Old 12-09-2019, 03:43 AM   #1
Greg Savage
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Default Forensic Audio

Curious to know if any users here are in the field of Forensics.
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Old 12-09-2019, 10:28 AM   #2
serr
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I feel like it's something I would enjoy and be good at along similar lines of restoration work. I have absolutely no clue where to find any work opportunities with something like that though. My guess is there are about 4 job openings somewhere and they're filled and pretty part time.
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Old 12-09-2019, 10:43 AM   #3
semiquaver
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I did a single forensic gig (for a trial lawyer) a couple years back - used Izotope RX and ReaFIR...
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Old 12-09-2019, 12:17 PM   #4
serr
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I did a single forensic gig (for a trial lawyer) a couple years back - used Izotope RX and ReaFIR...
That's what I kind of figured. Occasional one-off gigs if you can find them.

Curious what the scope was there semiquaver.

Were you merely cleaning up noisy audio to hear some speech? Or did this actually get into determining if a recording was faked? Like looking at line noise and comparing it to police/FBI records (they keep recordings of power line noise for such things) to find otherwise perfectly executed edits and that kind of thing.
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Old 12-09-2019, 12:58 PM   #5
Judders
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I do forensic 3D scene reconstruction and imaging for a living, and have recently thought about branching out into some audio enhancement. Mostly it will be cleaning up recordings for playback in court. I don't expect work to be regular, but an occasional supplement.

Here's a good article on forensic audio:

Why Forensic Audio Isn’t Audio Engineering
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniq...io-engineering
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Old 12-09-2019, 01:16 PM   #6
Greg Savage
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Originally Posted by Judders View Post
I do forensic 3D scene reconstruction and imaging for a living, and have recently thought about branching out into some audio enhancement. Mostly it will be cleaning up recordings for playback in court. I don't expect work to be regular, but an occasional supplement.

Here's a good article on forensic audio:

Why Forensic Audio Isn’t Audio Engineering
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniq...io-engineering
Cool!

Law enforcement has a need for audio enhancement, but audio forensics goes a lot deeper than that
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Old 12-09-2019, 01:17 PM   #7
Greg Savage
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Originally Posted by serr View Post
I feel like it's something I would enjoy and be good at along similar lines of restoration work. I have absolutely no clue where to find any work opportunities with something like that though. My guess is there are about 4 job openings somewhere and they're filled and pretty part time.
Yea goes much much deeper than audio restoration, but yea thought I'd see who was working in the field here.
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Old 12-09-2019, 01:24 PM   #8
serr
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Restoration work would certainly come up. Making speech that was recorded on some thingy from across the room clear and audible for a court sounds like it would be a common enough job.

The stuff where someone attempts to edit something to the level where it would hold up under forensic examination to fake something though would be fun for me. Restoration work can be rewarding too and is also something I enjoy.
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Old 12-09-2019, 01:24 PM   #9
Judders
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Quote:
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Law enforcement has a need for audio enhancement, but audio forensics goes a lot deeper than that
Yeah, but I would most likely be targeting law firms as a subcontractor for a forensics company. Analysing metadata and the like is above my pay grade!

So are you working in forensic audio?
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Old 12-09-2019, 01:27 PM   #10
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Yeah, but I would most likely be targeting law firms as a subcontractor for a forensics company. Analysing metadata and the like is above my pay grade!

So are you working in forensic audio?
I dabble in it, from time to time, but the older I get the more I consider being more involved. These ears won't last forever.
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Old 12-09-2019, 01:30 PM   #11
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Quote:
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I dabble in it, from time to time, but the older I get the more I consider being more involved. These ears won't last forever.
Cool stuff. When you've done it, has it been working directly for police departments or subcontracting through a private forensics company?
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Old 12-10-2019, 01:15 PM   #12
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Cool stuff. When you've done it, has it been working directly for police departments or subcontracting through a private forensics company?
Generally law firms.
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Old 12-10-2019, 02:33 PM   #13
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Generally law firms.
Cool.

I'm guessing civil cases would be a lot more common than criminal trials for forensic audio work. Audio visual recordings made by private detectives for insurance fraud and the like.
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Old 12-10-2019, 03:27 PM   #14
Greg Savage
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Cool.

I'm guessing civil cases would be a lot more common than criminal trials for forensic audio work. Audio visual recordings made by private detectives for insurance fraud and the like.
It's all over the map. A lot of times they won't tell you what it's for in terms of the case. I've never been told names, why or which side my findings would help.

When you get into visual then the field expands a lot.
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