Can AI Save Movie Dialogue Clarity?
Sound design, editing, and mixing are key elements of any audiovisual production, whether it is a movie, a TV show, or a podcast. A recurring problem in these productions is the poor sound of dialogue, which makes it difficult for the viewer to understand and enjoy a full experience, which is normally frustrating.
Why does this happen? Well, there are several reasons why the sound is poor in the dialogues of audiovisual works. A common one is background noise, which can occur due to various factors, such as air conditioning, automobile traffic, street noise, engine hum, etc. Also, echo, distortion, out-of-sync with the picture, pitch problems, volume problems, and more, can happen and require the good skill of an expert. The frequency of such problems depends on many factors, such as the quality of the recording equipment, the recording environment, the project budget, the experience and skills of the audio production team, etc. But, generally speaking, the removal of dialogue noises is a basic task of audiovisual production (and demands a lot of time…) since bad sound can distract the audience and negatively affect the overall quality of the production.
An editing process that involves removing background noise, normalizing audio levels, correcting tonal problems, and synchronizing dialogue with images is typically what is used to clean up dialogue audio for audiovisual work. This is done using high-quality recording equipment and audio editing software tools (some of them, quite expensive.) Post-processing techniques such as equalization, compression, and noise reduction can also be used to improve sound quality.
Fortunately, things change, and technology has come a long way in recent years. Artificial intelligence has proven to be an invaluable tool for improving the sound of dialogue, music, sound effects, and more. With the ability to analyze human speech and background noise, artificial intelligence can reduce the negative impact of noise on dialogue quality, resulting in clearer and more accurate voices. In this post, we explore how artificial intelligence can be used to save dialogue clarity and how it can help to improve its quality to give listeners a more satisfying listening experience.
Let’s check some useful tools that can do that work for you.
Adobe Audition
This tool offers a wide range of functions, from recording to mixing and mastering. With Adobe Audition, users can record audio from a variety of sources, such as microphones, musical instruments, and external devices, and edit and mix the resulting audio recordings to produce high-quality sounds.
It not only removes noise and enhances audio quality: users can apply various effects and filters to remove hum, hiss, and other unwanted noise and improve sound clarity and volume. The tool also has advanced features such as silence detection and click and pop-up removal. Other unique features of Adobe Audition include the ability to edit and mix audio recordings in real-time, support for multiple audio file formats, and integration with other Adobe audio and video editing tools. For “The Revenant” (2015), several scenes were shot in remote wilderness locations, which presented a huge challenge for capturing clear dialogue due to the presence of background noise. Adobe Audition saved the day here.
iZotope RX
This software uses digital signal processing and machine learning techniques to clean up and enhance the sound of dialogue and all sorts of recordings. With its intuitive interface, iZotope RX offers a wide range of tools for removing noise, reducing reverb, removing clicks and pops, repairing clips, restoring old recordings, and much more. Highlights of iZotope RX: a high-resolution spectrogram that allows detailed visualization of audio waveforms and frequency spectra and an automatic problem detection feature that uses machine learning to automatically identify and fix common audio problems. It also involves separating sound sources, allowing you to extract specific elements from the mix, such as the speaker’s voice or specific instruments. For movies like Blade Runner 2049, The Martian, or Avengers the sound mixers have used iZotope RX to fix the audio problems in their dialogues.
Cedar Studio
This is some of the best-known tools in the audio community. As an audio processing software package, it uses advanced noise removal and restoration techniques to improve the sound quality of your recordings. With an intuitive interface and comprehensive tools, Cedar Studio can remove narrowband and wideband noise, reduce echo, remove clicks, and restore old recordings. Cedar Studio includes excellent noise reduction technology from DNA One, which uses advanced algorithms to effectively reduce background noise, and Retouch technology, which accurately removes unwanted noise and artifacts. In addition, Cedar Studio provides real-time audio analysis, allowing users to identify and troubleshoot audio problems in real time. It has been used for the film Solo: A Star Wars Story, with great success.
So, using artificial intelligence tools to clean up spoken audio can bring many benefits to those working in the audiovisual industry. First, AI can save time and resources by automating much of the audio cleaning process, which means professionals can focus on other important project tasks. Things change, and we all should adapt and make the best use of such trends.
If you want to learn more about new technologies in the audio industry, or if you require expert advice in this area, don’t hesitate to contact Enhanced Media Sound Studio. We take pride in our work and enjoy helping others take their work to the next level of excellence.
