Clean up audio on AVI file

[marybutts]

Hi

I shot a 4 minute video clip of my son giving a speech in front of ~400 people . The problem is that the hall where he gave the speech had a total of 12 speakers and 6 of them were not turned on during his presentation( naturally somebody realized that there was a problem and turned on the rest of the speakers AFTER he spoke..) and the resulting recording is virtually unintelligible (full of echoes and background noise...)

Previously ,I have cleaned up audio that I ripped from Vinyl to MP3 -- (removed hiss , pops + crackles..) and found the process to be straightforward with some freely available software -- but this is a whole different animal -- much more complex.

I am wondering if any of you good folk have encountered a similar dilemma and if so , would you be so kind as to offer any tips / guidance / suggestions ?

[Baldrick]

Rip out the audio from the avi with for example virtualdub, open avi, file->save wav.
Clean up the wav with audacity, goldwave, adobe audition, etc, save it as a wav or mp3.
Add it back to the avi using virtualdub again, open avi, audio->wav source, video->direct stream copy, file->save as avi.

[marybutts]

Thank you Baldrick , for your quick response.

I have already separated the audio from the video using virtualDub-- it feels good to know that I am on the right track.

Q. Of the programs you listed to do the cleanup , which one do you like the best ?