Audacity Forum

Hello, I have a rather technical question. Let's say there is a soft voice talking in the background in a WAV file, but you can barely hear it because the loud voice talking in the foreground is too loud. Is there a way with audacity to amplify the soft voice in the background and suppress the loud voice in the foreground?

Is there voice recognition capacity with audacity?

Thanks a lot. Any help appreciated.

<<<Is there a way with audacity to amplify the soft voice in the background and suppress the loud voice in the foreground?>>>

There's no way with any software to do that.

Is it a mono show? If it's a stereo show and one voice is, as an example, left and the other one right in your headphones, then you might be able to use one of the voice management tools.

Voice Isolator (Opposite of Center Pan Remover)
Voice Trap
http://www.cloneensemble.com/vt_main.htm
Extra Boy
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1651.html

If it's a mono show, or two-track mono, or the voices are in stereo and coming from the same direction, you're dead.

Koz

<<<Is there voice recognition capacity with audacity?>>>

Not the way you think, no. You can't point Audacity at a musical performance and ring a bell when a human starts singing.

The other possibility is software to type English words when somebody talks. It won't do that, either.

Koz

If there are two rows of frequency on the audacity pane, does it mean it's stereo and not mono?

Hi sorry for my dump questions again. Are Extra Boy and voice trap plug-ins for audacity?

Since each voice has its own frequency, aren't there softwares that can detect a particular voice and then isolate that voice only for playing?

<<<f there are two rows of frequency on the audacity pane, does it mean it's stereo and not mono?>>>

Sometimes. That does tell you that you have two channels of audio and not much else. Select a spot in the middle of the performance and click the magnify tool multiple times. For a real stereo show, the blue waves will start not matching exactly as you go further and further in. If they do match as you zoom in, then you have two-track mono. Left audio and right audio tracks that exactly match.

<<<Since each voice has its own frequency, aren't there softwares that can detect a particular voice and then isolate that voice only for playing?>>>

You would think. However, unless you sound like a flute, your voice or instrument is rich in harmonics, timbre, and overtones. It's the overtones that make a Stradivarius different from a cheap training violin. They can all hit the same notes.

This is a careful spectral analysis of a single note on a concert grand piano. G below middle C.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/piano_G1.jpg

You would think you would get one spike at the key I pressed, but each of those spikes is a separate overtone and they all have to be there for a piano to sound like that. To bring you in, 20 Hz is pipe organ low notes or a beginner earthquake. Most people consider 400 to 1000 to be the "middle." AM Radio can only do frequencies up to 5000 (that's why it doesn't sound sparkly) and FM radio can go up to 15 KHz. Music CDs can go up to 17.5 KHz reliably and 20 KHz in some cases.

Koz