Hi there,
I have some human spoken samples that I want to use in my projects. The problem is they all sound a bit flat and with too much noise because they were originally recorded over the telephone lines, e.g. phone interviews.
Can anyone recommend a good way to make the samples sound better?
Thanks.
Make telephone recordings sound better
Re: Make telephone recordings sound better
Hi, I don't know whether you have access to a mac with Logic, but Soundtrack Pro (ships with Logic) has some nice tools for cleaning up such stuff. I've used it for cellphone recordings before and have gotten pretty good results.
There is an Automator script that runs STP by itself to do an all-round cleanup. If you open up Automator and look through the built-in scripts you'll see something about noise reduction / audio cleanup in there.
The other way is to run STP yourself, and apply the noise reduction algorithms. You basically find a passage that has only the background noise, create a noise print from that, then run the noise reduction algorithm using that print. Afterwards, you can apply some EQ and maybe some compression to compensate for the severe bandlimit on the phone lines and lift up the levels of quieter stuff. The latter stuff (EQ + comp) you can do in Live itself, it's really just the de-noising that you need another piece of software for.
If you don't have access to STP, there are a bunch of other packages around that do this. SoundForge almost certainly has stuff for this, and there is a package from the makers of Izotope that is said to be one of the best.
hth,
-Luddy
There is an Automator script that runs STP by itself to do an all-round cleanup. If you open up Automator and look through the built-in scripts you'll see something about noise reduction / audio cleanup in there.
The other way is to run STP yourself, and apply the noise reduction algorithms. You basically find a passage that has only the background noise, create a noise print from that, then run the noise reduction algorithm using that print. Afterwards, you can apply some EQ and maybe some compression to compensate for the severe bandlimit on the phone lines and lift up the levels of quieter stuff. The latter stuff (EQ + comp) you can do in Live itself, it's really just the de-noising that you need another piece of software for.
If you don't have access to STP, there are a bunch of other packages around that do this. SoundForge almost certainly has stuff for this, and there is a package from the makers of Izotope that is said to be one of the best.
hth,
-Luddy
Re: Make telephone recordings sound better
Izotope's RX is really good at what it does but it's not a cheap solution. Now, I can't remember if it's Wavosaur or Audacity but one of them has an edit mode or plug that will help clean up pops and clicks or background noises. Give it a try first and see how far you get. Both are free.
Regardless, don't expect miracles. Some of the flat levels and noise will remain no matter which solution you use.
Regardless, don't expect miracles. Some of the flat levels and noise will remain no matter which solution you use.
Re: Make telephone recordings sound better
You can tinker recordings to make them sound different or “hide” crappy sound quality in some ways but as a general rule you can’t really “improve” the technical quality of source sound.
If I were you I’d embrace the characteristic “Lo-Fi” sound quality of telephone conversations (makes pretty much anything sound more interesting anyway imo) and use the sound as is.
If I were you I’d embrace the characteristic “Lo-Fi” sound quality of telephone conversations (makes pretty much anything sound more interesting anyway imo) and use the sound as is.