Audio CleanUp ...

FuTz wrote on 1/1/2004, 1:03 PM

I got a copy of this old movie and I'd like to clean up the audio track; it's got peak distortion in the high end frequencies.
My question is this one: since these "cracking noises" practically sound like scratches on old records, would it be usefull to use some application like the ones people use to "unscratch" their old records ? I've never tried such application before and I'd like to know before installing some program if it's worth the time and money...
Thanks for feedback!

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 1/1/2004, 1:05 PM
SONY's Noise Reduction plugin would probably help this out a lot. It's not exactly cheap though. You can download it and try it for 15 days free.
FuTz wrote on 1/1/2004, 1:10 PM

Somebody heard about Virtos Audio Noise Wizard ? Any comments?
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/1/2004, 1:17 PM
Never heard of it. Sony's Noise Reduction does have a record crackle and pop remover that works quite well, and Sound Soap's tool is very good at this too, for about half the price. Nowhere near as powerful or adjustable as Sony's tool, but Sound Soap is the next best thing, IMO
FuTz wrote on 1/1/2004, 1:18 PM

I'll be able to render during these 15 days ? Sounds great!
FuTz wrote on 1/1/2004, 1:20 PM

I'll give it a look too, thanks (sound soap) !
By the way Spot, I followed your advice concerning laptop a few weeks ago and bought a Vaio: I'm still soooo much happy by what's under the hood for the price!
johnmeyer wrote on 1/1/2004, 3:41 PM
I have used Sony's Noise Reduction extensively. The click reduction, used for records, will probably do very little to reduce distortion caused by overdriving a microphone or from a recording that is too hot. The sound you are getting may at first sound similar ("crackly"), but the nature of the sound is probably quite different. The part of the noise reduction designed for removing pops and scratch noise from 33 rpm and 78 rpm vinyl and bakelite recordings looks for "impulse" noise that is far shorter in duration than what you probably have. Your ear may perceive a similar sound, but the physics are far different.

Overmodulation distortion is impossible to remove, and difficult to reduce (by contrast, you can sometimes almost perfectly recover audio from clicks and pops caused by scratches). However, I have sometimes been able to improve the quality of the sound by using the Vinyl Restoration part of the noise plugin, using very aggressive settings for the pops and also for the noise. The sound comes out slightly muffled, but much of the "scratchiness" is removed. If you download the trial, play with this part of the plugin first.
FuTz wrote on 1/2/2004, 6:31 AM

So far, I got the best results with the Noise Reduction plugin.
Virtos has got nice features too. but to remove this kind of noise it's a little less efficient.
It's amazing how you get control with NR..!