay the money for a proper audio forensics expert with specialised equipment to decipher what’s said. The case may depend on it. Audacity is not that sort of specialised software.
If you want to try and fix “up and down” volume yourself, try Compressor. By default, that maximises the volume. Interference embedded into the audio is very likely something you can’t remove.
That sounds like something you need to consult a lawyer about.
The recording needs to have been made legally, which may mean that the person was aware he/she was being recorded depending on the laws where you live.
Altering the recording may make it more questionable. If you “fix up” the recording, how do I know you haven’t also edited it, delete parts or move words around?
If you can’t understand what’s being said, it’s unlikely that any digital processing will help. If it’s intelligible with careful listening, I’d make a transcript with the recording as back-up (if it’s legal).
This is a big case and my lawyers know about the recording - I just thought I could get insight into it over the weekend which would give me a heads up as to what to expect if/when it can be cleared up by a professional outfit.