Fabric Rub on Lav Mic Fix ?

[Ken Beals]

Had a video shoot last night and didnt properly place Lav mic on Speaker ending up with occasional fabric rub static.
Here's a link of an isolated few seconds of that static sound that pretty much represents the noise:

Mic Fabric Rub on Vimeo

Am trying out Izotope's RX3 advanced to see if it can fix this but with everything new learning to navigate the tool is uncertain.

So appreciate any help you could provide. Or even refer me to someone who uses your product professionally that I could call and even hire.

My professional reputation with this client is on the line.

thank-you sincerely !!!

Cell Phone: (480) 678.1175

[Bruce Watson]

Doesn't sound like cloth rubbing noise to me. Sounds more like an RF hit. Izotope's RX3 toolset is perhaps your best bet in any case.

[Jim Andrada]

Could you post a link to about a 30 second audio clip that I could download? I'll see if I can improve it with Izotope and if so I'll let you know the details so you can try it yourself.

Looks like we're practically neighbors.

[Ken Beals]

Here's a longer excerpt :

Fabric Rub Mic sample 01 on Vimeo

The download feature in Vimeo is enabled.


Thank-you !

fingers crossed

[Greg Miller]

I don't think it's a fabric rub. There is no noise where the presenter grabs the mic and repositions it, around 0:12. The mic appears to be fairly immune to physically transmitted noise.

Rather, it does sound as if it's RF related. I suspect marginal signal strength, and as the presenter moves around and the signal strength drops a bit, the receiver goes out of full quieting operation and starts to generate random RF noise.

I suspect each "hit" will need to be fixed manually, as well as possible. How long is the overall clip? It could be a really painful job.

Incidentally, I'm surprised to hear so much room resonance being picked up on a lav that's so close to the presenter's mouth. That must be a painfully live room. And with all the resonance there, I suspect it will be rather obvious if you try to remove the noise by simply ducking the audio for a split second.

At any rate, when I click the Vimeo "Download" button, an error message says "this feature is not available." Perhaps you could just post an audio clip as an attachment here -- the video is absolutely not needed.

[Ken Beals]

Apologize, here's an important part of the puzzle I haven't mentioned.

He is wearing 2 lavalier mics...The visible one attached near his collar is for the PA system.

My mic is not visible and is under his jacket. As you are looking at the Speaker it is to the right of his button under the jacket.

A brief back story on this. I was expecting only one Speaker and when got to event was told there would be 2 Speakers

I only brought 1 wireless and had to really quickly transfer the mic. I put it inside jacket pocket...the Speaker transferred it in his pants pocket then buttoned his jacket over the mic.

On first Speaker I used a piece of gaff tape to gather the xtra lav mic cable to transmitter pack. That was my BIG mistake !

When the pack was put in pants pocket the mic cable was too short. It would have been ok ... until he buttoned the jacket.

I set my own self up to fail...and I know better. arrrg

So am pretty certain the doggone mic was "attacked" by the jacket

[Jay Massengill]

I suppose there was no direct recording of the lav that was going to the PA system? If you could obtain that and sync it to your video in place of the noisy lav track it would be easy, but I imagine you've checked into that already.

[Ken Beals]

This issue has been posted in Helping Hands as a paid project.

Please contact me if you have audio repair skills…and if its possible to turn it by this Saturday, June 14th.

thanks !

[Andrew Hogan]

Even in the short first video you can see the noise occurs when he moves his left arm and you can see the jacket being dragged across the shirt. For an event like that I would have clipped a black mic to the outside of his jacket lapel near the third shirt button down.

I'm interested to hear if Izotope RX3 can fix it in post.

[Rick Reineke]

Izotope RX3 isn't going to fix this automatically. It will take time with a skilled operator. Even then, the results won't be perfect if it's over dialog.

[Jim Andrada]

+1 for what Rick said

I really like RX3 and I've gotten very good results with it, but it IS time consuming - you have to find each burst of noise and fiddle around trying to improve things. and then it's a balancing act between how much improvement vs how much fresh damage. I think the word "fix" might be an exaggeration - the goal is to reduce the noise to the point where it isn't particularly noticeable while avoiding damaging the signal to the point that it catches the attention of an average listener.

The shorter the noise bursts the easier it is to pull off.

Fixing a couple of coughs during a concert is one thing, but an extended bout of coughing is a whole different kettle of fish. And speech has a tendency to get "warbly" when you get aggressive with the noise removal.

[Greg Miller]

Out of curiosity, did you hear this happening while you were shooting?

And that begs a question about protocol. It wasn't a wedding or other ceremony. If you do hear something like this going on during the shoot, is it ever acceptable to intervene and interrupt the event long enough to correct the problem? Or do you just "forge ahead" knowing that the audio is going to be bad?

Aside from that, how long is the total piece? And do you have any estimate how many noise hits there are that need attention?

[Ken Beals]

Yes, I was monitoring as I always do and was trying to find a long enough pause to interupt and fix it.

Did finally interupt and re-adjust the mic but not sure how long it went before fixing.

Believe me, professionally I knew that I needed to fix this quick yet for some unknown reason and for the first time I was actually intimidated by the Speaker to the point of feeling paralyzed in my tracks.

Just being transparent … This is an experience I NEVER want to have repeated.

Now I have a painful lesson learned and a less than pristine audio track to try and fix.

Bottom line it's still my fault. Since audio repairing is not my expertise am reaching out for help and pay for that help.

[Greg Miller]

I feel your pain. I'm not trying to assess blame, just wondering what the SOP is in a case like this.

Years ago, when I was running A/V at a large conference center, I occasionally had similar situations. However, my responsibility was PA and if there was a problem everyone in the room heard it, so (1.) there was more pressure to fix it, and (2.) it was less awkward to interrupt because everybody understood why.

I've also been in situations where I was in the sound booth back of the audience, only to watch someone on stage (usually a musician) move a mic stand in the middle of a performance, and I was unable to do anything about it. Not a pretty situation.

I was just wondering what most videographers would do in a situation like yours. How long would you let it go, how would you go about interrupting to fix it, etc.

I hope someone comes forward to help with your file. Without knowing the amount that needs to be repaired, it's rather scary. It will require manual work on each hit, and I suspect that could take days depending on the number and severity of the hits.

[Ty Ford]

Cable rub and/or hairy chest.

Why did you bury the mic?

RX3 can only do so much.

I feel your pain.

Regards,

Ty Ford