How to Fix a Phone Call and Make it Sound Better in Adobe Audition

Summary

In 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

00:00

🎧 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.

05:00

🔊 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.

Keywords

💡Adobe Audition

Adobe Audition is a professional audio editing software used for cleaning up and enhancing audio files. In the video, it serves as the primary tool for addressing audio issues such as distortion and background noise. The script mentions using its spectral frequency display feature to identify and delete problematic audio frequencies, illustrating its importance in the process of audio cleanup.

💡Distortion

Distortion in audio refers to the alteration of sound waves that results in a change from the original, often causing a 'scratchy' or 'clipping' sound. In the context of the video, distortion is a key issue that needs to be addressed to improve the quality of a phone call recording. It is mentioned as being prominent throughout the call and is visually identified in the spectral frequency display.

💡Background Noise

Background noise refers to any unwanted sound that is picked up during audio recording, which can detract from the clarity of the desired audio. In the video, background noise is a problem that needs to be minimized to enhance the quality of the phone call. The script specifically mentions a 'hum' as a type of background noise that is targeted for reduction.

💡Spectral Frequency Display

The spectral frequency display is a visual representation of the frequencies present in an audio file, allowing users to see and manipulate specific parts of the audio spectrum. In the video, this feature is crucial for identifying and addressing audio issues such as distortion and background noise by visually pinpointing the problematic frequencies.

💡Noise Reduction

Noise reduction is the process of decreasing or eliminating unwanted sounds in an audio recording. In the video, noise reduction is a critical step in improving the quality of the phone call by removing the background noise and hum. The script describes using Adobe Audition's noise reduction feature to capture a 'noise print' and apply it to the entire audio to clean up the call.

💡Noise Gate

A noise gate is an audio processing tool that helps to eliminate background noise by cutting off sounds that fall below a certain threshold level. In the video, the noise gate is used to further clean up the phone call by removing any residual noise or hum that remains after noise reduction.

💡Expander

An expander is an audio effect that increases the dynamic range of an audio signal by amplifying quiet sounds and reducing the volume of loud sounds. In the context of the video, the expander is used to enhance the clarity of the phone call by pulling down the volume of background noise when there is no speech.

💡Dynamics

Dynamics in audio refers to the variation in volume levels within a recording, including the differences between loud and soft sounds. In the video, dynamics are important for achieving a balanced audio level, and the script mentions using a dynamics effect, such as a noise gate and expander, to control and improve the dynamics of the phone call.

💡Normalization

Normalization is the process of adjusting the overall volume level of an audio file to a standard level, often to maximize the use of available dynamic range without clipping. In the video, normalization is used to amplify the audio to better hear the background noise, which can then be targeted for reduction.

💡Audio Cleanup

Audio cleanup refers to the process of improving the quality of an audio recording by removing or reducing unwanted sounds, distortions, and noise. In the video, the main theme is audio cleanup, where the speaker demonstrates various techniques and tools in Adobe Audition to restore a distorted and noisy phone call to a clearer state.

💡Multi-Track

A multi-track refers to a method of recording and editing audio where multiple separate tracks are used to handle different elements of the audio, such as individual instruments or voices. In the video, the speaker mentions creating a new multi-track to non-destructively apply effects and process the call, providing a flexible and organized way to manage audio cleanup.

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]