I know there are some topics about this already, but all the ones I read were closed, and I’m looking for suggestions about a specific issue.
I made a video recording of an owl two weeks ago using my Olympus TG-6. I was in a tent and the owl was quite far away, but it sounded very clear at the time. The recording I got, though, has a lot of noise (probably from the camera somehow) to the point that you can barely hear the owl through it. Is there any way to get rid of that without distorting the rest too much? I have Audacity, but I don’t really know how to use it.
I couldn’t get to the link, but if you submit the audio of the observation without further processing, more data will be left intact for identifiers to work with. Other than simple amplification to normalizing, regardless of how well you filter it, data will be destroyed. Identifiers can always filter the more raw audio to their own needs, but they can’t put back what has been filtered out or un-distort what has been distorted. Noting the time when the sound can be heard is usually enough. If you feel filtering is necessary, it would still probably be good to also include the original as well.
I think the audio is identifiable as-is, clearest in the middle. I would use one like that for myself. Noise reduction works better with longer, uninterrupted samples of just the noise without other sounds. There may not be enough to work with there to get appreciable results.
Personally, I’ve never had much luck getting more confidence with noise filters. The target sound might end up louder compared to the noise, but it always seem to lose nuance, no matter how I tweak the settings. I think equalizing, has helped me more often, but that’s with noise of particular frequencies. This is pretty much just white noise. Others hear differently though. High compression, like space-minimizing recording intended for dictation, often gives me problems that others don’t seem to have. For louder sounds, the general quality levels usually defaulted to are fine for most species, 64kbps is usually has enough clarity for me. For faint sounds, though, uncompressed can help a lot. Merlin and BirdNET record uncompressed, as WAV.
If I’m reading the manual right, there’s a menu setting in movie mode for recording volume. If that wasn’t at maximum, it might be a factor. Wind is often a source of noise. That can be lessened with angle or blocking the wind with a hand or covering the mic with porous/light fabric in a pinch. Steady white noise like this, though, sounds to me like just the baseline of the equipment. Raising the recording volume might also increase the volume of the noise proportionally. If the volume adjustment doesn’t help, there may be nothing more that can be done to get better audio from that camera. It looks like like audio can only be recorded with video or as a memo. The video has quality settings, but imagery uses the bulk of the space, so the compression level of the audio may be the same with all of them. I didn’t see setting for the memo. I don’t think it can record uncompressed audio. It doesn’t look like it can connect to an external mic. With most smartphones, though, you can record uncompressed or connect external mics.