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Topic: How to equalize this bad sound? (Read 10533 times) previous topic - next topic
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How to equalize this bad sound?

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  [attachment=1668:attachment]

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #1
Quote
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.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=317667"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

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

Woody

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #2
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...

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #3
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.

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #4
I feared the same after trying at least 100 eq-settings...

Any other idea how to "fix" this sound?

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #5
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.

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

Any other idea how to "fix" this sound?
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=317707"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
<<optimali>>

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #6
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...

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #7
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.

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #8
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.

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #9
@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?

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #10
Quote
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.

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #11
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... 

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #12
I also use Foobar2000, but it doesn't support Winamp's DSPs and recording in realtime from WMP isn't the best idea

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #13
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 

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #14
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).
Only the best is good enough.

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #15
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.

[attachment=1723:attachment]
[attachment=1724:attachment]
Only the best is good enough.

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #16
@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?

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #17
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..

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #18
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.
Only the best is good enough.

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #19
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.

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #20
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...

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #21
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.

How to equalize this bad sound?

Reply #22
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.
Only the best is good enough.