Too hot audio

[hoosier3]

I'm trying to save a program that was recorded way too hot and is now distorted almost beyond use.
Anyway I can try to save this.
Thanks,

[kozikowski]

Overload and clipping are still pretty much project death.

The much more expensive audio programs have tools that claim to be able to do this, but nobody is breaking any speed records to use them more than once. There's also the technique of reconstructing the actual damaged waveform using the drawing tools and the digital sampling points. That has iffy results and it only works on very light distortion of one or two words in an hour show. Not an hours worth of distortion.

So the short answer is no.

Koz

[alatham]

My favorite analogy is that your cookies are burned. It's impossible to unburn them without scraping the top off and making it more of a mess.

One of the developers recommends something to try in this post:
http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic ... 9566#p9566

You'll have to reduce the amplitude of the signal by about 20 dB before you try it (using effects -> amplitude, NOT the gain slider).

But I wouldn't hold my breath, especially for something complicated. You might get decent results if it's just a single organ tone that you're trying to fix.

[hoosier3]

Hey...thanks! that's what I was afraid of...it's 3 hours of a really neat jazz show, totally burned.

Thanks again!