Audacity Forum

Hi all - I'm quite new to Audacity and hence, the questions I'm asking may seem trivial but I couldn't find anything that would be useful (at least, what I thought would be useful - I could easily be wrong).

I made a recording of a speaker however, when I went to listen to it again, I noticed a number of faults with the recording.

One main problem is that the mic must have been positioned right next to a ticking clock and it's very annoying throughout the whole talk.

Another problem is his voice sounds muffled (which isn't surprising considering the distance between him and the mic) however, I was wondering if there's a way to boost his voice, just so it's audible. I don't care if it sounds tinny, or bassy or whatever - it's just for me and I just want to know what was said.

I've tried "Noise Removal" in the effects, but this definitely doesn't get rid of the clock and it makes the muffled voice worse - I think it's worse at least.

I'll know for next time to position the mic a bit better but is there anyway to improve this file?

The trick is in the profile. You take a profile of the evil sound (drag-select) and Audacity will try to take that sound away from the show. Try to get a sample of one single tick apart from everything else and use that. It might not be enough. Make a copy of the track and edit several ticks close together and use that for the profile. Use the tool on the original show.

If the voice performance is low and muffled in addition to the ticking, this is not a good sign. Too many errors in the same show and you get to shoot it again. We can probably solve any one or two of those errors, but not all of them because they affect each other. If we clean up the voice, the ticking will get much louder and clearer. If we suppress the ticking, the voice will go into the mud.

Koz