GSM Tones

Oren Arieli · August 1st, 2015, 02:08 PM

If there is an audio guru willing to help me out with a short clip, I would be most grateful. I've tried Audition with very minor success, but I can't get rid of the cell phone GSM tones from this reading. Anyone have Izotope RX or some other software that can work some magic?

https://copy.com/8r3EsTdaXPkexxJK

Noa Put · August 1st, 2015, 03:00 PM

Ouch, this is beyond reasonable repair I"m afraid though someone who knows his way around izotope might be able to decrease the buzz but the voice recording, which is not very clear either will be damaged even further.

Greg Miller · August 1st, 2015, 06:43 PM

This is the best I can do without spending too much time on it. As Noa said, the voice is already quite bad, and NR just makes it more robotic.

Among other problems, the original levels are very inconsistent. That could be fixed manually after the NR, but of course boosting the voice level in any given section would also boost the noise.

Out of curiosity, what kind of condenser mic were you using?

Jim Andrada · August 1st, 2015, 08:31 PM

I had a shot at it too - not such a great result I'm afraid. Voice is sort of intelligible but the noise is not 100% gone. Reducing it any more really kills the voice

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ktnwhu3jx...s%201.wav?dl=0

Oren Arieli · August 2nd, 2015, 09:48 AM

Thank you both for your attempts. Mine also ended up robotic, even after isolating as much of the tones and harmonics as I could in Audition. I didn't shoot this one, but I did get the lowdown on the horrors involved. The officiant shut her mic accidentally, so this one was captured by a Tascam recorder mounted next to the keyboard player. It was about 4 feet behind the woman giving the reading. The venue was a stone cave-like entrance crammed with bodies wall to wall. I'm guessing that the phone had a heck of a time finding a tower, which is why the tones were so persistent.
Didn't Sony have some sort of audio tool that automatically selects the harmonics of whatever frequency is outlined? The spectrograph shows a waffle pattern, which makes things all the more difficult (square wave, I guess?).

Andrew Smith · August 2nd, 2015, 10:06 AM

Prtty much the same here. I've got RX4 Advanced and it's pretty shot audio as it is.

RX4 has a 'GSM tone' preset in the Declick module, but it hardly touched it.

I had much better success in selecting a sample of GSM tone only, and using the spectral part of the denoiser module to remove it. The voice part is left behind ... and it's as imperfect as it was captured. The biggest issue once the offending parts are attenuated is that the desired noise has little tonality and proximity as it is.

At best, this will only save you from total embarrassment. Best to run a subtle music bed underneath it to cover for the deficiencies. Hope you can salvage this.

My shot at this is available for the next 5 days from: http://we.tl/udeVsew7JH

Andrew

PS. You could always go back to the lady who is speaking, explain the situation, and ask her if she would mind re-voicing that part so you can get a clean audio recording this time. I've done a similar thing before.

Greg Miller · August 2nd, 2015, 10:50 AM

Oren,

Was the file you posted the original audio as it was recorded? Or had it been pre-processed to some extent?

I ask because the voice level is so abruptly uneven -- up and down, line to line -- and it already sounds somewhat filtered to me (although that might just be the result of the totally bad mic placement).

If by chance you have inadvertently posted a file with some processing, please post the original instead.

Jim Andrada · August 2nd, 2015, 11:39 AM

+1 on using the "re-record" filter, I'm afraid. Since it was a reading instead of dialogue I think it should be doable.

Oren Arieli · August 2nd, 2015, 04:04 PM

Greg, I was able to pull the audio from another camera's mic that has much less GSM pollution, but it's more off-mic as well. This is the unretouched WAV file. It might be the best of a bad situation. Once again, thanks for all your help. That GSM filter sounds intriguing.
https://copy.com/Zl74diCQmfetZrMn

Rob Cantwell · August 2nd, 2015, 04:15 PM

I dont want to highjack the thread but I have some audio from a lav mic that seems to have some cloth rustling noise... whats the best to rteat this, it's not the only audio iv'e got so it's not a big deal, more interested on how it could be done?

Andrew Smith · August 2nd, 2015, 11:34 PM

I can't hear any issues. :-) You might need to post a sample .wav file.

(seriously, it's an audio discussion)

Andrew

August 1st, 2015, 02:08 PM	#1
Oren Arieli Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 919	GSM Tones - ruined reading? If there is an audio guru willing to help me out with a short clip, I would be most grateful. I've tried Audition with very minor success, but I can't get rid of the cell phone GSM tones from this reading. Anyone have Izotope RX or some other software that can work some magic? https://copy.com/8r3EsTdaXPkexxJK

August 1st, 2015, 03:00 PM	#2
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Re: GSM Tones - ruined reading? Ouch, this is beyond reasonable repair I"m afraid though someone who knows his way around izotope might be able to decrease the buzz but the voice recording, which is not very clear either will be damaged even further.

August 1st, 2015, 08:31 PM	#4
Jim Andrada Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Tucson AZ Posts: 2,211	Re: GSM Tones - ruined reading? I had a shot at it too - not such a great result I'm afraid. Voice is sort of intelligible but the noise is not 100% gone. Reducing it any more really kills the voice https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ktnwhu3jx...s%201.wav?dl=0

August 2nd, 2015, 09:48 AM	#5
Oren Arieli Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 919	Re: GSM Tones - ruined reading? Thank you both for your attempts. Mine also ended up robotic, even after isolating as much of the tones and harmonics as I could in Audition. I didn't shoot this one, but I did get the lowdown on the horrors involved. The officiant shut her mic accidentally, so this one was captured by a Tascam recorder mounted next to the keyboard player. It was about 4 feet behind the woman giving the reading. The venue was a stone cave-like entrance crammed with bodies wall to wall. I'm guessing that the phone had a heck of a time finding a tower, which is why the tones were so persistent. Didn't Sony have some sort of audio tool that automatically selects the harmonics of whatever frequency is outlined? The spectrograph shows a waffle pattern, which makes things all the more difficult (square wave, I guess?).

August 2nd, 2015, 10:06 AM	#6
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,080	Re: GSM Tones - ruined reading? Prtty much the same here. I've got RX4 Advanced and it's pretty shot audio as it is. RX4 has a 'GSM tone' preset in the Declick module, but it hardly touched it. I had much better success in selecting a sample of GSM tone only, and using the spectral part of the denoiser module to remove it. The voice part is left behind ... and it's as imperfect as it was captured. The biggest issue once the offending parts are attenuated is that the desired noise has little tonality and proximity as it is. At best, this will only save you from total embarrassment. Best to run a subtle music bed underneath it to cover for the deficiencies. Hope you can salvage this. My shot at this is available for the next 5 days from: http://we.tl/udeVsew7JH Andrew PS. You could always go back to the lady who is speaking, explain the situation, and ask her if she would mind re-voicing that part so you can get a clean audio recording this time. I've done a similar thing before.

August 2nd, 2015, 10:50 AM	#7
Greg Miller Trustee Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,793	Re: GSM Tones - ruined reading? Oren, Was the file you posted the original audio as it was recorded? Or had it been pre-processed to some extent? I ask because the voice level is so abruptly uneven -- up and down, line to line -- and it already sounds somewhat filtered to me (although that might just be the result of the totally bad mic placement). If by chance you have inadvertently posted a file with some processing, please post the original instead.

August 2nd, 2015, 11:39 AM	#8
Jim Andrada Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Tucson AZ Posts: 2,211	Re: GSM Tones - ruined reading? +1 on using the "re-record" filter, I'm afraid. Since it was a reading instead of dialogue I think it should be doable.

August 2nd, 2015, 04:04 PM	#9
Oren Arieli Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 919	Re: GSM Tones - ruined reading? Greg, I was able to pull the audio from another camera's mic that has much less GSM pollution, but it's more off-mic as well. This is the unretouched WAV file. It might be the best of a bad situation. Once again, thanks for all your help. That GSM filter sounds intriguing. https://copy.com/Zl74diCQmfetZrMn

August 2nd, 2015, 04:15 PM	#10
Rob Cantwell Major Player Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Tipperary, Ireland Posts: 624	Re: GSM Tones - ruined reading? I dont want to highjack the thread but I have some audio from a lav mic that seems to have some cloth rustling noise... whats the best to rteat this, it's not the only audio iv'e got so it's not a big deal, more interested on how it could be done? __________________ http://www.robertcantwell.com

August 2nd, 2015, 11:34 PM	#11
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,080	Re: GSM Tones - ruined reading? I can't hear any issues. :-) You might need to post a sample .wav file. (seriously, it's an audio discussion) Andrew