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Subject:Need Help With Audio Clean-up. Please...
Posted by: SpOiLeR
Date:1/20/2003 10:26:01 PM

Hey I have a video that I want to watch, but the audio has unnecessary Reverb and Echos in it. I demuxed the audio and video. And now I need to "clean-up" the audio's reverb and echos. Can someone help me with removing the echos and reverbs? Thanks a million!

Subject:RE: Need Help With Audio Clean-up. Please...
Reply by: Chienworks
Date:1/21/2003 11:23:01 AM

Well, don't get your hopes up too much because there's almost nothing that can be done to fix the sound. Once the echos and reverb have been mixed into the sound, there's no way to get them out again. Sorry.

You can play around with EQ and Noise Gate a bit and you might make a little bit of improvement, but probably not much. Reverb tends to include a wider frequency distribution than dry voices do, so using EQ to cut frequencies below about 300 and above about 2K will emphasize the voices a bit. If the echos are a lot quieter than the desired sound, noise gate can help cut out sounds during the quiet parts between words/phrases. However, it can't help during parts where you want to keep sound, and it can seem very unpleasant and unnatural if used too heavily.

Subject:RE: Need Help With Audio Clean-up. Please...
Reply by: musicvid10
Date:1/21/2003 4:34:53 PM

Again, not much you can do, but here is a technique that may give some improvement (don't overdo it):
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=4&MessageID=140867

Subject:RE: Need Help With Audio Clean-up. Please...
Reply by: stusy
Date:1/21/2003 9:16:41 PM

I tried that, and all I got was I site that said print this page, printed it, and that's all it said...messed up thread, man...was interested as to what it may say, but now temp demoralized.....

Subject:RE: Need Help With Audio Clean-up. Please...
Reply by: musicvid10
Date:1/21/2003 11:10:46 PM

Sorry the address didn't work for you, here is the original post:

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Here's an old trick (from and old dog) dating back to analog recording days that usually gives some improvement (you need a good wave editor like SoundForge):

1. Select All, then Copy the audio.
2. Paste to a new track, invert the waveform, and apply moderate compression.
3. Reduce the new track volume so that a preselected "quiet" area is about 50% of the level of its corresponding area in the original.
4. Paste Mix the new track into the old. Renormalize if necessary.

There should be a noticeable improvement in clarity and echo reduction because you have applied negative feedback to the areas where the echo is most objectionable. Too high a compression or too high level of the feedback track will give a "pumping" effect, however.
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