Removing Motor Noise

[ron spencer]

I have a camcorder that has a bit of noise coming from the motor...I had thought of just recording quietly for 2 mins in a typical room, using that 2 mins as a sample for Adobe audition, and then making a noise profile....would this work ok? is 2 mins enough of a sample? Or are there other methods. I don't need a perfect solution, just one that is reasonable.

thanks

[Barnabas]

5 seconds or so should be enough for a noise profile.

[solarfox]

The method you have in mind is exactly how I do it -- and yes, it does work. The main thing is to have enough of a "noise-only" sample to get a good profile from (and yes, 5-10 seconds will do the job quite nicely; I've even gotten by with as little as 1-2 seconds, although obviously the noise removal wasn't quite as good) and to experiment a bit with the various values (such as FFT size, dB reduction, etc) in the noise-reduction tool until you get the results you like.

When you find a set of settings that seem good, be sure that you preview them at several different places throughout the sound file, especially if the soundtrack you're trying to clean up has a varied mix of loud and soft parts, or dialogue vs. music, etc.

Oh -- and resist the urge to just max out the settings thinking you'll get the maximum noise reduction. If you go to far, you can get "warbly" sounds and other weird artifacts which might be worse than the original noise!

[ron spencer]

thanks....I would profile the sound on its own (in a room with only the camera on, so only that noise present)