Beyond Confusion Episode 3: Get On Board with AI or Fall Behind - Using the 50-Foot Chicken Video as a Case Study
- confusedstate51
- Nov 25
- 6 min read
Change for a lot of people is hard. Being neurodivergent, I do not need to have this explained to me. However, sometimes when you have a hyper focus of interest in rare instances that may be okay.
One of my hyper obsessive fascinations as of late has been on artificial intelligence. My thinking on the subject since the beginning of the year has heavily evolved. In terms of AI, there are segments of AI where I have gone from I will occasionally utilize this tool to I will not utilize it anymore. One example is in writing. I used it to help with my writing early on, but then some of my peers pointed out the cliches when using AI. If you used it to help you compose a post on Linkedin, it would automatically input emojis into your post. In other instances, the AI program loved adding emdashes. While I do not hate emdashes, I knew of them, but never really utilized them until AI populated them into my writing..
I started to also think about what this will do to my brain as I have family members who deal with dementia and cognitive decline. I do not want to just start turning off my brain and farm team it out to a computer. Another instance where I will not use it is in research. AI has a bad habit in hallucinating. If I do research, I want to do a deep dive and not trust large language models that are feeding off tons of pages online that individuals may have populated with falsehoods and conspiracies. I want to do the critical thinking, the library research, and the Boolean logic I am familiar with. If I utilize AI, I will use the deeper research tools to verify the websites and sources fed to me.
One thing I have gone from never to sometimes on is on production tools. I truly get the arguments on it taking work from other individuals and giving it to others who profit off that work. As someone who is a creator, writer, producer, and co-host of this podcast, it does not sit easily with me. However, as someone who i does not have the capital to pay actors, being able to utilize AI to design a character voice and then add that voice talent into the creative commons 0 sound effects and music I can use allows me for me to build this new venture up initially profit wise to where I will be able to eventually hire talent down the road.
This is a hot button issue that is only going to keep flaring up as we move forward in this digital age of intellectual property. I would caution however to not sit on the sidelines and not become familiar with AI. I think, you should understand and learn about it because if you do not, you will be left behind and not be competitive in the job market.
Two weeks ago, we did our Branson episode. The bulk of the episode was taped in May. When it came time to do production for the post-show social media and website segment regarding the 50-foot chicken, that is when I realized you cannot sit on the AI sidelines anymore.
As mentioned in our premiere, my Bachelor of Arts is in Radio/TV/Film. Today, the adage is with the Internet anyone with a smartphone and Internet connection can be an active journalist. When we determined the podcast format, we knew we would dedicate an episode to Branson, Missouri. I knew I would have to tell the 50-foot chicken story, and I would have to do a video in front of the restaurant to document it. I never expected the chicken would transform from being a patriotic American to being a Hispanic mascot named Senor Cluck.
The issue with just using an Iphone in the environment in the outdoor environment of Branson is it is noisy with a lot of background noise. If I had true TV production equipment, I probably could have used a good lavalier microphone, or mic with mind shield cover, and a steady camera. Because I did not, I had raw video with a lot of background traffic noise that competed with my talking. The problems can be resolved, but it is not always easy.
When it got time to start working on podcast post-production, I learned about an AI tool called auphonic.com. This website allows you to make an account, pull up an audio file, and it will clean up your audio to where it will remove bad background noise, resulting in crystal clear sounding audio. I originally used this on my podcast recordings and it was amazing compared to what the raw audio sounded like.
Doing some digging, I found a video on Youtube where someone showed how they used it to clean up an outdoor video issue. I did not think it would be possible to use it for that, but then this video proved me wrong. The one thing that stumped me in the video was the individual had all background noise removed, leaving only the talking. This is great but if you are outside along a busy road, there needs to be some natural background sound otherwise it does not seem realistic.
The workaround
I experimented with a workaround. I came back with my Iphone video and when I got home, I uploaded the mov file to Google Drive. The next thing I did was I got on my windows computer and went to freeconvert.com where I went to choose the file from Google Drive and converted it to an mp4. Once the file converted to an mp4 I then downloaded it to my computer.
Once the mp4 was downloaded I inserted the mp4 file into CorelVideoStudio pro. That video file has the exact same video and raw audio of the mov but in a format that works with the production software. The issue however now is to get that video file into an exclusive audio file format so we can upload it into auphonic.
In Corel, once the video is on a timeline, you can click on share, choose audio profile and then under format select wav. Once you do that, under you create the file name, choose its location, and click start. It should not take more than a couple of seconds for it to render and then save.
As for the video mp4 in Corel, I will leave that open, come back to the edit tab, and minimize it for a few minutes.
The Saved Wav File
With the saved wav file, you now go to https://www.auphonic.com and upload the file. You do a simple voice clean and upload it. You do not have to do anything else. The voice clean will process the file and eliminate all of the noise, except for the talking that was recorded during the shoot. Be sure to preview and listen to the whole clip. Make sure the AI did not mess up. If it did you may have to do it a second time. If everything is good, you can download it to the same location, with the same name overriding the previous file, or give it a new name putting it in the same or in a new file location of your choosing.
Once processed, you come back and open up Corel again, and you insert the audio of just the voice to the timeline. The voice audio will be put on a separate timeline. The main video with the original audio track will still be left intact.
Once done, you then will sync up the clean audio with the video feed's original voice and background audio feed. Once you do that in Corel you adjust the original audio downward and the clean voice audio upward till you get a sound where your raw video original environment audio can be heard with the audio at a level that is not overwhelming the clean voice recording. You then can proceed with adding your graphics and any additional features that add to the entertainment value.
At the end of the blog post is a 12-minute video demonstrating this. As I mention in that video, back in the day you would have field equipment like a boom mic, wind shield and other components that may cost a few hundred extra dollars more in the field. That excludes the studio time afterwards, where you still have to perfect the sound and sweeten it, which adds additional cost.
However, now with Auphonic, you saved a lot of time and have such clean audio, that people will end up eventually losing their jobs.
As mentioned, this is auto sound adjusting. I do not know what art or dialogue is being stolen or how you can claim work is being stolen when it is reducing noise. This is a little different. However, it is going to cost some jobs. What we will need to do is recognize this and prepare ourselves by learning ways to adapt and educating ourselves, so we don't fall behind.
Resources:
AI audio tool: https://www.auphonic.com
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