How to Fix a Phone Call and Make it Sound Better in Adobe Audition
Summary
TLDRIn this informative video, Mike Russell from MusicRadioCreative.com demonstrates a step-by-step process to improve the quality of a distorted and noisy phone call recording using Adobe Audition. He begins by analyzing the audio through the spectral frequency display to identify the problematic frequencies causing the distortion. By selecting and deleting the frequency range responsible for the scratchy sound, he significantly reduces the distortion. Further, he addresses the background noise by using noise reduction and normalization techniques, and finally applies a noise gate and expander for a clean, professional finish. The video is a practical guide for those seeking to enhance audio quality in post-production.
Takeaways
- 🎧 Use Adobe Audition to clean up distorted and noisy phone call audio.
- 📊 Switch to the spectral frequency display to analyze and identify audio issues visually.
- 🚀 Address distortion by reducing the volume and avoiding clipping in the audio.
- 🎯 Select the frequency range of the phone call (up to 4kHz) to focus on the relevant audio.
- ✂️ Delete the top-end frequency range that contains the distortion to improve call quality.
- 🔍 Listen for and identify background noise, especially hums, in the audio.
- 🔄 Normalize the audio to clearly hear the background noise for better analysis.
- 💡 Use noise reduction and restoration effects to capture and remove unwanted noise.
- 📌 Adjust noise reduction settings to target specific frequencies where the noise is most prominent.
- 🚫 Avoid overusing noise reduction as it may remove parts of the desired speech.
- 🔧 Utilize noise gate and expander effects to further clean up and stabilize the audio quality.
Q & A
What is the main issue with the audio sample in the video?
-The main issue with the audio sample is that it contains distortion and significant background noise, which makes it difficult to understand the conversation clearly.
How does Mike Russell suggest analyzing the audio to identify the problem?
-Mike suggests using the spectral frequency display to analyze the audio. This visual representation of the audio frequencies can help identify problem areas, such as the scratchy distortion caused by high volume and clipping.
What is the first step to clean up the distorted audio?
-The first step is to select the frequency range of the phone call, which typically goes up to about 4 kHz, and delete the top end part that contains the distortion.
How does the noise reduction process work in Adobe Audition?
-The noise reduction process involves capturing a noise print by selecting a piece of audio that contains only the background noise. Then, the noise reduction effect is applied using the captured noise print to remove the unwanted noise from the audio.
What is the purpose of using a noise gate and an expander in the audio cleanup process?
-A noise gate and an expander are used to further reduce unwanted noise and control the dynamic range of the audio. The noise gate eliminates low-level noise, while the expander reduces the volume of audio signals that fall below a certain threshold, helping to achieve a cleaner and more professional sound.
How does Mike Russell demonstrate the effectiveness of the cleanup process?
-Mike demonstrates the effectiveness by comparing the audio before and after applying the cleanup techniques. He plays the distorted and noisy sample, then shows the improved version after each step, highlighting the reduction in distortion and background noise.
What are the potential issues with simply deleting the low-end frequencies to remove background hum?
-Deleting the low-end frequencies could potentially remove important parts of the speech, resulting in a loss of audio quality and content. It's important to target only the noise without affecting the speech.
How can the spectral frequency display help in identifying audio problems?
-The spectral frequency display provides a visual representation of the audio's frequency spectrum. Spikes in the display can indicate areas of distortion, while the presence of continuous low-frequency signals may suggest background hum or noise.
What is the significance of the 'more plant food' phrase mentioned throughout the video?
-The phrase 'more plant food' is used as a filler or placeholder to indicate the process of applying the various audio cleanup effects. It does not have a specific meaning related to audio editing but serves as a humorous way to keep the viewer engaged.
How can the cleanup techniques shown in the video be applied non-destructively?
-The cleanup techniques can be applied non-destructively by using the effects within a multi-track session in Adobe Audition. This allows for the application of effects on separate tracks without altering the original audio file.
What is the final step in the audio cleanup process described in the video?
-The final step is to normalize the audio to a standard level, such as -0.1 dB, to ensure the cleaned audio is at a consistent and audible volume level.
Outlines
🎧 Audio Distortion Correction in Adobe Audition
This paragraph introduces Mike Russell from musicradiocreative.com, who demonstrates techniques for improving the quality of a distorted and noisy phone call recording using Adobe Audition. The focus is on analyzing the audio through spectral frequency display to identify and eliminate the source of the scratchy distortion caused by excessive volume clipping. Mike explains how to select the appropriate frequency range of a traditional phone call (up to 4kHz) and delete the distorted top end to restore audio quality. Additionally, he covers methods for reducing background noise and hum by selecting silent parts of the recording to capture a noise print and applying noise reduction. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of careful selection and adjustment of noise reduction parameters to avoid removing speech in the process.
🔊 Advanced Audio Cleaning Techniques
In this paragraph, Mike continues his tutorial on audio restoration by discussing advanced techniques for further improving the cleaned phone call. He introduces the use of an auto gate in the dynamics effect to eliminate remaining background noise and control the threshold levels to avoid cutting off words. Mike also explains the use of an expander to reduce the volume of noise between speech, enhancing the overall clarity of the call. The paragraph concludes with the suggestion to normalize the audio to a standard level (-0.1 dB) for consistency. Mike encourages the application of these techniques in both waveform and multi-track views for non-destructive editing and invites feedback from users on their experiences. The paragraph ends with a reminder to visit musicradiocreative.com for more information.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Adobe Audition
💡Distortion
💡Background Noise
💡Spectral Frequency Display
💡Noise Reduction
💡Noise Gate
💡Expander
💡Dynamics
💡Normalization
💡Audio Cleanup
💡Multi-Track
Highlights
Mike Russell from musicradiocreative.com shares techniques for audio cleanup in Adobe Audition.
The video addresses the issue of distorted and noisy phone call audio recordings.
A sample from a Vox Pro recorder is used to demonstrate the audio issues.
Spectral frequency display is recommended as the first step to analyze and clean up audio.
High volume leading to audio clipping and distortion is identified as a common problem.
Traditional phone calls typically have a frequency range up to 4kHz.
Deleting the top-end frequency range can significantly reduce distortion.
Noise reduction is applied by capturing a noise print from a silent section of the audio.
Adjusting noise reduction settings can effectively remove background hum without affecting speech.
The use of an auto gate in the dynamics effect can help eliminate remaining background noise.
Expander can be used to further reduce noise during silent parts of the audio.
Adobe Audition's noise reduction is more targeted than a generic D-noise effect.
The process can be non-destructively applied in a multi-track environment for additional flexibility.
Normalization of the audio level to -0.1 dB is suggested for final polish.
The video provides a comprehensive guide for transforming poor-quality phone calls into clear audio.
Mike Russell encourages viewers to share their results and experiences in the comments section.
Transcripts
hello i'm mike russell from
musicradiocreative.com in this video
i'll show you how to clean up a phone
call that sounds distorted and has lots
of background noise
let's hop into adobe audition where i
have a little sample someone had fiddled
with the settings on the vox pro
recorder and we had a bit of audio that
kind of came out like this let's have a
listen a lot more plant food um so you
can hear every time joe is talking
there's like this distortion uh and it's
it's quite prominent throughout the
whole call you know i i sort of is that
scratchy kind of
as uh joe is talking now usually you
wouldn't expect that in a phone call the
first thing i would do to analyze this
and try and clean this up is actually
hop into spectral frequency display
which will show you all the frequencies
and maybe give us an indication of some
of the problem going on to access this
it's over here in the top left usually
show spectral frequency display or just
shift and d on your keyboard and boom
and look at that now this is just a
perfect pure clean example of how you
can straight away spot the problem so
everywhere you see these spikes here
this is where that scratchy kind of
distortion is happening because the um
the phone call is sort of the gain has
been turned up the volume is far too
loud and it's basically clipping and
distorting here
so you can hear that that terrible clip
as i play it i just play that sample and
here's a big clip of that sample
and then if we play that in context and
listen to the whole thing
search so that's a real
that's a terrible place with distortion
pondering thinking
so there you go lots and lots of it now
one thing you can try if you see a lot
of distortion up here is just try and
select the frequency range of the phone
call uh that usually goes up to about 4k
when it's over the phone traditional
phone calls not skype calls zoom calls
and things like that but we're talking
traditional phone calls so let's just
select that 4k right the way down to the
base and have another lesson a lot more
plant food um
you know i i sort of that's amazing it
has just totally solved the issue uh so
in order to clean this up i'm just
simply going to select that top end bit
and i can just delete it like that boom
gone black and we're just left with the
quality phone call now let's listen you
know i i sort of
did a lot of
research there we go and let's just
remind ourselves how research sounded
before
research and then after that effect
research amazing right but we're not
done yet there's still more we can do
let's have a listen to some of the
background noise on this phone call now
i don't know if you can hear that so i'm
actually going to go in and normalize it
so you can really hear this
you can hear there's a lot of harm
background noise going on there and the
hum is particularly visible when we
amplify the audio down here
that's something we need to get rid of
now what we could do is we could just
undo this and we could simply chop off
all the low end as well to get rid of
that background hum so something like
that again we're doing this marquee
selecting uh and then delete like that
let's listen to how that sounds might
not sound too bad but it might sound
awful let's try
yeah all the ham's gone but yeah there's
there's nothing left of joe cross there
so let's put it back in and let's try
another method and this method is quite
simply to take our time selection tool
up here and select a piece of audio
where there is no speech and no clicking
that's important otherwise it'll pick up
things like this little red blotch here
so you just want to get a piece with the
background noise only
that sounds perfect to me and then
you'll go into effects you'll go to
noise reduction restoration you will
capture the noise print first that is
why and click ok to this that's why it's
important to select only noise and
nothing else
and then you go into effects noise
reduction restoration again noise
reduction process and you see the noise
print is captured in there nicely let's
select everything a lot more plant food
um
it's working significantly well let's
just go to the default settings a lot
more plant food and we'll go into
preview mode up here in the top right so
we can see a before and after you can
see a lot of the hum is being pulled out
look at how yellow it is down there in
the before and then not so yellow down
here uh we can work a little harder by
telling it to work harder on these low
end frequencies where we know the
problem is and then we'll push up the
noise reduction percentage a bit to 87
percent that's working quite well gain
reduction to 16 more plant food um
you know i i can still hear it there so
i'm going to just work ever so much
harder just really push this right the
way up as much a lot more plant food um
let's push them
right up plant food um
you know i i sort of
did a lot of
research so we're getting close to a
really good phone call now i'm going to
apply that
switch off the preview mode and then the
final thing i'll do because i can still
sit here some of that hum just at the
tail end of joe's words is i'm going to
go in and add a noise game possibly an
expander as well this can all be done in
one effect by the way it's again an
effects menu you want to go to amplitude
and compression you want to look for
dynamics brilliant effect here and then
you'll go into the auto gate you'll
switch this on and again preview mode is
actually handy for this because you can
see it working that's probably too harsh
at the threshold of minus 20. a lot more
plant food so it's kind of cutting out
his word so we want to just back this
off a bit pull this down to minus 28 see
how that looks and probably a little bit
further down
a lot more plant food um
you know i i sort of
did a lot of
research pondering thinking reading
that's good and if you want to level it
up one more you can switch on the
expander again set the threshold around
the same as your noise gate push the
ratio up and you'll see as you push the
ratio up it's going to start kicking in
it's like a fader pulling the audio down
uh when there is no speech so let's try
it a lot more plant food um you know so
you can see as this red is ticking in
the expander is working let's apply that
uh then let's go into favorites and
normalize it to minus 0.1 db of course
everything i've just shown you here in
the waveform view can also be done if
you create a new multi-track if you
create a new multi-track with no
template here drag in the phone call you
can also go ahead drag this in go to the
effects round add all these on
non-destructively and really mess about
and also it will help you've got a host
on another track as well to really
process this call but i really hope this
helps you to solve the issue remember
the first thing you're going to want to
do when you have a problem with a phone
call is pop open the spectral frequency
display look for any errors try and
marquee select them and delete them and
see if that makes a difference sometimes
you go too far and you need to undo
then go into noise reduction capture the
noise print this is where noise
reduction really wins over using
something like d-noise which is a kind
of catch-all d-noise effect in adobe
audition noise reduction is designed for
those specific sounds you want to get
rid of and then finally it's a noise
gate and it's an expander inside the
dynamics effect and you have a really
sweet sounding clean phone call most
importantly i hope you enjoy using these
tips on your next phone call and let me
know how you get on in the comments down
below
music radiocreative.com
[Music]
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