I've been working with audio poorly recorded to HDV tape. Most annoying is a very large level difference between the two people speaking, one is recorded hot and the other way too soft.

I've been adjusting the audio in post, but there is a price to pay for increasing gain on soft voice, noise increases as well. So while the voice itself now sounds reasonably fine, hum/hiss/camera noise become much more noticeable.

Are there any plugins or post production techinques you can recommend to eliminate or cut down some of this noise? Use mostly Avid but also have Vegas.

Re-recording is not an option.

Thanks very much!

Depending on the bundle originally purchased, you may have a filter available in Vegas called "Sony Noise Reduction 2.0". There are other NR filters, Sony's isn't bad.

NR works by you designating a sample as noise, then the filter takes that part out of the signal. It's easy to go much too far, and broad spectrum noise such as hiss is particularly difficult. NR filters usually don't offer perfection, but used lightly can improve things quite a bit. If you go this route, stacking multiple NR filters and taking very small noise samples is usually better than taking a bigger sample with one NR filter.

If you don't have Sony Noise Reduction, there are a lot of others out there. First, I believe it is frequently bundled with Sony Sound Forge. It is available stand-alone. Waves has a very good filter. Sound Soap. There is a basic NR filter bundled with the freeware Audacity.

Sorry I don't know anything about what comes with AVID.

Peter...

we gotta quit meeting this way!!
Anyway, I've found Izotope's RX to be VERY VERY good at noise reduction. Your problem is the bane of editors who have footage from inexperienced sound engineers and actors. The only thing worse is a director who insists on shouting directions to the actors while the recorder is running.

On a more lighthearted note, ADR fixes everything...LOL

I second Izotope RX, we have several restoration tools on hand but RX is the best of the bunch. In addition, slip some room tone (or even a bit of the noise from the other voice if you can get a clean loop) under the louder voice to compensate for the noise increase on the softer voice. John.

If you need an efficient tool not breaking the bank, the Isotope is hard to beat.

Also worth noting that a lot of audio post software has some form of noise reduction thingamabob incorporated. (e.g. Soundtrack Pro from Apple, Soundbooth from Adobe...)

Personally, I use Sonic NoNoise TDM, a plugin for ProTools HD TDM. Great results, but a bit pricey.

The king of the castle I feel is still Cedar. But the pricetag is king too :P