Need help repairing clipped (distorted) audio

[headless chicken]

I have a rare audio recording that was recorded to VCD by someone who did not know how set the audio gain correctly, resulting in a very harsh sounding sound with distorted audio. Can anyone recommend some easy to use software that would sample the audio and then correct the distortion to the best of its ability automatically? I'm also open to a hobbyist tinkering around with the audio if they are game.

[guns1inger]

Get the original source and do it properly. There are filters you can run that will change where the problems are, but nothing that will repair the file. The audio you need is missing because the gain was too high. You can't get it back. There are smoothing filters, but they are only good for slight damage. For what you are describing they will just give you mud.

[headless chicken]

I don't have access to the original source. It was an archived performance from the 1970s, and re-released by the Indian TV channel that originally aired it 2003

[ShaneJensen]

Cool Edit Pro 2 has a fantastic clip restore feature. Can you make a wave file of the audio and send it to me via megaupload? I'll see if I can correct it for you.

[headless chicken]

Thanks, ShaneJensen. The file is located at http://www.sendspace.com/file/2m79hr.

[ShaneJensen]

Thanks, ShaneJensen. The file is located at http://www.sendspace.com/file/2m79hr.

Okay, I finally had a chance to look at this. Sorry for the delay, I spent the day yesterday upgrading my computer to Windows 7, so your audio was the first audio project I worked on with my new operating system.

I did this in two steps and there are two files both in wave format. The first run I ran the audio through the heavily clipped filter and that restored a LOT of the audio. I was quite amazed actually. There were still a quite a few peaks, so I saved that file and ran it through another clip restore filter called lightly clipped, and that did a lot more. Then I ran this second file through a clip/pop eliminator filter and that restored the audio even more. I then saved that as a second file. I zipped up the two files and uploaded the zip file to that Sendspace site you used. For some reason I had problems with my usual Megaupload. You'll see in the two files which is which, I have it in the filenames with 1st run and 2nd run.

I think the second file is better because it's restored more, even though the volume level is a little bit lower than the first file. Both files still sound kind of distorted, but I did the best I could. When the original audio is damaged, there is only so much you can do. But at least it's not clipped anymore and you'll still hear a big improvement. I figured I would just send you both files and you can choose which one you want to use. I suggest the second one because it sounds better in my opinion as there are still some clipped peaks in the first one, but I'd rather leave that up to you.

Here's the link. Let me know what you think of the restored audio and how it worked out. http://www.sendspace.com/file/o9iajn

[headless chicken]

Those are some pretty miraculous results, considering the extent of the clipping and lower frequency distortion on the original sound file. Thanks so much for the assistance, Shane. I definitely would not have been able to produce these results with the software I have.