sound cleaning question at DVinfo.net

Jonathan Grant · April 24th, 2011, 09:09 AM

I am mixing audio for a feature film and need to clean up the audio. The audio isn't horrible, but it's not great either. We used a boom mic straight into a zoom recorder but no pre-amp (despite my strong recommendation). There is a prominent electrical noise in all the audio. In the cases where the boom guy was able to get close enough there's enough separation in volume that it's workable. But, some of the actors were very weak voiced and sometimes the boom guy didn't get close enough so the noise is an issue.

There are also some shots where a/c or outside generators (or loud a/c units) really muddy up the audio and sound like white noise.

I've used soundsoap 2 and haven't been too happy with most of the results in the past as the outcome sounded weird. Removing narrow frequency sounds like audio cleaning products always show in demos is one thing, but removing electrical noise or a/c noise seems to be all over the frequency spectrum and seems to be really difficult to remove.

I don't restore any music or anything like that, I only need it to clean up film audio. Should I get RX advanced, or would RX2 be sufficient? There's a huge price difference between them! Thanks!

Oren Arieli · April 25th, 2011, 10:45 AM

Adobe Soundbooth has some excellent tools for audio cleanup. I've created a couple of tutorials that might help you with that (and similar) noise reducing software:
YouTube - Audio Noise Fixing in Adobe Soundbooth
YouTube - Advanced Noise Reduction in Adobe Soundbooth

Vincent Oliver · April 26th, 2011, 01:20 AM

Nice pair of videos, although the cough does sound like it's been added in post.

April 24th, 2011, 09:09 AM	#1
Jonathan Grant Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: norman, OK Posts: 111	sound cleaning question I am mixing audio for a feature film and need to clean up the audio. The audio isn't horrible, but it's not great either. We used a boom mic straight into a zoom recorder but no pre-amp (despite my strong recommendation). There is a prominent electrical noise in all the audio. In the cases where the boom guy was able to get close enough there's enough separation in volume that it's workable. But, some of the actors were very weak voiced and sometimes the boom guy didn't get close enough so the noise is an issue. There are also some shots where a/c or outside generators (or loud a/c units) really muddy up the audio and sound like white noise. I've used soundsoap 2 and haven't been too happy with most of the results in the past as the outcome sounded weird. Removing narrow frequency sounds like audio cleaning products always show in demos is one thing, but removing electrical noise or a/c noise seems to be all over the frequency spectrum and seems to be really difficult to remove. I don't restore any music or anything like that, I only need it to clean up film audio. Should I get RX advanced, or would RX2 be sufficient? There's a huge price difference between them! Thanks!

April 25th, 2011, 10:45 AM	#2
Oren Arieli Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 919	Re: sound cleaning question Adobe Soundbooth has some excellent tools for audio cleanup. I've created a couple of tutorials that might help you with that (and similar) noise reducing software: YouTube - Audio Noise Fixing in Adobe Soundbooth YouTube - Advanced Noise Reduction in Adobe Soundbooth

April 26th, 2011, 01:20 AM	#3
Vincent Oliver Trustee Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chislehurst, London Posts: 1,724	Re: sound cleaning question Nice pair of videos, although the cough does sound like it's been added in post. __________________ Eyes are a deaf man’s ears. Ears are a blind man’s eyes