[Hidden-tech] Requesting Audio Editing tips

[Will Loving]

I¹m looking for a quick tip or two from anyone who might have experience
with audio editing on improving some live recordings I¹ve been making
recently at contra dances (with the permission of the musicians, of course).
I¹m using a Zoom H4 digital recorder  (
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1901 ) which does
an excellent job, but my lack of experience with post-production is becoming
clear as I try to figure out how to improve the overall recording and deal
with some issues particular to the kind of music I¹m recording.

I¹ve posted two short clips (uncompressed WAV) that illustrate what I¹m
trying to work with, the wonderful band Nightingale, and particularly Keith
Murphy¹s Québéquois style foot percussion.

http://dedicationtechnologies.com/loving/music/PercussionClip1.wav
http://dedicationtechnologies.com/loving/music/PercussionClip2.wav

The foot percussion is too loud and creates spikes throughout the waveform.
What I¹m hoping for is someone to say something like ³try setting the EQ to
....² or ³use a compressor (or limiter) set to (approx)...² Any suggestions
on improving overall quality would also be welcome. At some point I¹d love
to sit down with someone who really knows this kind of editing and get a
more solid foundation, but for now I have to learn it in bits and pieces due
to time constraints.

I¹m on a Mac, and my available tools are Soundtrack 1.5 which I¹m somewhat
familiar with, Audacity which I¹m a little familiar with but find pretty
clunky compared to Soundtrack, and possibly an old copy of Amadeus. I also
have the latest GarageBand but have never used it for Audio editing. My
preference would be to continue with Soundtrack, but I¹m open to trying
something else (probably GarageBand). I¹m guessing that the filter settings
will be similar regardless of the app...

Many thanks in advance.

Will

Will Loving, President
Dedication Technologies, Inc.



-- 

William M. Loving
Dedication Technologies, Inc.
7 Coach Lane
Amherst, MA 01002-3304   USA
will at dedicationtechnologies.com
Tel: +1 413 253-7223   (GMT ­5)
Fax: +1 206 202-0476

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