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Topic: Retrieve original audio by removing censoring beep? (Read 5610 times) previous topic - next topic
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Retrieve original audio by removing censoring beep?

I have some recordings of meetings and phone calls which I would like to give to a third party but first I want to censor certain parts of the audio.  The recordings are in a variety of file formats such as MP3, WMA, WAV (ADPCM) and CELP.

The convention seems to be to use a beep in place of the original audio.  I have heard all sorts of other sounds being used (such as the sound of birds, traffic, aircraft, and so on) but I feel it may be simplest for me to start learning about this by using a beep.

My concern is that it may be possible to remove the beep and hear the original audio which was covered up.

METHOD ONE:  I guess the safest way would be to use an audio editor and actually remove the portion of original speech and replace the missing speech with a beep of the same length.  However this could be very slow work unless someone here knows of some effective methods to help reduce the time taken to do this.

I'm hoping there is an altogether different way which may be much easier than Method One.  For example:

METHOD TWO:  Using an audio editor, record a beep on a track in parallel with the original recording at the right place and for the right duration.  Then mix the beep track with the original audio track.  The beep would be made up of a wide spectrum of audible tones each of which is at many different volumes.  Would this method prevent extraction of the original audio?

OTHER METHODS? Are there any other methods of adding a censoring beep which you can suggest in my situation?

Thank you.
Mr Moonshot

Retrieve original audio by removing censoring beep?

Reply #1 –
You could try using Audacity. Load the audio (in a compatible format) into Audacity, select a desired region, choose Generate > Tone, change the settings if need be and proceed. The generated tone should completely replace the original audio.

Of course, this may not be optimal for you, but it seems quite simple to me.

Retrieve original audio by removing censoring beep?

Reply #2 –
I suggest using DTMF tones instead of pure tones. They sound more pleasing to the ear.