Noise reduction in n-track

[masternk]

Having heard so much about the n-track, I am getting interested to try it. But that means investing lot of time into it. So before I do that, I studied the feature list on the website, but I do not see any mention of "noise cancellation" or "noise gate" or "noise reduction" etc. like many other recording/editing SW do.

I did a search on this forum on this subject, but did'nt see anything since last 1-2 years. So please refresh me on this.

Q: Does n-track that you download come with any noise reduction filter?
Q: if not, what do you use? What sequence of steps do you follow?

Thanks a bunch

[Gidge]

i dont know of N-Track having noise reduction, but that could easily be handled by an external wave editor like Goldwave www.goldwave.com or with a plugin...there are tons of free plugins on the net.....

[TimOBrien]

Or you can find plenty of free VST or DirectX plugins that'll do the job. There's a good list of freebies at www.cubase.it

You WILL need an audio editor for any sequencer you use. I use SoundForge5 which does have all that and more, but it's a bit pricey at $199. Look at Cool Edit which I believe is only $69.

And you should be doing your gating/compressing before the audio hits the computer anyway. Look at the Behringer Composer Pro (about $80 at Mars or Musicians Friend); it's what I use.

[Slackmaster2K]

Is there a particular reason why noise reduction is a serious concern to you? The only reason I ask is that most digital recording is so quiet that noise filtering isn't typically necessary if you've got a good signal chain.

Like Tim said, there are several VST and DX noise reduction plugins, and a boatload of gate plugins. Personally I dislike noise reduction, as in many cases it's best just to live with the noise than sacrfice the life of the track.

Slackmaster 2000

[masternk]

Perhaps you are right, I may not need any noise reduction. I guess I did'nt know the difference between recording Sw and editing Sw! I am just starting out now and am looking at getting some computer SW for wave editing and noticed that some of them claim to have noise gate e.g., the SoundForge. But I did not see n-Track making the same claim. So I was wondering as to what the n-trackers do in case they need noise reduction. I will look into what all three of you have said.

I also just noticed a new thread started on this forum by YZL which has similar questions and answers. I do have a follow on question but I will post it there. Thanks folks.

[Slackmaster2K]

Most wave editors come with a selection of stock tools for various tasks. Compressors, noise filters, EQ, etc are all pretty common. However, most editors can also host DX or VST plugins, so you can shop for your applications and effects/processors seperately.

I think you might be overthinking this right now. Just get n-Track and mess with it. It has enough editing features that you can do just about everything you'll need to do to get started. Once you get familiar with the whole process, you'll know what you're looking for in an editor.

Slackmaster 2000

[masternk]

"...I think you might be overthinking this right now. Just get n-Track and mess with it... "

Got it! Thanks

[Rusty K]

Masternk,

I have around $100 invested in my multitrack, Ntrack, and my wav editor, Goldwave combined. I got Goldwave first and though it has some limitations (no realtime effects) the noise reduction is fabulous and easy to use. It has a clipboard function that allows you to copy a blank section of the song/track to filter hiss, buzz, and especially noisy pre amp sounds and computer room noise. Of course it's best to start with a quiet track in the first place but sometimes it's not possible.

Also if you have old tapes to save/archive to CD you can really clean them up. It takes a while to get the knack of the clipboard noise reduction but I still think Goldwave is the cheapest best investment I've made so far...Ntrack is fast overtaking though.

Good luck,

Rusty K