I've had a search through the forum for an answer and couldn't find one so here goes...

I've been supplied a spoken audio sample to use for a telephone application but it has been recorded in a naturally reverb "live" room (actually sounds a bit like a bathroom). This becomes more noticable when the audio is uploaded on to the system.

Is there a way to remove the reverb or at least deaden the audio to make it sound more flat? I'm looking for an EQ/filter/compression technique rather than a specific piece of software or plugin although I have SONAR 3 SE and SoundForge 6 to use on this.

Sonar 6.2.1PE, XP Pro SP2, Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4 mobo, P4 E6300 Core Duo2, 2Gb RAM, 1x300Gb SATA II (OS + Progs), 1x400Gb SATA II (Audio), XFX 7600GS to 2 x 17"" LCD, Edirol FA-101, Yamaha S90, Korg M1, Roland JV-1080, Korg X5/DR, Roland SC-7, Fostex PM 1

You can use a noise gate - instead of removing silence, you want to set up the gate to remove the reverb tail/early reflection portion of the wave between the spoken words.

Here is a simple tutorial: http://www.computermusic.co.uk/tutorial/effects2/1.asp

Thanks, I'll give that a try. Someone also suggested shelving the high frequency at aroung 6KHz, is this a good idea?

Sonar 6.2.1PE, XP Pro SP2, Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4 mobo, P4 E6300 Core Duo2, 2Gb RAM, 1x300Gb SATA II (OS + Progs), 1x400Gb SATA II (Audio), XFX 7600GS to 2 x 17"" LCD, Edirol FA-101, Yamaha S90, Korg M1, Roland JV-1080, Korg X5/DR, Roland SC-7, Fostex PM 1

Yes, if it is only spoken word it's probably worth a try... although I'm not sure there will be enough differentiation between the voice and the verb on frequency alone -
Whatever you do, be sure to make a backup of the raw wav's just in case. (I know you know this)
On the noise gate option, I would also try to compress the original wave quite hard before applying the gate (10:1 +)
I think the key is to make small changes to the point where you can live with the remaining reverb without completely killing the quality of the voice itself.