Using software for stuff recorded at too low a level

[emmpet8]

In case anyone is interested in how I used some software to listen to cassettes that had been recorded at a very low level, I've posted this. I would also be interested to hear any alternative suggestions for a quick solution to the problem I had.

Having just joined the forum and regained an inspiration for all this stuff, last night I decided to look back at some cassettes to see if there was anything interesting on them. I dug out the cassette deck (quite a good one) but when I tried to use the 'line out' it seemed to have developed a fault, so I decided to use headphones instead. This meant the cassettes volume couldn't be boosted.

Having listened to several cassettes and thought they were blank, I suddenly heard a faint noise on one, followed by more very faint noises, but couldn't make out what they were. To get round it on a temporary basis, I connected the deck to the computer via the headphone socket and then opened Adobe Audition on the computer. I will do a separate post about that software later, but many other cheaper versions will do a similar thing.

To review the tape I recorded five minutes on to a single track of Audition. I then normalised the excerpt at -5dB, added a quick light hiss reduction and listened to what had been recorded. It wasn't brilliant, but it was now easy to hear it was my sister in law in her room late at night when she stayed with us for a few months. It was impossible to tell this directly from the tape.

As it's quite time intensive (i.e. to record 45 mins takes 45 mins) I didn't bother with any more as it was late. I did however know that the tape was worth listening to at a later date, instead of dismissing it as blank. I now intend to review other tapes I thought were blank in a similar way. If there's anything interesting I'll look at trying to improve the audio in a more sophisticated way.

I will mention a little bit about Adobe Audition and a few other sound editors I've used in a post soon, in case it's of interest to anyone.

[yeppie]

Thanks emmpet8, I am very interested in some hints on how to use Adobe Audition as this is my favourite audio editing software since long. I´m using version 1.5 (bought it years ago on Ebay for half the original price) and I have the strong feeling that I could need some advice. So some sort of Adobe Audition tutorial for sexsoundlovers would be very welcome.
My proceedings are similar to yours but I usually choose to amplify my recordings instead of normalising them. Which is better, does it depend on the recording? And I experienced the hiss reduction to reduce sounds of breathing too.
I´m also interested in the way you make use of the equalizer - I wasn´t succesful in enhancing recordings that way.

[emmpet8]

Thanks emmpet8, I am very interested in some hints on how to use Adobe Audition as this is my favourite audio editing software since long. I´m using version 1.5 (bought it years ago on Ebay for half the original price) and I have the strong feeling that I could need some advice. So some sort of Adobe Audition tutorial for sexsoundlovers would be very welcome.
My proceedings are similar to yours but I usually choose to amplify my recordings instead of normalising them. Which is better, does it depend on the recording? And I experienced the hiss reduction to reduce sounds of breathing too.
I´m also interested in the way you make use of the equalizer - I wasn´t succesful in enhancing recordings that way.

Thanks for the reply and I agree with you about it being my favourite. I liked it a lot when it was Cool Edit Pro and I think it's a lot better now, but just as friendly. As I said I'm not an expert and I'm not sure what hints I can give you, as you're probably doing as well as anybody. I'm happy to share my thoughts though.

I haven't really had time to play with amplifying effects properly yet and normalise seems a good quick fix when time matters. When I get more time I'll probably choose a small but crucial part of the clip and try different procedures, while keeping a note of any settings. When I think it's quite good, I'll export it as a wav file and then use the edit function to undo the effects applied to the clip, so it's in it's original state. I'll then try playing with a different effect or different settings and save that too. When I've finished I'll import all the versions of the clip that have been processed in different ways and compare them. I'll then Try to further refine the one that seems best. There are some great tutorials available as videos and I intend to take a closer look at some of them too. When I do I'll share any links. I'll also share any good results if I achieve any.

The only other factor about normalising or amplifying that I think is useful, is to do it to between say -3dB or -6dB so there's room for the amplitude factor of other effects you use after, to avoid distortion.

On the hiss reduction factor reducing breath sounds, it doesn't seem too bad on the version I'm using, although I only use the light setting of the version provided. Again I'm going to experiment when I get time. There are some advanced features that have been added that are supposed to reduce problems, so I'm going to try them and see if I can find an optimum setting. For myself I find it best if I use noise reduction to reduce rather than remove, which is the mistake I made when I started. Maybe we are a bit too critical and focus on the hiss when we're listening back while trying to reduce it? Like most things I don't notice it as much if I'm listening to the interesting stuff for more than a few minutes, unless it's like escaping gas.

Finally about the equaliser. What I do is choose a section of the clip and loop it. Then one band at a time I put them to maximum to try and gauge how important versus how useful it is. When I do that at the lower end of the range I can easily hear that quite a lot of the bands are no use. When I reduce them to zero it seems to cut out a lot of rubbish. When I get to bands that cover ranges that start to sound like the normal part of audio I create a quite steep curve over two or three bands. I find that fiddling with the top end is more likely to loose stuff I'd rather have. When I think the loop sounds okay I play the whole track and if I'm not noticing anything too bad after listening to it all I apply it. I also save it as a pre-set, so it might be useful as a starting point for another clip.

Apologies if this has only gone over stuff you find obvious, but if I do discover more I'll post it. If you have any tips that help you I'd love to hear them. Looks like you do a great job at this forum bye the way, so thanks a lot.