Need help removing noise from my film

[Heath McKnight]

I bought SoundSoap 2 (http://bias-inc.com/products/soundsoap/), but am still trying to get the hang of it. I spend 95% of my time editing video, so audio is an uphill battle. I have two weeks to finish my film (how's that for last minute), so if someone can help me out, I'd appreciate it.

I can email three AIFF files that are about 5 mb zipped total, and let me know if you can help to remove the noise.

Thanks,

Heath

[Jonathan Jones]

Hi Heath,
I'm willing to have a go with it if it will help. I use SoundSoap 2 pretty frequently, and it has really been a lifesaver in a few cases, but it is not perfect. There are some limitations to what it can do, and if it over-works the filtering, it can turn your content into undiscernable digital mush. Patience is key in cleaning up noise.

With that said, patience is also key in working with the interface. At first look, it appears to be a clever and handy interface - but it pretty much sucks as far as I'm concerned, and for a number of reasons, but predominant among them is the fact that it is not a re-sizable interface window. I run my monitors at high resolution, and the freaking one size locked interface is so small that I have a nearly impossible time selecting a 2 second noise segment to loop to help the app 'learn' the requisite filter range. This interface design is the result of moderate boobery and I have oft considered making the 20 mile drive to Bias's offices to let them know...but I don't because that would be crazy, and like I said, their app has saved my skin more than once.

I have tried to just use the plug-in inside my host apps, like FCP, but I haven't figured out how to 'learn' the requisite filter file or do live monitoring to adjust the content. Maybe I'm just an idiot on that, but I almost doubt it.

Anyway, go ahead and send your file to me at my trusty old aol account

bcsound@aol.com

and I will give it a go in the morning and see if I can work on the content to your satisfaction.

-Jon

[Glenn Davidson]

As a back up, I have Waves Restoration Bundle for ProTools. If you want to e-mail me one of the aiff files I will give it a try. You can send them to:

theduplicator@sbcglobal.net

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Heath,
After listening to files shot in that location, traffic is a bear to clean. Running water and traffic are difficult if not impossible, to clean up because they're shifting frequencies. Your traffic is distant and is more constant than near traffic, but it still shifts.
The problem comes more into play with the dialog being fairly intimate, and the noise being nearly equal to the level of the dialog (only 6-8dB diff) and that makes for less than optimal without damaging the integrity of the voices. The choices are to either degrade the voices while cleaning the noise, leave a bit of the noise so the voices retain integrity, or somewhere in between.
See how you feel about the cleaned samples I sent you.