Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ?

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Norrie
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2011/05/09 08:45:04 (permalink)

Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ?

Hi all

Some one has asked me to do a favour for them and take a recording the have done on there phone

What it is is a female and male voice from 2 mobile phones held together and the person needs it for a court case

Ive been told the females voice is much louder than the male and been asked to bring one up or one down to make it sound more even. ( they need to hear the Male voice better )

What would be the best tools and way to do this if any ?

Ive not yet heard the track but they will be bringing them to me tomorrow.

Any help would be great and thanks to all

Norrie



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13 Replies Related Threads

    Karyn
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    Re: Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/09 09:59:09 (permalink)
    Option 1.
    Use an eq with highish Q to boost the male voice and another to cut the female voice.  Aim the eq frequency at the fundamental of the voice.

    Option 2.
    Run it through a compressor with the sort of settings you'd never dream of using on a music track. High compression ration, low threashold, lots of makup gain.  The loud voice will get reduced, the quieter one amplified (by the makup gain)

    Option 3.
    Combine 1 and 2 by using a multiband compressor.  This will be the most work, but should give the best results.

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    Norrie
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    Re: Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/09 10:11:25 (permalink)
    Thanks for the help Karyn!

    This isnt something ive had to do before ( every days a school day )

    I am dreading hearing the audio from what Ive been told its been one lady speaking on the phone to a guy while her friend has recorded the conversation with the audio recorder on her phone held to her friends phone.

    They need it for evidence in court on thursday and all Ive been told is you cant make the guy out very well they would like to be able to hear him better

    I am hopeing if there isnt 2 people talking at the same time then I can automate it to make her quieter I just dont know what to expect lol

    Thanks again

    Norrie

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    Karyn
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    Re: Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/09 10:14:26 (permalink)
    You can send me a copy to have a go at if you want, then you can choose the version that comes out best.

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    Jeff Evans
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    Re: Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/09 10:34:25 (permalink)
    I would import the track into an audio editing program and edit the male and female sections accordingly. Assume they do not overlap. One could be dropped 6 db and the other raised by the amount required. It is faster than editing envelopes but that is another way you could do it.

    Try matching level wise before attempting eq. You could then eq slightly differently for male and female sections to try and improve tha clarity of each of those for the court case. Do whatever you can to make each voice easy to hear and understand.

    Then run a compressor over all that maybe just to even it out a little more and keep it constant. Compression can sometimes help bring out the attack transients and diction elements in words.


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    AT
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    Re: Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/09 11:02:53 (permalink)
    Norrie,

    as always physically evening volumes helps, a la Jeff's suggestion.  Then try effects - comp and EQ.  Sweep the frequencies to find the fundamentals of the male voice and boost.  You probably won't find a good cut for the female, but might get lucky.

    Another trick is to use pan to help separate them - even for your own use not the final copy.

    good luck!

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    Re: Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/09 11:03:23 (permalink)
    Volume automation should do the trick, given that it's a back-and-forth conversation with minimal overlap.


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    batsbrew
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    Re: Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/09 14:17:52 (permalink)
    volume automation will get you there the fastest

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    Re: Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/09 19:04:31 (permalink)
    Melodyne Editor might separate them, if voices are coherent enough

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    Guitarhacker
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    Re: Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/09 23:37:15 (permalink)
    All that aside... 

    It's illegal to record someone without their consent or knowledge.

    Be careful how you approach this.

    Best case, scenario, the judge will not allow it admitted as evidence if ALL the parties did not know they were being recorded.

    Worst case, the judge makes the recording a separate case for the DA.

    I point this out because I am in the security business. I am asked from time to time to install hidden cameras and often the folks want the audio recorded too.  You can record video in what is considered to be a public or private location without too much issue of invasion of privacy, a few warning signs cover your butt in those cases, however, record the audio and you enter a whole different legal world.

     It might be better to decline, let the judge decide if the audio is pertinent to the case and let a police lab try to clean up the audio.
    post edited by Guitarhacker - 2011/05/09 23:38:54

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    jamesg1213
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    Re:Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/10 03:12:56 (permalink)
    +1 for volume automation, although if the voices don't overlap you could even split the track into clips and drag the male voice clips onto a fresh track in Sonar, then work on it independently from the female clips.

     
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    Bristol_Jonesey
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    Re:Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/10 05:46:58 (permalink)
    Picking up on Guitarhacker's point, depending on the type of evidence being presented by your transcript, this may or may not be admissible in a court of law.
     
    Generally speaking, if the conversation included threats of violence of any description, or especially where children are involved, the judge may well admit a voice recording as evidence, and in all likelihood, the police will aslo want to hear it in order to prevent a crime from being committed.

    In less sensitive civil cases then it's not unusual for all evidence of this sort NOT to be admitted, things like a promise to pay a sum of money etc, as the person usually has the option of changing his mind.

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    Norrie
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    Re:Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/10 16:15:51 (permalink)
    Just to let every one know I did the Calls today Managed to cut the voices in to clips and put them in seperate tracks clean it up a bit and level it out.

    They were told by the police to get some one to clean the tracks up for the judge to hear on thursday

    It was to do with children and I dont realy want to have to say anymore on the matter as it was very upseting to hear the calls.
    As always there is 2 sides to every story but I am in no way assosiated with eather party involved.

    Thanks to all



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    Guitarhacker
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    Re:Voice over female and Male on one track, female is to loud how do I lower the female ? 2011/05/10 21:15:56 (permalink)
    If the police asked them to get it cleaned up... I guess it's OK to work on it in that manner.

    Hope it all works out in the end.

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