De-echo an audio file

[moviebuff2]

Hi everyone

I have an audio file that was made from a very old record. The file has a lot of echo (not clicks or pop) and is very difficult to listen to.

Is there any softwares that can de-echo or at least reduce the echo?

Thanks

[Shard92]

Don't know if this does what you want it to but it's the only one I have heard of that works( a few friends I have swear by it.... have even captured and cleaned old records with it !! )

http://site.magix.net/index.php?21391

[greymalkin]

when you say echo do you mean reverb?
and how long is the recording?

i might be able to help.

[bugster]

moved you to the audio forum

/moderator bugster

[dphirschler]

If it truely is an echo, then you might try the following. It won't be perfect, but it's something to try:

1. Load the wave into a multitrack editor
2. Load a copy of the wave and invert it
3. Adjust the second wave to line up with the echo in the first.
4. Mix the two wavs together.

The inverted copy will cancel out the echo. You will have to reduce the volume of the inverted wave. The more you reduce the volume, the less cancelation you will get.

Good luck.


Darryl

[Cornucopia]

Don't know if this does what you want it to but it's the only one I have heard of that works( a few friends I have swear by it.... have even captured and cleaned old records with it !! )

http://site.magix.net/index.php?21391

While it does have a number of "cleanup" functions advertised (actually pretty good amount for this price range), it doesn't have anything listed that even vaguely mentions De-Echo (or anything similar).

What dphirschler suggested would be good if the echo were just 1 (or even 2-to-10) simple discreet repetition. But real-life echo is a multiplicity of echoes, of various levels of loudness, with varying amounts of delay (not always constant either), with different EQ filtering applied to each, and with varying amounts of phase--so that it's not a simple add or subtract funtion but vectors.
This is one of those elusive HolyGrail features hopefully waiting for us in the future.
First guy that creates a workable solution for this will sell TONS!

Possible interim solutions:
Dynamic range expansion/Noise gating w/ threshold set much higher than normal--split channels to filter out more high and low than mid.
If recorded space or "room" is known, could create an FFT impulse response profile, which could then be applied as an inverse convolution to the original, but even that's tricky.

Scott

[moviebuff2]

Thank you for taking time to respond to my question.

Yes, I use Magix software to clean up many old records. But my problems, as one posters said, are not the clicks and pops that come from an old records. The problem is in transfering to digital format, echo was added to the original recording. Now I want to reverse it.

I think the suggestion of making an additional wave file then inverting it may work. I will try it this weekend.

Many thanks to all of you.

Sorry for posting my question at the wrong place.