cleaning a poorly recorded song

[carol77]

How can i clean the audio of a song that i recorded on tape by an external low quality mike from the TV in 1976 and now i transferred it to my computer as a wav format file,the sound appears full of distorted echos and noise and generally indistiguishable,the voice of the singer appears as if heard from a cheap small transistor radio of the 60s,the ez clean did not offer a solution nor the wall brick filter,as both seemed to supress more audio,leaving the original one more good, the continuous noise filter[after sampling the noise] improved ithe song a bit by removing hiss but made the sound appear as if in the [bass mood] of early cassette recorders. I need your help please.Sorry for my many questions,but I am new to the program

[Craig Maier]

You might consider trying the Spectral Subtraction mode in the CNF. After taking the noise sample, vary the attenuation control for the best sound. That may help. But, from your description, you are dealing with an audio problem that borders on a Forensics one.

[Dan McDonald]

Hi Carol -

I've worked with a couple of these things - recorded with a mic from a tv in the 60s and also from a pseudo line out (when I was a kid I took the case off a tv and ran wires out from the speaker so I could make recordings). Anyway - here's what I'd do:

First, don't expect a miracle - It's basically an am radio recording made with a cheap mic, so you're not going to get it to sound like a cd. After conceding that, try this:
1) gain normalize the file
2) concentrate on making the best out of what's there. Don't worry about taking out the hiss, etc. until you get the best sound you can get.
use the multi-filter to add eq to accentuate the highs and lows as needed
use one of the filters to pull out the 60 Hz or 50 Hz buzz (depending on what country you're in). You'll almost certainly have a buzz from a tv recording. There are several filters that deal with this - see which one works best. I put it in first in the chain.
If you feel adventurous, try adding highs with the VVA or using the dynamic noise filter on expansion mode

When you get it so that it sounds better than it did before you started, run the filter and then experiment with cleaning it up using the EZ clean or CNF. You can get rid of the hiss and other noises then.



Dan

[carol77]

Thank you very much for your help

[cromag]

Bear in mind that this will almost certainly be a case where "The journey is it's own reward."

Expect to try many settings on many filters before you find the ones that work best. Take notes, so next time you'll be that much ahead of the game.

Good luck!

[Craig Maier]

Carol,

Keep in mind that TV "buzz" often has a fundamental component at 25 Hz in Europe (PAL) and 30 Hz in the States (NTSC). There are presets found under the Notch filter that deal with Vertical Sync bleedthrough which you probably have on your recording. Televisions of that era often had issues with sync bleedthrough into the audio channel.