What is this noise and how to remove it?

[Graham Bernard]

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

Kathy - lots of people spent time on this for you, and you don't think it's worth discussing? ……Happy Christmas

This post has a low SN Ratio.

[Andrew Smith]

This post and the low SN ratio is what I've experienced with previous Kathy posts. Marginal audio (understandably as it's a legit cause for posting about a problem), not enough of it to really work with, and it feels like everything is secret squirrel. You wouldn't even know what it was about / what the project was in the end. At least she has a copy of Izotope RX these days, to give credit where due.

Kathy, we're always happy to help if you're open to it. Just be real with us and it's all good. We're all very friendly over here (as you will have noticed).

Andrew

[Don Palomaki]

..as I can't hear it when I don't listen on my monitoring headphones.

FWIW: Listening with headphones (especially tightly coupler over the ear) will generally make any background noise/hiss/hum much more noticeable.
and
Background noise tends to intrude more when gain is increased to compensate for mic placement that is increasingly distant from the talent/desired source.

[Greg Miller]

Originally Posted by Charles Papert

I used the AI-based process at audostudio.com for some problem tracks recently and it was pretty astonishingly good. You can process up to 20 minutes free as a sample. Very few settings but quite robust.

Thanks for the tip about Audostudio. I tried varied recordings and I found that it's amazingly good for speech. Apparently the AI recognizes what is speech, and gates it ON. That's as opposed to recognizing unwanted noise and gating it OFF.

For example, a recording w/ speech + bg noise is processed very well. A recording with singing and noise is not processed correctly, apparently because singing does not have the same sound pattern as speech, so a lot of the singing is partially removed. A recording w/ speech, desired SFX, and continuous background noise (e.g. from the storage medium) is not processed correctly ... the speech is retained OK, but the SFX is mostly removed, along with the background noise.

Bottom line: for working with dialog stems this is probably great. But for restoring mixed recordings (what I'm working on lately) this is the wrong tool. Certainly overkill for Kathy's current super-secret project.

[Kathy Smith]

I'm sorry. I'm recording on Sound Devices mixpre-3. I set it up so I can record each channel separately. That's why have all of these channels when I open the file. I just delete all of them leaving just the one that has the voice in the Center channel.
I don't have any issues with this set up. When the room noise is low the recording is pretty clean to my ear.

Here is a snippet of the recording with the voice:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dx5lzzmb8otaf5a/Clip.wav?dl=0

Thank you, and again apologies for dropping this topic without any further input from me and not appreciating the time an effort everyone put into trying to help and solve this for ME.

Kathy

[Graham Bernard]

Originally Posted by Kathy Smith

Thank you, and again apologies for dropping this topic without any further input from me and not appreciating the time an effort everyone put into trying to help and solve this for ME.

Kathy

No worries from me, glad to see you back here and to have that snippet to analyze. I now understand the multi-track scenarios - it did throw me a bit. Now if my approach is incorrect and happy to be corrected.

My initial thoughts are that the low dB for the voice will kind of "mask" any noise floor that's there. I'd say that your MAX recorded VO is 50% of what you are presenting here:
https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1672207190

Once I GAINED your clip to -10dB I could clearly "hear" the noise floor. I don't think you've got enough to hear that rumbling noise with your cans. This is what I can achieve by adding +6dB GAIN:

https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1672207932

And now with adding a further +6dB GAIN - ie +12dB over the original:

https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1672207932

And now clearly reveals rumbling at -45dB:

https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1672207932

So, to recap, your sample does have some room noise rumbling, I've lived with less-than-perfect Audio - oh yes! But, if my attempts to analyze your sample has any useful response on your initial question, that you're looking for noise, then I would have to suggest it sounds like room noise. You're not hearing over your cans as a result of this masked by the initial low recording dB.

HTH!

[Graham Bernard]

OK, I've now used Noise reduction on that rumbling. I've now got a cleaner Signal and a Noise floor of -85dB! I like this:

https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1672209565

Here's my DropBox link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qf1yzgp80j...%201a.mp4?dl=0

[Graham Bernard]

Originally Posted by Kathy Smith

I have this specific "hum" and I can't figure out how to remove it. I have IzotopeRX, and the de-hum module doesn't do much. I can run spectral de-noise on it and get some of it removed. Obviously it affects the voice if I try to remove it completely.

OK…. I’ve now listened and re listened comparing yours and mine. I’m more than convinced that the noise is coming from PC fans and being amplified by your room and surroundings. Reducing this by 50%, from -45dB to -85dB allows your Signal to win the day, and smother the noise floor. If I’m wrong about your PC fans then you’d have to look deeper and maybe consider removing any electrical forces impinging on your recording.

[Graham Bernard]

As Zappa said: "Sometimes yah just gotta walk away from a project!" - I'm done . . .

Further treatment was to remove clipping > Post-treatment Analogue Audio Warmth > Light touch of reverb.

Here's that treatment:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dkqgvbcwsl...ugs1a.wav?dl=0

I'm done!

[Graham Bernard]

O...K...

One last thought, in any way, is your connection to your pc being used via the System Audio? Or are you set up using the drivers for that Pre3? What are the drivers for it?

[Kathy Smith]

Graham, what do mean by "cans'? I'm not connected to PC at all. What drivers are you talking about?

[Graham Bernard]

“Cans” is a slang term for headphones.

Your second part of your feedback is related to the Pre3. You record to it and then you upload it to your PC? Yes?

I’ve noted you’ve made no comment on my analysis nor my treatment and my methodology.

[Rick Reineke]

“Cans” is a slang term for headphones.

I have not heard that much since the 70's.

[Graham Bernard]

Originally Posted by Rick Reineke

“Cans” is a slang term for headphones.

I have not heard that much since the 70's.

Old habits . . .

[Kathy Smith]

Originally Posted by Graham Bernard

“Cans” is a slang term for headphones.

Your second part of your feedback is related to the Pre3. You record to it and then you upload it to your PC? Yes?

I’ve noted you’ve made no comment on my analysis nor my treatment and my methodology.

Graham, I'm in transit so I can't listen to anything