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Subject:Removing Hiss from WAV files taken from old tapes
Posted by: vincesonic
Date:5/23/2002 3:07:43 AM

I have recorded some old tapes to my PC as 44.1khz WAV files, and am trying to find a way of removing the inevitable 'hiss' that was on the tapes...is there a way of doing this using Sound Forge XP 5.0 ??
Many thanks
Vince

Subject:RE: Removing Hiss from WAV files taken from old tapes
Reply by: Engineer
Date:5/23/2002 6:57:23 AM

The only way to correctly remove his from tapes is with another plug in programme from sound forge is NOISE REDUCTION 2.0 It has been bundled with sound force V6

Bill Woolford

Subject:RE: Removing Hiss from WAV files taken from old tapes
Reply by: vincesonic
Date:5/23/2002 9:13:12 AM

Ay Carumba!
Noise Reduction 2.0 - Download Price: $279.97
Hmmm...think I'll live with Hissy wav files!

Subject:RE: Removing Hiss from WAV files taken from old tapes
Reply by: mcenkner
Date:5/23/2002 3:15:45 PM

There's a free trial for download. Assuming you have it, what's next? I saw once a trick of grabbing some of the "silence" and deleting that from the rest of the signal. How can I do that in Sound Forge/Noise Reduction 2? Cheers.

Subject:RE: Removing Hiss from WAV files taken from old tapes
Reply by: Loonie
Date:5/23/2002 6:18:42 PM

Here's wot ya do:

-Select an area of 'silence' on the file. This will be used as a noise footprint. Around 2-5 seconds worth of silence should be sufficient.

-Open the Noise Reduction plugin. Click the 'Noiseprint' tab down the bottom.

-Click on 'reset', just to be on safe side. :P

-Near bottom-left, you'll see a box, "Capture Noiseprint". Tick it.

-Hit preview. The area you selected will be played while NR works out the noise print to be removed. Once done, it will continue to play looped, but now you will have a noiseprint capture, and you will hear it's effect.

-Now you can tweak the amount and type of reduction (see below).

-To preview/apply the Noise reduction to the whole file, right-click ABOVE the selection button (somewhere in the blank area), and click on "Select All Data" from the drop-down menu that appears.

-You should now be able to preview the entire file, with the Noise reduction. From there, you can make more adjustments, or if you're happy with it, hit "OK".

-Voila, one Noise Reduced file! :D

--------------------
The main Adjustments and tweak controls are along the top of the NR plugin window.

"Mode" alters the type, and goes from "Mode 0", which is the most effective, but may have the most noticeable side-effects (aliasing), to "Mode 3", which is not as effective, but is less prone to aliasing.

The top fader adjusts the amount of reduction. It ranges from off(0db) to ridiculous (100db). The more reduction you put on, the more effect you will have on both noise reduction and aliasing. You need to find an ideal compromise.

It takes some learning to really get the best out of the plug in because of it's flexible nature. Sometimes it can even be effective to apply two lots of NR by repeating the above process fresh once NR has already been applied (Thus letting you use a lower value on the "Reduce Noise by xx db" slider, which in turn produces less of an alias effect). Results also depends on the severity of the noise content of the material of course.

That should get ya started. Phew! :D

Subject:RE: Removing Hiss from WAV files taken from old tapes
Reply by: dbarry
Date:5/25/2002 9:19:59 AM

Another approach is simpler, but maybe not as good. Use the graphic EQ in realtime and pull down the sliders up over 5kHZ until you hear something acceptable. If you use the 20 band EQ in high resolution you are simulating the NR software.
The NR software does a spectral analysis of the noise print then removes that frequency profile.
The hiss may be just some old Dolby hf emphasis that will clean up with EQ

On the other hand, I had someone ask me to add hiss to a recording. Actually he wanted the sound of vinyl. So I recorded some end of record sounds and did a paste over. Does anyone have a good source for vinyl sounds on the web I can grab?


Good Luk

Subject:Simulating Vinyl program
Reply by: decrink
Date:5/26/2002 7:10:44 AM

Look at iZotope Vinyl plug in. It may add what you need. You can add a variety of levels of clicks, pops and scratches to your hearts content (and its free):

http://www.izotope.com/products/

Subject:RE: Simulating Vinyl program
Reply by: dbarry
Date:5/29/2002 12:13:00 AM

Thanks, a good hint, I downloaded the iZotope plugin and it works as advertised.
Now I 'm trying to figure out why someone would put that much effort into such a plugin. It really is cute, though the "exact" sound I wanted was easier to get from a real turntable. I guess I also could have ripped the first few seconds off Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here, but that would not be right;)

Subject:RE: Removing Hiss from WAV files taken from old tapes
Reply by: DukeMedia
Date:5/29/2002 3:48:29 PM

Noise Reduction 2.0 is bundled with SF 6.0? I can't locate it in that version. I downloaded the trial version, and think it will help very much with our digital audio projects. If someone can tell me how to access NR 2.0 in SF 6.0 so that we don't have to buy NR 2.0 separately, I would very much appreciate it. Thanks.

Subject:RE: Removing Hiss from WAV files taken from old tapes
Reply by: Caruso
Date:5/31/2002 7:41:03 PM

Dbarry:
If you use the vinyl noise you rip from PF for anything other than personal enjoyment, you will be in violation of copyright law, LOL.
Caruso

Subject:RE: Removing Hiss from WAV files taken from old tapes
Reply by: dbarry
Date:6/1/2002 10:53:08 PM

Hi Caruso,
Good thing Everything I do is for personal enjoyment.....including making money.

Actually I agree on a moral level that ripping can only be done as parody or some such other legal copy use. I was just trying to illustrate the sound that I was refering to.

Peace

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