How to reduce crackle/buzz on Hi-Fi VHS audio capture?

[mj0012]

I've got a DVD-R copy of a VHS tape that a friend made for me and there is a lot of crackling and buzzing in the audio track. It's the sound you hear from a stereo vhs tape when it's an older tape or if you need to clean your vcr. Re-recording it isn't an option for me, so does anyone have any suggestions on cleaning up the audio? I've been trying DC-ART and CoolEdit but neither seem to be particularly suited for this kind of noise. Any help would be appreciated.

[pepipocpoc]

Hello, mj0012

I think there are some intersting noise reduction plug-ins in soudforge, althought I don't know very well how to use them. But I'm pretty certain I used a vinyl-restoration one that made marvels...

[echooff]

Adobe Audition has a good noise reductio filter. I used it the other day on a vhs rip. It totally removed the background buzz.

[symonjfox]

Audition is pratically the new version of Cool Edit Pro. Yes, it has very good noise reduction filters.

You must have an "only noise" part to sample, then let the program analize it and then apply the filter on whole file. It works great when I record my old tapes to Audio CDs. If you filter too much there will be too many artifacts IMO.

[pepipocpoc]

mmh, interesting!

[echooff]

With Audition/Cool Edit pro (missed the part where you stated you tried it) you have to have a large enough sample for it to fully anlyize. If your sample is too small, copy that small section and in a new window paste it several times to make it larger. The help file is pretty good.

[pepipocpoc]

Do you know if there is a similar way to do it with sounforge?

[SomeJoe]

Sound Forge can also do noise reduction, with many different options. However, the feature is sold as an add-on to Sound Forge in the form of the Noise Reduction DX (http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/Products/ShowProduct.asp?PID=14) pack. The pack contains Noise Reduction, Click & Crackle Removal, Clipped Peak Restoration, and Vinyl Restoration. The filters are DirectX filters that can be used outside of Sound Forge in any DX-compatible application.

The Noise Reduction filter is the one you want, which can use a sample of the noise in the file (usually about 1/2 second long) to generate a "noise footprint". Then, the noise is removed from the entire file. It works very well for removing constant background noise like tape hiss, 60Hz/50Hz power buzz, etc. There are a ton of options for tweaking the amount of noise removal, degree of accuracy, etc.

[pepipocpoc]

thanks