Noise cancellation software

[GeorgeSelinsky]

I remember Christian Appelt mentioned something about a noise reduction software used to remove the noise of loud cameras like the Konvas.

 

Right now I'm having a bitch of a time removing noise from my tracks for dubbing purposes. In some cases the sound recording was just horrible, and I really need to get a cleaner track to make it easier for dubbing.

 

Anyone have any ideas? I remember Cool Edit had some interesting noise filter.

 

- G.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

On Windows, try Goldwave for free. It works best if you have some silence at the beginning of the dirty take so it can take a noiseprint.

 

Better, get Sound Forge, which does a similar thing, only better.

 

Phil

[GeorgeSelinsky]

Phil, I tried Goldwave and it's really neat, thanks for the suggestion! I took a noiseprint and it works very interestingly.

 

Of course the filtered sound sounds like R2D2 is having an orgy in the background but it's a useful tool for dubbing, in some situations it might make life easier. I plan to have one track with the camera noise and another filtered, and pop it to and fro to see which track is more helpful to the actor.

 

I'm going to search around for others too, see what's out there. Goldwave wants 40 bucks after X amount of time, which I'd love to give them if I had.

 

- G.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

If you're having a serious problem with odd sounds in the background, you're probably asking for either too aggressive or just barely not aggressive enough filtration. Play with the settings, they make a huge difference.

 

Sound Forge is better. I've had astounding results using it to remove construction-site ambience from the background of a sensitive interview. However, it costs rather a lot more. If you have just a few problem takes, perhaps you could mount the audio on an FTP or web server as a file, and I could have a look at it for you (alternatively I'm in NY from Friday afternoon with all my gear....)

 

Phil

[Luke Prendergast]

Word to Sound Forge. I've used it to entirely remove running water sounds from a recording that I needed waterbird calls from and the artefacts are very minimal.

[GeorgeSelinsky]

Thanks again for the advice, and Phil, you're very kind to offer something like that - but every bit of sound I recorded in sync with picture has that noise, we're talking 9-10 hours of audio here ;)

 

Unfortunately I can't fork it over for Sound Forge :(

 

There are some settings that I've played with on the Goldwave demo and they do help sometimes, but the R2D2 effect is either present or it sounds like the whole thing was filmed underwater. A non-blimped Arriflex makes a lot of noise, like a coffee grinder purring away. Also, it's not always consistent throughout the take, the film might be louder for a second or the motor will be slowing down or speeding up, so that affects it too (as well as camera moves and pans).

 

Mostly the sound was recorded on a digital handheld camcorder that wasn't too far away from the camera (like 3-10 feet depending on the circumstances), and those omni mics pick up everything. In some instances I even had a regular cheap tape recorder sitting there and recording. The audio really sucks, but if I had used a boom mic that would have complicated matters for us. I need the audio just for dubbing purposes, it's not going to be a production track by far (maybe there are two or three exceptions where it might work).

 

I have to say that this digital noise filtration is really an awesome thing - never seen anything quite like it.

 

- G.

[GeorgeSelinsky]

I just felt I'd return and give a report on my results.

 

I got a copy of Cool Edit to play with and I tried using its noise filter, which is a vast improvement over Goldwave.

 

Let me tell you - the Arri IIc is murderously bad when it comes to the quality of its noise. It screams throughout the whole spectrum, the noise varies with time (I gather motor fluctiation), and to make matters worse its hum peaks over the human vocal range, so that makes the job very difficult for the software. Of course it doesn't help that we never miked anything close, just held the camera with an omni mic from far away.

 

I was able to get some audio that was okay, but for the most part I'd say its better for the actors to hear it without the digital noise removal. No matter how much the settings are tweaked, the voice still sounds like its coming from a bathtub at its best.

 

- G.