Cleaning Up Webcam / Zoom Audio

[seanmccoy]

+1 for the Zynaptiq tools.

[lucienpalmer]

RX has a new tool to rebuild missing frequencies in data compressed audio. I'm using it a ton on a doc feature right now. I would remove any unwanted verb, then unwanted noises, then rebuild missing higher frequencies, then smooth with EQ.

[nednednerb]

Regarding the "juggling act" between noise being present or noise reduction artifacts being present...

I work on a podcast where the audio comes from many sources, sometimes outside, etc. We developed a principle for dealing with problem audio.

For starters, our main host's audio setup is good enough quality, and anything she says can be re-recorded if necessary. That's great. But then, the contrast is so intensely obvious between the "field" audio, coming from Zoom and cell phones etc.

Because the contrast is so obvious, and the actual equalization between the main host and the other interviewees is so impossible, the primary concerns we decided to have were things like phonetic legibility. While legibility is obvious and necessary in most speech editing, simply trying to "clean" it up can lead to different, and I would argue sometimes better, mix choices than trying to make it sound pristine.

In some cases, the fact is that nearly everybody is now more used to hearing multiple audio quality on varied platforms, whatever happened between TV being the main gig in 1990s and the internet really taking off in 2000s... By now, it's simply OK in many cases to de-emphasize the artifacts but accept more of them too.

Not to say don't try to clean things up, but I would hope a webcam mic isn't actually needed in a feature documentary or blockbuster. As one has 'Gotta work with what you have', gotta consider all the differing costs and levels of technical proficiency.