Voice Enhancement using Adobe Audition

[oxford]

I am trying to enhance an mp3 file containing a lecture. The lecture has a siginificant amount of backgrounfd noise which I figured out how to eliminate in Audition. The the voice in the lecture sound very weak and distant. Is there a way to enhance the voice? I am new to this program and audio editing so spell it out for me if possible. thanks

[greymalkin]

you can do this one of 2 ways.

One way to to increase the overall amplitude of the sound file. This can be done in audition with no problems. you may want to go in 3db increments and make sure you don't breach the 0db limit (there are white lines above/below the sound waves, don't cross them)

The other way to increase the vocals only is to boost the 3k to 5k range using the EQ. I would tell you the actual menu's but I don't remember them off the top of my head...the amplify and EQ option are all off the same main menu. Choose the standard eq, raise all the bars in between 3k and 5k, then do a preview and see if that works better for you.

[Cornucopia]

Simply adding gain or normalizing won't help--it just raises the background noise as well.

Filtering should help.
Set up a bandpass filter of ~125Hz--~5000Hz, with an additional peak at ~1.25kHz and ~4kHz.

Also, change the dynamics so that the main voice is compressed but given some gain, with the lower level material downwardly expanded--like a smooth noise gate.

There are some other, more esoteric methods and filters, but that's a start.

After all that, then you may want to add gain/normalize.

HTH,

Scott

[oxford]

Cornucopia,

Any way you could expand on how I do this. I tried to look up bandpass filters on the help page but couldn't find any instruction on it. Like I said I am new to this. Also how doen one go about changing the dyanmics so the voice is compressed but given gain. Sorry for the lack of knowledge.

[JimJohnD]

Use the "Noise Reduction" function. It should be listed in the manual; but all you have to do is select a part of the audio where no content (voices you want to keep) but is just noise. Select the noise reduction function and tell it to get a profile from the selection. Close the dialog and select the entire audio file. Go back into the noise reduction feature and set how aggressive you want the function to be. When everything is where you want it simply hit OK and wait for the function to complete. Make sure you have enabled Undo because if the NR is too agressive it will sould a little like you are under water. If that happens just undo and back it off some. After that you can normalize the audio to bring up the overall volume.

[oxford]

Thanks for the reply. I have figured out how to accomplish noise reduction but still have questions about what Cornucopia wrote. Thanks. I have been trying to post a clip of the audio to see if there is any hope for improving the audio but I can't seem to get it to work.

[Cornucopia]

I haven't got Audition, but do have CoolEditPro, so I'll tell you where it is there...

[Transform | Filters | Graphic Equalizer]
A bandpass filter means that it passes (leaves alone) a band(s) in the middle, while cutting both high and low bands. Use the freq #'s I gave you in the 1st post as a guide.
There are other (usually better) filters besides GraphicEqualizer, but I figured this would be easier for you to get started with.

as for dynamics/gain...

[Transform | Amplitude | Dynamics Processing]
The default is linear and should show a straight 45 degree line. If you wanted to simply add gain to the whole thing, you would keep the line straight and at the same angle, just raise the whole thing. Lower the gain (cut volume) would mean lowering the line (altogether).
For tricky stuff like this, raise the whole line, but then add curve points to the top and bottom, with the top curling to almost level--but with the final point either equal to or slightly less than it's original level. Then you angle the bottom toward a steeper angle down, starting at a little less than half way up.

Play with them using the [Preview] function, and you'll get close to where you want to be.

Watch out if your main voice (wanted sound) is quieter than your noise/ambience/room echoes (unwanted sound), because then it might do the opposite of what you want.

BTW, I wouldn't recommend using the Noise reduction filter unless you REALLY know what you're doing, and you try it as one of the last things in your effect chain (after having applied all the other stuff), AND you use it sparingly. In the wrong hands, filters such as these often ADD artifacts that can be both noticeable and impossible to get out again.

HTH,

Scott