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Topic: How reduce mic handling noise in a recording? (Read 5319 times) previous topic - next topic
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How reduce mic handling noise in a recording?

I want to use a covert mic to my conversations in various office meetings.  The mic is either body worn or inside a briefcase.  The mic is used in unpredictable situations (when I visit other workers), so there can be rustles and handling noise.

I'm using a mic which is reasonably good at resisting this handling noise but I would like to know if there are any methods, tools or plugins I can use on the recorded audio file to further reduce handling noise and make it easier to hear what was said.

Moonshot

How reduce mic handling noise in a recording?

Reply #1 –
Well, this is a bit delicate.
Covert recordings of meetings sure are illegal in many countries. At least you will get lots of trouble with workers' council, if that exists in your company.
Better ask the participants if they agree with recording the meeting and put the microphone on the table

How reduce mic handling noise in a recording?

Reply #2 –
Ignoring the probability that you're doing something illegal, immoral, unethical, and improper...

That kind of noise is impossible to remove  (noise that is non-constant and as loud as the conversation).  There is just no substitute for getting a good recording in the first place.  This is the reason that most movie dialog is re-recorded in the studio...  It's very difficult to get a good recording "on location"...  even with good equipment, good mic placement, the cooperation of skilled performers, and a crew that knows how to be quiet! 

Do you have an audio editor?  You can probably make some improvement by cutting the low frequencies with an equalizer or high-pass filter.  And perhaps boost the middle "voice frequencies", but much of the noise-frequencies will overlap the voice-frequencies and you cannot separate the sounds.   

You can or manually mute (or reduce) the volume when there is no "signal" and/or use a noise gate to kill the audio when it drops below a preset threshold. 

You can adjust the volume moment-to-moment to try and keep a constant signal level and prevent the noise from suddenly "jumping-out".

Some compression might help where there is noise & signal at the same time and noise is louder than the signal.  (Compression tends toward making everything the same volume, so you don't want to use it where the signal is louder than the noise.)   

Quote
...and make it easier to hear what was said.
You can sometimes improve intelligibility somewhat, but if you can't understand what's being said by listening carefully a couple of times, software/adjustments are not going to help.  Usually, these kinds of tweeks can only make the recording a bit more "listenable" or or a bit less annoying.    The kind of stuff they do in spy movies isn't real!

How reduce mic handling noise in a recording?

Reply #3 –
Quote from: DVDdoug on
{trimmed} ... Do you have an audio editor?  You can probably make some improvement by cutting the low frequencies with an equalizer or high-pass filter.  And perhaps boost the middle "voice frequencies", but much of the noise-frequencies will overlap the voice-frequencies and you cannot separate the sounds.   

You can or manually mute (or reduce) the volume when there is no "signal" and/or use a noise gate to kill the audio when it drops below a preset threshold.  You can adjust the volume moment-to-moment to try and keep a constant signal level and prevent the noise from suddenly "jumping-out".


Is there any software which can detect mic handling noise by its characteristics?  For example, mic handling noise might have a characteristic attack/decay, last for certain brief durations and be composed of particular typical frequencies.

Does such a de-noiser for mic noise exist?