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Author Topic: Best way to remove excessive background hiss from otherwise good recording?  (Read 9784 times)

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Offline anr

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JJ

I'm not familiar with Audition, sorry.  But I assume it runs common plug ins.

Don't get fixated on "noise reduction".  As you said earlier, it can introduce nasty artifacts and ruin the recording.  Better to have a little background noise.  I only used it to illustrate what could be done to your sample, but in practice I'd probably have EQ'd the bottom end.  If you look at the spectral analysis of a "silent" part, the bottom end looks like a "shelf" with very few peaks.  For example, in Sony Paragraphic Eq you can create a Low Shelf, select a frequency range and how much gain or attenuation you want; this would reduce the level of just that annoying part of the sound.    It's not quite as simple as this, but less is best as it causes less harm.  It is difficult to offer a precise answer as you need to familiarise yourself with the necessary plug-ins and adjust it so it suits YOU, on your playback system.   As ever, always create a back up file of the original.   

If you google DX or VST plug-ins, you will find a raft of freebies.  Run the files and the next time Audition loads, it should recognise them and make them available to you.     

 

Offline jj69

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Ben,

Thanks for the lengthy reply.  Just to clarify, I was definitely not using the internal mics on the Sony.  I was using AT943s built by Sound Professionals (SP-CMC-8 cards), along with the Sound Professionals 12V battery box plugged into the Line in on the Sony.  The mics were built with the SP "low sensitivity" mod because I typically record VERY loud concerts. 

What happened here is that I was expecting to get a loud rock set from this band, and they did a mostly jazz set instead.  As a result, I had the Sony's input level set much too low.  I'm used to recording metal shows where I just set the Sony at about "5" on the input knob and forget about it.  If I have to normalize a metal show by 10db-20db it's never a big deal. 

I'm sure the normalization process (which may have been closer to 30db) is not helping here, but without normalization, the music would be inaudible. 

I really don't think the noise is normal, or had anything to do with the room.  The room was in the middle of a casino, but designed specifically for music and typically has very good acoustics.  The ceiling is VERY high, if that matters.  The two PA monitors hang about 20' about the stage. 

Offline vanark

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In the past, I had a fair bit of success using the Noise Removal tool in Audacity.  I know everyone is giving you good advice, but if you can't follow it, you might give the Noise Removal tool a try to see if you like the results.  I've used it in the exact situation you describe and been satisfied with the results.  The key is to have a sample of noise that is nothing but noise.  The sample you provided has other sounds in it (house music) and really can't be used well to create a noise profile.  I know everyone has been telling you to use EQ and compression and whatnot.  That will work if you have the time and patience.  If you don't, you might want to try something else.  Good luck and YMMV and all that.
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Offline jj69

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Just wanted to post a follow-up to my own thread.  I tried some of the suggestions you've all made - at least the ones I could understand and figure out how to apply in Adobe Audition.  After messing with AA's features and coming up with absolutely nothing in the least bit satisfying, I decided to try different software.  I just got iZotope RX 2, and I think I've found my solution! 

Simply put, the "Denoise" feature in RX is astounding.  Keep in mind that I'm familiar only with the Noise/Hiss Reduction in AA, and to a lesser extent in SoundForge (and that was years ago), so that's my basis for comparison.  Believe me, there is absolutely no comparison between RX and the other two programs.  Even using the stock settings, applying 10db of Dehiss in RX left almost no noticeable artifacts.  If I tried that in AA, the result would be un-listenable. 

What I've decided to do with my recording is use about 3.0 db of RX's Dehiss over the entire recording.  Then I'll go back and add another 10.0-12.0 db of Dehiss to the soft passages (mostly the between song comment).  I'm going to use the highest quality settings available in RX.  For those familiar with RX, that means "Smoothing" set at 10.0 and using Algorithm D.  At those settings, processing takes a long time (almost real-time on my system), but I'm hoping the result is worth it. 

I'll report back on how it comes out if anyone is interested. 

 

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