Low frequency roll-off for speech

[steve]

This Eq curve seems to be popular and very useful for people doing voice recordings, and it certainly helps to achieve ACX compliance. Perhaps this (or a similar curve) would be a good addition to the shipped EQCurves.xml

Code: Select all

<equalizationeffect>
	<curve name="LF rolloff for speech">
		<point f="50.0" d="-120.0"/>
		<point f="60.0" d="-50.0"/>
		<point f="65.0" d="-24.0"/>
		<point f="70.0" d="-12.0"/>
		<point f="80.0" d="-4.0"/>
		<point f="90.0" d="-1.0"/>
		<point f="100.0" d="0.0"/>
	</curve>
</equalizationeffect>

Ideally it should be used with a long filter length, but the filter length is not currently stored in the XML. Fortunately it works quite well with the default filter length, but it performs better with a long filter length, so a second feature request is that Filter Length is added as an optional parameter to the XML definition.

[kozikowski]

+1
Koz

[Gale Andrews]

+1 to both ideas, but "LF" is jargon - to a novice it could look to be to do with "Linear Frequency" or "Length of Filter" that they can see in the EQ dialogue.

Is "Rolloff" more gradual at the transition so that is more correct for this than "Cut"? If so would "Low rolloff for speech" be acceptable?


Gale

[steve]

Is "Rolloff" more gradual at the transition so that is more correct for this than "Cut"?

Both terms "Rolloff" and "Cut" are used in this context. I have a slight preference for the term "Rolloff" as I think it imparts a sense of a "gradual transition".

would "Low rolloff for speech" be acceptable?

That works for me.
I could also live with "Low cut for speech" though that loses the sense of "gradual transition" which is an important aspect of this setting.

[kozikowski]

What he said. The tool doesn't just whack off everything below a certain frequency like High Pass Filter. It's designed for steep, but gradual transition between the lowest expected valuable voice frequency and the highest expected hum pitch. That's why there are no adjustments (except for the Length slider).

This is the exact best place for each of those equalization values.

My joke is Steve is going to become world famous not for saving someone's life at Brighton, but for seven equalization values.

Koz

[kozikowski]

To dip into consumer-speak, I've been calling it Steve's Custom Rumble Filter.

Koz

[waxcylinder]

OK Steve - what do I do with this one - archive it? Move it to Audio Processing?

Or is it already incorporated into releases?

Peter.

[Robert J. H.]

OK Steve - what do I do with this one - archive it? Move it to Audio Processing?

Or is it already incorporated into releases?

Peter.

It belongs rather to the audio book production sub forum.

[steve]

It is not yet in for Audacity 2.1.2.
The next release is supposed to be about upgrading to Wx3 rather than adding new features. As this is not related to that upgrade and is not a bug fix I'm hesitant about introducing it now, though you may want to suggest this on the QA list as a low risk enhancement that has had thorough field testing. Would there be much impact on documentation? I see one image here that would need to be updated: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/equalization.html

[steve]

It belongs rather to the audio book production sub forum.

The question here is whether to include this as a preset in the main release version of Audacity. As such it is a "feature request".