How to Fix Distortation on Soundtrack

MF wrote on 6/23/2003, 2:50 PM

Is there any way to fix Sound distortation(Band at Wedding was too loud) and my camera for some reason recorded alot of distortation and a kind of tareing noise in the background whenever the band got particulary loud.
Any help or input on this matter would be of great help

Regards
Mic

Comments

discdude wrote on 6/23/2003, 4:57 PM

This is known as "clipping." It results from setting your record levels too high. Unfortunately, the best way to fix this problem is to avoid it in the first place. AFAIK, there is no way to fix this in Video Factory.

You proabably want to look into a audio editor to fix this problem. I noticed you also posted in the Sound Forge forum so I guess you have Sound Forge as well. I know that Sonic Foundry's Noise Reduction plugin has a "Clipped Peak Restoration" feature but I can't comment on how well it works.

Also, Cool Edit's Noise Reduction plugin also has this feature and is cheaper than Sonic Foundry's. The downside is that it only works with Cool Edit. Still Cool Edit 2000 + Noise Reduction plugin isn't that expensive. Again, I can't comment on its effectiveness since I used a really old version.

DCS wrote on 6/25/2003, 12:50 AM

I really hate to say this but if your clipping is that severe a noise reduction program will it probably can't be fixed without some very expensive tools. A noise reduction program will help alot depending on the severity but it can't get rid of it at all. Just clean it up. Sorry, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear but audio is what I do fo a living and that's why I answered this. Good Luck.

IanG wrote on 6/25/2003, 2:26 AM

If the audio is just background noise you could try copying an unclipped section from somewhere else and pasting it in place of the clipped parts. Overlapping the tracks will help hide the join or you could add sound effects like laughter to distract your audience. If you realy want to hear the band, perhaps you could record them at another gig and use that sound track instead.

Ian G.

laz wrote on 6/25/2003, 2:54 AM

I agree with the others. If you want to retain voices but reduce band it'll be expensive. You can try something like Nero's editor to specifically distort or reduce volumn in certain areas though.