Audio Mastering: About Noise Reduction By JDM

Years ago noise reduction was not as big an issue as it is now that we live in the digital age. The odd hum or his could have easily been masqueraded behind the sound of a tape hissing or humming for example. But today, any slight background noises especially in the long silent or almost silent run ins or long run outs of a track they would not be acceptable. It is important to note that in some circumstances, compromises must sometimes be made when reducing noise and it is not always good practice to totally reduce the noise levels completely . For example it could make it too obvious that editing has been made and would distract from the real wanted audio content. A subtle processing technique is often the best method.

What Is Noise Reduction:

Noise reduction is a technique that is sometimes used especially with poor recordings or sometimes used on long fade outs or fade ins. There are also other factors that this technique could be used during quiet places with poor quality audio to reduce hums bumps clicks pops or even the odd dor opening or closing in the background, perhapes the odd cough etc. This technique should really be used with high end professional equipment in order to achieve the best results. Often using this technique used with poor audio, a compromise has to be achieved so not to effect the harmonic content.

Why Do We Use Noise Reduction:

We use Noise Reduction technique to subtly remove unwanted noise in audio content.

Cons of Using Extensive Noise Reduction:

The main side effect is that where the processing is intensive, so much reconstruction takes place that the cleaned audio suffers noticeable distortion.

Summery:

Although there are tools that will deal with most forms of unwanted noise such as clicks bumps a hum or crackle . These tools are not perfect and require a certain amount of skill to get the best out of them. Of course the answer is to try to get the recordings right in the first place. A low level noise may be not such a problem in some circumstances and an attempt to try to clean up all noise on a track could render the idea as futile.
Sounds covering only a limited part of the spectrum are easier to remove without audible side effects than ones with a wide spectral spread, and short‑duration sounds are easier to fix than long ones. Every problem sound usually has to be found and treated manually, so it can be very labour intensive.
In future articles I will explain about Expanders and Gates. Some of the software that is used for noise reduction.

Enhance your Tracks:

Here at MootzProductions.com we offer an Audio Mastering Service and Noise reduction is just one part of the intregated service offered. See Here for our unbeatable prices.