Noise reduction shootoot, anybody interested?

[nuisance sonore]

One thing T doesn't have is noise reduction algorythm (and no, I don't think it belong in a sequencer anyway). I tested different application and plug ins on a rather extreme file and was curious to see if other app would be better, or the same app I used but in more capable hand would yield better result.

The original is here, as recorded on DVCAM (about 1.25 MBs RAR). Test file

noise reduction in Acoustica

noise reduction by Sony

My demo copy of Audition ran out, so if somebody could test with this that would be cool, also I believe Voxengo has a noise reduction plug too. The idea is to reduce the background noise as much as possible without destroying the narrative too much. Like I said, this is a rather extreme case of noise reduction, so I thought it would be good for test.

[pHz]

quick play in audition ...

NOISE REDUCTION - ADOBE AUDITON

... three files in there ...

1 - using auditions noise reduction at full strength (STUNNING noise reduction but the voice gains some spectral artifacts)

2 - auditions algorhythm applied less strongly trying to balance noise and artifacts (the sony and acoustica results were (IMHO) well noisy still)

3 - this second file with a noise gate (sinus goldengate) applied to it with a -10db threshold

slainte rob

[nuisance sonore]

Number 2 was quite impressive for a single pass, I couldn't get so much noise reduction in Acoustica without introducing a lot of artifact to the voice.
In defense of Sony's, it's plugin is quite complex with lots of tweakeable parameter and I've never used it before today, so I'm sure it can do a lot better than this in more capable hand. At $278.00 for just this plugin (you still need to get a DX host to use it), I certainely hope so anyway.
Acoustica, on the other hand, is quite simple and straightforward and I really wanted it to do better, so I did a multi-pass with it and the result is quite good.

[pHz]

audition ungated multipass (5 passes) at 50% application (with re-analysis of noise print at each pass) ...

NOISE REDUCTION - ADOBE AUDITION (MULTIPASS)

slainte rob

[nuisance sonore]

Nobody else wants to play? Too bad, it's a fun game. Where are all the Sonic foundry and Goldwave of this world?

Ho well, I'm forced to declare Audition the winner followed closely by Acoustica, Sony trailing way behind.

[IIRs]

Soundforge is only on my work machine at the moment.. we have a job coming up that may mean I get a licence at home too (paid for by the boss).. but if so I will almost be sorry not to be using Acoustica any more!