Re-Edit some audio blips

[MichaelD]

I've got a 17 minute film that had been finished, sent to BD & DVD and was then removed from the machine.

I've now noticed that it has about 15 'P' blasts on it - a bit of sound that when saying the letter 'P' gives an unwanted effect (mouth was too close to the mic when recorded).

I've got the film back in from the BD disc and in the Scene Bin so my question is how would you tackle adjusting these "blips".

I can use a block of silence to lower the volume at that point a little and that works ok but finding and placing these minuscule bits of non-sound (maybe 5 frames) into a 17 minute clip is frustrating so I just wondered if you guys & girls had any good ideas ?

[LouBruno]

use your envelope......precise and not time consuming,

Are you familiar with the Audio Envelope? Use your Range button and then add the anchor points at the "P" then simply lower the anchor points. CHET has a lecture on is function. Join his tutorials if not registered.

[MichaelD]

Hi Lou, Yep I know about envelope but find as it's one box representing one clip the movement of markers is a bit difficult.
I can Split that box into more I suppose to get more on screen or use some inserts to make it spread across the Story Board a bit more but was wondering if I'd missed a trick

I was hoping that the 'movable' "bar" in Bogart v9 would be an easier way to select where you want to be but it doesn't always, in my opinion, stay where you want it and it's difficult to butt a sound clip next to it too.

[LouBruno]

The movable bar in Bogart 9's Audio bin is meant to get you to a review area only and of course not frame accurate. Using the new box located on the track, we can go directly to the envelope as it is a dropdown menu...ADDING 4 anchor points are necessary and then utilize the block function can be used to MUTE the area in between the two inward adjacent anchor points next to the designated frame. Use the volume to LOWER those points to 0db.

Here is a little hint: If the anchor points are too close, do not use the mouse but rather use the keyboard arrows to skip to each individual keypoint.

[CKNewman]

Hi Mike,

A while back I had to edit some hand claps after recording a master of ceremonies at a podium that would join in the applause. I had my camera set to manual audio so you can guess I had my work cut out for me!

I was editing with Bogart for Windows. I ended up downloading and using a free audio editing program called Audacity (now at version 2.1.2). When you use Audacity you also need to download the LAME MP3 Encoder. This is very easily done following their step-by-step instructions - and once you've done that Audacity uses that encoder automatically when it exports MP3s so you never see it.

My workflow went something like this:
In B4W I used Scene to Sample and exported the samples to a folder as a high quality MP3.
Then I closed Bogart and opened Audacity
I imported the sample into Audacity.

When you first do this the entire sample will appear as a waveform. The great thing about Audacity is that you can zoom in on a section until you are looking at seconds. Offending spikes become very easy to recognize. You basically use the mouse or trackball to click and drag, thus highlighting just the area you wish to edit. The volume is corrected by going to the Effects menu and using Amplify. Use a Negative Number to lower the volume to the desired level. Export the audio in the form you wish (.wav, mp3, etc.) to the location you wish. Then go back to Bogart and import the audio you just saved.

There's quite a bit of information out there about this program including the manual, books by independent authors, and youtube videos. There is quite a bit you can do with this audio editor; so far I've just used it for a bit of audio correction and to record radio shows streamed over the internet. Cheers!

[MichaelD]

Wow, ok - thanks, will give that a go . . .