Finding an Audio Wizard
October 8, 2014 1:20 PM Subscribe
I recorded my friend's rock concert on MiniDisc and ended up with some audio issues. How can I find someone reliable and talented enough online who can work with audio files to bring out their best? (I live in a small town so I doubt anyone local can do it.)
Response by poster: I've fooled around with it a bit in Audition and haven't had much luck, but maybe you're better with audio than I am. Here's the first track for reference.
posted by ktoad at 2:00 PM on October 8, 2014
posted by ktoad at 2:00 PM on October 8, 2014
You might want to describe what you'd like to accomplish a little more clearly.
posted by humboldt32 at 2:37 PM on October 8, 2014
posted by humboldt32 at 2:37 PM on October 8, 2014
What do you specifically want to change about it? To me it sounds like your pretty standard live show recording on a bad mic, with the blown out bass kicks and everything. You can't do much to make a bad recording significantly better.
There are two things you can try though. One is to just literally select and delete pops or noise or whatever, which tends to not be noticeable as long as you're only pulling out a few milliseconds.
The other thing you can do is use the notch filter and see if you can remove any hissing or noise that way, instead of trying to clip out entire sections of the song.
posted by empath at 2:39 PM on October 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
There are two things you can try though. One is to just literally select and delete pops or noise or whatever, which tends to not be noticeable as long as you're only pulling out a few milliseconds.
The other thing you can do is use the notch filter and see if you can remove any hissing or noise that way, instead of trying to clip out entire sections of the song.
posted by empath at 2:39 PM on October 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
You can also try running normalization and compression on it to even out the volume, but that's kind of a blunt instrument, so make sure you save a copy it before you try it.
posted by empath at 2:41 PM on October 8, 2014
posted by empath at 2:41 PM on October 8, 2014
Nthing Audacity. Gosh, I remember MiniDisc. Good old DRM so that even though it's a digital format it's nearly impossible to find equipment you can digitally move it over to a PC with... so that they could protect the commercial MiniDiscs that no one ever bought, ever... TASCAM has digital recorders you can make fully transportable .WAV files on, and you can get them on sale for $50 at Guitar Center these days...
posted by randomkeystrike at 3:08 PM on October 8, 2014
posted by randomkeystrike at 3:08 PM on October 8, 2014
You are probably looking for a Mastering Engineer. I'm sure you can find some online mastering services to help you out.
posted by TrinsicWS at 9:25 PM on October 8, 2014
posted by TrinsicWS at 9:25 PM on October 8, 2014
Best answer: You can't do much to make a bad recording significantly better.
Yeah, quoting empath for emphasis, here - it's not a great recording, and there may not be much that can be done to improve it. It'll certainly never sound like a studio recording, I'm sorry to say.
How can I find someone reliable and talented enough online who can work with audio files to bring out their best?
You're looking for recording studios or mastering studios. There are a ton of people out there doing this professionally, semi-professionally, or as talented amateurs. Most of them have some kind of web presence. As far as selecting someone, most will have credits, names of bands & clients, on their website, and so it's easy to track down previous work they've done & listen to it. You should also ask any musicians you know if they've got any recommendations.
(I live in a small town so I doubt anyone local can do it.)
I would not be too sure of this. Like I said, lots of people are doing this kind of work, the gear to do it is simple to buy & doesn't necessarily have to be hugely expensive, no reason someone can't do it in a small town. You should do some local web-searching and asking local musicians. I would be very surprised if there aren't at least a few people within an hour's drive of you that could take a whack at cleaning up your recording. It might be a dude working out of his basement, but that doesn't mean he can't help you.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:09 PM on October 8, 2014
Yeah, quoting empath for emphasis, here - it's not a great recording, and there may not be much that can be done to improve it. It'll certainly never sound like a studio recording, I'm sorry to say.
How can I find someone reliable and talented enough online who can work with audio files to bring out their best?
You're looking for recording studios or mastering studios. There are a ton of people out there doing this professionally, semi-professionally, or as talented amateurs. Most of them have some kind of web presence. As far as selecting someone, most will have credits, names of bands & clients, on their website, and so it's easy to track down previous work they've done & listen to it. You should also ask any musicians you know if they've got any recommendations.
(I live in a small town so I doubt anyone local can do it.)
I would not be too sure of this. Like I said, lots of people are doing this kind of work, the gear to do it is simple to buy & doesn't necessarily have to be hugely expensive, no reason someone can't do it in a small town. You should do some local web-searching and asking local musicians. I would be very surprised if there aren't at least a few people within an hour's drive of you that could take a whack at cleaning up your recording. It might be a dude working out of his basement, but that doesn't mean he can't help you.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:09 PM on October 8, 2014
Response by poster: Thanks for the great answers so far, folks. I was hoping to fix the blown-out bass kicks but I understand that poorly-recorded audio is almost impossible to "fix". Definitely going to sell the old MZ-RH1 and get the Zoom H4N instead.
posted by ktoad at 6:49 AM on October 9, 2014
posted by ktoad at 6:49 AM on October 9, 2014
Mmmm . . . I think it's possible the tracks could be improved, made somewhat more listenable - I certainly used to do similar things when I was working in a studio 20+ years ago. We just can't really know what your expectations are, yeah?
Which is why I suggested trying to find someone local-ish. That way you can sit down with them in person and they can demonstrate some of the things they could do to clean up the recording, and give you an estimate, maybe a couple of options on the price vs. improvement axis, and you can decide how much you're willing to spend to get "X" improvement.
As opposed to trying to do it via DropBox and email with someone 500 miles away, and then you wind up bummed because you spent "$X" and the end result isn't what you were expecting, but maybe you had unrealistic expectations about what could be done.
posted by soundguy99 at 9:57 AM on October 9, 2014
Which is why I suggested trying to find someone local-ish. That way you can sit down with them in person and they can demonstrate some of the things they could do to clean up the recording, and give you an estimate, maybe a couple of options on the price vs. improvement axis, and you can decide how much you're willing to spend to get "X" improvement.
As opposed to trying to do it via DropBox and email with someone 500 miles away, and then you wind up bummed because you spent "$X" and the end result isn't what you were expecting, but maybe you had unrealistic expectations about what could be done.
posted by soundguy99 at 9:57 AM on October 9, 2014
Response by poster: That makes sense. In terms of improvement, I'm just finding the blown-out bassy percussion too distracting. I did find at least one local option, so fingers crossed they won't overcharge.
posted by ktoad at 10:30 AM on October 9, 2014
posted by ktoad at 10:30 AM on October 9, 2014
« Older Good online resources for therapeutic groupwork... | Satellite or Cellular Internet? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by empath at 1:37 PM on October 8, 2014