Subject:Recording from tape - noise

Posted by: Djahjah

Date:10/17/2001 8:48:55 AM

HI,
I need some help on reducing noise on a recording i´m taking off a tape. Theres that sssshhhhhhh all the time throughout the recording. I can´t seem to reduce it. The recording isn´t that good, but it would be fine if I can at least minimize it. Can anyone help? Can I do this through the Soundforge?
Thanks

Subject:RE: Recording from tape - noise

Reply by: Ted_H

Date:10/17/2001 10:05:54 AM

You can reduce some of it with an EQ in Sound Forge. It's hard to say what frequency specifically, but tape hiss is going to likely be around or above 15KHz. Dynamics processing may help a bit too. Anybody got any other suggestions?

Hope this helps.

Ted

Subject:RE: Recording from tape - noise

Reply by: jgalt

Date:10/17/2001 3:37:53 PM

If his version of SF has the noise reduction plug in he can take a sample of the tape noise from a spot where there is no music and then use it to cancel or at least reduce the noise in the file.

He can also take a sample of the tape noise and then run a spectrum analysis of it to determine where most of the energy is and then reduce the frequency response of the file in that band of frequencies to reduce the noise.

The first method is preferred.

Subject:RE: Recording from tape - noise

Reply by: salvo

Date:10/23/2001 10:03:45 PM

Noise Reduction's soundprint is far and away the most effective filter for such noise. I have had excellent results with tape and 78 records using this plugin.

Subject:RE: Recording from tape - noise

Reply by: pixelninja

Date:10/31/2001 5:08:43 PM

I have SF 4.0d. Can I get this plugin?

Subject:RE: Recording from tape - noise

Reply by: sk

Date:10/31/2001 5:32:21 PM

Somewhat similar to pixelninja's question, I have 5.0, and am not sure whether I have the Noise Reduction plug-in to which you are referring or not. I don't see anything specifically called "Noise Reduction" in either Tools, Effects, Processes, or DirectX, but the box says that this version has all the available plug-ins.

And since I was thinking today about the very topic of hiss reduction, I might as well ask this question now. The only reference I have prior to any attempt to remove or reduce tape hiss digitally was ancient experience with Dolby's B,C, and Pro on analog tapes. I remembered today that I almost NEVER chose to use any of them because they always removed some transient highs in the process. I'd turn on the Dolby for a while, then turn it off because it made everything sound flat and compressed and 'dead'. What I was wondering about today - and God help me but maybe beetlebrain was right in some off-chance way after all - is whether or not I WAS looking for some 'digital miracle' with regard to hiss reduction. Since I never really cared for the net result when music had been 'Dolbyized', maybe nothing really has changed, sonically speaking, in that there is still no wizardry - digital or otherwise - that can remove an unwanted sound from a particular frequency band while leaving the other sounds in that range intact. It's in that sense that it dawned on me that maybe that's what beetlefan was actually talking about. The 'problem' is that companies tout their latest products as if they CAN accomplish digital/sonic miracles, then consumers without solid backgrounds in these areas buy the products and actually EXPECT them to do what they say. It was only when I pulled back out of the digital mindset, where my experience is admittedly limited, and just went back to an analog mindset, that I realized probably nothing much had changed with regard to the whole hiss/removal process.
Pardon my ramblings for those of you who realized this light years ago; but I thought it might be of some help to other newbies like myself.
sk

Subject:RE: Recording from tape - noise

Reply by: sk

Date:11/4/2001 1:15:00 PM

I'm going to reply to my own post since no one else has, including anyone from SF. (Aside from Jgalt, who did email me an answer. Thanks, Jgalt!) I asked a pretty simple question about a plug-in called "Noise Reduction". I had seen it mentioned several times in various posts and began to look for it in my listed available plug-ins. I never found it. Then I went to the SF site, and sure enough, there it was. For just $279.97. (On sale from $399.95!!) Maybe it's worth it, maybe not. But all anyone had to do was say "It's an additional plug-in". That would have saved me a lot of time spinning my wheels.
sk