Episode 127
Testing AI Audio Enhancement Tools: Descript Studio Sound vs Adobe V2
In today's video, I'm comparing two powerhouse AI audio background removal tools: Descript Studio Sound and Adobe V2. As someone who's produced podcasts for over a decade, I know the struggle of dealing with less-than-perfect audio, so I'm putting these tools through their paces to help you make the best choice for your show.
I'll walk you through real-world scenarios we face daily at Bamby Media - from pesky car noise to those annoying clothing rustles (we've all been there! 😅). Whether you're recording without a proper mic or dealing with room echo, I've got you covered with practical solutions and honest feedback on what actually works.
CHAPTER MARKERS
00:00 Introduction to Audio Fixing Tools
00:14 Overview of Descript Studio Sound and Adobe V2
00:24 Pre-recorded Audio Samples
01:27 Testing Car Noise Removal
05:33 Evaluating Rubbing Noise Reduction
08:44 Handling No Microphone Audio
10:28 Fixing Distant Microphone Audio
12:16 Final Thoughts and Recommendations
13:42 Conclusion and Custom Review Offer
BAMBY MEDIA LINKS:
Custom Review Of Your Audio/Edit
GEAR WE USE HERE AT BAMBY MEDIA:
Aputure Amaran 200d LED Video Light
Pre-Amp/Mixers we recommend
Transcript
If your audio has a lot of background noise or you feel like you're too
Speaker:far away from your microphone when you recorded it and you're wanting
Speaker:to try and fix it, there are a couple of tools that you can use to help you
Speaker:achieve something of a good result.
Speaker:So I'm going to go through Descript Studio Sound, which is an AI based tool.
Speaker:Adobe V2, which is part of their podcast studio sort of area.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:I've pre recorded some crappy sounding audio.
Speaker:So we've got four different sounds.
Speaker:We've got me with some car noise.
Speaker:It's quite loud and distracting to see if we can manage that.
Speaker:Actually, no microphone at all.
Speaker:And it's just the laptop that we're relying on.
Speaker:This is particularly handy for those of you who interview people.
Speaker:You have guests and the guest doesn't have anything.
Speaker:Can you fix it?
Speaker:We're going to have a little look at that as well.
Speaker:We've also got Rubbing.
Speaker:So I just used this now when you're doing like a podcast recording, sometimes
Speaker:you've got like clothes that make noise or the guest has got clothes that make
Speaker:noise and it can be quite distracting.
Speaker:There's something going on and there's just these little sounds that you
Speaker:can't sort of manage, can't get rid of.
Speaker:So I've done one of those.
Speaker:And then the other one I did was actually just this microphone.
Speaker:Way too far away from my mouth.
Speaker:It is something that is very common, and do these tools
Speaker:help in that situation as well.
Speaker:The first thing I'm going to show you is I get you to listen to what we originally
Speaker:have as our different audio samples.
Speaker:So we've got the car traffic noise.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:We can hear some car traffic noise.
Speaker:We'll go into it in a minute.
Speaker:We've got the rubbing.
Speaker:You can hear some rubbing there.
Speaker:We've got the no microphone.
Speaker:I'm also doing a test where I'm just relying on the, Terrible.
Speaker:This is so far away.
Speaker:Too far away.
Speaker:And it's going to be picking up all sorts of Too far away.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So there are four.
Speaker:Now what I've done is I've put each of them into these separate things.
Speaker:So we've got Enhanced Speech V2, which you have to access via
Speaker:podcasts like Adobe Podcast Studio.
Speaker:You have to have an account for this, and then you go to
Speaker:Enhanced Speech to access V2.
Speaker:It brings you into here.
Speaker:You can upload your files and you can see, you can press.
Speaker:Enhance speech once it's happened and you can set the strength.
Speaker:Descript, similar sort of situation.
Speaker:You have to go into Descript, you have to set it up as a new session and
Speaker:then I've got different compositions within each one for each thing.
Speaker:So can't always rubbing, no microphone and too far away.
Speaker:So I've got them set at 90 percent.
Speaker:I'm going to give you my feedback on each of them so that you get a feel
Speaker:for what I think wins, let's start with the traffic one and we're going
Speaker:to have a listen to each of them.
Speaker:It's quite loud
Speaker:so you hear all those all these car sounds and then I start talking okay.
Speaker:And then as we go on, welcome to my podcast.
Speaker:My name is Brianna and I'm the, that's the car sound.
Speaker:All right, now let's play with it in Adobe V2.
Speaker:Car sound here, pressing play 90 percent strength.
Speaker:It's quite loud.
Speaker:There's a lot of noise in here.
Speaker:So I'm going to talk over top of this.
Speaker:Welcome to my podcast.
Speaker:My name is Brianna and I'm the head honcho here at Bamboo Media.
Speaker:Now, let's go to Descript.
Speaker:Same thing.
Speaker:Car sounds please.
Speaker:It's quite loud.
Speaker:There's a lot of noise in here.
Speaker:So I'm going to talk over top of this.
Speaker:Welcome to my podcast.
Speaker:My name is Brianna and I'm the head honcho here at Bamboo Media.
Speaker:What do you think?
Speaker:So, if we listen back, welcome to my podcast, my name is Brianna.
Speaker:Welcome to my podcast, my name is Brianna.
Speaker:Welcome to my podcast, my name is Brianna.
Speaker:How does my voice actually sound in each of these scenarios?
Speaker:Because it's all well and good to remove the background noise, but if you
Speaker:sound like trash, if it doesn't sound like you anymore, what's the point?
Speaker:Yeah?
Speaker:So, you've got to have this midway, like, think about that as well.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Go and have a listen again.
Speaker:So for the traffic noise, for the background noise removal, Adobe
Speaker:V2 did the best job of removing the background noise for sure.
Speaker:, did you hear that?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It sounded like there was no background noise.
Speaker:That was actually pretty insane that it removed it.
Speaker:But the problem I have with that is that when you then listen to my voice.
Speaker:Sounds rubbish, doesn't sound very good, like it's all digitised, it sounds weird,
Speaker:it's like all these different sort of tones in there that aren't quite right.
Speaker:It just doesn't sound natural at all.
Speaker:So the background noise has been removed, but I don't think I sound very good.
Speaker:Now with Descript.
Speaker:There was less of the background noise actually removed.
Speaker:You could still hear a little bit of the, like a little bit of that sound, right?
Speaker:You can hear it, but my voice was preserved a lot better and
Speaker:actually sounded pretty good.
Speaker:Like, let's be honest, it sounded pretty good.
Speaker:Sounded like me, uh, more than the Adobe V2.
Speaker:Okay, now let's go into the rubbing.
Speaker:So bringing it up again, I'm just going to rub it and I'm going to talk.
Speaker:And we're just going to see sort of what sounds it picks up.
Speaker:So hear those, chk, chk.
Speaker:Those sounds.
Speaker:So that's what we're trying to sort of remove a little bit.
Speaker:Let's go to the rubbing here for in V2.
Speaker:I'm just going to rub it, and I'm going to talk.
Speaker:And we're just going to see sort of what sounds it picks
Speaker:up, how much of it it picks up.
Speaker:Okay, wow.
Speaker:Now I'll descript.
Speaker:I'm just going to rub it, and I'm going to talk.
Speaker:And we're just going to see sort of what sounds it picks
Speaker:up, how much of it it picks up.
Speaker:Okay, so the rubbing.
Speaker:Which one wins, Which one minimises the rubbing, Which one's preserving the voice
Speaker:best, what's the situation there, I'm just gonna rub it, and I'm gonna talk,
Speaker:and we're just gonna see sort of what sounds it picks up, I'm just gonna rub
Speaker:it and I'm gonna talk, and we're just gonna see sort of what sounds it picks up.
Speaker:I'm just going to rub it and I'm going to talk.
Speaker:And we're just going to see sort of what sounds it picks up.
Speaker:. Again, the Adobe almost just, there was no sound at all.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But again, digitization, just whatever they've done is not awesome.
Speaker:And actually getting that to sound still good as a vocal.
Speaker:Descript.
Speaker:It actually removed a fair bit of the rubbing.
Speaker:It did better with the rubbing than it did with the car noise with the like,
Speaker:you know, just sort of monotonous sounds.
Speaker:It did better with the rubbing.
Speaker:That preserves my voice better than the V2 does.
Speaker:And it got rid of the All right.
Speaker:So again, descript in this situation wins for me, because
Speaker:again, my voice is preserved.
Speaker:It still sounds pretty good.
Speaker:And I can go in with EQ and compression on top of that.
Speaker:By the way, while we're here.
Speaker:If you want help with this kind of thing, so if you have an EQ compression
Speaker:problem, if you have audio that it sounds kind of bad, you're watching this
Speaker:going, I mean, that all sounds great, Brianna, but I don't have the time or
Speaker:I don't really know what I'm doing.
Speaker:And just, can you help me?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:The answer is yes.
Speaker:There's a link in the description below where you can actually book
Speaker:in for a custom review of your edit.
Speaker:So you will be able to provide your edit.
Speaker:In a format that makes sense, we do like, if you use Descript, we can get
Speaker:into the session and make adjustments to it, give you your proper EQ, your
Speaker:proper compression, what you should do with studio sound, like other
Speaker:things that you could potentially do.
Speaker:Then we shoot you a tutorial, uh, that showcases, Hey, this
Speaker:is what's best for your voice.
Speaker:If you don't have Descript, if you're using some other tool, maybe if
Speaker:it's even Audacity or GarageBand or something, we can still work with that.
Speaker:You can book in a session and then we'll send you an email asking some questions
Speaker:and we will be able to work with you on helping you actually fix your EQ,
Speaker:your compression, your crappy audio.
Speaker:So that is something that we can definitely do.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Now let's move on to the no mic situation.
Speaker:So if we get a little bit of a recap as to what the no mic was.
Speaker:I'm also doing a test where I'm just relying on the laptop or
Speaker:the computer to pick up my voice.
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:Please never do that.
Speaker:But you know, it is a sound we hear.
Speaker:All the time, because there are a lot of guests with podcasts that
Speaker:don't actually have any equipment, so you just roll with what you can.
Speaker:Okay, so now we're going for no mic.
Speaker:Here we go.
Speaker:V2.
Speaker:I'm also doing a test where I'm just relying on the laptop or
Speaker:the computer to pick up my voice.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I'm also doing a test where I'm just relying on the laptop or
Speaker:the computer to pick up my voice.
Speaker:So if this is something where you're doing it over Zoom perhaps
Speaker:and the guest doesn't have a, uh, you know, microphone or anything,
Speaker:and they're just using their Mac.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So what do you think?
Speaker:I'm also doing a test where I'm just relying on the laptop or
Speaker:the computer to pick up my voice.
Speaker:I'm also doing a test where I'm just relying on the laptop or
Speaker:the computer to pick up my voice.
Speaker:I'm also doing a test where I'm just relying on the laptop or the
Speaker:computer to pick up my voice, I think.
Speaker:Adobe actually wins.
Speaker:The V2 wins.
Speaker:There is definitely digitization happening here, but Descript
Speaker:I think has taken it too far.
Speaker:The level is going whoop, whoop.
Speaker:It's kind of gets, it's sucking, like whoop, whoop, just a little bit.
Speaker:That's a problem and it is doing that worse, more than the Adobe V2 is.
Speaker:And so if I had to choose, I would go with the V2 here.
Speaker:Now let's do too far away from the microphone.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So this is common where someone will have it.
Speaker:It's like sort of there because they want it out of shot.
Speaker:They don't want people to see it in their shot.
Speaker:But as a result, this is so far away.
Speaker:Adobe first up.
Speaker:Okay, so this is common where someone will have it sort of there
Speaker:because they want it out of shot.
Speaker:They don't want people to see it in their shot.
Speaker:But as a result, this is so far away.
Speaker:That's impressive because this mic was like out of shot.
Speaker:It was probably 50 centimetres away.
Speaker:That's pretty damn good for it to sound like that.
Speaker:But as a result, this is so far away.
Speaker:It's got a few problems, but wow.
Speaker:Let's go for the descript.
Speaker:Too far away?
Speaker:Okay, so this is common, where someone will have it sort of there
Speaker:because they want it out of shot.
Speaker:They don't want people to see it in their shot.
Speaker:But as a result, this is So far away.
Speaker:BLEUGH!
Speaker:BLEUGH!
Speaker:BLEUGH!
Speaker:BLEUGH!
Speaker:I hate that!
Speaker:Oh my god, that sounds terrible!
Speaker:Adobe, well done for that.
Speaker:Uh, again, you know, it doesn't sound so, like, there's bits
Speaker:of me that are kind of missing.
Speaker:You can hear there's a digital aspect to it.
Speaker:It's a little bit robotic, but it's the best of a bad situation, right?
Speaker:If you have crappy, like, no good audio, and the microphone's too far away,
Speaker:this has sorted it out pretty well.
Speaker:Like, you've salvaged it enough that a normal lay person that's like, just
Speaker:listening to your podcast isn't gonna be like, Oh, this sounds terrible.
Speaker:I'm turning it off.
Speaker:Like, they can hear you.
Speaker:They can understand it, and it's It's worked really in that situation.
Speaker:So yeah, who wins?
Speaker:Let's have a little chat about that.
Speaker:I mean, I feel like it's a little bit neck and neck.
Speaker:Descript Studio Sound works better in the situations where there was a
Speaker:bit of background noise that needed to be removed, like a fair bit.
Speaker:And also preserve the voice.
Speaker:So you actually still had maybe a little bit of the background noise in
Speaker:there, but the voice sounded better.
Speaker:Whereas the Adobe V2 was better in the scenarios where it was less about the
Speaker:background noise and it was more about the fact that some other things were
Speaker:happening, like you're too far away or you're working with a crappy microphone.
Speaker:V2 works sometimes.
Speaker:Descript works sometimes.
Speaker:Studio sound.
Speaker:Neither of them have kicked it out of the park.
Speaker:Is that the thing?
Speaker:Knocked it out of the park.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:No one has actually done that in my opinion for this.
Speaker:These AI tools are just going to continue to get better.
Speaker:I would hope that there are plugins out there.
Speaker:They probably are, that actually I just don't even know about.
Speaker:And so if we have tools that we know are going to be quick that can get us most
Speaker:of the way there, and then we can build on top of that and get it to where we
Speaker:really need it to sit, to just give it that extra sparkle and those extra things
Speaker:that most people don't really do, then that's the thing that I'm going to do.
Speaker:Every single time.
Speaker:Would love for you to weigh in on that.
Speaker:What are your favorite tools?
Speaker:And I hope that you've really enjoyed this.
Speaker:And as I said, about halfway through, if you have audio that you've recorded
Speaker:and you really can't figure out how to make it sound good, then yes, book
Speaker:in for a custom review of your edit.
Speaker:We will be able to help you assess, fix, and show you what you can do for
Speaker:your voice long term to help you just get the best sound that you can out of
Speaker:your microphone or out of your location.
Speaker:All right, that's it.
Speaker:Until the next one.
Speaker:I hope you have a great day.
