Ouch, that's just a tad too steep. Is there no way in Vegas to do what I want?

Noise Reduction 2 will do what you want. It is a necessary tool if you do much recording with any ambient noise.

They are right. Trying to get rid of noises with EQ only, is very time consuming. And if you are about to do this on a regular basis, then a good noise reduction plug-in is the way to go. You can get Sony's Noise Reduction 2.0, bundled with Sound Forge, for $250.00 from many online stores:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41786&item=3773915227&rd=1

http://www.sharbor.com/products/SFON0250152.html

Or this for $80.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41786&item=3773773650&rd=1

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SoundSoap/default.asp

Take your pick.

They are right. Trying to get rid of noises with EQ only, is very time consuming. And if you are about to do this on a regular basis, then a good noise reduction plug-in is the way to go. You can get Sony's Noise Reduction 2.0, bundled with Sound Forge, for $250.00 from many online stores:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41786&item=3773915227&rd=1

http://www.sharbor.com/products/SFON0250152.html

Or this for $80.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41786&item=3773773650&rd=1

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SoundSoap/default.asp

The file you posted is an easy task for either of those plug's
Take your pick.

and someone should teach me how not to post :( *">

Well, it's not so much "background" noise as it is a simple "hiss."

Does that change anything?

Thanks for the help!

You could try creating a notch filter with a very tight Q. If indeed this is "simple hiss" then this should work ok. (You can use any of the eq plugs included with Vegas). As with any noise reduction approach, you will need to carefully experiment with how much of the orginal material is negatively effected and decide on the best compromise between reducing the noise and original material degradation.

drbam

Well, I'm an idiot when it comes to messing around with audio functions (such as equalizers, etc)

I included the sound file in my original post, but here it is again:

www.gamexplain.com/test.wav

I was hoping someone more knowledgeable than me might be able to tweak it on their system, then I could duplicate the settings they used locally on my machine, and apply it to all my audio tracks. I'll try my best though, but I'm having a hard time removing the hiss without compromising the voice significantly.

Your file is too short to determine much of anything. It should be longer ideally include a section of just the noise (in between spoken words/phrases).

drbam

Here's the revised file:

http://www.gamexplain.com/test.wav

The first 2 seconds is what's recorded without anyone speaking, then the next several seconds are of course the actual narration. Everything after that was just extra space on the timeline, so complete silence.

If that file's not adequate, let me know. Thanks!

I'm not as knowledgeable as most of the people here, but I do have Noise Reduction and it works fantastic for background and constant noise such as motor noise, hissing, etc. and it is really a fast way to get rid of unwanted noise. Search for places that sell at discounted prices. If you are a student, educator or work in an educational setting, you can get it at Academic Superstore for a huge discount.

Thanks, I checked that out. Still pricey though.

The speech is really, really low recorded!
Try and normalize it and then run a gate on it. That way the rubbish between the speech is removed.
After that you could try and remove a little hiss by pulling down 3-6 dB at 8kHz or something.

If it's just plain white noise then use a high shelf at 8KHz or even as low as 6 KHz with as sharp a rolloff as possible. That will not affect the voice too much. You can try increasing the rolloff frequency until the noise level becomes objectionable that way you'll do the least damage to the voice.

For some reason I cannot download the sample or I'd do it for you.

NR2 is not going to do much better with broadband noise either.

Bob.

farss, did the download start at all? Do you have broadband? It's a big file, I should have made it an MP3 instead of a WAV.

Hell, I can still do that if you want to take a look at it.