Post production audio mastering

MichaelJ70

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jun 14, 2012 03:00 Messages: 35 Offline

Solved by

Jun 29, 2013 12:00

I have a couple of audio clips, shot as pieces to camera where, probably because of poor placing of the mic, the voice sound is slightly muffled compared with others. It would be difficult to replicate either piece and so I need to crisp up the sound quality of what I've got in post-production. I know there are various post-production audio software programmes available, but can this be achieved using Cyberlink Wave Editor? I can't work out how. I have tried changing pitch but it just starts to sound Mickey Mouse. If it can be done in Wave Editor, could someone explain. If not could somebody recommend software that will do the job. Is the solution to invest in Audio Director? I don't want to part with the money until I know it will do the job.

I quote from an online article: Audio Post Production Techniques for Spoken Word: "Post-production offers a huge expanse of technical and creative capabilities where the spoken word can be fine-tuned to sound crisp and clear." That's what I want, but I don't yet know how to get it!

MichaelJ70 Michael J.

Carl312

Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline

Jun 29, 2013 14:39

I do not know if the information you seek is in the Audiodirector Guide.

You can download and read it.
http://www.cyberlink.com/support/audiodirector/userguide_en_US.html

Also on the product page is this sales pitch.
http://www.cyberlink.com/products/audiodirector/features_en_US.html?&r=1

The help built into AudioDirector has some information about editing audio clips.

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BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Jun 29, 2013 14:54

Also, you can search for VST plug-ins for ADr, some are free, some are not. I must admit I have had less than stellar results in finding good ones, and their names are often cryptic, as are their instructions, if they have them at all.
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ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jun 29, 2013 16:58

Hi Michael -

It may be a different sort of audio issue, but this was posted in the ADR forum http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/28771.page

As Barry said, some VST plug-ins for ADR aren't very effective. You really need to test things to find one that will work with your clips.

You say the voice is "muffled". Is there a lot of background noise? or do you mean it's just a low volume recording?

Cheers - Tony
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MichaelJ70

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jun 14, 2012 03:00 Messages: 35 Offline

Jun 30, 2013 03:36

First of all, thanks for the kind responses to date.

These were among the first pieces to camera that I recorded last year for a project, using a Rode Lavalier mic with a wind sock on. But, not being used to the equipment, the mic may have been positioned badly on the lapel. Subsequent use of the Lavalier with better positioning has produced much crisper results. There is no b/g noise on the clips at issue, but the output sounds dull i.e. there is little audible top end to the register.

I admit that the VST plug-ins leave me a bit baffled. I've never used them before and so are 'foreign territory' at the moment. Testing them sounds like a journey into the unknown! Where do I start?

Using Wave Editor I have tried altering the pitch shift by +1 and it has improved matters somewhat, but still could be better. At +2 it starts to sound like the Chipmunks (if you are 'mature' enough to remember the Chipmunks).

Michael J70 Michael J.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jun 30, 2013 04:01

Hi again -

Perhaps if you attach a sample of the unedited audio, members could have a play with it and make some suggestions.

You can either extract the audio in the media library or produce the clip to an audio only format.

Cheers - Tony
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MichaelJ70

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jun 14, 2012 03:00 Messages: 35 Offline

Jun 30, 2013 04:50

Apologies - first attempted this with too large a file. Here is a short 10 sec extract. Thanks for the kind offer.

MichaelJ70

Filename	20120617104449 (audioextract).wav	Download
Description
Filesize	1778 Kbytes
Downloaded:	256 time(s)

Michael J.

MichaelJ70

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jun 14, 2012 03:00 Messages: 35 Offline

Jun 30, 2013 05:12

I think I may now have discovered at least one potential answer to my problem, resorting to a free post-production mastering software that has both treble and bass lift/suppression. Applying a +5 to the treble and a -5 to the base, and then running normalisation, has improved the sound quality of the clip measurably.

However, I have another beginner's question! In order to use the audio mastering, the audio has to be extracted. Having done this by right clicking the clip in the video library, how do I sync the audio back again to the video, assuming that I have only edited the sound quality, not either speed or length?
MichaelJ70 Michael J.

Carl312

Senior Contributor Location: Texas, USA Joined: Mar 16, 2010 20:11 Messages: 9090 Offline

Jun 30, 2013 13:28

Quote: I think I may now have discovered at least one potential answer to my problem, resorting to a free post-production mastering software that has both treble and bass lift/suppression. Applying a +5 to the treble and a -5 to the base, and then running normalisation, has improved the sound quality of the clip measurably.

However, I have another beginner's question! In order to use the audio mastering, the audio has to be extracted. Having done this by right clicking the clip in the video library, how do I sync the audio back again to the video, assuming that I have only edited the sound quality, not either speed or length?
MichaelJ70

You can place the Wav File on one of the audio tracks. Since you have not changed the length or timing of the audio it should be the same as the combined video and audio, just mute the audio of the Video track.

In PD 11 you can use any of the Tracks for the audio part.

As long as you line up the start of the Video and the Audio they should be in sync.
Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

MichaelJ70

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jun 14, 2012 03:00 Messages: 35 Offline

Jun 30, 2013 15:08

Carl, thanks as always for your kind and helpful answers. I am on an interesting learning curve!

MichaelJ70 Michael J.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jun 30, 2013 17:27

Hi Michael -

I was able to clean up the audio clip you posted, without the need for "other" software - aside from Wave Editor.

Your assessment of the clip is correct.The issue is largely with it's skinny top end.

In Wave Editor, I:
1. gave it 2dB Boost
2. increased treble levels (> 1K) by 3-5dB in Equaliser
3. slightly increased Dynamic Range Compression

Resultant audio clip is attached.

Cheers - Tony

Filename	20120617104449 (WE_mod).wav	Download
Description
Filesize	1633 Kbytes
Downloaded:	276 time(s)

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MichaelJ70

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jun 14, 2012 03:00 Messages: 35 Offline

Jul 01, 2013 03:02

Thank you Tony, for your time and trouble That's very helpful, and, as you say, works well. I did not feel competent enough with the Boost and Dynamic Range functions, and I am still very dim about understanding the Equaliser. The Equaliser presets from<31 to >16K are what I now need to learn about.

When you indicate 'slightly increased Dynamic Range Compression, did you mean towards Highly Compressed, or towards Full Dynamic Range??

Sorry for more questions, but as indicated to Carl, this is my fast-track leaning curve in audio mastering!

MichaelJ70 Michael J.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jul 01, 2013 03:55

Hi Michael -

Don't apologise for asking questions. That's part of what the forum is for.

Compression - the way I understand it is that increasing DRC boosts lower level (volume) sounds without increasing louder sounds. Decreasing DRC does the opposite - reduces loud sounds without affecting quiet ones.
- someone will correct me if I'm leading you up the garden path.

Yes - I moved the DRC slider towards the right a couple of notches.

This is from the WE help file:
Dynamic Range Compression: use this effect to adjust the audio file's dynamic range, i.e. the difference between high and low levels in the audio. Dragging the slider towards Full Dynamic Range results in there being more detail in the audio. While towards Highly Compressed makes the difference between the highs and lows more indistinguishable through compression.

Equaliser - the left side is bass, the right is treble, the central controls are for the midrange. Mostly, human voice falls in midrange frequencies (about 500 - 2000Hz). The numbers refer to frequencies

In your case, the voice was a little muffled, so increasing the treble helped clean it up.

Hope that helps a bit.

Cheers - Tony


Filename	Equaliser.png	Download
Description
Filesize	24 Kbytes
Downloaded:	659 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 01. 2013 03:56

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MichaelJ70

Newbie Location: England Joined: Jun 14, 2012 03:00 Messages: 35 Offline

Jul 01, 2013 04:13

Another very useful tutorial to store away. Thank you again Tony and Carl for your kind support. In my professional career I worked as a BBC TV presenter, and I now dearly wish I had paid more attention to what goes on behind the camera, and in the sound engineer's cans!

Michael Michael J.