DAmn those cicadas

[NEVO]

Hi
Mixing a doco at the moment with all the iv's shot outside,with associated sounds of the country setting......on two interviews the cicadas are particulary loud.
Ive tried a variety of things to try and reduce them and while it is better,its still kinda jumping out at me.
Ive tried notching, multi band comp, denoiser.......
Anyone got any suggestions ?
cheers Nevo

[marclop]

Was there any lavalier used to record the interview, or just boom mic?

[tilman]

maybe spectral repair? I would give it a short try but I think it will not help either.

Maybe adding some nicer sounding cicades that give a nice stereo picture.
Adding a nice atmosphere wind or something. but that is not dialog editing :-)

that´s all that came to my mind...

I am curious to hear other suggestions either.

[NEVO]

Originally Posted by marclop

Was there any lavalier used to record the interview, or just boom mic?

just one mic i think its a lav,but man those cicadas are loud .....ill post an example tomorrow when Im at studio.
cheers nevo

[NEVO]

Originally Posted by tilman

maybe spectral repair? I would give it a short try but I think it will not help either.

Maybe adding some nicer sounding cicades that give a nice stereo picture.
Adding a nice atmosphere wind or something. but that is not dialog editing :-)

that´s all that came to my mind...

I am curious to hear other suggestions either.

Im filling with cicadas for the cuts between different talent.....the noise is pretty broadband .....a wall of shrill

[renec]

Cicadas are audio death. Worse than airplanes by miles.

try izotope spectral repair, but be prepared to be disappointed no matter what.

[soundguydave]

I did a doc that had a ton of Cambodian Cicadas in it, which from the sound are the size of dragons. I got very good results with izotope + WaveArts trackplug. There were some artifacts but I was able to mask them with a cleaner, more subtle country amb with cicadas and crickets.

[kk@jamsync.com]

Cicadas are hideous and we are expecting the big outbreak next year. The last time we had it, I had to wear earplugs outside and the sound would be awful unless all our sealed doors in the internal room of the studio were closed.

Nightmare.

[corky]

I had the exact same problem about two weeks ago, although it wasn't a professional shoot thank God; it was just some experimental video shot out at the graveyard my parents are buried in. I didn't really notice the little buggers until I got home and got the files into Premiere. I flew the audio out to Audition and just EQ'ed the screaming infidels out a little, or at least as best I could without totally messing up the rest of the audio spectrum. They're still loud though.

[Sonsey@mac.com]

I've had some luck with a combination of EQ, and CEDAR DNS in the "High" setting... didn't remove them, but got them under control.

[Slik dA Relic]

a biplane with DDT would do the trick.. but u might wanna warn ur neighbors... lol

da relic

[kk@jamsync.com]

Originally Posted by Slik dA Relic

a biplane with DDT would do the trick.. but u might wanna warn ur neighbors... lol

da relic

Noooo. They make a sickening KARUUUNCH when you walk on them at the end of the season. They all seem to croak w/in two days and litter the streets and sidewalks. Disgusting! I really hate them...them and their red eyes, too.

[NEVO]

well x noise and some harmonic notch filtering has helped quite a bit,and layers of summer countryside......
cheers nevo

[ggegan]

Once I was lounging next to my in-law's pool in Toronto and there was a cicada in a nearby tree that was so loud I had to go inside. It was saturating my ear drums. It was worse than my neighbor's paranoid psychotic Weimeraner!

[Slik dA Relic]

Originally Posted by kk@jamsync.com

Noooo. They make a sickening KARUUUNCH when you walk on them at the end of the season. They all seem to croak w/in two days and litter the streets and sidewalks. Disgusting! I really hate them...them and their red eyes, too.

wow... 17 yrs underground, and then they die after a few days above? i guess they mate and have then have the heart attack... ive never seen them up close, but theyre huge insects... i hear them all the time, but can never spot them.. i dont see many in NYC.

da relic

[corky]

"ive never seen them up close, but theyre huge insects"

I saw a dead one today behind the front door in someone's house. I didn't realize they were out until this thread started. When I heard them at the cemetery a while back, I figured they were locusts. They don't sound much different to me. They sure look different though. A cicada's about the size of your thumb.

I wonder if they'd make any noise if you twirled them from a string the way we did june bugs when I was a kid?

[mattrixx]

The Vuvuzela of the insect world Grrrrrr.

[Big Andy]

If you take a lot of time and have the patience you could layer 14 Q10s and then pull them out Hz by Hz.

[Jfriah]

Matrixx and Andy are both correct.


If you can line up narrow Q's or want to draw stuff out in iZotope RX, also some CEDAR DNS tasking.

I always had a chuckle, as a Sammy-era Van Halen fan (hey don't be judging.) that a prime frequency for cleaning that stuff out seemed to be 5150.

But as you know, they are wide-ranging.

Good luck...................bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Jeff