Topic: removing certain sounds from a recording

[teamakg]

here's the situation.  taped a high school band concert.  tape sounds great except for one problem.  due to some stupid state regulation they weren't able to shut off the emergency intercom speakers.  so there is a high pitched hiss sound.  it's a constant noise that doesn't change pitch or volume.  it's only really noticable during quieter sections of music and inbetween the songs.  is it possible to run some sort of filter to remove this?  i'll post a link to a sample song later on today.

[mfh2014]

If you have any editing software...try pulling up a parametric EQ...then sweep through all the frequencies using a high Q untill you find the culprit...then just drop in down 15db or more...rinse, lather, repeat for more frequencies if necesary...hope this helps

matt

[joemango]

If you have windows XP, there's a great program called SOUND SOAP from Bias that you can train on  a sound and have it remove that sound from the whole recording.  It's best for hiss, rumble (like wind) and hum from bad cables.  It runs about $80 and works with any DX plugin compatible sound proggy.

[Kwonfidelity]

If you have windows XP, there's a great program called SOUND SOAP from Bias that you can train on  a sound and have it remove that sound from the whole recording.  It's best for hiss, rumble (like wind) and hum from bad cables.  It runs about $80 and works with any DX plugin compatible sound proggy.

It essentially works by inverting the frequency in which the sound is prominent and masking over the existing sweep.  Many new car manufacturers are using this technology to defeat road noise.  Sit in the back of a lexus GS400 or equivalent and listening carefully to what the rear speakers are putting out...

[Brian Skalinder]

Not sure if it supports the functionality needed for removing the noise, but Doug Oade recently mentioned over on his forum this FREE audio editor: Audacity

While I use CEP2.0, I'm gonna give Audacity a go one of these days just for kicks.

FWIW, I've performed noise reduction similar to your case in Cool Edit 200/Pro.  If you have a silent section of recording where the only or primary sound source is the offending hiss, you can take a snapshot of the noise and then remove the noise (based on the snapshot) from the rest of the recording.  Lots of options for tweaking exactly how this is done.  Exact functionality depends on your audio editor.  Basically the same idea as what the last two posters mentioned.  Not sure how configurable the XP SOUND SOAP is, as I've never used it.

I will tell you that it took me damn near forever to get it to a point where it sounded good - and I still wasn't completely satisfied.  It's far easier to screw it up even worse than to make it better.  LOTS of trial and error by ear, ad nauseum.  Try it, you'll see what I mean.  

[teamakg]

Not sure if it supports the functionality needed for removing the noise, but Doug Oade recently mentioned over on his forum this FREE audio editor: Audacity

While I use CEP2.0, I'm gonna give Audacity a go one of these days just for kicks.

FWIW, I've performed noise reduction similar to your case in Cool Edit 200/Pro.  If you have a silent section of recording where the only or primary sound source is the offending hiss, you can take a snapshot of the noise and then remove the noise (based on the snapshot) from the rest of the recording.  Lots of options for tweaking exactly how this is done.  Exact functionality depends on your audio editor.  Basically the same idea as what the last two posters mentioned.  Not sure how configurable the XP SOUND SOAP is, as I've never used it.

I will tell you that it took me damn near forever to get it to a point where it sounded good - and I still wasn't completely satisfied.  It's far easier to screw it up even worse than to make it better.  LOTS of trial and error by ear, ad nauseum.  Try it, you'll see what I mean.  

"you can take a snapshot of the noise and then remove the noise (based on the snapshot) from the rest of the recording.  "

i use cool edit 2000.  

first stupid question.  how do i take a snapshot?  second one, once i take this snapshot how do i remove the infringing frequencies.  thanks for answering what i hope are easy questions.
george

[gristlejaw]

I use an el cheapo program called Magix - Audio CLeaning Lab. It works wonders for taking out tape his or high frequency blips etc. it costs around $45

[thedude65]

I kinda have the same problem going here, I recorded a Big Wu radio session off of the radio.  i did this by means of headphone jack > to my sound card. (I had little notice before the show began)  Recorded as a 16 bit wav. Any way it has a slight hiss through out it and the bass is a little satruated.  I have cool edit and I have been trying to filter this stuff out but all I do is make it worse sounding, like its compressed.  I will try some of the sugestions above but does anyone have some more tips for  gsisak and myself?