Is it possible to remove distortion?

[Twinsfan1]

We record our sermons on audacity, and one of our sound guys consistently puts the levels up too high, so there is a lot of distortion in the playback. Is there any way to lessen or remove that distortion? And yes, we're working on training this guy better!

[steve]

Short answer - No.

Longer answer - you may be able to make some amount of improvement, though the results are generally mediocre at best.

If there is a tiny bit of "clipping" (where the top/bottom of the waveform has been cut off due to hitting 0 dB) then you can use the "Clip Fix" effect that is included in Audacity 1.3.12. If the sound is so badly distorted that the distortion is clearly audible, then it will be too much for Clip Fix to cope with and there will be little if any audible improvement.

Recording too loud causes a type of distortion that produces large amounts of high frequencies - this can be moderated by filtering out high frequencies (either with the Equalizer or with the low-pass filter effect), though this will of course also remove any "brightness" from the recording and make it sound muddy (and the distortion will most likely still be heard).

Unlike recording on analogue media (such as tape), it is not necessary to push the levels as high as possible. A maximum peak level of -6 dB (a waveform that is half the height of the track) is quite adequate as digital recording has a much greater dynamic range than cassette tape (there is no "tape hiss"). The other consideration is (as you are obviously aware, but good information for your sound guy) is that digital audio is totally unforgiving of overloading. Whereas tape will tend to gracefully compress the peaks (unless it is massively overloaded), digital recording just chops the peaks off flat and produces a horrible "digital clipping" rasping sound. The rule of thumb is that for digital recording, too low a level is far far preferable to too high a level.

[whomper]

...one of our sound guys consistently puts the levels up too high, so there is a lot of distortion in the playback. Is there any way to lessen or remove that distortion? And yes, we're working on training this guy better!

not unless you have the budget of the cia

fire the guy
those types never learn

[steve]

fire the guy
those types never learn

I'm not much of a Church goer myself, but I attended a wedding recently in which one of the readings was 1 Corinthians 13:13

[whomper]

you didnt say 1st or 2nd so i show both

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:13 (NKJV)

All the saints greet you.
2 Cor 13:13 (NKJV)

not sure how either applies

go by the golden rule
do unto/for others as you would like them to do to/for you

i dont want to hear distorted sound
i want them to stop that guy
so do other people - they dont want their ears assaulted either
ergo
i say fire the guy
so he cant harm mine yours or other peoples ears
give him another job to do like selling the cds afterwards

not sure why you responded with that strange reply to my suggestion
did you remember the wrong quote ?

[steve]

you didnt say 1st or 2nd

Thank you, I've corrected my error.

[whomper]

not sure there was any error
just an omission
still
neither seemed to fit the situation
i always confuse corinthians with collosians

to elaborate on my previous answer to make it perfectly clear --
if *I* were screwing up the sound
*I* would want someone to correct me
if *I* continued to screw up the sound
*I* would want to be fired
so that the bad sound did not hurt/bother everyone else

based on that
and applying the golden rule
i say fire the guy who won't listen and keeps distorting the recording by putting the gain too high

it can be gentle
dont have to hurt his feelings
and certainly you can find another job for someone who is willing

but dont let him keep destroying the value of the recordings

[kozikowski]

Since the performer is generally paid far more and or have higher stature than the sound guy, the sound guy would go in favor of one that knew how to record live performances. It's far more difficult than anyone thinks.
Koz

[Twinsfan1]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I've also enjoyed the theological discussion!

The sound guy is a 16-year-old kid, who's heart is huge. The other sound guy is my 17-year-old son. He has figured out how to avoid the distortion, so as soon as he is back from his summer job, he will show this guy how to do it. In the meantime I'll ask him what he's doing and maybe I can show our sound guy.

He is teachable - so not worried about having to fire him. Besides, his dad is the vice-chairman of our church board. If I fire his son, then my next board meeting will be, shall we say, a bit uncomfortable concerning my job security.

Actually, that's not true - he's a great guy and our church board isn't that petty (Thank God! ).

The solution seems to be in avoidance, not in clearing up existing files. That's life, and we'll move on.

I do appreciate the feedback, guys!

[billw58]

In my experience this type of distortion comes from a newby sound guy who thinks that running that faders at "2" (out of 10) is OK as long as the meters don't go into the red. Trouble is, the mic pre-amp is probably overloading.

All faders should be set to their nominal settings (usually 7 out of 10 for a channel fader and 10 out of 10 for a master fader), then the "gain trim" (usually at the top of the channel strip) should be adjusted for nominal readings on the output level meters during the loudest passages.

If the faders are marked in "dB" then they should be set to their "O dB" position.

Hope this helps.

-- Bill