J
Joejoe
New member
is there any noise reduction on digital pc while recording. my 4-track has a switch for it.
getuhgrip
Bring Back Transfat!
This is an analog 4 tracker?
Chris Shaeffer
Peavey ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are programs that you can use to reduce noise on digitally recorded tracks. I have used one in the Cool Edit demo that pretty much blows my mind. In any case it doesn't work the same way as it does on the 4-track.
In Cool Edit, you basically select a part of the track where there is *only* noise, then the program removes that sound from the rest of the track. You have to play with it to get it just right, but its pretty nifty. I've used it to clean up some of my old favorites from the cassette 4-track.
The neat thing about digital recording is- if your setup is reasonably well done- you don't need noise reduction. Most of the noise I was removing from my old 4-tracks sounded like transport hum- the motor just buzzing away in the background. With no motor or transport hum, the digital tracks I am recording using the same signal chains and mics are almost perfectly clean. To my ears, anyway.
In Cool Edit, you basically select a part of the track where there is *only* noise, then the program removes that sound from the rest of the track. You have to play with it to get it just right, but its pretty nifty. I've used it to clean up some of my old favorites from the cassette 4-track.
The neat thing about digital recording is- if your setup is reasonably well done- you don't need noise reduction. Most of the noise I was removing from my old 4-tracks sounded like transport hum- the motor just buzzing away in the background. With no motor or transport hum, the digital tracks I am recording using the same signal chains and mics are almost perfectly clean. To my ears, anyway.
J
Joejoe
New member
yeah i use cool edit pro.it just takes about 10 min for each track but it works great.just thought if there was considering my 4-track had it to block out background hiss..
SPINSTERWUN
Active member
Just a question. 
If you do your editing on your computer. Why don't you also record to your computer?
If you do your editing on your computer. Why don't you also record to your computer?
demensia
www.lukemacneil.com
recording directly on your computer can give you way more tracks with much less hiss 
Plus a huge HD is almost cheaper than a bunch of cassettes ... heh
You can also try a program called Steinberg Clean, it works pretty well, but I dont believe they have a demo.
Plus a huge HD is almost cheaper than a bunch of cassettes ... hehYou can also try a program called Steinberg Clean, it works pretty well, but I dont believe they have a demo.
AlChuck
Well-known member
The only reason that your four-track had noise reduction is that the high-end hiss from cassettes themselves was bad enough that something was needed to ameliorate it. That's what the original Dolby process was for. There were also later variants called Dolby C, Dolby HX... and there was a different process for the same purpose called dbx.
Digital systems don't need this, the inherent noise in the medium is so low as to be practically non-existant. In fact, it's so good now now you can hear all the noise in the sources that used to be masked by tape hiss and distortion and you can't count on that to mask it any more...
One point I should make -- the way those systems worked was such that, if you recorded with the noise reduction enabled, you had to listen to the tape with the same noise reduction enabled or it would sound even noisier. When you transfer them, you need to play them back the same way they were recorded for best results.
Digital systems don't need this, the inherent noise in the medium is so low as to be practically non-existant. In fact, it's so good now now you can hear all the noise in the sources that used to be masked by tape hiss and distortion and you can't count on that to mask it any more...
One point I should make -- the way those systems worked was such that, if you recorded with the noise reduction enabled, you had to listen to the tape with the same noise reduction enabled or it would sound even noisier. When you transfer them, you need to play them back the same way they were recorded for best results.
demensia
www.lukemacneil.com
well Ill be damned.
R
RWhite
Well-known member
Al Chuck is 100% right on.
I might add that while I am not familiar with the specific program Chris mentioned, it sounds like a Noise Gate. A noise gate operates by errasing all sound below a certain (user-set) "threshhold" level. A noise gate can be either a hardware device, or a software plug-in (program) on your computer.
I might add that while I am not familiar with the specific program Chris mentioned, it sounds like a Noise Gate. A noise gate operates by errasing all sound below a certain (user-set) "threshhold" level. A noise gate can be either a hardware device, or a software plug-in (program) on your computer.
hokypokynose
New member
RWhite said:
But gates are really only good for silences. Because once the sound level goes up above that "threshhold" the noise comes back.
hokypokynose
New member
I went to download.cnet.com to download CoolEdit and guess what? It's their featured download!
Chris Shaeffer
Peavey ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RWhite said:
Howdy, RWhite.
Wow. I reread my post and, yup, it does sound a bit like a noise gate. I've got to chose my words more carefully. I didn't mean for it to sound like a gate.
The noise redux in Cool Edit lets you take a sample of the noise in your track and removes only that noise from the *entire* track. So if I take a sample (called a noise profile in the program) of the tape hiss in a quiet section of the track I can then remove that hiss from the whole thing.
Its pretty sweet, actually. I *think* it works by taking the noise profile (the sampled noise) and playing it back exactly out of phase with the rest of the track. That effectively cancels the noise.
Take care,
Chris
demensia
www.lukemacneil.com
I just noticed last night, that the dolby noise reduction on my 4 track makes the recording sound muddy and muffled... any magical tricks to fix that? (Other than making the hiss horibly noticable by boosting the highs?)
F
fizer
New member
noise reduction
Good forum, I was looking for the same answers about reducing noise in recording. I used a free file called audacity, to remove noise. Works great, but I also was trying to get rid of the noise from the fans etc. Its nearly impossible to move my computer, too many wires, speakers etc. I turned my microphone 180 degrees away from the computer, and that helped a lot. Any more suggestions are welcome.
Fizer @ Fizer Music
Good forum, I was looking for the same answers about reducing noise in recording. I used a free file called audacity, to remove noise. Works great, but I also was trying to get rid of the noise from the fans etc. Its nearly impossible to move my computer, too many wires, speakers etc. I turned my microphone 180 degrees away from the computer, and that helped a lot. Any more suggestions are welcome.
Fizer @ Fizer Music