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Old 06-15-2019, 01:56 PM   #1
hecramsey
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Default Clean Up bad concert tape

Hiya, I have a bunch of live music I recorded back in the day. I have digitized the tapes to nice massive 24bit / 192khz wave files.

So the sound ranges from ok to horrible. I'd like to clean it all up. Horrible means distorted, boomey, clippy, noisey.

I know the Reaper / DAW basics -- noise removal, basis EQ, compression.

I am looking for step by step how tos. How to best utilize the tools to improve the sound. Can anyone point to documentation like this? A forum or 2 ?

I've been googling, finding lots of really basic general "use noise removal, then do some eq". Not sure what the right keywords are, what to search for.

Thanks!!
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Old 06-15-2019, 03:11 PM   #2
domzy
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i think "audio restoration tutorials" or similar might be the sort of search term to use
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Old 06-15-2019, 03:13 PM   #3
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and Kenny may have done a video on spectral editing?
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Old 06-15-2019, 08:13 PM   #4
hecramsey
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Quote:
Originally Posted by domzy View Post
i think "audio restoration tutorials" or similar might be the sort of search term to use
Thanks!!! Maybe "mastering" is too broad, but covers the same idea?
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Old 06-15-2019, 10:54 PM   #5
serr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hecramsey View Post
Hiya, I have a bunch of live music I recorded back in the day. I have digitized the tapes to nice massive 24bit / 192khz wave files.

So the sound ranges from ok to horrible. I'd like to clean it all up. Horrible means distorted, boomey, clippy, noisey.

I know the Reaper / DAW basics -- noise removal, basis EQ, compression.

I am looking for step by step how tos. How to best utilize the tools to improve the sound. Can anyone point to documentation like this? A forum or 2 ?

I've been googling, finding lots of really basic general "use noise removal, then do some eq". Not sure what the right keywords are, what to search for.

Thanks!!
I've done a fair amount of restoration work on troubled field recordings. Audience recordings that sometimes have a sound quality rating that goes right past the letter grades to "What the hell is that noise?!" and that kind of thing.

You find speed correction necessary sometimes. Reaper has Elastique Pro integrated into the GUI and it's lossless in vari-speed mode.

You get restricted bandwidth from dictation quality devices and mics. Sometimes you get resonance around a frequency so bad it sounds like a recording modulated around that frequency.

You can build a bionic multiband comp with 2 instances of ReaEQ with parameter modulation. Get surgically targeted for going after brutal resonance.

If you can find multipla audience recordings, you can actually combine them now. Again, using the integrated Elastique Pro to sync the sources.

iZotope RX has very useful broadband noise reduction and spectral editing that will let you get away with a few magic tricks.

Troubled recordings are a labor of love for sure. Between Reaper and iZotops, you can actually get away with a lot though.

Good luck!
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Old 06-15-2019, 10:59 PM   #6
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I have done a bit of restoration and repair of some horrible audio both for voice as in interviews and music...

At this point in time I can clearly say that iZotope RX7 is THE thing to have.
...there is nothing else like it and even though there are other bits and pieces that can be messed with via reaper and other audio programs, for the most part RX7 is the best way to go. There can be little things that I sometimes have to chase down with Adobe Audition afterwards as well. It has an autoheal function that can be really handy, but it only operates on very small sections of the wav file.

Just my opinion of course
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Old 06-16-2019, 05:26 PM   #7
hecramsey
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Quote:
Originally Posted by serr View Post
I've done a fair amount of restoration work on troubled field recordings. Audience recordings that sometimes have a sound quality rating that goes right past the letter grades to "What the hell is that noise?!" and that kind of thing.

---I one that is just "BOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOOM" with this tiny whisper of vocals and guitar somewhere in there. I think the recorder was in my pocket and I was slam dancing. I'm saving it for dessert, gonna be fun.

You can build a bionic multiband comp with 2 instances of ReaEQ with parameter modulation. Get surgically targeted for going after brutal resonance.

---I've played with ReaXComp today and got some nice results isolating vocals from booomy sound. So that is a known and effective method? I figure build single tracks isolating elements best I can (vox, guitar, etc)then mix them in , the wet/dry thing


iZotope RX has very useful broadband noise reduction and spectral editing that will let you get away with a few magic tricks.

---I was playing with that today and got better results with ReaxComp. But RX seems pretty complex, I just don't know what I am doing yet.

Good luck!
THANKS!!!
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Old 06-24-2019, 06:43 AM   #8
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again... having used almost everything in the past, RX7 is the way to go...

IF it can't do it then it is very likely not going to happen...

There are two ways to use it:

1- make it one of the external audio editors in reaper's Pref's. Then load the audio into that external editor and let RX7 do it's analysis and corrections and see what you get. IF happy just save and you'll get that 'fixed' audio back in reaper on your track.
If you have a very long item, you might want to split it up and do the above for each item.

2- back in reaper you can use each of the RX7 'modules' to again or further work on the audio as FX

That should get you pretty far along, so if it does report back for the remaining problems...
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Old 06-24-2019, 07:08 AM   #9
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Quote:
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again... having used almost everything in the past, RX7 is the way to go...

IF it can't do it then it is very likely not going to happen...
That's my experience too.
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Old 06-24-2019, 09:38 AM   #10
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Same here.
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Old 06-24-2019, 11:09 AM   #11
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Another big thumbs up for iZotope here. I'm still on RX6 but have the advanced version and haven't had a need to update to V7 yet. RX is capable of some VERY impressive results of you spend the time learning the functions. It also has a very useful azimuth head correction module which is great for cassette recordings that were recorded on decks that had unstable head alignment issues.

One thing I've found with RX in my years of using it is that it is often better to attack big problems in several small passes than one heavy handed pass. The noise reduction module is especially good when doing multiple passes with less noise reduction per pass.
For example, instead of running 12 dB of NR in one pass, take a noise profile, do one pass at 6 dB, take another noise profile and do another pass at 6 dB. That should give you less artifacting and a cleaner result.
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Old 06-24-2019, 12:04 PM   #12
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^^^ all that

Surgically going after noise by restricting the frequency band when you take a noise profile is another trick. A "multiband" approach. Dial in the appropriate level of reduction for each band.

Sometimes I'll do this in the iZotope editor. Sometimes as a plugin in Reaper using linear phase eq to filter for the profile capture.

Their azimuth tool works well. I've actually been able to sync two recordings of the same original program (each having their own merits - different elements preserved better in one vs the other and vice verse) by getting them very close with Elastique Pro (veri-speed mode) in Reaper and then using iZotope azimuth correction. Actual phase locked sync.

Separate elements and build a multitrack recording to mix from.
(Not separate instruments or that kind of thing of course.)
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Old 06-24-2019, 04:12 PM   #13
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There's a bundle offer for Izotope atm:

https://www.izotope.com/en/products/...ls-bundle.html

At least, I think it's still valid. The shop doesn't seem to work with my browser.
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