Filtering out tape hiss (audio)

[kinneera]

There doesn't seem to be any forum really dedicated to audio related issues with video capture, so I'm going to put this here.

Does anyone know of a good way to reduce or eliminate the background hiss you get in the audio of older VHS tapes? I'm working with AVI captures.

[timmy_boi]

Maybe importing those avi's to premiere and then play with the sound in there with their filters. also maybe you can rip the sound from the avi and then play with them seprately in some audio software. then combine them back.

but i usally try to get the best capture before i try to do any work or retouching on the avi's. the less touching up you do the better it is.

hope that helps

[kinneera]

Know of any good audio software that can perform that kind of filtering? Preferably that doesn't cost hundreds of $?

Unfortunately, the capture is the best that I can get it - adjusting to volume on the capture only causes the volume of the noise to increase or decrease in the same proportion as the rest of the audio, so the amount of noise is clearly determined by the tape.

[BadAsh]

Well, if you can save the Audio out into WAV format you can try Adaptec/Roxio Spin Doctor to clean up the Audio Hiss. The "Spin Doctor" program was meant for cleaning analog to digital recordings such as LP to CD.

I believe this program is called "Spin Doctor"... it at least has "Doctor" in the name. Give that a try... if you have Easy CD Creator.

I don't know of any FreeWare programs but you can find two Shareware/Demo apps at Download.com. I searched for "Audio Hiss" and found:

Ray Gun ($99)
Restoration ($199)

The Doctor/Cleanup program from Adaptec/Roxio would probably be more worth your while... then you at least have a CD Burning suite as well.

Good Luck!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: BadAsh on 2001-08-14 14:19:50 ]</font>

[JJamez]

You may also want to try CoolEdit2000. There is a shareware version which allows you to only use two groups of features at a time (I think...), but is perfectly functional for what you want to do. I don't have it in front of me but there is a noise reduction filter - you take a piece of audio with just the hiss (otherwise silent), CoolEdit samples that, you then tweak it however you want and apply the filter to the entire audio file. It should pretty effectively take the hiss out. Just don't go overboard with your tweaking or you can start pulling out audio frequencies you want to leave in.

JJ
http://www.billsunis.n3.net

[kinneera]

CoolEdit2000 does a great job. Thanks for the help!

[User X]

There is one product which is very nice for eliminating audio hiss from wave files ( far superior to those "quicky" noise filters found on various products). The name is Diamond Cut Audio. It is a restoration program I use primarily for restoring old vinyl records. Costs about $100. The continous noise filter lets you sample a silent passage that has only the noise then apply the sampled noise as a filter for the final output. Also has im pulse noise filter for eliminating crackles. One of the few programs I didn't mind paying for. Very easy to use and quite fast. Can answer any questions about this product.

My only problem is when I render video with the newly restored audio I get hiss on the final output which was not there previously. The "new hiss" has a different sound that the orginal hiss. Using ATI Radeon All in Wonder with MediaStudio Pro and Video Studio 4 with Ligos LSX MPeg2. Could use a little help in addressing this problem

User X