Audio Editor (Remove Loud Voice from Recording)

[digamma]

Shot in the dark here that FOFC's collective knowledge may be able to help.

I'm trying to edit an audio recording (well the audio from a video recording) to try to isolate someone speaking/singing in the background. There's a loud voice in the foreground which ideally I could remove.

I found an editor online called audacity, which gets high marks and have been able to import the clip into the audacity system, but I run out of steam from there. The audacity forums get pretty technical. I'm a relative noob.

Does anyone know if what I'm trying to do is even possible? Or possible without really high tech equipment or expertise?

(BTW, there's nothing nefarious going on. My father in law passed away recently and I'm trying to isolate his voice on something for the family.)

[JPhillips]

Have you tried a multi-band equalizer to remove the frequency of the voice?

[JonInMiddleGA]

I love Audacity, not entirely sure about it for something of this nature. A quick googling suggests to me that it could work okay under the right set of circumstances, I'm just not sure you have those conditions.

This tutorial does a pretty good job of breaking it down into manageable steps I think. I'm not at all techie with this stuff & I understood the majority of what was being talked about here.
Tutorial - Vocal Removal and Isolation - Audacity Manual (http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_vocal_removal_and_isolation.html)

[digamma]

Thanks Jon. Your link is helpful, but I think I might be coming to the conclusion that I don't necessarily have the right conditions. Still playing around, but I think I'm at least on the right track with what audacity can do--just not sure it can do what I need it to do.

[dzilla77]

Unfortunately, there isn't a free solution for this. Audacity is a very basic editor and does not have the functionality.

Adobe Audition (part of their creative suite) has some functionality that might work. It think you can get a "subscription" to Audition for 10 or 20 per month.

The best solution is Izotope's RX4 which is not cheap (about $350). It may need a host to run in (like Audacity) but it is what the professionals use to do the exact type of thing you are trying to do (although they are using Logic, Pro Tools or Sonar as a host). There might be a fully functional demo that doesn't watermark the audio, so you could try that route. You can also get a demo of Sonar which will work as a host.

This stuff is not terribly easy to use, but with a little effort (a couple of you tube videos) you could get this done.

[digamma]

Have you tried a multi-band equalizer to remove the frequency of the voice?

I understand what you're asking in English, just not how to do it. :)

[digamma]

Unfortunately, there isn't a free solution for this. Audacity is a very basic editor and does not have the functionality.

Adobe Audition (part of their creative suite) has some functionality that might work. It think you can get a "subscription" to Audition for 10 or 20 per month.

The best solution is Izotope's RX4 which is not cheap (about $350). It may need a host to run in (like Audacity) but it is what the professionals use to do the exact type of thing you are trying to do (although they are using Logic, Pro Tools or Sonar as a host).

Thanks. This is what I was afraid the answer might be. Appreciate the response.

[JPhillips]

I don't know Audacity at all, I use Audition for my theatrical sound design work. I'd start with an equalizer and go from there if I had the audio. I don't know if Audacity has a 30 band equalizer.

[Radii]

Post Audio [Request] & [Offer] of Free Post Audio Services (https://www.reddit.com/r/PostAudio/)

Maybe worth a post there? Looks like a small community but it looks like most requests there at least end up with someone taking a listen.

[Antmeister]

Years back I had used Adobe Audition, but since I do not do any sort of audio editing professionally (more like a hobby), I now use Reaper REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits (http://www.reaper.fm/) . It costs $60, very stable, very intuitive and is professional quality software.

With that said, separating voices in an audio recording can be tough but here are some tricks that are done to do this:

Removing Vocals or voice from mp3 song using Reverse Phasing Trick - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P05EOa1iZjI) - Reverse Phasing
Removing Background Noise in REAPER (ReaFIR) - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31phzT7pxkk) - Remove background noise using Reaper (using a plugin)

If you have a time sensitive deadline, another option is to go to Fiverr and see if you can get someone to help for $5:
https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?utf8=%E2%9C%93&locale=en&query=audio&search_in=category&category=20&sub_category=99&page=1&layout=auto