Beautiful, isn't it? That's the spectral frequency display view in the Edit screen of Adobe Audition. Other digital audio workstations will also have one. Here, we're looking at the squeak of a door opening. The frequencies are displayed vertically, so reds and yellows along the bottom of the display are lower frequency sounds, and here they taper up to the higher ranges. The louder the frequency, the closer to yellow it is, going through red to much quieter purples.
It's possible actually to see the overtones of a sound in the horizontal stripes they create.
But this view is not just pretty, it can also be useful for dealing with identifying and removing specific frequencies, like electrical hums - but also the bane of voice actors' lives that is the mouth click.
There are lots of suggestions for preventing naturally-occurring mouth clicks, from drinking lots of water, chewing on green apples, drinking apple juice or avoiding dairy products, but even with these precautions they can still creep in.
It's possible actually to see the overtones of a sound in the horizontal stripes they create.
But this view is not just pretty, it can also be useful for dealing with identifying and removing specific frequencies, like electrical hums - but also the bane of voice actors' lives that is the mouth click.
There are lots of suggestions for preventing naturally-occurring mouth clicks, from drinking lots of water, chewing on green apples, drinking apple juice or avoiding dairy products, but even with these precautions they can still creep in.
They are often painfully easy to hear, but can be tricky to hunt down. There are two loud clicks in the above wave form. There's a tiny vertical barb at 1.32 that might be noticeable by squinting but it's impossible to spot the other without zooming in and manually looking all the way through for that distinctive little zigzag blob - and that is time-c0nsuming, fiddly and frustrating.
But now look at exactly the same wave form in the spectral frequency display.
But now look at exactly the same wave form in the spectral frequency display.
Most of the sound is horizontal, but here there are some very distinct vertical forms that look like little strings of beads. One of them is at 1.32, but there's another very strong red one at 1.55. We can position the cursor there, then return to the normal waveform view and zoom in and...
There it is - those sharp zig-zaggy peaks around 1.548 and 1.551. To remove the problem, we can simply highlight that section so that, when that pink part is removed, the two ends will join up together seamlessly (here, the two 'valleys'), and the click disappears.
Yes, clicks are still irritating and fiddly, but, thanks to spectral frequency analysis, a little bit quicker and quite satisfying to squish.
Yes, clicks are still irritating and fiddly, but, thanks to spectral frequency analysis, a little bit quicker and quite satisfying to squish.
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