Does anyone know of a good free software program to edit audio? I have a problem mic and if I don't locate another one by Friday then I'll have to use the one I have and edit out the hiss somehow with a filter. any ideas what to do?

The wireless mic is giving me some hiss. I tested my handheld with the same settings in camera (GY-HD100U) that I used for the wireless and it was much better but the client wants a lav mic.

so what to do next...

Thanks
Lisa

Audacity is free, and quite good at what it does. Check it out, see if it fits your bill.

--Andy P

+1 for Audacity, it has a noise reduction filter included, just copy a small piece of just the hiss, then apply that as the filter, and you can adjust how much noise reduction it gives you, which you can balance with the sound quality.

I agree Audacity is very good at removing hiss. I have used it several times and have always been pleased with the results.

Best part, it's free.

Rob

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Hello Lisa,

While you have your answers, the other questions are where does the hiss come from and can you fix it at the source?

Hiss can be just a poorly engineered system or a simple lack of understanding of gain stages where one stage is turned up too loud and the next stage not so much.

Each circuit has it's own best position of gain. You might try to play with that a bit to see if you can improve the situation.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Goldwave (GoldWave - Audio Editing, Recording, Conversion, Restoration, & Analysis Software (http://www.goldwave.com/)) is shareware with a liberal demo policy. Its noise reduction is quite good.

Unfortunately, filtering out hiss will leave your audio sounding dull. As Ty wrote, getting rid of the problem at the source is by far the best solution. Noise reduction is best for removing narrowband hums. Wideband noise like hiss is tough to remove well.

Hi,

Thanks for all of the feedback.

I have a feeling that the problem is the mic. It's not a very expensive one. I have a shoot Friday..before I can get another mic. I'm having to use a mic that has a lapel mic but the receiver is not camera mounted. I have a phono style plug from line out of the receiver into an xlr adapter and xlr cable into camera with input switch on "mic". The receiver dials are only one for squelch and one for volume. Volume on receiver is only about 1/4 up...have camera set to manual and adjusting the volume levels on camera. reference level set at -12db. I wondered if the xlr adapter could be causing the hiss? don't know..only adapter I have at the moment for xlr.

I took a clip and used a plugin called new blue to remove hiss and it sounded good. I took another clip and tested it again on a different day and I heard a little bit of noise that sounded like an echo/tunnel sound. It was ever so slightly but I could hear it. So I decided to see what other program I could use to test the clip in and see if it can be fixed. I'll try Audacity with a clip and see if I get that tunnel effect sound or not. The hiss is not too bad but enough that I can hear it through the headphones. I don;t hear it as bad when I listen to it through the computer without headphones.

if you have some audio info to share, I'm happy to listen.

Thank you
Lisa

I have used NewBlue, Audicity, GoldWave Magix, Sound Forge and Virtious and they are all good at what they do but the trick is to take little bites at the noise. Don't try to reduce it with one pass. It's too easy to go a bit too far and get the tunnel or underwater sound you described on the voice. Take a small bite, set it as a preset or write it down, listen to the audio, take another small bite, etc. That way you can go back a step if need be and take an even smaller bite on the next one. It can be a bit tedious but too big a bite and you can choke. Metaphorically speaking of course.
Tys advice of course is the best but you gotta work with what ya got.

Don

I'm pretty sure its a bad/cheap mic and looking for a better one.

I tried audacity but it loaded a file partially and then sat for a while and then it closed. I deleted it and going to reload it again and test. Checking into the other programs, also.

I don;t have the audio up far on the receiver. wondering if testing it with it turned up further and audio backed down on the camera....we'll see after testing. the squelch dial, not sure it is really doing anything. haven;t seen any difference.

Thank you
Lisa

Well I'm still have trouble with Audacity. It keep closing when I tried to open a file. I delted it, reloaded it, rebooted and still doing it. I can load some of the files but it doesn't play it normally. It gives me audio with lots of popping etc. Some files won;t open at all and the program closes. Not sure what I'm doing wrong...it's pretty basic oh...well I try it again. anyone else ever have this problem? Hope it's not computer.

best,
Lisa

Audacity runs smooth on my computer, handy for noise removal. You might have a bad download.

Maybe try a download from different site?

Lisa Bennett;954197]Hi,
The receiver dials are only one for squelch and one for volume. Volume on receiver is only about 1/4 up...have camera set to manual and adjusting the volume levels on camera. reference level set at -12db. I wondered if the xlr adapter could be causing the hiss? don't know..only adapter I have at the moment for xlr.

Hello again Lisa,

Sounds like you have the receiver turned too far down and the camera too far up. That can generate hiss. As I suggested before, try playing with the gain structure. Turn down the camera input and turn the receiver output up - maybe as far as 3/4.

Regards,

Ty Ford

After 2 trys I'm going to look tonight for another site to download it from. Which version of Audacity are you using?

I'll try turning down camera and up receiver and do another test.

Thanks again. Everyone's help is so appreciated.

Best,
Lisa

Lisa,

get the stable version,1.2.6 not the beta, directly from Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)

are you on a mac or pc. I have heard newer mac OS have had some issues with audacity.

Using PC. I went to audacity.soundforge to download. I tried to open import audio from a video clip. I showed it was loading...went halfway then the timer keeps going but the blue blocks that light up as mp3 file is loading...they just stopped loading as the clock ran to show how much longer it would take then later it crashes.

Thanks
Lisa

Don't I need to convert the avi file to wav, edit and then export as wav or mp3? I've come to find out audacity can't load audio from avi file. If this is correct, what converter or you using?
Lisa

I have a phono style plug from line out of the receiver into an xlr adapter and xlr cable into camera with input switch on "mic".

I nearly missed this in your post. For now, this should be the first thing you should correct... since you're going line out of the receiver, you should have your camera switched to line level as well... not mic level.

Lisa, in whatever NLE you are using you should be able to render the audio only to a WAV file then import into or open the file in Audacity and I agree with Bill. If you're using a phono plug check IT and if going from line out to mic in don't. change one or the other so they are the same and I THINK most if not all of your hiss will go away. (I mean the hiss you're getting from the audio not your hiss, I don't know you well enough to know if you hiss or not, maybe you do when you're mad...OK enough leave it alone;-) you can see it's very early and I've already been up a long time so I'm quite silly right now. Forgive me.

O|O
\__/

Don

Hi Don,

That's funny (LOL)...it's safe I don't hiss :) not even when I'm mad.

I had it on line but then changed it to mic. Now after so many tests, I forgot why I did it in the first place...

Anyway, will change it back and retest.

Unfortunately I don't have an AVID yet and using Pinnacle Studio Plus. I didn't see where it renders audio only...hope it does, that will save a step. I'll check it out today.

Thank you again!!!
LB

Lisa,
I'm a final cut guy, so I can't offer any advice on other software. However, I would try and find what is causing that hiss. Check the settings between the transmitter and the receiver. If the transmitter is a mic level and you're rcvr is a line level you are going have a very low audio source coming into your rcvr and when you add gain to get a -12db level you are going to be adding hiss into the audio. Coming out as a line level into your camera's mic level will produce more of an overdriven audio, not so much a hiss.

Ok did another test.

I used an adapter so my cable would go from the mic our on receiver to camera (using xlr adater/xlr cable) camera mic switch to mic. I am able to get higher audio levels using mic to mic. I still have some noise but audacity will fix it. I did a test with audacity last night with another clip and it was really good with noise reduction so I'll test it with this more recent clip and see what I get.

Going from line out to line at camera, the levels are much lower and I had to put the camera audio dial levels both all the way up on 10 and the receiver was all the way up also.

So apparently when you run line out you have a cut in db's. correct observation?

Which is normally the best route, line out or mic out?
LB

using a mic use the mic setting. line setting is for circumstances like being plugged into a sound board line level output.
The noise you're hearing might very well be the cameras pre amp or it could just be noise from the particular wireless unit unit.
I use and AT dual channel receiver and a hypercaroid on my camera and with the hyper only running there is a "hiss" that I know is from the pre amp.If I use the AT receiver only while there is a noise it is barely noticable and in many cases not even worth bothering to remove.

Glad you got it going. (hisssss) ;-)

Don

it still has some noise but will have to go with it. For editing it will have a music track so maybe I can hide it :)

doing another test again tonight just to double check. be glad when I get a new mic yippee!
lb

it still has some noise but will have to go with it. For editing it will have a music track so maybe I can hide it :)

doing another test again tonight just to double check. be glad when I get a new mic yippee!
lb

Why compensating on quality, my friend?

Unless it's painfully long, feel free to send it to me and I'll do my best clearing it for you in Audition.

Hi Erez,

Thanks for the offer. If needed I'll be sure to let you know.

I checked out your site. Really like your demos!


Best,
Lisa

Thank you very much, Lisa!