Filtering Buzzing Noise from Audio

[Tchail]

I'm in the process of transferring a bunch of old VHS tapes to DVD.

How do I eliminate a "buzzing" noise from the audio?

I'm using Sound Forge 5.0 and Video Vegas 5.

I tried using the High Gate in Sound Forge, but while it eliminated the buzzing noise, it also chopped up the rest of the audio pretty badly.

I have a 1-2 second area where I only have the buzzing noise, so theoritically, I should be able to sample that, and subtract the noise from the rest of the audio.

Any suggestions on how to do this?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Tchail

[redwudz]

I use Audacity most of the time and it has a 'sample' function to try to isolate the sound, then uses that for filtering. Mixed results at times, but I have managed to lower the level of 60Hz hum. If your interference is more like static or white noise that contains wide spectrum noise, it's harder to filter. I haven't used Sound Forge, but other audio editors may have a similar feature. And take a look at some of soopafresh's posts in the Audio Forum. He seems fairly knowledgeable with audio and filtering.

[Soopafresh]

Thanks for your kind words, redwudz The source of hums and buzz can be due to 60hz ground loops (50hz in Europe). You might be able to use a graphic EQ and cut frequencies at 60hz, 120hs, 180hz, 240hz, 300hz, etc.

[grannyGeek]

for what it's worth - I've been using payware Magix Audio Cleaning Lab for a couple of years, and find it to be well worth the $30. Doesn't always give 100% improvement, but a very worthy software.

You could try a demo from Magix.
Demo won't let you save or burn tracks, but you can get a good idea if it's what you need.
Beware, the interface is *way* too cute with the "stereo rack" metaphor, tiny text, and a bit hard to use. But the de-noising is pretty good, with a bunch of presets, or you can take noise-print samples of your own for it to apply to your track.

[anubis13]

Sony's noise reduction plugin is worth it's weight in gold. Also Waves brand plugins havea 10 band parametric eq with a preset that does a fantastic job. They have free demos as well.