Topic: Need to reduce a WHOOper and clapper

[vanark]

I recorded a show last night and had an WHOOper (WHOO! WHOO!) and clapper sitting behind me and his enjoyment of the show is represented well on the recording.  Otherwise a fine recording, and I really don't have a problem with his representation on the recording.  Except...  I know this artist tends to increase the volume of the last few songs by about 5 dB, so I ran the levels pretty conservatively so I could boost the rest of the show in post.  With the WHOOs and claps that occur during the songs (not just between songs), and at times clipping, amplifying the recording is presenting a problem.  If it was just applause or WHOOping between songs, I'd simple reduce the between song segments before applying peak normalization.  However, being during the actual music and quite numerous, I am at a bit of loss other than to manually reduce each one which would drive me crazy and might cause me to simply shelve the recording.

I have only used Audacity and know there is an envelope tool, but even after reading the posts here and elsewhere, am at a loss as to how it really works.  I am willing to use another tool (free or not overly expensive, please. R8Brain or Samplitude?).  Any help or direction would be appreciated.

[vanark]

Okay, so I've figured out how to use the envelope tool.  Just not sure this is the best way to deal with it.  The WHOO WHOO's are pretty numerous.  And the clapping is all over the recording, spiking above the music, even clipping at times.

[bbernardini]

Personally, I would go with individually lowering the volume of each clap and whoop. As annoying as it is, it gives you more control and won't affect the surrounding audio as much.

[vanark]

I'm working on the whoops now with the envelope tool.  Getting the hang of it - 5 points, steep then shallow.  But the clapping will be too tedious to do individually.  He was rhythmically clapping during some songs - it would be hundreds, perhaps thousands of edits and likely using the pencil tool, not the envelope tool.  I'd rather shelve the recording than do that.  I don't mind taking care of a few dozen problems, but hundreds is more than I'm up for.  Once I get the whoops tamed, I think I'm simply going to amplify the music up to -1.0 peak (basically an estimate since the tool will say it needs 0 dB amplification to get to 0 dB) and let the claps clip.

[itook2much]

If the "WHOO WHO"'s are that numerous, I'd just leave them as-is.  If you feel the overall recording is too low musically,, amplify using compression or a limiter.

It's kinduva shame to just shelve it.  It is what it is, so you do what you can.  Who was it, if you don't mind me asking?  The artist that is, not the WHOO-WHOOer. 

[vanark]

If the "WHOO WHO"'s are that numerous, I'd just leave them as-is.  If you feel the overall recording is too low musically,, amplify using compression or a limiter.

I don't know how to do that in Audacity.  I think the compression tool doesn't work too well from what I've read.

It's kinduva shame to just shelve it.  It is what it is, so you do what you can.  Who was it, if you don't mind me asking?  The artist that is, not the WHOO-WHOOer. 

Can't say.  It is one of those 007 jobs that is for an artist that has become a bit of an enemy of his Internet followers.

[Brian Skalinder]

I think the compression tool doesn't work too well from what I've read.

Someone commented recently Audacity's compression works just fine for them.  It didn't work for me when I was using Audacity, but that was some time ago, so it may work now.

[SmokinJoe]

Can't say.  It is one of those 007 jobs that is for an artist that has become a bit of an enemy of his Internet followers.

I can't believe you taped Michael Jackson! 

[Dede2002]

Can't say.  It is one of those 007 jobs that is for an artist that has become a bit of an enemy of his Internet followers.

I can't believe you taped Michael Jackson! 

[powermonkey]

Next time take a shotgun, then you'll only have 1 loud *bang* to fix in post.
 

[OOK]

Next time take a shotgun, then you'll only have 1 loud *bang* to fix in post.
 

Dam that was funny............T+

[ilduclo]

you want to reduce them? off with their f-in head!!

[Jeremy Lykins]

I recorded a show last night and had an WHOOper (WHOO! WHOO!) and clapper sitting behind me and his enjoyment of the show is represented well on the recording.

I just started taping and there's a guy who apparently has the same taste in music as me who "ruins" every recording that I make with him in attendance (4 out of 8 so far).  He's got this obnoxious "Wooooooooooooo, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" that he screams every 1-2 minutes for the entire show (not just between songs).  Because of him I shelved my last recording without even listening to the second set, and I even heard him on a soundboard recording that I made.  I've already not liked him for a couple of years now.  I've been thinking about what I should do about it, and the only thing that I can do is to take down my rig as soon as I see him come in the venue.  I doubt that he'd catch the hint, but at least I wouldn't be wasting my time with a recording that I'll never listen to.

[morst]

I've been thinking about what I should do about it

Get a VERY TALL micstand.

[wbrisette]

I recorded a show last night and had an WHOOper (WHOO! WHOO!) and clapper sitting behind me and his enjoyment of the show is represented well on the recording.

I just started taping and there's a guy who apparently has the same taste in music as me who "ruins" every recording that I make with him in attendance (4 out of 8 so far).  He's got this obnoxious "Wooooooooooooo, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" that he screams every 1-2 minutes for the entire show (not just between songs).  Because of him I shelved my last recording without even listening to the second set, and I even heard him on a soundboard recording that I made.  I've already not liked him for a couple of years now.  I've been thinking about what I should do about it,

Actually, I would give him a copy of the show and say, "Here, this is a copy of xxx. I saw you at the show and figured you would enjoy it. Oh, and sorry about the sound quality, it sounds pretty good except for the parts when you couldn't help yourself. But you should enjoy it."

Maybe it will shut him up after he hears what an ass he really is...

Wayne

[Gutbucket]

 

[cybergaloot]

A few years back I went to a blues festival at Rock Crusher Canyon in Crystal River, FL. Its a cool venue in that the concert area is down in an old abandoned quarry that has been landscaped. The headline act was Buddy Guy. Some skanky, wobbly, drunk-ass, biker chick with way too many nasty tattoos kept yelling out in her screechy hick voice "Buddy Guy! BUUUDDY GUY!" over and over again. Like he would ever hear her over the monitors and call back "I love you you, nasty biker skank." Hell, she had probably never heard of him before the festival. She kept on swaying on the slope just yelling away, stumbling every once in a while. Everybody was annoyed but nobody wanted to get into it with her equally drunk biker buddies. I really wish she would have stumbled, fallen and rolled down the hill screaming "Buddy Guy!" the whole way, at least I would have gotten a good laugh.

BTW, I have quite a few biker friends, they just aren't that obnoxious in public.

[keytohwy]

I can beat that.

I saw Willie Nelson do a club show a few years back.  He was doing, I think 3 nights.  Anyway, got tix for my wife and my mom.  It was GA, so we went early to get fairly close.  Of course, as show time arrived, there was a crush for those wanting to get close, but not wanting to come early and stand there for a couple of hours.  So this small group of drunks was near us.  Same as your biker chick, the guy in this group kept telling Willie "North Carolina loves you" sometimes appending a "man" on the end.  Forget that the show was in Virginia, Willie never heard a word, but this guy kept at it, annoying everyone around them.  His chicks were drunk and kept stumbling around, it was a mess.  So, we left between main set and encore, and my mom put her gum in one of the chick's hair.  Damn, it was sweet.  I know that girl had no idea it was there.  I still think about her waking up the next morning saying "WTF!"

keytohwy

A few years back I went to a blues festival at Rock Crusher Canyon in Crystal River, FL. Its a cool venue in that the concert area is down in an old abandoned quarry that has been landscaped. The headline act was Buddy Guy. Some skanky, wobbly, drunk-ass, biker chick with way too many nasty tattoos kept yelling out in her screechy hick voice "Buddy Guy! BUUUDDY GUY!" over and over again. Like he would ever hear her over the monitors and call back "I love you you, nasty biker skank." Hell, she had probably never heard of him before the festival. She kept on swaying on the slope just yelling away, stumbling every once in a while. Everybody was annoyed but nobody wanted to get into it with her equally drunk biker buddies. I really wish she would have stumbled, fallen and rolled down the hill screaming "Buddy Guy!" the whole way, at least I would have gotten a good laugh.

BTW, I have quite a few biker friends, they just aren't that obnoxious in public.

[Mr.Fantasy]

Kepp em coming...

I love story time...

Has anyone ever had a line form to talk to you about getting a tape?

[j.mart]

i'm calling tl:dr, so sorry if i get redundant in this post

i tend to use band-stop filters to mitigate whistling and EQ'ing in woohoos. the crowd artefact worked upon will sound weird and unnatural, albeit more comfortable to your hears. whistlers are *really* easy to remove almost completely with a very favorable compromise in music loss. if you determine the fundamental frequency of the whistler using a narrow Q, high boost, and sweep in your softwares parametric equalizer, you can determine which frequency the whistle has and BSF the fuck out of it. .the narrower the BSF, the least ammount of music you affect and the results are pretty good if you're rigorous and most of all patient. and since most whistling is between 2.6k and 3.5k, you can easily isolate and determine accurately where it is.  (DO NOT cut everything between these values, just search for the frequency where the whistle is located). another much more effective method of detection is using the spectral view function.

you'll find a hot region around 500Hz and 800Hz for most male woohoos, a little higher for girls. however, a lot of music is located inbetween those values, and i would not encourage the use of BSF for them. just use a realatively soft EQ in that region and you should get pleasing results. heck, even if you lose some music in the process, its much better than suddenly having a guy screaming at +6dB the normal music program of the recording. bottom line, BSF for whistling and a rather conservative EQ for woohoo.

you can also attenuate the harmonics i both cases, but thats a whole different subject and i wouldn't recommend doing it in either cases as it would further damage the music in the recording (especially if you're talking about woohoos). the only time i used such method was in a case of extreme feedback, and i used a notch filter there.

for handclaps, limiting is the best. if you're reeeeealy patient, i suggest you work clap by clap. pay attention to the difference between the snare attacks and claps, as they are easy to confuse on the waveform display.

PS: most conservative guys would probably argue with some of the methods described above. i don't like the extra work, so hey, if they are to be used, make it a special case. living in a latin country, crowds can go wild sometimes and most of my tapes would be unlistenable unless i applied some of the extreme editing described above.


examples (done in a sloppy quicky way)

whistle


post-whistle

[Gutbucket]

... living in a latin country, crowds can go wild sometimes and most of my tapes would be unlistenable unless i applied some of the extreme editing described above.