Audio - Best noise reduction Plug In

[Kim Frank]

It's pretty urgent and I'm thankful for every input.
What is the best noise reduction Plug in for Logic, Pro Tools, Adobe or Final cut?
I'm trying to get rid of a slight hiss that occours in some shots. It's an technical issue and the frequenz stays the same. We tried EQs, Soundtracks Finger Print denoiser and Soundbooths Noise reduction, but are not really satisfied.

 

[Robert Frank]

There is a noise reduction plug-in in Soundtrack which is included in FCStudio 2.

I'm surprised that you haven't had good results already as narrow bandwidth steady state noise is typically easy to remove. Before good NR software was available we used to take a sample of the noise, flip it 180 degrees out of phase, and if it was effective, loop the sample and apply to the noisey audio track, cancelling it out. Modern software does this with much better control and results.

It is pretty much how NR headphones work too.

Not sure how much you want to invest but here are a few ideas to get you started:

http://www.sweetwater.com/c713--Plug_ins_Noise_Reduction/popular/all

I have a variety of plugins, but I like WaveArts. http://wavearts.com/

 

[Alex Frausto]

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/rx/

We use it daily to clean up our ENG audio. I have yet to find a more effective solution. It works as a FCP plugin but I prefer the stand alone UI.

 

[John Mashni]

Yes, Izotope Rx is the best for the price. No hesitation to recommend - it is awesome.

 

[Tim Duran]

John, when you say "for the price," are you talking about the $300 price version or the $1,300 one?

 

[Robert Frank]

John, when you say "for the price," are you talking about the $300 price version or the $1,300 one?

That kind of why I mentioned the WaveArts stuff. You can get the whole Master Restoration bundle for $400, or buy individual plugs from that bundle for as low as $50.

But I've heard the iZotope stuff is quite good.

 

[Richard Luke]

Waves Z noise or The Restoration bundle work beautifully and work with FCP and Protools

http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=197

 

[S_Miille]

Being an Audio Pro myself, i wholeheartedly recommend iZotope RX. It really is that good. I've found it to be much, much better than the WaveArts stuff. Yes, WaveArts is a 'bundle', but so is RX. It is a suite of 4 different tools. And these tools are very, very good. Go, buy it. And the RX pro ($1300) is overkill for most people. Just by the 300 dollar one.

That being said, let me make 2 points.
1. Be conservative in you use of noise reduction. Sometimes, (read: rarely) you can get the offending noise out without much, if any, effect on the desirable sound. Other times, (read: most of the time) not so much. Often times broadband NR can cause a lot of artifacts or underwater sound if pushed to much. It can also make the voice sound very un-natural and weird. So be gentle. Also, don't try to remove bad noise in one fell swoop. Often times i will reduce only 3-5 dbs of noise at a time, and take several passes. Think of painting a car, several light coats not one thick coat.
2. Don't over do it. These tools are very powerful, and can remove all life from a track. We become so focused on the offensive noise, that we go way beyond what is necessary, and the track sounds dead, and doesn't match surrounding sounds. The world is a very noisy place, and so are the sounds we record on set. don't go to crazy, and then things don't match. Think of it as a matching t-shirt and sweat pants, if we wash the shirt 5 times as much, sure it will be clean, but also, the color will be gone, and it won't match.

Noise reduction is an art form. When you see a person win an Oscar for sound mixing, a lot of that depends on how they dealt with noise. It takes a lot of skill to get it right. A person of the RED camera echelon really should be looking to a sound pro to deal with audio. If I buy a Bentley or a Lamborghini, I don't rebuild the transmission. Leave it to the experts. RED owners are cinematographers, DP's, not post sound editors and mixers.

 

[John Mashni]

The $300 version works miracles. I have worked with audio for years, and I agree with everything S_Mille wrote. If you have good monitors, you will really hear a difference between Izotope RX and other plugins. There is a learning curve, though, if you want to go beyond just a simple noise removal.

 

[Kim Frank]

Thank you very much everyone. Your Posts been a great help. We ended using Izotope with great success in getting a nice balance in the signal to noise ratio and matching noises. We had the feeling that it sounded better as a plugin (in this case my soundmixer used logic) than the standalone version but this might just be a subjective feeling. Thanks again... Regards Kim