Automated way of quick and dirty mixing some speech audio

June 18, 2021 3:53 AM

I have spoken word audio and background tracks which I have license to. Some music and some are like beach noise. I want to mix the spoken word and the background tracks. I have an older Mac and audacity but I would happily pay for an automated service that could do quick and dirty versions of mixing these. I don’t have budget for a producer or studio. Suggestions? Thank you!
posted by The Last Sockpuppet to Technology (5 answers total)

I do a ton of home recording, I know of no system like this. Any system that existed would almost certainly be focused on music, and would surely mix the background music loud because it would assume the vocals were meant to sit in as if it were a band setting. Your task is super simple and you already have the tools to do it, especially if you're just looking for "quick and dirty versions". Out the spoken word on one track, the music/sound effects on the others, and turn down the music sound/effect tracks until the dialogue is consistently clear.
posted by jonathanhughes at 4:14 AM on June 18, 2021 [5 favorites]

Hindenburg has a mix mode with automated levels. I've never used it, because I think it's probably terrible, but it might be worth the 30-day trial to see if it works for you.
posted by god hates math at 6:35 AM on June 18, 2021

You may be able to do this with ffmpeg, but unless the noise files and word files are the exact same length I don’t see automating it being less fiddle than just doing them one at a time in audacity.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:03 AM on June 18, 2021

I have the AVS Audio Editor. I can't recommend it because I haven't used it and the parts of the AVS suite that I have used are problematic. And not free. But it looks like using AVS Audio would take about 20 clicks of the mouse. I suspect Audacity would be more or less similar. Not automatic, but, when you think about it, it's hard to see how you could do a good job with much less effort. There are built-in issues. The audio recording levels may be very different or the combination may be not what you want. And there is the difference is length mentioned above.

I came across another free audio editor here.
posted by SemiSalt at 8:29 AM on June 18, 2021

heres a YT tutorial on how to do it on Audacity .... hope that helps , its pretty straight forward if the levels of each track are relatively consistent - good luck
you tube tutorial link
posted by burr1545 at 3:24 PM on June 18, 2021