General rule: I don't think you can really "fix" a bad recording. You can fix a flaw here and there, you can EQ out too much bass/bring up treble, but if your fundamentals (equipment/placement/user error) are bad, there is not much you can do.
That said, a few short comments.
First taping: Small club, we were off to the side of the musicians (approx 30 ft). Sitting down throughout. I had sound issues discussed in this topic: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=132169.0
Primary goal: Get rid of the "pops". Clean up? How?
I assume people responded in the other topic. If those pops are that frequent, I don't think there is much you can do. If it's just once or twice in the recording, use the pencil tool in audacity. It looks like a pencil button on-screen. You zoom in close enough that there are dots for individual samples, and you can then reduce the volume of those samples. I note that this is very time consuming.
Also, from the sound of it, your placement was not great.
Second taping: Really nice small venue and acoustics. Situated about 30 ft from the stage front, my back was against a wall, the ceiling only in our location was about 10 ft (so we were kinda in a cave approx 10 ft x 15 ft). Sitting down throughout the show.
Primary goal: Equalize sound throughout as I think I was fooling around with the recording levels to set near -12db. Clean up? How?
This sounds pretty good to me.
Third taping: Small club. A lot of people dancing, including us. About 20 ft from the stage front. This is the only recording I would consider "loud".
Primary Goal: Clean up? How?
Your placement in the room seems to be really bad. As others already responded, you simply cannot move while taping with mics mounted to you. Your choices are (i) don't tape, (ii) tape with mics mounted to you and face the sound source(!) and don't move or (iii) get a mic stand and run open. In my opinion, it's not even worth bothering to record something in the manner you describe, at least not for public consumption.
Fourth taping: Bowling alley (huge venue). I just set levels once and we were walking all over the place, carrying our drinks.
Primary goal: Clean up? How?
Again, sounds like you should have left the gear at home. Also, someone is speaking almost directly into the microphones during this sample-- kind of a big no-no. If you enjoy listening to something like this for personal use, then by all means, do what makes you happy, but I wouldn't really call that "taping" and certainly not something that you can "clean up" using computer means.
Fifth taping: Very intimate club. About 5-10 ft from the stage at slight angle from stage front. Sitting down throughout.
Primary goal: Clean up? How?
Again, seems OK, except I would have tried to be more in the center and face the sound source.
My main goal is to equalize sound throughout the recordings as I had to set/change recording levels once the shows started. I have to join one show which recorded in two parts (internal memory ran out and automatically went to memory card). I want minimal cleanup, but I'm not sure where to start.
The "Amplify" tool in audacity is your friend. You can select the portion you wish to amplify. Amplify everything to -0.1. If you changed levels, then amplify portions where the levels were set separately.
If you have SoundForge for free, that is a great program too. I don't know much about it, but I know many are satisfied with it.
Again, though, the biggest flaws in these recordings all have to do with things computers cannot fix - user decisions and placement decisions. The mics themselves seem to have done a fine job of capturing what was going on.
Just my $.02
Topic: New Taper: Part 3: Post Recording Manipulation and Conversion (Read 4911 times)