Improving audio quality

[gilibaus]

Hi all,

I am using Audacity 2.0.6 on Win XP SP3. The attached recording

test.wav

(622.59 KiB) Downloaded 16 times

was made via soundcloud recorder in a small room with an HP laptop built-in mic. I am no audio guru at all, so I am asking you what I am supposed to do in order to improve the quality of this recording. I would like a cleaner sound, with less reverb and, in general, as though the speaker has the mic much closer to her mouth.

Thank you for your help.

Best,
Alessandro

[kozikowski]

You can start by reducing the volume of the voice during recording. See attached on the bottom. All the blue waves that go all the way up and down between 1.0 and -1.0 are too loud, harsh and crunchy and permanently damaged. There's no Audacity filter or effect that can help that.

It's too badly damaged to evaluate anything else. You need a reshoot at a lower volume. Then we'll deal with the other problems.

If you can see the computer while you're speaking, expand the sound meters by clicking on the right-hand edge and pulling sideways. Then use them to judge the loudness of the show. The bouncing sound meters for a live show should never go much beyond -6dB. Approximately.



Koz

[gilibaus]

Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately I won't have the chance to reshoot. I will transcript voice into text and publish the file as a written interview instead of an audio one.
Cheers