From: "Aaron Bishop" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Audio Noise Reduction
You can get a better tape playback device and re-record the tapes while
using Dolby Noise Reduction, either Dolby B or DBX. Dolby C isn't very
good - it takes too much out in attempting to kill the hiss.
The Sonic Foundry noise-reduction is pretty good. ProTools' is better -
but ProTools is more expensive and only runs on Windows NT and Macs.
I haven't messed much with Syntrillum Software's Cool Edit (regular and
Pro) noise reduction (messed lots with the program itself, just never with
the NR) but I gather it's certainly not bad.
Do understand that NO noise reduction is going to take that tape and make
it sound "good". It will sound "good for a tape" or "good for a
poorly-recorded tape" but it will never sound "good". Getting rid of the
hiss inevitably means killing off at least some of the high end and your
audio will sound "muffled". As my somewhat-crude roommate likes to say,
"you can't polish dog squeeze."
For that matter - recording audio so it sounds "good" really requires the
toys the big boys play with...high-end Shure, Neumann or EV mics...good mix
boards...properly balanced I/O...good sound cards - there is no such thing
as a good Sound Blaster card - they all stink for high-end work...great for
non-high-end work, don't get me wrong. But it you want it to sound like a
recording studio - you need good cards like Antex, Lynx, Audiomedia III's -
things like that. This is expensive stuff but quality doesn't come cheap.
Fortunately for us webcasters it's not as harsh b/c webaudio just doesn't
sound as good as radio or CD's do on the whole...so we can get away with
using SoundBlaster cards and the cheaper Shure mic models and the
unbalanced audio. And we can use Minidiscs, too - which generally are a
vast improvement over cassettes EXCEPT that MD uses ATRAC lossy compression
so running MD audio through RealAudio conversion can really nuke the audio
sometimes (i.e. you're compressing it twice which is virtual guarantee that
you'll get audible artifacts). If you can swing the cost and don't mind
having yourself or an audio engineer who really knows their stuff on
retainer to do the **required** maintenance, a DAT machine is a great
investment. Portable DATs tend to be satanic, though - stick with the
studio models.
Aaron Bishop
CW Audio Engineer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Audio Noise Reduction
Hi,
I've been lurking for several months, and have gained quite a bit of
knowledge.
I think I have a handle on video capturing, editing, and converting to
SureStream.
I have a number of audio tapes which I want to present via Real. Of course
I need
to digitize them. The problem is they were recorded on a "pretty good"
analog
recorder, and are not full cd-quality. When playing them back, I can hear
some tape hiss.
I have checked out the SoundFoundry site. I am just getting started with
all this on a
limited budget. I suppose I could spend $495 + $395 for Sound Forge with
the noise
reduction plugin, and hope that will solve my noise reduction problem.
Are they any other (cheaper) alternatives to reducing noise/hiss from sound
captured
on an analog source?
Thanks,
Donovan Wade
