Audacity Forum

Hello all! I recently went to a concert and recorded a couple of songs. The problem is, a couple times during the recordings someone standing next to me would say something and my camera would pick it up really well and so now it comes through loud and clear on the finished recording. Is there any way I can filter or remove their voice? I have tried adjusting the EQ and can successfully eliminate the voice, however the singing and instruments become warped and distorted. I also tried the "vocal remover effect" to no avail. Is there any way to do this in Audacity or any other program (free or not)? Any help would be appreciated!

Note: In case I was not clear, I am not trying to remove all of the crowd, just the person standing next to me. Thanks!

I think your Chatty Cathys are performers in your show, and you can't take a show apart into individual performers. As you're finding out, there is no key to use to identify the talkers. Vocal removal works by "knowing" that the lead singer is usually located half way between your right and left speakers. That's it's key. If the performer moves left or right during the show, that's the end of that tool.

You generally can't use the equalizer tool because all instruments and singers take up all the frequencies you can hear. This is the analysis of one single piano note. The richness and quality of the note means it has overtones all up and down the range -- and you can't filter it out. There's no key.

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

You need to get a seat by yourself next time. Did the band do their own recording and can you get that?

Koz

The talker wasn't a performer, just an audience member next to me. I can upoad a small clip of what I'm trying to do, but it sounds like I'm just outta luck. And no, the band unfortunately did not release their own recording that I know of.

You could try just deleting the offending section where the chatting is taking place, you might want to try and match up the beat of the music so the gap isn't too obvious. You should try to make the deletion start/stop at zero crossing points (make the selection and use the keyboard shortcut z so that the selection is adjusted to zror crossing points - zooming in a bit will help you). You might also need to use the Repair effect to clean up the join further.

This is non-trival editing - so you will need to practice and review your work by listening carefully. And make sure that you make a safety copy of the original raw recording (Export a 32-bit WAV file of it) so that you can always go back to the original if you screw up the edits.

WC

ave10 wrote:The talker wasn't a performer

They are now - as far as your recording is concerned they are a permanent part of the show.
If you are making an "official" recording of the band, it is a good idea to take a recording directly off the mixing desk - this can be added/mixed with the camera recording later, and if necessary it can completely replace the audio from the camera. Getting precise synchronisation between the desk recording and the video can be a bit tricky, but with a bit of time and effort can produce very good results.

waxcylinder wrote:You could try just deleting the offending section where the chatting is taking place

Thanks for the tip, I'll try it right now.

Here's a clip from the recording. I'm trying to edit out the, "My arms are hurting."
http://www.mediafire.com/?5689v7eufq55qg1

ave10 wrote:Here's a clip from the recording....

If that clip is from a chorus, you may be able to copy a short section (the equivalent section) from another chorus and use it to replace the section with the talking.

stevethefiddle wrote:

ave10 wrote:Here's a clip from the recording....

If that clip is from a chorus, you may be able to copy a short section (the equivalent section) from another chorus and use it to replace the section with the talking.

Unfortunately, it is a part from the verse. I guess if nothing else works I could just delete the entire verse instead of just the problem section like someone else had suggested.