Need help to improve/clearify a 911 call (saved as a wav)

[CAnn12]

I don't know where else to turn, so I am seeking help here. On July 5/05 my daughter and I experienced the horrifying experience of "sudden acceleration" in our vehicle. I won't go into details here, but after going thru 4 red lights, we managed to bring the vehicle to a stop -thanks to 911. 911 won't give out transcripts or a copy of the 911 tape (policy), but they let me listen to the call over the phone today and I can go into their office to listen to it as well. Here's what I did..using Ulead Video Studio, I taped a microphone to the receiver of the phone and recorded the call as a wave file. On the other end, she put the phone close to the recording.. Now, although I can hear it with speakers turned up full, I would like to (1) increase the volume on the wave file and I don't know if possible..but (2) clearify it a little more. I don't want to go out and buy equipment to do this; however, I do have software (U-lead VideoStudio and Pinnacle Studio).. as I am in the process of converting VHS tapes to DVD . I also have virtual VCR and VirtualDub as well as Canopus Procoder 1.5. (but I am just learning this stuff, so not real proficient) Please can you help me? How do I do this (if at all possible) and any recommeded freeware. I really would appreciate any help you can give me!! Thanks

[Bodyslide]

This app is free

https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=Audacity

[yoda313]

Try audacity as well. Its free

EDIT - bodyslide beat me by half a second!

[Wile_E]

In Audacity, go to Effects menu, and choose Normalize. This will make the audio louder. You can also try using Goldwave, which is a simple audio editor.

[Cornucopia]

You also want to bandpass filter it (aka HiFreq cut + LowFreq cut), as telephone lines can only handle ~4kHz range (~200Hz<-->4500Hz) and anything else is from the secondary playback/recording chain (your phone/mike/recorder combination).

You could additionally apply other dynamics processing (noise gating, compression+expansion), graphic EQ (to emphasize the 1kHz vocal presence), or even Broadband spectral noise reduction using a sample of the source noise as a template, but that starts getting quite complicated and hairy to be able to achieve increased clarity. Probably best to not go there unless the lesser processing (normalizing, BP filtering) can't do the trick.

Scott

[RDS1955]

1st ;what are the reasons as to why you want a recording of the incident? Have you tried to obtain a freedom of information act (or see if there is a Canadian act equal to the FOI act in the states) for the recording from the Dispatch Center...Usually it's policy not to distribute the recordings but here in the states if you file a FOI you can get a copy or legal access and use of the recording for good reason such as a court battle or educational or journalism use....... If you are making a recording of the incident in the manner that you describe for legal proceedings in some way, "your" recording won't hold water in a court of law, and you can get in a ton of trouble by recording stuff from a 911 Center without their approval and/or knowledge... How Do I know this??? I work in a 911 Center....Thats my business...

[CAnn12]

No, the tape is not to be used in a court..unless I was injured or dead..can't really sue even though this manufacturer (as I've since found out) has thousands of complaints regarding sudden acceleration caused by a mafunctioning cruise control. No, this is for my own benefit. Everthing was such a blurr, I wanted to recall all the details, plus it's a reminde ot be thankful for how close we came to maybe not even being here today. In Canada. taped phonecalls are legal if one party is aware that they're being taped.

[mrtunes]

taped phonecalls are legal if one party is aware that they're being taped.

they let you listen to it, but did they know you were taping?
i'd take a good look at the suggestions in the post regarding EQ - that will be your key to making the recording clearer.

sorry to hear you had such a traumatic experience. thank god you're still here to post about it