OT: tips for improving sound from a DV?

[Arco]

I'm working with footage from a tour I did and though some of the concerts had good audio from professional sources others have only the Sony DV camer :confused: a microphone as the source (stereo, 16-bit, 32kHz).

I know without seeing/hearing what i'm dealing with you're hampered (to say the least) but any tips:

I should bring it to 16-bit, 48kHz before I do any sweetening no?

My major problems are: 1)hollow roomy sound 2) hiss (from lights?) 3) slightly far way sound but crazily normalized files (something the DV does on its own i imagine).

I though if anyone had dealt with this they might have a few lessons learned they could pass on...

thanks.

e

[TotalSonic]

Hey Erik -




I should bring it to 16-bit, 48kHz before I do any sweetening no?


Might as well do the processing at 24bit/48kHz. The gains might be minimal but if you're doing a lot of processing this will save the file as best as it can be.


My major problems are: 1)hollow roomy sound

Hard to say how to deal with this without hearing it but focusing on the mids is the place to start. Usually lower mids 250-500 impart mud but their absence makes things sound hollow. The mids around 1k tend to impart a certain "level" to things, sometimes a boost around there can really help for this kind of thing too.



2) hiss (from lights?)

Virtos DX suite Noise Wizard offers excellent bang for buck for this kind of need for broadband noise removal - http://www.virtos-audio.com
For this kind of thing I actually prefer it to Sony's NR2 suite (although I prefer Sony's Declicker to Virtos' usually).

Other options to possibly investigate are Voxengo's Redunoise - and if you've got cash to spend Wave's Restoration suite.



3) slightly far way sound but crazily normalized files (something the DV does on its own i imagine).

Again - hard to say what to do without hearing it - but a boost around 1k generally makes things come up more front - and you can gain a lot of presence by boosting somewhere in the 2 - 4 k region.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[TotalSonic]

One more eq thing I thought of you might want to investigate...

I've found that the cheapy stereo mics can sometimes overemphasize around 5k where a lot of the bow scratchiness can be found - you might want to cut that a db or 2 (although a lot of the perception of highs can be found there too so you might want to boost the highs a little bit above that to compensate)

Again these suggestions are just conjecture as it's impossible to say to what really to go for unless I hear it.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Arco]

Many thanks Steve...let you know what I come up with..

:D

[AudioAstronomer]

For noise reduction on sound, goto www.voxengo.com and try redunoise. It works miracles on some sources...