I've been using Sound Forge since 1997 to edit and clean up wave files (recording LP's, cassettes, etc. to CD). I'm familiar with using it to clean up audio wav files and I now would like to be able to use it to clean up the audio on some DVD to VHS transfers.
However, in the process of steps I'm using to get from VHS to DVD, I need to know the "best place" to apply the noise reduction/etc..
(I have Sound Forge 7.0 with the 2.0 noise reduction plug in.)
When the audio comes out of my VCR, it first goes through an old 5-band graphic equalizer, where I boost the 3500 hz. band (+6-8 db) and cut the 10khz. band (-6db). The makes an improvemnent in the clarity although the hiss is still bad.
I'm using an Averemedia DVD Ezmaker card, PicVideo MJPEG 3 codec and iuVCR to to create an avi file, the sound is in wav format (48 khz., 16 bit stereo). Then I use TMPG 3.0 Xpress to cut/edit the file and code it to an mpeg. I have the ac3 plug-in, so TMPG can convert the sound to ac3 format.
Sound Forge will load, edit and save the avi file that comes out of iuVCR. Is this the best place to apply any sound processing, while the file is still an uncompressed wav? Should I demux the avi file first, and then just run the wav file part through SF, and then remux?
I tried just putting a 25 minute non-demuxed .avi file through Sound Forge and the noise reduction helped a lot. After TMPG Express converted it to mpeg and it was burned to a DVD (TMPG DVD Author), the sound slowly went out of sync by the end of the clip (by about 1/2 second or so), which is NOT a problem I was having before.
Is this becasue I didn't demux it first?
I did read on this site that an ac3 sound file should not go through any more processing, as by that point, it should be a completed file, ready for burning. That is why I was applying the processing to the wav file.
BTW, the source is at least a 3rd. generation VHS tape. From the looks of it, I believe it was originally recorded at EP speed, on a non Hi-Fi machine. So the hiss is REALLY bad! (The resulting copies were, I think, all made at SP speed, although there is so much hiss that it probably was never duped on a hi-fi machine.)
I've looked on both this site and LordSmurf's site. While Lordsmurf does have info on using the graphic EQ in Sound Forge, I can't find any info to answer my questions above.
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Originally Posted by V20
Clean audio. Convert audio separate.
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I was using TMPG Express 3.0 to convert the wav file to Dolby Digital at the same time it was encoding the avi to mpeg. The output stream defaulted to "System (Video and Audio)".
Should I just run the video stream only ("Video only" setting) through Express 3.0 and convert the wav file to ac3 using another program? I didn't see a setting in TMPG DVD author to reencode the audio from wav to ac3.
I also have another question about Sound Forge. I was careful when recording the original avi file to make sure the audio was set no higher than about minus 6db below 0 db. to be sure the audio wasn't going to clip. Then in Sound Forge, the last step was to use the Normalize function (peak setting, not RMS) to scan the file and put the loudest audio peak at 0 db. (I always did this when recording wav files on CD and never had a problem.)
Again, this was the "peak" setting and not the "RMS" setting, which applies compression as well and makes the sound file very loud. I realize that normalization should always be done last, after all the other changes have been applied.
My TV has an AVL (Automatic Volume Leveler) setting to minimize the level changes between, say commercials and programming. I usually leave this on, and with commercial DVD's, the volume level increases very slightly when it is turned on.
However, with this DVD, turning on the AVL actually dropped the sound volume noticeably (3-6 db). Turned off, the DVD was almost too loud and turning on the AVL actually lowered the sound level. I did not see any clipping in the wav file in Sound Forge and the audio doesn't sound clipped, but it is somehow less clear with the AVL turned off.
Should I have normalized to a lower peak level, say minus 3 db?
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