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Removing Mic Line Bad Connection Audio
Hello all,
I’m working in Final Cut and trying to remove some nasty audio on a very windy day. I’m just trying to clean it up as much as possible. It was a wedding so reshoots are not really a viable solution.
The mic is between the bride and groom, so their responses are quiet to begin with, and on top of that the connection is bad and there is a very loud, very annoying hum over the audio. I can’t seem to find info on the exact hum I’m talking about so asking for help.
I’m not sure exactly how to explain it but I’ll try, I’m a video guy not an audio guy!
The sound is a constant electronic buzz, its the exact same tone the entire way through which is what makes me think I might be able to isolate whatever frequency this buzz exists on and destroy it.
Can anyone help me troubleshoot this? or help me figure out how I can find and isolate a frequency in Final Cut? I’ve just been cycling through the audio effects, I’ve found a few things that help a bit, but the problem is still pretty bad.
I remember back in the day using the ‘Noise Sample’ in Soundtrack Pro for problems like this. Is there anything similar in FCPX? The basic Final Cut Audio Analysis isn’t cutting it.
Charles Ferran
845-699-5270
http://www.charlesferran.com“Far better is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with the poor spirits who neither enjoy much, nor suffer much because they live in a gray twilight that knows no victory or defeat.”
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2 Replies
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I think you could play for hours in final cut and not get anywhere but you’d probably rescue the audio, or at least make it useable, in a few clicks using izotope rx. Expensive but there really isn’t a better tool for the job.
Otherwise in FCPX it’s a case of using maybe a parametric EQ and your ears to sweep through the spectrum and isolate the frequencies to pull out but it’s never going to deal with broadband noise like wind.
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Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer & Cinematographer
Hobart, Tasmania | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
Izotope will almost certainly fix it. For a price.
But there’s a Hum remover effect in FCPX audio plug-ins, and I would definitely first try using the FCPX parametric EQ and noise reduction plug-ins. They will have *some* effect on the quality of the speech in places where the frequency range overlaps. It may or may not be too obvious.
You could also export the audio into Logic Pro or, for free, into Audacity, and try the plug-ins there. I’d suggest notch filter tailored to the exact buzz, then parametric EQ and maybe also downward expansion, as well as Noise Print.
Izotope is a great investment that will pay for itself if it saves your edit once or twice a year, and it gains you a reputation for being a genius audio-repair-guy when clients bring you original materials that have poor sound.
The buzz happens because you’re connecting balanced 3-wire output to un-balanced input. The connector on the camera is not the best place to do that, as physical loads and strain can break the connection partially or even damage the connector internally when weight or sudden snags pluck at the cable. I’d suggest you get an adapter from Markertek or Monoprice that makes a clean, breakaway connection and then inputs to the camera with a connector it was meant to use, with all-important strain relief. Makes for a little awkwardness with the extra wiring, but you tie wrap or gaff tape it into a bundle that will keep stuff from snagging and losing connection.
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