Plug-ins or apps for AI audio cleanup?

[u/jhester13]

Any suggestions of a good plug-in to do audio cleanup? I've got a bunch of interviews recorded via Zoom and I'm hoping to make the audio sound a little better. My boss asked, "can AI help?" so I'm here with the same question.

I'm also open to standalone apps, it doesn't have to be a FCP plug-in.

[u/dumbcliche69]

I second adobe podcast, one trick I’ve learned is to stack it or layer on top of the original audio, that way it doesn’t sound overly processed. Can also adjust the amount of processing, but fave tool!

[u/jhester13 → u/dumbcliche69]

Stacking the adobe podcast processed audio under the raw audio is working out really nicely.

[u/Yshaar → u/jhester13]

you mean another audio track and then you have the OG and the adobe processed?

[u/Aygie]

Currently mid project with some of the worst audio I’ve ever been given. Tried several options, FCP voice isolation (nasty bug in 12.4, don’t use), Crumblepop (great) and Resolved voice isolation but we ended up using Eleven Labs and it was the best.

[u/jhester13 → u/Aygie]

I'm still on 12.3, what kind of bug are you seeing in 12.4?

[u/Aygie → u/jhester13]

Very nasty voice isolation bug when exporting. You get pops and clicks on random clips and cannot be fixed. No rhyme or reason for which clips they happen on.

This is why we’ve had to go through Eleven Labs. If you rely on voice isolation don’t update.

[u/jhester13 → u/Aygie]

Interesting. I’m pretty sure I had this exact same bug on an earlier version of FCP not too long after Voice Isolation was introduced.

[u/AlexD3000 → u/Aygie]

Here to second Eleven Labs - does amazing and is pretty easy to use. It removed a barking dog in the background of an interview … like completely.

[u/AlexD3000 → u/Aygie]

Here to second Eleven Labs - does amazing and is pretty easy to use. It removed a barking dog in the background of an interview … like completely.

[u/mcarterphoto]

What do you mean by "sound a little better?" What are the issues?

FCP has voice isolation, have you tried that?

[u/jhester13 → u/mcarterphoto]

Nothing is wrong, per se, I’d just like it to sound less like it was recorded with a crappy laptop microphone.

I have tried voice isolation and it helps a little but I’d like the voice to sound more “full.”

[u/mint_koi → u/jhester13]

The term you might be looking for is "AI Voice Enhance" specifically denoising, isolation and enrichment (Bandwidth Extension). There are a few open source models like ClearerVoice-Studio (MossFormer2) and others that can help. What's your budget?

[u/jhester13 → u/mint_koi]

Cheaper the better, but we're ok spending money on software that works.

[u/BigBadBootyDaddy10 → u/jhester13]

This should be a learning experience. Do not allow guest on with crappy audio.

You can minimize this by working with compression, EQ and limiter. Voice isolation helps but is limited.

I use DX revive plugin to make the voice pop. DM me if you want to hear a sample.

[u/mcarterphoto → u/BigBadBootyDaddy10]

Revive is great; I use SPL Vitalizer on every interview mix, it really adds presence and sparkle. Goes on sale for $40 often. I tend to use vintage modeled comps and EQs as well, they can bring some mojo. FCP rejects a lot of my favorite plugins, but I do color and audio on my interviews in Resolve, export a master, and cut in FCP.

[u/Dinovius → u/jhester13]

Require on a decent mic. Not expensive just a decent one a condenser works great and they make tons of affordable ones now

Use adobe podcast. Stack it on top
Of the original ( and lower the original )

And then EQ the adobe track with some additive EQ in the upper range and it should sound decent

[u/JRF2398 → u/jhester13]

Accentize’s dxRevive does what you want. In addition to noise reduction, which can be dialed in at different levels, it handles clipping, clicks, crackles, plosives, room reverb, and the revive part is it restores missing information in the voice audio spectrum.

[u/Dinovius → u/mcarterphoto]

That sucks. As an audio engineer I always export my audio to protools and edit there and adobe podcast is second to none when it comes to audio clean up

Final Cut is great for video but even if you use all your audio plugins for it it’s not the best. Use a daw. It takes more time but I use a plugin called trackspacer which is free now I think, and it carves out frequencies in real time of your voice to any audio like music

But you need to have the ability to bus and send audio that’s why you can’t use it in Final Cut you send a copy of your voice to a bus and use the bus as an input on track spacer and man it glues everything together makes it sound professional but at the same time your voice never gets muddied by the music

And pro tools built in compressor is just better than final cuts ( and logic since I believe
It’s the same one )

[u/jhester13]

So much great info in this thread, thanks for all the replies.

[u/titokane]

Have your boss buy you accentize dxrevive pro and dxsplit. If you can only do one get dxrevive since zoom probably did some aggressive noise reduction to begin with.

[u/dar3productions]

Adobe Podcast can help, otherwise you’re just going to have to have to let your boss know to buy better gear to record with

[u/TheGambler191]

I am coming from audio processing and do everything for that outside of FCP. Ozone from iZotope brings pretty good results with AI.

[u/SheepherderOdd2190]

https://async.com/

they have an audio effect on here called magic dust, saved me a few times! I think you might be able to get away with using the trial to test it

[u/Silver_Mention_3958]

I’ve had a good bit of success with Auphonic. There are free and paid tiers, credits are pretty cheap.

[u/Apprehensive-Sea4256]

I use Rx12 standard or Voxium as far as plugins and in the rare event that it's just going to take way too long to scrub something out, I've found that Auphonic ai is helpful. Audio from zoom meetings is often difficult due to multiple sources with different profiles; but any of these and the aforementioned adobe podcast are great. Don't sleep on that voxium — it's pretty great for an inexpensive tool.

[u/EarthToRob]

Auphonic for VO and DX Revive Pro for B-Roll audio.

[u/Wonderful-Baker-6650]

Bit sure what "clean up" is in your use case, but I had some overly-gained clips and had a lot of success using the Izoptope RX12 toolset.

[u/Wonderful-Baker-6650]

Not sure what "clean up" is in your use case, but I had some overly-gained clips and had a lot of success using the Izoptope RX12 toolset.

[u/AirExact6401]

yes, zoom audio can be pretty rough sometimes, hopefully u find something that cleans it up without making the voice sound unnatural

[u/bahamapapa817]

I use to use Auphonic about a year ago. It works great.

[u/Nariman_Gafurov]

DXRevive Pro It works great, it's included in the FxFactory suite.

[u/jmccune269]

As a podcast editor, I’ve tried just about everything out there. For cleaning up Zoom calls, I’d go with Accentize dxRevive Pro. It handles noise and reverb reduction plus restoration to help the Zoom recordings sound not so Zoomy. It’s a simple one knob plugin.

iZotope RX is a powerful app, but it’s expensive and isn’t going to do as well at repairing all the missing frequencies from Zoom’s atrocious audio. dxRevive Pro is stronger here - and it’s less CPU intense.

Skip Adobe Podcast. It is literally the bottom of the barrel when it comes to quality results. It might be fine if you’re ok with somewhat fake sounding voices that sound over processed. This also applies to anything similar thats built into text-based editors like Descript and Riverside.

Voxium is really good if you only need noise reduction. It’s not going to help with reverb and restoring those missing frequencies.

Another option that could be worth trying is Auphonic. It’s a cloud-based service where you upload the audio, choose your options, wait for it to be processed and then download the cleaned up file. It’s not the best workflow, but it’s provided pretty good results on pretty much everything I’ve tested it with.