audio in vegas

Golfer wrote on 11/28/2007, 8:14 PM
just finished a Wedding.I set the audio to manual on my on camera mic.Needed to do so in order to pickup wedding vows,and reception speech,in doing so when the crowd responds i get huge clipping/distortion.Anyway vegas can fix this?Also any tricks to seperating dialogue from background noise?!
Thanks Chauncy.

Comments

farss wrote on 11/28/2007, 9:19 PM
The real solution to your problem would have been to get the microphone closer to the people making the vows. That way you could have turned the gain down and avoided having the rest so loud it clipped.
Badly clipped audio is beyond recovery with any software.

Seperating dialogue from background noise can be helped a little with EQ but not much really. Again correct microphone placement would have avoided this problem.

Standard kit for a wedding is a good wireless lapel mic on the groom. You can also use it at the reception, tie the lapel mic to the lecturn mic or whatever mic they have with a rubber band.

Bob.

JohnnyRoy wrote on 11/29/2007, 4:19 AM
I agree with everything Bob said. Good audio starts with acquiring a clean source.

What you can do now is insert a Volume Envelope in Vegas and bring the volume down when the audience claps. You will still hear the distortion of the clipping but at least it will not knock you over.

Also you can try using Sony Noise Reduction on the background noise. iZotope also has a new noise reduction tool called RX that can do wonders. You can download a demo and see if it helps.

~jr
Coursedesign wrote on 11/29/2007, 4:22 AM
Sony SoundForge has a clipping restoration tool that can work wonders many times.

iZotope Rx has it too.

any tricks to seperating dialogue from background noise?!

If you used a stereo mic, it is conceivable that you might be able to boost the dialog and reduce the background noise by creating a new mono track from the stereo track, subtracting the difference signal between L and R.

Chienworks wrote on 11/29/2007, 4:48 AM
Sadly, the dialog is more likely to be mono and the noise to be spread across the stereo field. So creating a mono from the difference between L and R will remove the dialog and emphasize the noise.
farss wrote on 11/29/2007, 5:23 AM
If the problem at the reception is just the applause forget trying to fix it with clipped peak restoration. I use that tool a lot and it works very well within it's limits. Badly clipped complex sounds, forget it.

A much simpler approach, replace the applause.
I'm pretty certain you'd find some free applause SFXs on the web, if not record your own. Record yourself clapping and clapping and clapping. Cut into short segments and mix them altogether, maybe add different amount of reverb to some of them etc.

Bob.
Bill Ravens wrote on 11/29/2007, 6:22 AM
Something to try that works occassionally...
try putting some compression on the file. You need to put the threshhold below the level where the distortion is occurring. Also, a multiband compressor will yield better results than a broadband compression. Izotope Ozone is the tool I've used for this.
Golfer wrote on 11/29/2007, 11:07 AM
Thanks for all tips.