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I am editing a documentary where some of the interviews were done outside without any wind protection and of course its hitting the diaphragm pretty hard.

I am trying to just soften the effect of it, I know it cannot be removed. I have read about using some possible multiband compression automated with the hits to help, can anyone elaborate on this technique?

SoundCloud Link to the audio clip

4 Answers 4

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If you make it downloadable I'd be willing to run it through a chain in my studio but I don't think there is much you can do because it sounds pretty broadband.

I think your best bet would be CEDAR Re-Touch or something like Izotope or Adobe Audition spectral view editing but that would take forever.

You might also try the Oxford Suppressor. Works well with low wind but what you have here is the flag-flapping high-mid distortion which IMHO is extremely hard if not impossible to reduce.

I sympathize with you utterly.

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  • @Utopia Download is enabled, this is one of two clips like this. Ive tried throwing it into Izotope Spectral, but my skills using it are weak at best and it seems I may be doing more damage than good at times. Sep 15, 2011 at 18:53
  • Having much better luck with Izotope as a standalone than applying to clip in pro tools, much easier to work that way and see/hear whats going on Sep 15, 2011 at 19:34
  • @Michael Cool! I'll see what I can do in a bit. Got an ADR session in a few minutes but after that I'll be free to test out what I can do and tell you the outcome. Talk to you, soon.
    – Utopia
    Sep 15, 2011 at 20:15
  • @Michael Gilbert Hi Michael - sorry it took so long for me to get back to you. I basically did the same thing you did - I wasn't very successful. That's what happens when the diaphragm is pinned and is creating noise louder than your dialogue signal. Hope everything works out for you and find out who recorded it and let him know how much you like him :)
    – Utopia
    Sep 18, 2011 at 3:41
  • @Utopia Yeah the person who recorded it is the same person that is writing the check to fix it :) The classic shooter with a canon 5d +zoomh4n instead of a sound guy. Fortunately this small segment of the documentary is just to show a board of directors to receive more funding for the feature. Hopefully I will land the feature and probably offer my services as a production sound recordist to insure that the quality of my design and post production name remains intact. Tricky business we are in. Sep 18, 2011 at 16:57
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I think the main thing you'll come up against is the transient nature of the wind noise. Noise reduction doesn't deal so well with that, but def give Utopia's advice a go.

Also, it may be too late for this, but the wind won't be as bad if you can see that it's windy. Get the editor to cut in some stock footage of a tree bent over in a hurricane. Well, not really, but there are subtle ways to do it. Failing that, you could fill it out with some library wind to smooth over your noise reduction.

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  • Or maybe a flapping flag...
    – ChrisSound
    Sep 15, 2011 at 21:00
  • @Roger yeah that is what I told the client right from the start. Its a documentary and they are on a boat, so I have that working for me. I am mainly trying to tame it but it seems like everything I do is not necessarily better as far as intelligibility is concerned. Sep 15, 2011 at 21:01
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It sounds pretty embedded in your clip, good luck with it.

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So after trying many different things, I ended up duplicating the track, on one track I used a HPF and rolled it way up and boosted some of the dialogue range 1k-3k ish. On the other track I used a LPF and went way down and put some pretty heavy compression to control the pops from the wind and retain the bottom end of the voice. When I blend them together it gives a bit more clarity to the tracks than anything else I was able to achieve. It still sounds terrible IMO but its better. Any other things I could try? I believe what I did is basically what a multi band compressor does, but I have not quite figured out multi band compression yet.

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  • Adding some wind for sound design may help throughout the piece to smooth it out or possibly adding additional wind on the mic sound at other times. I encountered a wind situation like that once and I used Izotope noise reduction several times. Yes it sounded artifacted and thin but not too bad compared to the alternative. Also hit it with expansion/multiexpansion first and then your noise reduct. tools. Theres only so much a mortal can do and now that we know Utopia is not a god...Keep positive man, definitely don't tear your hair out about it, move on sooner than later.
    – ChrisSound
    Sep 17, 2011 at 19:06
  • @Chris Yup. I have done what I can in the time I am given. 20 Minute piece and I have 7 Days to clean up dial like this and do design. :) Sep 18, 2011 at 17:01

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