Isolating crowd from concert recording

F

Filipk1000

New member
Hi,
This is my first post. I am far from expert in this field so please excuse me for oversimplifying the question. I have an audio recording from a Rock concert. I would like to isolate the crowd noise, and if possible measure the loudness of the crowd. If this is possible, how do I do it?
Thx
FK
 
this is a tough feat as far as i know. i have a recording that i was checking out today from a live jazz performance by Kamasi Washington, from an intimate and small club. I think the crowd noise and sound in it adds a certain character and vibe to it that i rather like. I can see how a rock crowd would want to be drowned out though.

I guess the first question i would personally ask is how was it recorded? device/format/settings
I'm not completely familiar with how to kill crowd noise and I'm not even sure if its completely possible but I would start with eq'ing and cut the highs that arent even necessary. From there I would contact an engineer friend, which I will but someone on that level will likely respond before I am able to.

Is there software even capable of this out there now?
Im gonna stay tuned cause im curious as well.

edit:
now that i think about it, I do believe that certain sidechain compression techniques could at least alleviate some, if not most, of the background noise; depending on the source and quality of the recording. It would just take some time and care. I've seen a friend do some pretty great corrections on live recordings using sidechain multiband compression.

anyone else more knowledgeable on this, please correct me if I am incorrect.
 
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Sorry if I didn't explain well. I am trying to filter out everything except the sound of the crowd. I would like to measure how laud the crowd gets.
Thx
 
Cutting the crowd noise would be easier than isolating unfortunately. It is worth a try to download the free audio program called "Audacity" there is a feature that lets you cut noise, just define the noise to be the actual music and it may help but it would be almost impossible to separate the two completely, especially in a clip more than a few seconds long.
 
Shure makes microphones especially for live concert work. They concentrate on the artists and filter out the crowd, so you might wanna read up on those.
 
I think applying sidechain compression techniques is going to be your best bet on a project that has already been recorded. it will allow you to cut out automated bands of frequencies based upon the performance (for example, most of the crowd noise).

My engineer friend says my ideas were "ok", but would take some time to get to desired result.

Ill Green's suggestion to preemptively anticipate these problems before recording, is a good one.

but I know that I record certain live performances with a simple device and treat it later. Most of the time I do not have crowd noise that is too unlistenable.

post a quick clip and maybe we can pinpoint what needs to be done more properly?
good luck man.
 
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