Audio interview — auto-supress quiter mic to clean leakage.

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justified
KVRian
Topic Starter
636 posts since 6 Apr, 2004

Post Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:47 am

I have an interview recorded with two persons with separate mic and an audio track for each person. Do you know how to automatically lower the volume of the person who don't speak at the moment?

I now have the idea to use two side chain compressors. Any other dedicated option anyone know of?

justified
KVRian
Topic Starter
636 posts since 6 Apr, 2004

Post Mon Mar 27, 2023 1:12 am

Well in my case double side chain worked, although it didn't do any good, because the difference between direct sound and leaked is about 20 dB and the most audible effect (unpleasant) my set up had was when both speakers were talking at the same time.

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Mathematics
KVRian
769 posts since 10 Sep, 2015 from You haven't unlocked this character yet

Post Sat Apr 01, 2023 12:03 am

Easy...use a gate.
...and the electron responded, "what wall?"

justified
KVRian
Topic Starter
636 posts since 6 Apr, 2004

Post Sat Apr 01, 2023 12:45 am

Mathematics wrote: Sat Apr 01, 2023 12:03 am Easy...use a gate.
Indeed! That's what I ended up using. Though it doesn't work perfectly: sometimes leakage is above the threshold and sometimes direct voice is below.

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Mathematics
KVRian
769 posts since 10 Sep, 2015 from You haven't unlocked this character yet

Post Sat Apr 01, 2023 12:53 am

Try using a second gate with hysteresis control.
...and the electron responded, "what wall?"

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BertKoor
KVRAF
14492 posts since 8 Mar, 2005 from Utrecht, Holland

Post Sat Apr 01, 2023 9:43 am

Forget gating or mess with dynamics. Pan them slightly apart.
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justified
KVRian
Topic Starter
636 posts since 6 Apr, 2004

Post Sat Apr 01, 2023 9:51 am

BertKoor wrote: Sat Apr 01, 2023 9:43 am Forget gating or mess with dynamics. Pan them slightly apart.
Thanks! In fact I've already panned them really slightly apart.

But I chose to leave gating, it works. Yep sometimes there's a leakage going on or current speaker goes below the threshold. I've cured this with volume envelopes and set gating not to silence but to about -12dB. Also I've used Acon Dereverb on the mix, not to kill but to reduce the reverb by the same 12 dB.

Thankfully the recording is good and the leakage wasn't terrible to start with.

Thank you for you replies. It seems there's no magic trick here yet. Perhaps in the future some ai will decide who is speaking not just by volume or rough spectrum data but by combination of factors including voice, reverb amount etc. We'll see.

__Karlo__
KVRist
47 posts since 2 Jan, 2023

Post Mon Apr 10, 2023 4:40 pm

How long is the interview? I’d just Automate the volume in the daw… or cut up the stems.

justified
KVRian
Topic Starter
636 posts since 6 Apr, 2004

Post Tue Apr 11, 2023 1:48 am

It's about 30 minutes. Yep, in my case gating with occasional volume automation (about 5 times) where leakage passed through gate worked pretty well.

Thanks!

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