Audio help

[Inazuma]

Over the weekend I filmed a sketch with two actors. The recording was done with two lav mics; one a Rode and one a cheapo one. The actors were sat fairly close to eachother and the cheapo mic has picked up the other actor's voice a bit too much, causing reverb when I put the two tracks together (which are definitely in sync).

 

How can I reduce the other actor's volume in the cheapo mic without much affecting the volume of the actor that it's supposed to be recording? I have Audacity and Adobe Audition.

[Zach Ashcraft]

Are the speaking at the same time, or separately? 

 

If they're speaking at the same time your best bet is just to try cutting various EQ frequencies. Probably in the 500-800hz range. 

 

If separate, why not just fade out the cheapo mic track while the other person is talking? 

[Inazuma]

The cheap mic has also picked up a fair bit of background noise (we were outdoors, next to a coffees shop). So fading the track in and out might be more distracting than not. I will give the eq frequency thing a try :)

[pablogrollan]

Are both mics recorded on the same track (mixed)? Usually you would have each mic in a separate track, in which case, yeah, you should fade the cheapo mic when the opposite actor is talking. To compensate the fading in and out of the background noise you could use a room tone (if you recorded one) or some other suitable background noise applied on a different track during the whole dialogue...

[Henry Gentles]

Have you tried a gate in expander mode? Export the audio to your audio editor and clean up the audio with an expander. Make a background room noise track by just sampling a piece and piggy back it all to cover the length needed in the dialogue.