How To Clean Up Vocals In Studio One

Author	Message
24/09/2012 03:42:46
lifegatesound Presonic Joined: 15/07/2012 05:49:25 Messages: 184 Offline	If there is a constant background noised in a signal (60 cycle hum, static, etc), are there programs or plugins that will help you do this? For instance, if a recording is weak, or has been done in a medium like tape, where there is a constant background hiss or static, is there anything which can be done digitally to remove this? I'm thinking that with today's modern digital techniques, it must be pretty easy to clean up messes like this. Our pastor had a meeting which he recorded with his laptop. After telling him all the neat things that I'm learning can be done with our new PreSonus gear and software, he asked me if I thought that I could do anything to make his his recording of the meeting more intelligible. He said that it is pretty weak sounding, with a lot of what he calls "static" in the background (I haven't actually heard it yet). I was thinking of working with using an expander and compressor, and doing some selective EQ adjustments to try to bring up the speech in the recording. Maybe also try a multi-tap delay? But outside of that, are there any software solutions or plugins which would be effective in fixing issues cause by poor quality recordings? Thanks! Frank This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 24/09/2012 03:43:27
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24/09/2012 05:20:08
talmen Presonoid Joined: 28/07/2010 23:56:13 Messages: 3002 Offline	Izotope RX2. Go to their site and chech out the videos. I captured audio for a video shoot the other day -- the guitar player had a noisy rig -- lots of hum. RX2 scrubbed his channel clean as a whistle, with no nasty artifacts or degredation of the tone. I can't say enough about the various tools in that plugin that simply work miracles with all sorts of audio restoration tasks. It isn't the chepest thing in the world, but if you need to scrub audio of noises of any type, nothing works as well, for my money.
	Field Kit: MacBook Pro 9.2 i5 2.5 GHz, 8GB RAM, OS 10.8.5; A & H Qu-16, AB1818VSL, Alesis IO14 / IO26, PreSonus S1 v2.6.2.25990, Boom Recorder 8.3.2 Studio Kit: iMac 11.3, i7 (Quad) 2.93GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.9.3, M-Audio FW1814, PreSonus Faderport, PreSonus S1 Pro 2.6.2.25590


24/09/2012 05:29:41
talmen Presonoid Joined: 28/07/2010 23:56:13 Messages: 3002 Offline	Delay won't be the answer to improving speech intelligibility. With a laptop recording, usually, what you have is a lot of room sound, and not nearly enough direct sound, and there is little to be done for that. Expansion may offer some minimal aid. Transient shaping tools can sometimes help, allowing you to emphasize the attacks and minimize the room decays, drying things up a little, too. There is an old adage in audio that says somthing to the effect that you should always try to get things right on the front end, as that is always far superior to trying to "fix it in the mix" later, which almost always results in some sort of comprimise.
	Field Kit: MacBook Pro 9.2 i5 2.5 GHz, 8GB RAM, OS 10.8.5; A & H Qu-16, AB1818VSL, Alesis IO14 / IO26, PreSonus S1 v2.6.2.25990, Boom Recorder 8.3.2 Studio Kit: iMac 11.3, i7 (Quad) 2.93GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.9.3, M-Audio FW1814, PreSonus Faderport, PreSonus S1 Pro 2.6.2.25590


26/09/2012 19:15:24
DrumrPete Presonic Joined: 05/09/2010 01:40:03 Messages: 109 Location: Beardstown, IL USA Offline	talmen wrote: There is an old adage in audio that says somthing to the effect that you should always try to get things right on the front end, as that is always far superior to trying to "fix it in the mix" later, which almost always results in some sort of comprimise. Could that old adage actually be "garbage in, garbage out?" I used to clean up sermon cassette recordings, of the pastor at my church, for a weekly 30 minute radio spot. Most of my editing involved cutting out the odd coughs, stutters, dead spaces, and time-crunching, to fit the 40 minute sermon into the 30 minutes spot . However, I did use a little judicious high & low cuts to get rid of rumble and hiss...and that was about all that could be done. I never had much luck with compression or expansion, but that was pre-Studio One. Fortunately, the church mic and cassette recorder did a pretty good job, and we didn't get a ton of room sound. If you recordings are requiring too much, I'd look into the source of those problems first. Mic placement, acoustics on the stage, quality of the recording device. I'd do that before throwing money at it.
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26/09/2012 20:02:58
lifegatesound Presonic Joined: 15/07/2012 05:49:25 Messages: 184 Offline	DrumrPete wrote:.......................... If you recordings are requiring too much, I'd look into the source of those problems first. Mic placement, acoustics on the stage, quality of the recording device. I'd do that before throwing money at it. Our normal recordings are pretty good, although I expect them to get even better when we implement S1. The recording in question was not done by the sound team, but by the pastor, at a small meeting, using his built-in PC mic, from what I understand.
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26/09/2012 20:38:47
matthewgorman Presonoid Joined: 24/02/2011 21:30:31 Messages: 3219 Location: Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. Offline	I know talman already mentioned Izotope RX2 (truely a great product), and that does come at a price. Did you happen to notice they have another tool called Music and Speech Cleaner? Think I saw that it runs about 50 bucks, and looks like a dumbed down version of RX2. Maybe that works for you? http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/msc/
	Matt Lenovo Thinkpad E520, Windows 7 64bt, 8 GB RAM, Intel i5 Processor StarTech EC13942 34mm Expresscard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839158010&Tpk=startech%20EC13942 S1Pro V2 (Special Dog Balls Edition), Melodyne Editor, Nomad Factory Studio Bundle, Waves Renaissance Bundle, Firestudio Tube, Faderport, Monitor Station, HP4 Headphone Amp Yamaha HS50 Monitors. Shure Mics (57's, 58's, and a 1953 Unidyne), Various AKG, Various MXL Ribbon Mics. 1974 P-Bass, 1990 Jazz, 1985 Guild B302, Ampeg SVT with 4x10x15 cabinet http://soundcloud.com/stars_apart


26/09/2012 20:51:37
Jason.Harris Presonoid Joined: 01/10/2010 16:19:09 Messages: 1649 Location: Baton Rouge, LA Offline	In Studio One 2, I use the ProEQ alot after I record vocals to clean things up before I add any compression or other enhancements. I use the HC (high cut) and LC (low cut) to take out any noisy top end (say above 12k or so) and the LC I use to remove everything under 100Hz to make room for bass (I make bass music/hip hop mostly). Then I'll take one of the other bands and make a drastic boosting peak filter and I'll sweep through the audio range until I find the worst sounding areas (parts of the vocal that sound the worst). Then I'll make that boost into a cut and vary the Q until I'm happy with the cut. Once I've found all the frequencies I don't like on the vocal and cut them out, I'll apply some compression and broader eq tweaks until i'm satisfied. With a meeting recording on a PC mic, I would feel comfortable using this technique as well. Let your ears be your ultimate judge here.



26/09/2012 21:08:49
mech2161 Presonic Joined: 11/06/2012 17:51:02 Messages: 756 Location: Morgantown WV Offline	It's a good thing there are people that can explain things through a typed message. Very good directions Jason. That's exactly how I go about it but would have taken me to pages for someone to understand.
	Kevin


26/09/2012 21:35:02
lifegatesound Presonic Joined: 15/07/2012 05:49:25 Messages: 184 Offline	Hello Talman, Pete, Matthew, Jason, and Mech: All great responses and information! Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I haven't received the audio file from the pastor yet. But when I do, I will first try the ProEQ and other techniques first. Then, if I still don't have success, I'll try the Izotope products. I'm looking forward to getting started on this project. I'm certain that it will be a real learning experience for me. Best wishes, Frank
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26/09/2012 23:53:49
Jason.Harris Presonoid Joined: 01/10/2010 16:19:09 Messages: 1649 Location: Baton Rouge, LA Offline	Thanks Mech Good luck in all your projects everyone!



27/09/2012 05:30:04
talmen Presonoid Joined: 28/07/2010 23:56:13 Messages: 3002 Offline	Music and Speech cleaner is OK, but fairly limited, but RX2 is the real deal. Jason's tip about high-pass filtering is very useful, too. Depending on the voice and nature of the room noise, you can sometimes high-pass at a higher frequency, too. If there is a lot of boominess to the voice due to close proximity to the mic, a higher high-pass point can be doubly beneficial -- significantly lowering the room noise while making the vocal tone crisper and less bottom-heavy. Alot of reflected sound that gets recorded can be excess bass energy in the room, too, and cutting that out may make it more intelligible. Let your ears be your guide, but don't be afraid to try high-passing at anywhere from 100-250Hz.
	Field Kit: MacBook Pro 9.2 i5 2.5 GHz, 8GB RAM, OS 10.8.5; A & H Qu-16, AB1818VSL, Alesis IO14 / IO26, PreSonus S1 v2.6.2.25990, Boom Recorder 8.3.2 Studio Kit: iMac 11.3, i7 (Quad) 2.93GHz, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.9.3, M-Audio FW1814, PreSonus Faderport, PreSonus S1 Pro 2.6.2.25590