[LAU] audio interview - reducing bumps and peaks?

Kevin Cosgrove kevinc at doink.com
Thu Dec 6 12:49:27 EST 2007


On 6 December 2007 at 9:34, Florin Andrei <florin at andrei.myip.org> wrote:

> I've this WAV file that contains an interview. It was recorded with a 
> cell phone, so the quality is not that great, plus the phone got bumped 
> a few times resulting in annoying peaks.
> 
> I was thinking to load the file in Audacity and run it through a 
> compressor and tweak the settings until it sounds acceptable. But before 
> I do that, does anyone have a better idea?
> 
> What's your usual way to deal with this kind of records?

I agree with Fons about editing out the peaks, as possible.  Make
sure your start/end cut points are at zero crossings and the
crossfade will be smooth.

If the big peak contains sounds you need to keep, then you can
select the offending section, again with start/end at zero
crossings, and just reduce the gain of that section.

Usually I attend to the very worst abnormalities individually.
After that I apply a fast look ahead limiter to deal with the
remaining peaks, if needed.  Following that I might compress the
track, if needed, or I might try to level the volume, if needed.
I use Audacity for all of this.

Good luck....

--
Kevin





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