Sound Help

[Robino]

Just got back from a wonderful beach vacation in Mexico and after capturing my video I am so upset because the wind noise overpowers the people speaking. Is there a way to separate wind noise from voice? I was trying get testimonials and never realized the wind was overpowering the people speaking. Thanks for any help...

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Robin,
Wind noise is one of the worst things to fix in audio.
How hard are you willing to work at it?
It takes a lot to even lower it a little without effecting other audio as well.
Sometimes it's easier to raise the level of the other audio, like voices, rather than get rid of the wind noise.

You can try some of the audio effects in Premiere Elements, DeNoiser, Dynamics, Notch, those are the common ones for eliminating noise. Audacity has a few more tools that can help but like I said it is near impossible to get rid of it.
Sorry

[Robino]

I do not need to get rid of the wind noise, but I want to raise the speaking voices so you can hear what they are saying.... what we you suggest in that case. I have to get this because I am doing testimonials and won't be going back to Mexico any time soon -- so I have as long as it takes. Also, after capturing the video, it now seems that the lips move and their voices come later. This has never happened to me before, I know I have read about this problem with others.

[Chuck Engels]

It will take experimentation for the most part. Us the DeNoise filter and the Notch filter in the Audio Effects. Maybe have to use them both at the same time. An equalizer would be a little help to bump up the midrange of the voices and probably keep the wind at a lower level. The Dynamics Effect has many useful tools as well, a limiter and a compressor.
Try a couple things and see you how get along, then come back with any questions that you have.

[Bill Hunt]

I'd look into adding an EQ boost in the 125Hz - 250Hz range, where much of human speech is located. Usually wind noise is in a lower band, so you might also attenuate those a bit, as well. If the wind is whistling in the mic, look to the higher bands. You might also look into gating with a Notch Filter, or similar, for the lower bands.

Will take some time, and experimentation and careful listening.

As I use Adobe Audition, I'd first look at eliminating some of the wind noise, if possible, with the Noise Reduction Process. Be careful here, as a tad too much and your voices will take on an echo effect, that is heck to eliminate. Be cautious with the Noise Reduction and then EQ to boost the voices - note, you will likely also boost some of the wind noise, depending on its frequency range, but with care, should be able to clean things up a bit.

Good luck,

Hunt

[Robino]

Thanks everyone, trying all of your suggestions.

[RJ Johnston]

Some audio applications have a Karaoke tool that removes voices. After you create the audio file without the voices, you can put that on another audio track in Premiere Elements parallel to the original audio track, then apply the Invert audio effect to it. In theory, you will be left with voices that are louder than the wind.

Nero Wave Editior has a Karaoke tool.

The invert effect creates a waveform that is completely out-of-phase with the original, and cancels it out so there is no sound when both audio clips are played at the same time. Therefore, the wind noise that is left in the karaoke clip is inverted, which cancels out the wind noise in the original clip, leaving the voices.

Like I said, this is in theory.

[ScrugneysGundogs]

The invert effect creates a waveform that is completely out-of-phase with the original, and cancels it out so there is no sound when both audio clips are played at the same time. Therefore, the wind noise that is left in the karaoke clip is inverted, which cancels out the wind noise in the original clip, leaving the voices.

Like I said, this is in theory.

Great idea! I'm going to try that the next time I get wind noise in my videos (which is quite often)!

[Bill Hunt]

I've never experimented with an inverted signal. Sounds interesting. I think that I have an application for this, and will give it a test. I'm sure that one of my Audio programs has a Karaoke Effect, or similar.

Back in the late 70's, an audio engineer, Bob Carver, did similar with his "Sonic Holography" technique. I still have my Carver C-4000t pre-amp, and when positioned just right, the effect is astounding, even by today's high-end 5.1 & 7.1 surround sound standards.

Thanks for the idea. Will report how I'm able to get it to work. Never thought about this before, and I've had Carver gear for almost 30 years!

Hunt

[Robino]

I've never experimented with an inverted signal. Sounds interesting. I think that I have an application for this, and will give it a test. I'm sure that one of my Audio programs has a Karaoke Effect, or similar.

Thanks for the idea. Will report how I'm able to get it to work. Never thought about this before, and I've had Carver gear for almost 30 years!

Hunt

Did you try this yet??? I'm just looking for an audio program that won't cost too much for this application only. Any suggestions?

[Robino]

I was able to create a .wav file that took all the voices out. I put it parallel (put on Audio track 2) and added the Invert effect, but it did no seem to make much of a change if any. Oh darn....

[Bill Hunt]

Robino,

No, I have not tried it yet. Have one big Project to knock out, and then will give it whirl. I'll first look to Audition (ain't cheap, but I have it), then to the various Magix program. On one machine I do/did have the Nero product, that Robert mentioned.

I will report in with my findings, ASAP.

Please do not hesitate to post your findings, until then. Might save me a few dead-ends.

Hunt

[Robino]

Robino,

Please do not hesitate to post your findings, until then. Might save me a few dead-ends.

Hunt

So far I converted my video audio (using IMToo) to a MP3 file. I downloaded a free converted http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ 1.3.7 where you can take out the voices, so basically I only have birds and wind in the background. I save this as a .wav file and import it in to PE4. I parallel the track and use the invert audio effect, because as stated above we thought this would cancel out the original audio, but like I stated it had little or no effect. Soooooooo.... anyone have any suggestions?

[Chuck Engels]

So are you saying that the voices came back but the wind noise didn't go away? Or don't you hear the voices at all now?

Like we said early on Robin, wind noise is tough to get rid of and it takes time and lots of tweaking and experimentation unless you have some really high end tools to work with.

[Robino]

Chuck - The voices are there on Audio Track 1 they are not on Audio Track 2 (only the background noises), but it was stated above that if you add the Audio Track 2 and use the invert effect, that it would counter Audio Track 1 (of those noises) and that you would probably only hear the voices on Track 1. I have tried all kinds of adjusting with the DeNoiser, Dynamics and Notch, but that background nusance is still there. I thought the idea given above of muting the voices and countering with the orignial track would really work -- but it didn't seem to. I do not care about hearing the wind or birds in the background, I just want the dialouge to be heard -- since I am making a testimonial. LOL This is my only problem with this project. I filmed in HD and have to capture the film and save it so I can upload it in a small enough file and have it display on TripAdvisor that only takes certain size and time of video. I will be adding this to my travel website also (no I am not a travel agent, I just like to give information out to future travelers.) I did upload this to my site earlier today, but this was easy compared to what I am working on now. This was a sister resort I visited for a couple of hours http://snapshotsinmotion.com/SecretsSilversands.html