Audacity 2.2.2 Release

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GrayHouse
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Post by GrayHouse »

New (fairly minor) Audacity update is here.

New features include:
- dropout detection during recording - may help with diagnosing problems related to slow hard drives or buffering problems
- change to some zoom functions including a new zoom toggle function so you can quickly switch between 2 different zoom levels

Release notes here.
RajVO
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Post by RajVO »

Hi,
Yes. This upgrade is fairly minor.
I normally use the Noise Reduction and rarely Amplify (for MP3 gain) effects.
But as such, what other features or in particular effects are useful, for voice editing/ mastering?
Thanks.
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mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

RajVO wrote: March 5th, 2018, 11:24 pm But as such, what other features or in particular effects are useful, for voice editing/ mastering?
Thanks.
As you mentioned, noise reduction and amplify are essential. I also use the compressor a lot. These days, I run the compressor on almost every section I read.

The other one that I like a lot is the de-clicker. That one doesn't come standard with Audacity (unless it was added to the newest version, but I don't think so), but you can download and enable it. Mouth clicks drive me crazy (they didn't used to, but I started noticing them more as I got used to recording and editing my own voice), and the de-clicker is great at cleaning them up. It takes a long time if you run it on an entire section, and sometimes can make your consonants less crisp as a side effect. So lots of people just use it on small portions of their recording, not the whole thing.

One more is ReplayGain. That one, like the de-clicker, has to be installed separately and doesn't come with Audacity. The advantage is that you can check your volume in Audacity itself, without needing to export and run the finished file through something outside of Audacity. You can even check the volume of small sections and compare with other sections. I often do that when I've had to re-record something later, to help in determining how well the volume matches up with the original recording.

Download links and more information on all of these things can be found in the LibriVox wiki.
RajVO
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Post by RajVO »

mightyfelix wrote: March 6th, 2018, 12:28 am
RajVO wrote: March 5th, 2018, 11:24 pm But as such, what other features or in particular effects are useful, for voice editing/ mastering?
Thanks.
As you mentioned, noise reduction and amplify are essential. I also use the compressor a lot. These days, I run the compressor on almost every section I read.

The other one that I like a lot is the de-clicker. That one doesn't come standard with Audacity (unless it was added to the newest version, but I don't think so), but you can download and enable it. Mouth clicks drive me crazy (they didn't used to, but I started noticing them more as I got used to recording and editing my own voice), and the de-clicker is great at cleaning them up. It takes a long time if you run it on an entire section, and sometimes can make your consonants less crisp as a side effect. So lots of people just use it on small portions of their recording, not the whole thing.

One more is ReplayGain. That one, like the de-clicker, has to be installed separately and doesn't come with Audacity. The advantage is that you can check your volume in Audacity itself, without needing to export and run the finished file through something outside of Audacity. You can even check the volume of small sections and compare with other sections. I often do that when I've had to re-record something later, to help in determining how well the volume matches up with the original recording.

Download links and more information on all of these things can be found in the LibriVox wiki.
Thanks Devorah!
Any particular order to be followed in applying these effects?
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RajVO
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Post by RajVO »

And what distortions can happen, if the order is not followed?
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mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

The only order I follow is that I always do nose reduction before I do anything else. Just because I don't want to spend an hour editing my chapter while hearing SSSSHHHHH in the background. That, and that I don't do de-clicking until the very end. I see that as more of a "final touch" kind of effect. I don't know of any distortions that can result otherwise. I just do it that way for convenience.

But each person has their own system, and some are very dissimilar. As long as it's convenient for you and gets you a nice result, that's what matters. Play around with things, try out some of the different effects, and see what you like. I found a lot of helpful information by poking around in the wiki, too. I learned some things there that I might not have found out otherwise.
RajVO
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Post by RajVO »

mightyfelix wrote: March 6th, 2018, 12:51 am The only order I follow is that I always do nose reduction before I do anything else. Just because I don't want to spend an hour editing my chapter while hearing SSSSHHHHH in the background. That, and that I don't do de-clicking until the very end. I see that as more of a "final touch" kind of effect. I don't know of any distortions that can result otherwise. I just do it that way for convenience.

But each person has their own system, and some are very dissimilar. As long as it's convenient for you and gets you a nice result, that's what matters. Play around with things, try out some of the different effects, and see what you like. I found a lot of helpful information by poking around in the wiki, too. I learned some things there that I might not have found out otherwise.
Your strategy sounds good.
Yes. I know of the wiki, but could not go deep into that. I'll once again see, as you advised.
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Peter Why
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Post by Peter Why »

It's funny the ways we all differ (one of the pleasures of Librivox is that there are so few rules about what we do): I decided that I should do my noise reduction last, because, having played with the compressor and normaliser, the volume of my recording is likely to have been increased. And so will the volume of the background noise, so that gets sorted last.

We all process to give us recordings that we like the sound of.

Peter
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
RajVO
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Post by RajVO »

Peter Why wrote: March 7th, 2018, 2:22 am It's funny the ways we all differ (one of the pleasures of Librivox is that there are so few rules about what we do): I decided that I should do my noise reduction last, because, having played with the compressor and normaliser, the volume of my recording is likely to have been increased. And so will the volume of the background noise, so that gets sorted last.

We all process to give us recordings that we like the sound of.

Peter
Yes. Funnily, people evolve their own processes. More funnily, we develop some attachment with the hardware and software too! :D
A quick question: how can amplitude/volume affect the (noise) signal? are we not removing the noise signal part only, whether in the beginning or the end?
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tovarisch
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Post by tovarisch »

When you reduce the noise (the effect is called "Noise Reduction"), you need to provide the reduction dB (one of the parameters). The louder the noise, the more you need to force the reduction to subtract, the more the rest of the audio is going to be affected. Noise reduction is not "all or nothing", it's more a "how much" (like amplification, for instance).
tovarisch
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RajVO
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Post by RajVO »

tovarisch wrote: March 7th, 2018, 10:23 am When you reduce the noise (the effect is called "Noise Reduction"), you need to provide the reduction dB (one of the parameters). The louder the noise, the more you need to force the reduction to subtract, the more the rest of the audio is going to be affected. Noise reduction is not "all or nothing", it's more a "how much" (like amplification, for instance).
In that case, would it not be a bit better to do the noise reduction, at the beginning rather than at the end :!:
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tovarisch
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Post by tovarisch »

RajVO wrote: March 8th, 2018, 11:59 am In that case, would it not be a bit better to do the noise reduction, at the beginning rather than at the end
Since noise reduction leaves something there, it will be subject to later manipulations (like normalization, compression, amplification, etc.), which means something might still be left there. When you do it as the last step, you (a) make the most "damage" to the noise itself and (b) perform all other manipulations on the original samples (not noise-cleaned ones)... Of course, as you said, it's only "a bit", really. In this particular case it's better to experiment and figure out the technique instead of theorizing. Try both and see whether you like the result better if it's first cleaned and then otherwise processed or vice versa, first processed and then noise-cleaned.

As of late, I use Reaper and after all editing apply only one effect, the VST: ReaFir which both subtracts noise and allows manipulating the overall level (up or down a couple dB). I run the rendered MP3 through Checker for the volume, then apply the level correction and render again. I don't compress, or Eq or use any other fancy stuff.
tovarisch
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RajVO
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Post by RajVO »

tovarisch wrote: March 8th, 2018, 12:19 pm
RajVO wrote: March 8th, 2018, 11:59 am In that case, would it not be a bit better to do the noise reduction, at the beginning rather than at the end
Since noise reduction leaves something there, it will be subject to later manipulations (like normalization, compression, amplification, etc.), which means something might still be left there. When you do it as the last step, you (a) make the most "damage" to the noise itself and (b) perform all other manipulations on the original samples (not noise-cleaned ones)... Of course, as you said, it's only "a bit", really. In this particular case it's better to experiment and figure out the technique instead of theorizing. Try both and see whether you like the result better if it's first cleaned and then otherwise processed or vice versa, first processed and then noise-cleaned.

As of late, I use Reaper and after all editing apply only one effect, the VST: ReaFir which both subtracts noise and allows manipulating the overall level (up or down a couple dB). I run the rendered MP3 through Checker for the volume, then apply the level correction and render again. I don't compress, or Eq or use any other fancy stuff.
Good analysis. Noise management of course looks more important than the signal itself. :D
How about addressing it both at the beginning and at the end too?

And yes. There's a lot of Fancy stuff! And various permutations and combinations are possible.
Can we at least come up with a list of the ones we don't need to bother about for Voice recordings? (Music may need them.)

Lastly, you mentioned Reaper. What were you using before that? (Audacity?)
And how would you compare and contrast?
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Post by tovarisch »

RajVO wrote: March 8th, 2018, 3:56 pm ... you mentioned Reaper. What were you using before that? (Audacity?)
And how would you compare and contrast?
Yes, I switched to Reaper from Audacity. The main attraction to me is the ability to punch in and more extensive editing mechanisms. The major difference is that in Audacity you have/manipulate the result of the last effect applied, it's only one sequence of samples, whereas in Reaper your track is a collection of "items" (extra level of complexity) and the effects are applied dynamically at playback or render time (not to mention that you can build a graph of effects, turn them on or off and tweak their parameters individually). Analogy (oversimplified, of course): Audacity is a text editor whereas Reaper is a word processor.
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RajVO
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Post by RajVO »

tovarisch wrote: March 8th, 2018, 5:35 pm
RajVO wrote: March 8th, 2018, 3:56 pm ... you mentioned Reaper. What were you using before that? (Audacity?)
And how would you compare and contrast?
Yes, I switched to Reaper from Audacity. The main attraction to me is the ability to punch in and more extensive editing mechanisms. The major difference is that in Audacity you have/manipulate the result of the last effect applied, it's only one sequence of samples, whereas in Reaper your track is a collection of "items" (extra level of complexity) and the effects are applied dynamically at playback or render time (not to mention that you can build a graph of effects, turn them on or off and tweak their parameters individually). Analogy (oversimplified, of course): Audacity is a text editor whereas Reaper is a word processor.
umm!
Word processor is no doubt better than Notepad.
1. Audacity is free. How much is Reaper?
2. And switching calls for some learning (and unlearning)!
PS: how is your experience with (free) ocenaudio, which has the punch in feature.
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