Remove whistle artifacts from vocal?

[dickiefunk]

Hi,

I've been sent a vocal track to mix and there is some whistling in the "ess" sounds. Could someone advise how I could get rid of this using Acoustica Premium?

[stian]

Hi Richard,

I've been sent a vocal track to mix and there is some whistling in the "ess" sounds. Could someone advise how I could get rid of this using Acoustica Premium?

Can you identify the whistling visually in the spectral editor? If yes, I'd recommend to use the lasso or brush tool to select the unwanted whistle and use the retouch tool for repair.

Best,
Stian

[dickiefunk]

Hi Stian,

I'm not sure how to do what you are suggesting? I can pm you the audio clip.

[stian]

Hi!

Hi Stian,

I'm not sure how to do what you are suggesting? I can pm you the audio clip.

Thanks, I received the file and it should be quite easy to fix with the spectral editor. I think the process could be interesting for other users, so I would like to ask if it is okay that I post screenshots from the process here? Would it also be okay to share the before and after audio examples?

Best,
Stian

[dickiefunk]

Yes please feel free to post here Stian

[stian]

Yes please feel free to post here Stian

Great! So here's the procedure:

Using the retouch tool

• Load the clip and switch to Spectral Editing mode
  Switch to spectral mode.png
• Identify the unwanted sound
  Identify unwanted sound.png
• Select the smallest area in the spectrogram that covers the unwanted sound. Here I used the lasso tool, but you can also use a brush tool or the magic wand (best for harmonic sounds).
  Select using lasso tool.png
• Enable the Retouch tool by clicking the button indicated below:
  Enable retouch tool.png
• The Retouch tool needs a reference point that is as similar as possible, but without the noise. Press and hold the Ctrl key while moving the mouse to choose a reference. The reference can be to the left or right of the selection, but also above or below.
  Select reference.png
• Press the button with the arrow to perform the actual retouch

You will need to repeat the procedure for every "whistle" like sound you encounter. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to embed the audio files here, but the whistle sound is completely gone after the processing.

Best,
Stian