Recently I used this program to record a large meeting at a convention hotel. We were sending our audio thru a large mixing board to the house and recording the entire meeting
from the RCA tape out on the board. We found an execessive amount of static on the recorded session. We had a number of electrical devices (Walkie Talkies GMRS) in use in the area. Can you help with the noise? The program works well except for that issue.
Excess noise
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Audacity 1.3.x is now obsolete. Please use the current Audacity 2.1.x version.
The final version of Audacity for Windows 98/ME is the legacy 2.0.0 version.
Audacity 1.3.x is now obsolete. Please use the current Audacity 2.1.x version.
The final version of Audacity for Windows 98/ME is the legacy 2.0.0 version.
Re: Excess noise
Could you post a short sample so that we can hear what you mean.wpaul wrote:We found an execessive amount of static on the recorded session.
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Re: Excess noise
Have you tried the Noise Removal "effect"?
The bottom line is that if the noise is "bad", there may be nothing you can do about it and the cure can be worse than the disease.
If the noise is constant & low level like a little bit of hum or tape hiss, this can usually be removed (or at least improved). But, if the noise is loud or non-constant, or if the character (i.e. frequency content) of the noise is not constant, it can be difficult or impossible to fix. Noise reduction is not perfect, and this is why pro's still record in soundproof studios with top-notch equipment and top-notch talent. (For example, you can't remove a barking dog, or a motorcycle passing by.)
For very-high frequency noise or hiss you can use a low-pass filter or equalizer to reduce the high frequencies. This can work well with spoken word, but if you remove too much you'll start to loose the "T" & "S" sounds and you'll reduce intelligibility.
If you have a high frequency squeel or low-frequency hum, you can "notch it out" with a notch filter.
And of course, you can reduce the noise when nobody's talking, or automate the process with a noise gate. But, a noise gate can be distracting/annoying when you suddenly get dead-silence and it sounds like the audio is cutting in-and-out. (I don't see a noise gate in my default installation, but I'm sure you can fine a plug-in.)
For home-videos with the "barking dog" or "loud motorcycle" type problems, simply reducing the volume is often usually the best (least annoying) solution. (With video, you can add a subtitle when the speaking is drowned-out by the noise.)
The bottom line is that if the noise is "bad", there may be nothing you can do about it and the cure can be worse than the disease.
If the noise is constant & low level like a little bit of hum or tape hiss, this can usually be removed (or at least improved). But, if the noise is loud or non-constant, or if the character (i.e. frequency content) of the noise is not constant, it can be difficult or impossible to fix. Noise reduction is not perfect, and this is why pro's still record in soundproof studios with top-notch equipment and top-notch talent. (For example, you can't remove a barking dog, or a motorcycle passing by.)
For very-high frequency noise or hiss you can use a low-pass filter or equalizer to reduce the high frequencies. This can work well with spoken word, but if you remove too much you'll start to loose the "T" & "S" sounds and you'll reduce intelligibility.
If you have a high frequency squeel or low-frequency hum, you can "notch it out" with a notch filter.
And of course, you can reduce the noise when nobody's talking, or automate the process with a noise gate. But, a noise gate can be distracting/annoying when you suddenly get dead-silence and it sounds like the audio is cutting in-and-out. (I don't see a noise gate in my default installation, but I'm sure you can fine a plug-in.)
For home-videos with the "barking dog" or "loud motorcycle" type problems, simply reducing the volume is often usually the best (least annoying) solution. (With video, you can add a subtitle when the speaking is drowned-out by the noise.)