editing is it possible to clean this audio?

L

LDS

I was in need of someone to record the audio last minute... I own the equipment, unfortunately had an idiot operating it, I don't mean to be disrespectful and don't want to call someone who was willing to help names but when someone doesn't listen to you and just rolls his eyes whenever you ask them to do the job right and just ignores you and do not pay attention at all - it's more like wasting EVERYBODY's time.

So now i am left with a terrible audio - I can't even do ADR because the girl left to New York and I can't re-shoot it because other actors are unavailable. so... I need to use it.

Is there anyway to clear this junk? :( :huh: :grumpy:

this is after I tried to editi it myself
https://soundcloud.com/lukasdisparrow/sydney-episode-5

this is before - original
https://soundcloud.com/lukasdisparrow/syd-episode-5
 
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Can you get another girl to do the ADR?

Because this is pretty much screwed. You could take a little of the floor-noise out, but it's so LOUD and pervasive, especially when the girl starts speaking. She must have been over a few more feet.

Anyway ... sorry mate. Maybe it's a sign, telling you to re-shoot. I would try shooting in a still car, then add some subway noise later. You could do all your reaction shots in a moving car to make it feel like all your footage was in motion.
 
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laughingcrow said:
Can you get another girl to do the ADR?

Because this is pretty much screwed. You could take a little of the floor-noise out, but it's so LOUD and pervasive, especially when the girl starts speaking. She must have been over a few more feet.

Anyway ... sorry mate. Maybe it's a sign, telling you to re-shoot. I would try shooting in a still car, then add some subway noise later. You could do all your reaction shots in a moving car to make it feel like all your footage was in motion.
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I can't re shoot it - the girl is currently in New York - and... I have to have her. She's Russell Brand's ex girlfriend (back in 2008) with connections, thanks to her I spent 7 weeks in New York for free and got paid for couple of small jobs and thanks to her I met a lot of people (Timbaland's manager, Justin Timberlake's song writer, Mariah Carey's choreographer and a music producer) mostly people in music - anyway I need to have her in it, I mentioned all those people to make you realise how important it is to me. That's why I am well pissed off at that dude :grumpy::grumpy::grumpy::grumpy:
 
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There are so many wrongs with this. You should have seen things going wrong a mile away while shooting this, even if you weren't in control of the sound.

Have you tried using the sound from the lav mics or from the coverage (other angles)?
 
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LDS said:
Is there anyway to clear this junk?
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It is pretty dire; overload distortion, wind and traffic noise, off-axis and variable distance to the mic. Quite a litany of production sound errors! The good news is that it can be cleaned up considerably, it will never be perfect or even close to perfect but it could just about be made usable, depending of course on exactly what you intend to use it for? The bad news is that you're not going to be able to do it yourself, you would need a pro with the appropriate equipment and the appropriate skill/knowledge to use it.

A couple of questions: What is the total duration of this scene? Is all the sound in the scene as poor as the example provided? What is the total duration of the film? Are all the scenes in the film as bad or is the provided example an extreme exception to what is otherwise fairly decent production sound?

G
 
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AudioPostExpert said:
It is pretty dire; overload distortion, wind and traffic noise, off-axis and variable distance to the mic. Quite a litany of production sound errors! The good news is that it can be cleaned up considerably, it will never be perfect or even close to perfect but it could just about be made usable, depending of course on exactly what you intend to use it for? The bad news is that you're not going to be able to do it yourself, you would need a pro with the appropriate equipment and the appropriate skill/knowledge to use it.

A couple of questions: What is the total duration of this scene? Is all the sound in the scene as poor as the example provided? What is the total duration of the film? Are all the scenes in the film as bad or is the provided example an extreme exception to what is otherwise fairly decent production sound?

G
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it's for a web series (youtube) the duration of the episode is 8 minutes - that scene is as long as that sound - the audio before is not too bad as it was indoors. this is the only audio that is a sh!t :(
 
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Oh man, that's a wreck of a recording, LDS! Sorry to hear your woes (quite literally!)

I'd try to get some ADR done if possible. The background noise is actually pretty easily fixed (though given the amount of variation in noise types it will take a fair bit of time to isolate the problem specfics, as each instance of the different noise types requires different approaches and treatments. The real problem is the all the mic axis and clipping issues... and there's LOTS of them. :(

I had a quick poke last night and had no real problems pulling back the noise, but of course it then increases the percieved flaws in the voices, as they then sit out own thier own.

One thing at least, is that a fair bit could be hidden amongst additional ambient noise. Assuming you want it to sound like they're are in a busy city still, layering up some city ambience could go a long way to mask the problem areas.

It will never sound great (GIGO), but depending on the level of audio quality elsewhere in the film, and your expectations/standards, you might find it acceptable.
 
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LDS said:
AWESOME! :D




:(:grumpy:
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Thought you'd like it.

However, you have some good suggestions from other posters for alternatives which work well.

And no sympathy. This was recorded on the street by someone from the Helen Keller school of audio recording that you picked and supervised. There's an inevitability to inevitable events.
 
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LDS said:
it's for a web series (youtube) the duration of the episode is 8 minutes - that scene is as long as that sound - the audio before is not too bad as it was indoors. this is the only audio that is a sh!t :(
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OK. My studio time is completely stuffed for the next 3 weeks but if you can wait that long and if I can squeeze it in, I'll try and have a look at it for you. I can't promise I'll have enough time to do a really good job but it will be significantly better than what you've currently got.

G
 
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AudioPostExpert said:
OK. My studio time is completely stuffed for the next 3 weeks but if you can wait that long and if I can squeeze it in, I'll try and have a look at it for you. I can't promise I'll have enough time to do a really good job but it will be significantly better than what you've currently got.

G
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oh! wow that would be great and appreciated! :)

that is audio for the last episode which will be online late december, the first one will be online on November 19. so there is time
 
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OK, I've had a go at your dialogue. I had very little time unfortunately and was only able to do a quick couple of passes rather than anything too forensic. So, it's not as good as I would like or anywhere pro standards but hopefully it's a bit more usable than what you have. You'll still need to EQ it a bit, balance it and try to hide/cover up some areas.

I've sent you an email through this site so you can reply to me with your email address and I can send you a link to download it.

G
 
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AudioPostExpert said:
OK, I've had a go at your dialogue. I had very little time unfortunately and was only able to do a quick couple of passes rather than anything too forensic. So, it's not as good as I would like or anywhere pro standards but hopefully it's a bit more usable than what you have. You'll still need to EQ it a bit, balance it and try to hide/cover up some areas.

I've sent you an email through this site so you can reply to me with your email address and I can send you a link to download it.

G
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uh thanks! :D
I didnt get any message but I dont worry about sharing my email on here lukas@disparrowfilms.com
 
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wheatgrinder said:
Id love to hear the before and after.. OP, please post a sample if possible.
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I would have no objection, with one caveat, I wouldn't want to be judged professionally by what I've done! I wasn't aiming for a professional quality job because I didn't have the time or the video and was not creating a full mix. Instead, my aim was just to give the OP a better starting point. With the picture and more time, I would have been able to EQ and balance the dialogue, make it a bit cleaner and would probably have found ways to disguise (within a full sound mix) many/most of the problems which still exist.

G
 
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Just an update for Wheatgrinder and others involved in this thread.

It seems that LDS and I were talking at cross-purposes. I was under the impression that LDS was looking for some way to make this audio file usable. The way to accomplish this is to clean up the dialogue as best as possible and then to use the result a little like ADR, IE., to incorporate it into a mix. In effect, you get rid of the noise (traffic, distortion, city ambience) and then put the noise back in again! Or rather you put some of the noise back in again, using sound FX such as traffic and city ambience. This may seem like doing a lot of work to get back to where you started but the difference is that the traffic and city ambience are now on separate audio tracks which mean they can be placed and mixed to hide any remaining faults in the dialogue. The final mix should be a scene which sounds realistic but with much clearer dialogue. This is the standard audio-post workflow and it's the workflow required by just about all commercial distributors and TV broadcasters.

Unfortunately though this doesn't appear to be what LDS was asking. I think LDS wanted to know if there was some method or processing which could turn the audio file he posted directly into a usable final mix. In which case, the answer is "no", there is no practical technique which can achieve this requirement. The bit of work I did was just the first step and on it's own, without SFX to rebuild the track, it sounds rather unnatural and was not what LDS wanted. I would post the dialogue file for those who are interested to hear the results of this first step but it's not my property.

G
 
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