Mixing a "home" recording?

[boxesofsquares]

Today my friends and I drove out to a farm and played music in a field using guitars, harmonium, viola, and saxophone. I recorded through a Sony ECM DS70P into an iriver H320 mp3 player.

So now, since the levels on the recording are so low it's rediculous, I'm trying to mix my recording using SoundForge. The saxophone is unbearably loud and drowns out a lot of the other instruments. There is also wind that is a problem with the recording. But if I turn up the levels the levels of the saxophone and wind end up becoming really loud and distorted. As I am relatively new to this, is there anything I can do to fix this problem? By getting the rest of the sound up but keeping the saxophone and wind down?

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

I don't envy you. IMHO it would be less work to re-record it without the wind and have the setup/gain structure be correct than spending hours upon hours fixing something that is more than likely going to be poo, and at best will be flawed.

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

Welcome aboard, boxes.

Ouch. Yeah, that's a challenge. Cloneboy is right... redoing is often a LOT less work than trying to fix a recoring that has big problems. But...

One tool that may help a little is a compressor. its a Dynamics processor- it works on the loudness of your recording. I'm not sure what it would be called in Soundforge, but the official name is compressor so a quick search of the help files should turn up whatever SF calls it.

Basically a compressor turns DOWN the volume based on how loud it is. They get *really* complex when you try to explain how they work, but basicially if you turn the whole mix down *automatically* when it gets too loud... you can then turn the whole mix UP so the quieter stuff (i.e. NOT the sax and loud wind) is more noticeable. That's what the compressor does- its an automatic volume controler.

So.. the settings. I'll just spit 'em out and we can talk about what does and does not make sense. Understand, though, that with these tools you really *must* use your ears and the numbers I'm spitting out are just getting started points- and compression is kind of an advanced audio tool... but, here goes.

Ratio (or how much the volume is turned down): start with 2:1 or 3:1

Threshold (the volume at which the compressor starts turing things down): somewhere below the sax and above everything else. Watch the meters and use your ears.

Attack (how soon the compressor kicks in): as fast as it can go. Shortest period of time.

Release (how soon its stops squashing after the volume has dropped back below the threshold): *tough* to say- start in the middle of its range and see.

Gain (the amount the whole signal is turned back up after it is compressed): watch the gain reduction (i.e. compression) meter. If it reads 6dB of gain reduction... turn the gain up 6dB.

(The rest of you can stop laughing at me now for trying to explain compression and give settings without even hearing the track. No, really, you can stop. )

Just something to try. it will probably create new problems as it solves others, but worth a shot. A good learning experience if nothing else.

Take care,
Chris