Audio
repair.
Noise, hum, reverb, wind or a clipped microphone: many recordings cannot be done again. We restore them in the studio and get out of the material what it allows, for interviews, podcasts, videos, talks and archive recordings.
Also known as: audio repair, remove background noise, remove reverb, fix audio, improve video audio, remove hum, digitise cassettes.
Send a recording →Save what can be saved.
The interview was great, but the air conditioning ran in the background. The shoot went well, apart from the wind in the microphone. The talk was a one-off, and the recording sounds as if the speaker stood in a stairwell. Recordings like these cannot be repeated, and that is exactly what audio restoration is for.
We work on your recording with specialist restoration software and a lot of manual work, on the monitors in our studios in Frankfurt or Cologne. We tell you honestly what is possible: what has disappeared completely under noise, no software can bring back. Much of the rest can be improved considerably. How far that can go is shown by the feature film YABADU, now on Amazon Prime Video and Blu-ray: sound from six months of travel without a sound crew, with faulty microphones, which we saved for the cinema screen. Read the case study.
What we remove
from your recording.
Noise and hum
Steady hiss from microphone or preamp, mains hum, whistling and buzzing from equipment.
Background noise
Wind, fans, air conditioning, traffic, clicks, crackle and rustle from lavalier microphones.
Remove reverb
Recordings in large, bare rooms sound reverberant and distant. We pull the room back so the voice sounds close and clear.
Clipping and distortion
Recorded too loud and the sound crackles? We reconstruct clipped peaks as far as the material allows.
Make speech intelligible
Quiet or muffled voices, fluctuating levels, two speakers at different distances from the microphone. We balance them and bring the speech forward.
Archives and memories
Old interviews, talks, concert recordings or private recordings that matter to you. We digitise cassettes, tapes and vinyl on request.
From a broken file to clean sound.
Four steps, one point of contact.
Send the file
Ideally the original file as it came from the camera, recorder or phone, plus a sentence on what is wrong.
Assessment
We listen to the recording, tell you what is realistic and send you a quote.
Restoration
Work in the studio, step by step, so the voice stays natural and does not sound processed.
Delivery
The restored file in the format you need, for videos as a soundtrack in sync with the picture.
When the recording was a one-off.
Typical clients:
Podcasters and journalists. Interviews on the road, by phone or video call, with background noise and varying quality.
Film and video productions. Shoots with wind, traffic or fans, audio from the camera instead of a sound recordist. More on the film sound and post-production page.
Companies and institutions. Talks, webinars, events and archive material that is meant to be used again.
Private individuals. Recordings of personal value that should sound better than they were recorded.
Frequently asked
questions.
Often very far, but not always without traces. The harder we intervene, the more a voice can sound processed. We look for the point where the noise is gone and the voice stays natural.
It depends on the length and condition of the recording. Send us the file and you get a quote in advance.
Ideally the original file, not compressed again. WAV is ideal, MP3, M4A or the audio track of a video work too. Send large files by link, for example via WeTransfer.
Yes. Send us the video or the audio track and we deliver the restored soundtrack in sync with the picture.
Then we tell you honestly after the assessment. Sometimes a new recording in the studio is the better solution, and we can organise that too.
Yes. We use your files only for the job and do not pass them on. We only use AI if you explicitly ask for it or we have agreed on it.
Your recording,
still worth saving?
Tell us briefly what is wrong and send the original file by link. We will get back to you within 24 hours.