Removing noise from ancient recording

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Triplet
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Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by Triplet »

Looking for general suggestions about trying to remove noise from an ancient archival recording of a woman singing. (Actually from the Alan Lomax archive for any geeks out there.)

I feel like I've done all I can with the settings within Mixcraft, and I can't find a happy balance of clarity to noise. The recording is quite bad to begin with, so I'm not expecting perfection. But does anyone have suggestions for how to get the following recording, if not clear, at least to get rid of as much non-vocal noise as possible? Plugins that you find reliable, etc.? The more I use the noise filter, the more the vocal loses as well, possibly because of the original quality of the recording.

Here's the original:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZWFtg ... BhZq4GlM8E

Thanks in advance! (I've already searched through a lot on the forums and tried various things, but I thought I'd throw this out again...wider net, as it were...)
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

What did you try with Mixcraft itself? Did you try noise reduction?

Image

You can experiment with adjusting the noise markers. You don't want any vocals between those markers, just a representative example of the noise in the recording.

Greg
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Triplet
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by Triplet »

I have, and thanks for your post. But as I use that part of Mixcraft with this recording, I still lose portions of the voice, probably because of the grainy quality of the original recording. I also start to get a "clicking" sound (used to know what it was called...). So I was wondering if anyone had any experience with a good noise filter that will allow a bit more customization.
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outteh
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by outteh »

You could try just EQ and compression. Use a parametric EQ so you can see the frequencies causing issues. :D
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Mab098157
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by Mab098157 »

Greg,

I think I have seen this graphic for using noise reduction several times in other post. I watched a user tutorial on how to use the function on youtube and it proved to be inadequate.

I have never had real success with using this and it may be to operator error.

If I set up the wav as described in your graphic...then what?

Do I press enter? or the [img]
noise button.JPG
noise button.JPG (8.17 KiB) Viewed 5171 times
[/img] And do I do that multiple times thru the clip? Do I need to manually find the next noise section and restart?
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

Pressing that button makes Mixcraft look for another noise print.

One key for success with this is that you do need a section of the recording that doesn't have sound you want to keep in it. If you have a recording that doesn't have any sections of "noisy silence," then you'll have a hard time with noise removal.

Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
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Mark Bliss
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by Mark Bliss »

In my first attempts to use it, I found it difficult to simply locate and utilize the markers.
If the "noise" is consistent, and not too overbearing, the noise reduction in Mixcraft works fairly well. If the noise varies much, or is more severe, the feature may not be the best solution.
A constant hum for example can be reduced pretty successfully. Multiple noises or constantly varying noises can be more challenging.
A product like RX or similar can be useful for more complicated issues, but the full featured versions get a little pricey.
Stay in tune, Mark

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Acoustica Greg
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

Yes, this works best on hisses and hums.

Our Spin It Again software has a pops and clicks filter as well. You might try that if you've got a lot of pops and clicks in the recording. Spin It Again's tape cleaning presets are similar to what what Mixcraft has (good for hissing and hums), and its vinyl cleaning presets work on pops and clicks.

Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
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Mark Bliss
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by Mark Bliss »

Thats good to know! An affordable additional tool is a good thing to be aware of.
But..... Herein lies a new feature request!
(Psst. The flagship product should incorporate the various sub-product features. Ya?) 8)
Stay in tune, Mark

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comedians
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by comedians »

HI

Don't know if it's any better than you've achieved so far. I had a quick go with noise reduction software I have, there is a little faint tinkling but you should be able to cut that with EQ.

Can give it a go over the weekend with the industry standard RX7 to see if it will do a better job if this is not suitable.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/evt6k95220kso ... 1.wav?dl=0
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jlouvar
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by jlouvar »

Kool Edit and etc has some good noise removal tools, but honestly the noise should have been addressed before the original recording. You may need to re-recorded it for best results... Or learn to live with it having some noise.
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Mark Bliss
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by Mark Bliss »

Yeah, we should definitely have Alan Lomax re-record those tracks.
If only he was still alive. (2002, age of 87 I think?)
Artist? Long time gone.
We'll need to find a "wayback" machine I reckon. :wink:

Speaking of state of the art portable tape recorder and microphone field recordings, from a time and place when many of the artists captured had probably never seen one before....
See also, Mike Seeger. He recorded my distant cousin playing banjo tunes on his porch when recording machines were often looked upon as potential tools of the devil.

Epic archives of stuff. (perhaps youve heard of the Smithsonian.....)

Worthy of deep study if one is interested in the roots of many popular music styles.
Stay in tune, Mark

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jlouvar
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by jlouvar »

Yeah, sometimes there isn’t much one can do.
- Joe -

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freightgod
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by freightgod »

OP, what is your audio source? Sounds like someone's using a stereo stylus on a mono source. For starters!
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comedians
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Re: Removing noise from ancient recording

Post by comedians »

This one has fewer artefacts done with RX & finished with Goldwave. The right channel has a little EQ left channel left as is.
Certainly less noise!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vundjeibdwyf0 ... 2.wav?dl=0
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