Removing Tape Hiss in Cubase?

Cubase
1

I’ve seen a couple relevant threads but they were from a few years ago.

I work with a ton of very old tapes that have been digitized. It’s fairly tough to significantly reduce the hiss without changing too many frequencies. It’s almost all spoken word audio (lectures etc) so the hiss is very noticeable.

Does Cubase have any features that I’m missing or should I look into separate programs that can effectively reduce the noise without diminishing quality?

Currently using 6.5 - considering upgrading to 7

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks

2

Aloha A,

AFAIK nothing really in either version of Cubase, tho’ I have been trying to get the
Voxengo plug to do something similar but with no luck so far.

There is some nice stuff 3rd party out there that really works but it is not cheap.

IMHO better to start with some free apps and then if they are not good enough,
work your away up to the big boys.

One other thing; there’s way more stuff for PC’s.
As a Mac user you will have to do some ‘digging’.

Start here.

Good Luck!
{‘-’}

3

Before the days of working ‘inside the box’, I used to find that single-ended noise reduction worked well. This is in effect a frequency conscious filter, which opens to full band when high frequencies are present, but reduces high frequencies at the output when input high frequencies are low in level. I remember that Behringer made a stereo and 8 channel rack unit, also DBX.

Advantage is that with correct setting, really good hiss reduction can be achieved without obvious artefacts, Also that if the hiss changes in character, the system still works well. Although the noise is present in the output signal, it is there only when masked by the high frequencies.

I am fairly sure that the existing Cubase plugs setcould be configured to do the same job. I am tempted now to have a play around. If I get a reliable system working, I’ll post here.

P.

4

Try REAFIR. It is one of the reaper plugings.

I can not post the link because it will change automaticly.
cock cock cock :mrgreen:

kind regards,
R.

5

I picked up RX4 from iZotope, the cheaper basic version, and it will do what you want. They’ve got it rigged so you can’t use the trial demo to accomplish this, btw.

6

Picking up on the single ended noise reduction concept, I have a Drawmer DF330 which I used to find handy for noisy guitar recording, really good box I seem to remember, must get it going again…

7

@Athenay: check your Cubase DVDs, you may have a demo of WaveLab Elements on there, which has the Sonnox restoration suite. Even though WaveLab is more suited to the task, there is a way to use the Sonnox VST3 plugins in Cubase, although I’m not sure if that’ll work with the demo license. IIRC, it’s a 30-day trial from the time of activation and is fully functional for that period. If you find you like WaveLab Elements, it’s small money for an excellent program which complements Cubase perfectly.