Topic: Order of applied effects in the remastering process

[voltronic]

Recently upgraded to Izotope RX 10, and finally trying to figure it out.

In general, I think I'll use it to:
-reduce hum
-deal with quiet music / loud clapping issues
-wind
-breathing on the mics

I'm sure there are a million other things I can do with it, but trying to keep it simple to start.

For things like de-click, or using the repair assistant, a few questions:
-does it matter what order you use them in?
-do you apply to only isolated areas of the waveform (around the loud clapping, for instance) or just broadly to the entire file?

Any other useful/easy ideas to get started with?

I only recently upgraded to 9 and then 10 right after, so I've never tried Repair Assistant.

My typical RX workflow:

1. Normalize to -0.2 dB (I know this may sound odd to do first, but my 32-bit float files are often very low in level)
2. Spectral Repair to get rid of any random audience noises I want out of there
3. De-Click to reduce applause according to these steps. I only do this if the clapping is louder than the music; otherwise I leave it alone.
4. Spectral Denoise to reduce steady-state noise (for me, usually HVAC). I use the Highest Quality preset, Learn from the cleanest section I can find, and start with a reduction level of 6.0 and preview while adjusting it up or down until the noise is reduced to my liking but the music is unaffected. Toggling the "output noise only" box on and off while listening is critical to make sure you're not removing musical things. It takes some practice to get this right.
5. Normalize again if peaks were reduced by De-Click or other processes.
6. Export at original depth and rate.

Level adjustments and Spectral Denoise are applied to the entire concert. Everything else is only applied to the affected area.

I have tried De-Hum, but it does not do much of anything for the background noise in my recordings. I imagine it works well for loud oscillating lights or PA hum, but those aren't usually things I run into. Spectral Denoise continues to be the magic wand for cleaning up all of my concerts.

[detroit lightning]

Thanks Voltronic!

[Iku]

I see that people have different opinions, but here is some nice article regarding order of operation
https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/order-of-audio-repair-operations.html

[loughney]

1. Remove DC offset
2. "normalize" the volume over the whole show to make sure there is a consistent loudness and that the channels are even. 
3. Declick (if needed). 
4. EQ (if needed), EQ after declick so you don't raise the click levels and throw everything off
5. Double check overall loudness after EQ and "normalize" - sometimes the person at the board might adjust throughout the night, but I like to keep volume consistent.
6. If there are a lot of thin transiants, I'll either limit or lower them.  Sometimes you'll get a cymbol strike or otherhing sound that will be far above the rest of the show volume.
7. Normalize to 0 db
8. Compression, if needed.
9. Fades & edits if needed.

[lpmaskman]

My workflow for concert recording in Reaper + iZotope Ozone:
1. normalize / trim / fades
2. check if channels are in phase (Reaper has a plugin for it)
3. EQ in Ozone
4. Exciter in Ozone if needed, it can do magic on muffled recordings
5. Maximizer in Ozone (dither and DC correction set too)

[daze]

4. Exciter in Ozone if needed, it can do magic on muffled recordings

Do you have any tips or advice for this step?  I'm trying to figure out how to use the Exciter.

[lpmaskman]

4. Exciter in Ozone if needed, it can do magic on muffled recordings

Do you have any tips or advice for this step?  I'm trying to figure out how to use the Exciter.

I always adjust the frequency bands to fit the material and how much excitation I want to add. After that I play with the type, I mostly like tape and retro. I mostly add excitation to higher frequencies to make the recording more crisp.

[daze]

4. Exciter in Ozone if needed, it can do magic on muffled recordings

Do you have any tips or advice for this step?  I'm trying to figure out how to use the Exciter.

I always adjust the frequency bands to fit the material and how much excitation I want to add. After that I play with the type, I mostly like tape and retro. I mostly add excitation to higher frequencies to make the recording more crisp.

Thanks!  I'm going to play around with this later today. 

[ballerusk]

So I apply JEMS protocol in RX, De-Click (for clapping), Azmuth, and De-Phase right out of the gate, then deal with specific issues.

I need to learn the JEMS protocol.