Is there a way to fix hiss in 1/4"

LazerBeakShiek

LazerBeakShiek

Rad Racing Team
After going through my reels. I found a couple old recordings worth saving. How can I repair the damage...from never being recorded properly in the first place?



There is so much HISS and static. The tones are there. I want to save as much of my old recordings as possible.

Its on 3 tracks off a Fostex A8.

1- Lead voc
2- Lead voc + guitar
3- Guitar + Ohs and Ahs

The voc by itself is the worst track.

Hiss everywhere. ReapEQ is already filtering at 50-16,000Hz.
 
Last edited:
If possible transfer all the tracks separately to you DAW. Then you will have to get some de noise software like izotope and clean up as much as possible one track at a time. Do these tapes have Dolby?
 
Software like iZotope would probably do a fair job. The noise reduction in Sound Forge does an okay job, though it does affect the audio somewhat if the noise is high and you are too aggressive with reduction.

I agree, transfer the tracks individually.
 
I'll also chime in to recommend iZotope RX. RX Elements is super affordable especially when on special, like now for $29 (I just checked).
 
I have used Sound Forge when it was Sony, to clean up 50 sides of daughter's punk 45s and I know there is a tape hiss reduction function in it. Yes, NR will affect the sound but the trick is to make several passes with minimal reduction each time then a point is reached where the changes are unacceptable and you use the best one.

You can download SF from MAGIX and use it free for a month so get all your ducks in a row, send the family away and then get the ole head down!

Dave.
 
Im looking into Sound Forge. Free trails are the best way to do it. izotope has a 10 day trial too.

izotope uses an iLok . i have been avoiding that system.

The Fostex A8 goes to the Mackie 1604. My Apollo twin USB takes sound off the 1604's R L mains, to get the 3 mono tracks to work together. If I did it from the RTZ point in the tape on one channel at a time, it would be off.
 
Last edited:
What really gets me. In some tracks with Andy , my old drummer, it is fairly distrubing..Andy sing 3 part harmonys with himself of 'Knockin on Heavens door'.

Andy died.

But its like I can bring him back...and play with him.
 
I used to have this noise reduction unit called a Dynafex. It was pretty good at clearing hiss. When I found a way to simultaneously transfer 8 tracks from an 8 track portastudio to my DAW, one of the channels was via the sync and it was raw and hissy and usually, the drums were on track 8 which was what the sync track came through. But running it through the Dynafex usually did the trick. I was often surprised how clear the signals were. I sold it in 2020.
Not that this helps you, but I thought I'd throw it in, just to encourage you that it can be done.
Somehow.
 
Did you try the noise reduction in ReaFIR? I've used that on a couple of tracks. Don't be too aggressive and it works pretty well. You sample the hiss during an empty section and it will work to remove that part from the original recording.
 
If these are from an A8 then there's a very good chance that they will have been recorded with Dolby C (unless you deliberately switched it off) which acts like a compressor and will bring up the background noise from the room and any spill. They need to be properly decoded before you do anything else with them. Otherwise the best affordable noise reduction is in RX Elements and I'm pretty sure that it doesn't use iLock (or if it does it is very well disguised because I have Izotope software but no iLock software on my machine).
 
no dolby was used.

ilok is optional then..I dont know.

If you listened to the first song. The words almost sound like 'Poles and Jews' instead of 'clothes and shoes'. Strange.
 
Lazer,
If you end up not getting the Izotope plugs, I would be open to trying to clean them up for you if you can send me the raw tracks.
I have the RX package with the noise reduction and it works very well for anything short of Niagra Falls type loudness.

I will say that with pretty much ANY NR programs... when the noise is very loud and full spectrum... the tracks good info can be affected by the process.

Just let me know.
 
I get the impression that you don't have an interface that will allow four simultaneous inputs. Is that the case? That would be the optimal method.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
I get the impression that you don't have an interface that will allow four simultaneous inputs. Is that the case? That would be the optimal method.
Click to expand...
Its only got the 2.

tonight, I am going to try to do them one at a time. It gets swishy, like chorus. That ruins it.

Will those VSTs work, if I take it from the mains? Or does it need the separation?
 
I don't think transferring them separately is going to work unless you do them all at once.

I'd say it works better on separate tracks because it limits the artifacts to the track being processed. If you're processing multiple separate tracks, the artifacts in each track would be partially concealed in the mix.

But you can process the whole mix.
 
LazerBeakShiek said:
Its only got the 2.

tonight, I am going to try to do them one at a time. It gets swishy, like chorus. That ruins it.

Will those VSTs work, if I take it from the mains? Or does it need the separation?
Click to expand...
If you can get the Vocal /Guitar track and Drum track at the same time (for synchronizing) and then the solo vocal it might work best.
The solo vocal could be visually lined up in the DAW to align with the existing Vocal/Guitar... maybe?

I don't mind trying it on the final mix... it is usually easier to denoise the individual tracks rather than the cumulative noise.
In any case you will need maybe 3-6 seconds of some music free, ungated noise samples to build a reduction filter.
 
Just had a listen to the first track - the main problem seems to be over compression with the compression bringing up all the noise when nothing is happening on that track. More appropriate compressor settings would greatly help. Those Fostex machines are capable of great results in the right hands. I've just transferred some tapes that you would never guess were recorded on one by listening to them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top