How to equalize this bad sound?, Need help on that sample Options

[tedgo]

I want to add all my cds to my wavpack music library but there are some albums with a very, very bad sound.
Now i wanted to equalize the bad sounding cds to sound as equal as the "normal" sounding ones but i'm not able to get a satisfying result on one album.
I tried several settings but without success.

Would anybody help me to find a good equalizer setting for the following sample?
Thank you very much  testschnipsel.mp3 ( 590.13K ) Number of downloads: 999

[woody_woodward]

Now i wanted to equalize the bad sounding cds to sound as equal as the "normal" sounding ones but i'm not able to get a satisfying result on one album.

Friend, I'm lost. This sample sounded fine to me. What do you want change?

Woody

[tedgo]

Try playing this sample between "normal" sounding music and you'll hear the differences.
It sounds noisy, unclear and airless (maybe the sample isn't expressive enough).
But just raising the treble control only causes to sharp fizzling and an annoying mid-high range...
I tried a "fletcher-munson-contour" too, but then there is too much deep bass AND fizzling...

This post has been edited by tedgo: Aug 3 2005, 21:53

[Rotareneg]

No EQ is going to fix that, it's not a frequency problem. It's just mixed really wierd, there's almost no stereo seperation.

[tedgo]

I feared the same after trying at least 100 eq-settings...

Any other idea how to "fix" this sound?

[optimali]

I remember some DSP plugins for Winamp or QMP that add harmonics to the top, but I imagine that was only helpful for mp3s that had cut them off. Sorry I can't be of more help.

I feared the same after trying at least 100 eq-settings...

Any other idea how to "fix" this sound?

[tedgo]

Thanks for your advice.
But i tried several tools like that (NeroWaveEditor's "Band Extrapolation", Spectral Enhancers aso.), without success. It sounds nearly the same like raising the high frequencies with an equalizer - fizzling voice, raised high-mid range on instruments, especially on drums.
That's the reason i posted here: I don't know what i could try next...

This post has been edited by tedgo: Aug 4 2005, 09:56

[Egor]

It is not possible to restore treble frequencies because there is only hiss in this range and a very low amount of original music. Nevertheless you can apply some sound processing and then maybe it would sound better than the original.

Here is your sample processed with SRS Labs' TruBass and WOW effect.

[Leo 69]

Crap. If I had an access to my computer I'd possibly help you (I'm not at home now
for 1 month). To my mind there is a way to make it sound better. There are several
VSTi plugins which might help.

[tedgo]

@Egor
I think you are on the right way but your processed file has a bit too much reverberation. But always better than the original. Looks good...
How have you done it? With TrueBass and WOW Effect from WMP and real-time recorded? Or are there any adequate plugins for audacity or another wave editor?

And you're right: there are no "real" high frequencies in the original file. This frequency range from 10kHz and above sound like added with a bad spectral enhancer (or a bad SBR-implementation). And this is the case on nearly all tracks of the album...

@Leo69
Could you tell me which vst-plugins could be useful to process the file?

This post has been edited by tedgo: Aug 4 2005, 19:00

[Egor]

I think you are on the right way but your processed file has a bit too much reverberation. But always better than the original. Looks good...
How have you done it? With TrueBass and WOW Effect from WMP and real-time recorded? Or are there any adequate plugins for audacity or another wave editor?

I used `WOW Thing' DSP and `Disk Writer' output plug-ins for Winamp. Intensity of effects was set to default values, though I noticed excessive reverberation, it was a matter of personal taste.

This post has been edited by Egor: Aug 4 2005, 19:43

[tedgo]

Hm, i don't like winamp, i only use foobar.
But i'll give it a try.
My trials with wmp's implementation of true bass and WOW were not really succesful. I hope the winamp-plugin will be more configurable...

[Egor]

I also use Foobar2000, but it doesn't support Winamp's DSPs and recording in realtime from WMP isn't the best idea

This post has been edited by Egor: Aug 4 2005, 20:47

[Leo 69]

Here's my attempt to make it sound good.
Note: maybe it could sound even better, if it wasn't an MP3 originally and eventually

Attached File(s)

 testschnipsel_remastered.mp3 ( 483.28K ) Number of downloads: 302

 

[Wintershade]

Could you provide us with a sample that would contain "silence"? That way you could give us a "pure" noise sample, which could be used in Audition (ex Cool Edit) or Audacity as a snapshot of what should be reduced.

Also, I'm trying some FFT filters and phase shifting in Audition, so I'll probably post a file and an Audition script of how I did it (If I do something useful).

[Wintershade]

Here's my contribution. Hope it helps (and that I'm not too late).
There's also an Adobe Audition script in a ZIP file, so you can do that with the whole CD if you have Audition.

 testschnipsel_wintershade.mp3 ( 429.38K ) Number of downloads: 678

 script4tedgo.zip ( 1.39K ) Number of downloads: 395

[tedgo]

@Wintershade and Leo69
Thanks for your solutions. They sound quite similar like my last attempts.
And i think, there is no way to get a better sound like these, although it has a bit too boomy bass voice

Btw. i don't use adobe audition (is there a free trial available?), i only use diamond cut 5, audacity or - in a case of need - nero's wave editor (its band extrapolation works very well).
And its not possible to process the whole cd with the same script, because all tracks sound different (but all are very terrible...)

Could you both post what filters and settings are used to get your solutions?

[Leo 69]

I used several filters with miscellaneous settings It's hard to remember them all... It was very tricky processing))) I didn't actually touch the stereo image, the sample can sound even better if it gets corrected in terms of positioning as well..

I used a 64-bit equalizer from AnwidaSoft, 4front plugin for Winamp, BMBN plugin for Winamp & TrackS Eq and Compressor, maybe something else..

[Wintershade]

AFAIK, free Audition trial is available, google for it.
Filters and settings are in the script file, and it's plain text so you can easily read it. Anyway, I used "plain" graphic equalizer (right, plain, "only" 30 bands), FFT filter, clip restoration effect (just being paranoid) and the Hard Limiting amplitude controller. Download Audition, it's very intuitive and similar to Audacity, and try the script on the rest of the CD, it may just work.

[tedgo]

Thank you both.
I tried paragraphic eq with a modified fletcher munson contour, dynamics processor, dynamic noise filter (filters like analog filters would do - less digital artefacts), de-esser (after equalizing, because the voice sounded fizzling) and a slight stereo processing. All is done with Diamond Cut 5.
But it sounds nearly as yours.
However, i'll try your suggestions too.

[sh1leshk4]

By the way, is it possible for you to upload a lossless version of the problematic sample?
It'll probably be 'easier' to process since I wanna give it a try too...

[tedgo]

Sorry, but i have no webspace, only an analog modem and the upload limitation on HA makes it impossible to upload an expressive lossless sample.
But the compressed sample i've uploaded in the first post sounds at most as "good" as the original.

This post has been edited by tedgo: Sep 11 2005, 21:57

[Wintershade]

It's a 320 kbps mp3 (I assume it's an alt-preset insane). Even when you transcode it again to --api (or alt-preset extreme, in my case) your ears probably won't complain.