Finally, a professional who shows us in a step-by-step, easy-to-understand way how to use RX tools. Thank you!!! I have been hoping for years that Izotope would do this, and have given them customer feedback to this effect (e.g. like starting an "RX Academy"). There is a whole universe of video editors out there who know little about audio editing and need this knowledge! To Curtis: Would you also be so kind to do a short video on the Spectral Denoise plug in? (I have the RX9 plug in embedded in FCPX). Thanks again.
I love this plugin, and probably use it more than I should, most often with default settings. I'll need to try the gentle setting a few times and see if I notice the difference you're talking about here. When I have too much noise for this plugin, I'll use the spectral denoise plugin with a learning pass to get a noise profile. Amazing what these plugins can do!
Really appreciate the more conservative approach you apply to all of your examples. Helps to keep the integrity of the tool and finished product, Curtis!
Sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you! I’m a voice over actress who has been using RX Standard plugins for the last two years. I figured out some settings that seemed to work and sounded clean enough for clients to use my audio (not in a soundproof environment, unfortunately), but I never really understood what I was doing (and why), and always wondered if I was truly doing things correctly. I now have a much better understanding! Off to go watch more of your videos…
@@alexhopkinsentertainment8845 The leveler effect did what we demonstrated last week: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2svTCBlMIP0.html For phase, we just ran that in "Adaptive Phase Rotation" mode to reclaim a bit of headroom. Will cover that in detail in another episode.
This is the best explanation and demonstration that I've seen regarding Voice De-Noise!!!! I now know that I should use the Gentle setting for my voiceovers!!!! Thank you very much!!!
Great. I wish I had this years ago when I first started using RX. You follow pretty much the same methodology as I do except for the applying the low pass filter at the end. That’s why you should always watch the videos until the end!
Somehow you always make videos for things that are exactly what I want see, before I know I want to see them. I recently got this plugin and need to learn how to properly use it. Thanks a bunch!
I've been using this on my live streams and video chats. The results are fantastic. A trick for severe noise is to run multiple instances each set to a less aggressive reduction.
Thank you very much Curtis - your explanations are super clear for non-experts. Please could you consider a video on removing breath sounds - maybe using the Rx de-Breath - but also using tools available in standard apps (I use FCP), such as a Noise Gate. I have played with noise gates and they seem to help with my in-breaths (I had pneumonia a few years ago, so the sound is prominent). But I am not an expert. I mostly remove breath sounds by manually ducking them in FCP.
@@curtisjudd I'd love to see this as well. I did an episode on my Audio for Content Creators channel on Waves De-Breath, which I find a totally obnoxious plugin.
Thank you so much for doing this video. I really appreciate your expertise and your clear down-to-earth explanations, (I am a reriree just beginning to explore making music and recording the process for evaluation and self-improvement purposes.) Besides the above I want to give you high praise for the thoughtful thoroughness with which you approach exposition. I see the work and attention that often lie below the surface of your communications. Wow! I mean, Wow., Before retirement I was "in the communication business" as a practicing corporate lawyer, and international banker. I often used to say that "communication is the hardest thing we do" and you take great care to do it exceedingly well. Bravo! As evidence of your success, this will confirm that I purchased the iZotope RX product based (in part, of course) on your reviews. So my money went where your mouth was. 😉 Please keep up the superb work,
Man this is awesome! I have been using Audition De-Noiser for years and after getting RX Suite it has been a game changer. Thank you for a detailed explanation of how everything works behind the scenes! Keep up the great content!
This is really the information I was looking for. I'm dealing with some challenging audio recording situations on a documentary project and am wondering if RX is worth the investment. It sounds like it?
20 minutes in depth tutorial for a single plugin. That’s what I like to see 🤟 What you think about Izotope RX Spectral De-Noise? I thought it’s a better option, but I’ve never compared them to Voice De-Noise
Excellent video, thanks! I just shot an interview in a truck as we drove through high country back roads, I will try the surgical setting to see if I can eliminate the noise from the washboard roads.
@@curtisjudd Welp - the process was not as easy as I hoped. I opted to use Dialogue Isolate instead of Voice De-noise but the results are average. I think I will do a two step process with De-noise first followed by Isolate and adjust the gain and ambience preservation to minimize artifacts. This is great software, just wish I didn't need to use so many elements. By the way, what Compressor plug in do you use with RX 8?
@@curtisjudd Dialogue is much more difficult that music. I am going to look at the Multiband Compressor in Fairlight, haven't used it before, so get to learn a new tool. Thank you for your input.
Absolutely loved the video! You mentioned in it that you might revisit in a different video how to handle discontinuous noises. Was that a video you ended up making?
I absolutely love this plugin. I often say it works like some kind of dark magic, lol. Thanks for the great tips about how to use it most effectively! I hadn’t thought of setting the reduction much lower and then running multiple passes. I’ll have to try that! I also appreciated the explanation of what it’s doing under the hood. Thanks for great video as usual, Curtis! 😀
In clips where we do not have just noise and there's constantly ONLY sound, adaptive mode itself does a pretty great job. Because if you do not have just noise, it is hard to properly utilize learn, or at all. So I find in those cases either adaptive or manually tweaking it myself and listening to the sound leads to decent results.
Good info! I bought the app when I had to do an interview in an aircraft hangar. I’m not an audio guy and this definitely was easy to use. Thanks for helping me understand when I should change the settings.
A bit late in seeing this one, I'm a big fan of RX. I've been using RX 8 Standard for a while now. I did upgrade to 9, but I haven't really done any recordings recently to need it. Anyway, I've got a nice batch setup that includes this module. Slightly different settings, but achieve good results. My two main issues are AC sound that may or may not be present and, funny enough, the potential of the dishwasher going in the background. I literally use the dining room table and record late at night. But the dishwasher will frequently be started before I'm planning on doing a session. This module effectively eliminates that sound. Even at its loudest point. The modules I use, in order, are Mixing (the Zoom H1 is mono for me), De-clip (just in case), De-click, Voice De-Noise, De-reverb (just to flatten things out a bit more), EQ, and Loudness Control. Works really well as a batch. I just now have to import my presets into RX 9 when the time comes when I create more content. Always great videos and you explain things very clearly!
This was really great - and wish I'd seen this video when I was struggling with De-Noise in Elements years ago! And your mouth click one - I came to the same opinion - and also had CPU issues with running DeClick or some of the other plugins bar Breath Control - so I have that in the stack just reducing those, and then pre-process the vocals with Mouth DeClick - and your settings were pretty much what I've been using, which is reassuring! The one that really confuses me now, and I tend to just tweak existing presets is the Spectral De-Noise in RX Standard. It's like the bridge on Star Trek that plugin! But the quality is so much better I feel, even though there is more processing overheard? I just batch the podcast vocals in the background. So a video on RX Spectral De-Noise would be really useful.
Hello Curtis. This talk was so clear, cordial and helpful! Five months later and I'm looking at denoising 200-plus CDs of informal conversation and talks, some with horrendous noise, captured on cheap casette recorders, late 1970s and early 1980s. I have RX7 Standard and, now, RX Elements Suite with RX8, Ozone, Nectar, and Neutron Elements. I'll be working on an M1 Mac Mini. Nice to know I can do a couple of passes. I wonder if Voice De-Noise or Spectral Noise Reduction will be the best for the really ugly tracks.
Hi Amanda, thanks. Generally, Spectral De-Noise can remove more noise in the situations where it works well. Best to experiment with it first. But I often find that Voice De-noise works great on spoken word audio.
Thanks so much for responding. That really helped me understand when to use each module. Very important, with so many files to denoise. Of course, I'll be testing as you suggested, and maybe set up a module chain to run as a first pass.
Hey Curtis ..thanks for starting this series. Been eyeing the iZotope plugins for some time...saving up. Definitely looking forward to any help with de-reverb. My home studio is in good shape, but for a freelance gig I've been working on, we've been filming in a large garage, and while sound blankets have helped, there's still more reverb than I would like...a light reduction would be helpful. Using a shotgun mic about 6 inches from the talent. I know something like a short condenser would also probably help, but for now, Im limited to what I have. Anyway, a real lengthy way of saying thanks! Haha.
👍 Yes, Spectral De-noise is good for off-line/post processing. Voice De-noise is a better option for real-time processing for those who have that need.
Nice job on this video. I have been using RX8 and RX10 now for a while, and have been trying to learn on my own. This video really helps me understand how to take care of noise. I was just curious if you have a video on Spectral Denoise from Izotope? I tried searching for it, but nothing came back. I would like to have an explanation, not only for the basic functions, but also the functions in the drop down box at the bottom of the screen.
Hi Curtis thanks for your video I recently bought rx 10 standard and not seemingly to get good results with a hiss that comes trailing with my vocal signal. Seems simple enough but not easy to find that tradeoff of losing character. Your video gave me some good ideas to try before the next attempt. Including running it through multiple passes. Maybe I had imagined it differently in in my head but it's just kind of a form of advanced EQ'? For some reason I thought it would learn the noiseflour and then pick out all those specks and particles of sound lol... maybe i'm just dischenchanted because I don't understandfully how it works and it's not working for me :) Thanks for making this video!
Technically, this is a bunch of noise gates working at different frequencies. There is a manual mode where you can have it learn the noise pattern and then apply it.
I know this video is from a couple years back but what's the difference between using Voice DeNoise and spectral deNoise? Could be a silly question to ask but I genuinely don't know the difference the two modules provide.
This tutorial was exactly what I needed so I subbed, Thanks! Also when you used the EQ, what were the reasons behind specifically using a 48 dB/octave cut and at 80Hz?
I chose that because it cut out the low frequency rumble without affecting the dialogue. I do that because people who play back the audio on speakers (often with a sub woofer) which can play back those frequencies won't have a nasty bass rumble surprise.
Hey, Curtis, huge fan of your channel. Just had a quick question for you. Do you typically always use some form of noise reduction regardless of the gear you're using? Thanks.
No, only when needed. I prefer to control the noise in the room so I don’t have to resort to post noise reduction. On location, where I don’t have as much control, yes, I often have to do a light pass.
Thanks for another great video, Curtis. You mention that in can be used in real time for streaming but I can't find much info out there on how that would work. What is the basic set up? Also have you tested the music mode? I'm wondering how well it would work outside of vocal applications, say on the violin.
Hi Clayton. To use any plugins during a livestream, you would need a host app which can run VST, VST3, AAX, or AU plugins. I don't know whether you're using Windows or Mac, but on Mac, I'd probably use Audio Hijack as the host app. I haven't used the plugin on music recordings yet.
It is possible. On Windows, ASIO Link Pro is the best. My setup is REAPER > ASIO Link Pro as output devices > set the ASIO Link Pro's input devices in Windows as default properly > OBS/Discord/games/etc. Then make sure the programs are using the ASIO Link Pro's input devices which it has installed into Windows. I use REAPER because sometimes I need to record my own voices while livestreaming, so it's more of an all in one solution.
Follow up comment: I've been experimenting since you posted this video and it works great with music. I am now able to route Logic into Zoom via blackhole which is fantastic as the zoom noise filters need to be disabled when playing live music. I've been teaching fiddle and occasionally performing concerts on zoom since the beginning of the pandemic and this has really cleaned up the audio!
Hey Curtis, I was about to enroll in your course but I notice some of the features you have on your RX is different on mine. What is your RX version? element? Standard or advanced?
Hi, in your opinion is Spectral De-noise a good choice to clean self noise from mics? Especially thinking at field recordings. Or does exist a better option? Thanks ❤
I bring that Voice De-Noise plug-in in and it is dead. I see no activity happening in the window. I play my loop and nothing is happening in the plug-in window. How do you activate and deactivate it? Also, when you work with a plug-in, and decide it isn't the one you need, and you close it, does it still keep working, or does closing it go back to it not being used? I don't see an 'active/not active indication where I can understand what is being processed.
It is only active in the RX audio editor when you press preview or apply. If you close it and DO NOT press apply, it is not longer affecting the sound.
Thanks for this. Informative! Would really be interesting to hear your opinion on the other features of RX8, even the ones in the most expensive version. Personally I use the Denoise all the time to clean noise floors, but many of the other features (like reverberation removal) seem to cause more problems than solve them. Have you found any others really useful? Or maybe I'm using them wrong? Thanks!
Voice De-noise only removes noise. Dialogue Isolate allows you to independently tell the plugin how much ambient sound to keep in the recording. This may sound counter-intuitive, but in film mixing, one often has to match different microphones and having the ability to dial in exactly how much of the ambient sound you remove and how much you keep is really helpful.
Curtis, I love your videos man! Thank you so much for all the knowledge you've shared so far! Would love some insight on how should I fix a recording with a noise floor at -24dB and the dialogue peaking between -12dB and -9dB... It's soo loud but relatively steady... In that case what level should I aim to bring the noise floor to? I know -60dB would be impossible without many artifacts... And should I make my ambiance tracks a little louder than usual to try to hide/mask the noise?
What do you think about using Spectral De-Noise to achieve the same results? I normally record a second or two of the room noise and use that as the 'template' of the noise that I try to reduce. It works well (in my particular case) - but do you think you can get the same results with both methods? Loving all your videos Curtis, keep up the wonderful work.
I learned more about what to look for with audio processing than I expected! Thanks again, Curtis. I agree that critically quiet isn't as necessary as a healthy difference between the signal and noise level. Also, I recently made a mic review of my own to test the waters. I have many somewhat oddball mics in which haven't found much information or reviews on RU-vid. What do you think of this endeavor, sir?
@@curtisjudd Thank you for checking it out, good sir! It means the world to me! I'd love any and all feedback you're willing to give me, as I can only grow through the proper critiques.
Great and great content.😉 Just one question. Did you "learn" the plugin where the noice where "manualy" and then adapted it at first or was it just to show the differens between manual and learning and adapt? I got it like my first thaught.
Hi Magnus, I'm sorry, I don't understand the question. In cases where you don't have a clear section of only noise, the adaptive mode can work nicely. Also, if the noise changes a bit throughout the clip, the adaptive mode can be helpful. In some cases, however, the adaptive mode can make some rather obvious changes and the manual/learn mode may be preferred. You have to experiment with each audio clip too find which works best for that particular clip.
Also, I understand what you shared about rendering with the settings you suggested. But then it looked liked you did something specific with the sound floor in addition this to cancel it out. Did I misunderstand that?
No, I don't have an nVidia card, but the tests I heard varied from ok to sounding like the person was talking into a pillow. But I think that's just because they pushed the settings too hard. Like most things, using just a little bit usually works better. Also, RTX Voice also has adds a lot of latency last I heard - tens of ms - which can be problematic.
Hi Curtis, great video thanks for putting in the time to share it! I have a question: When do you NOT use adaptive mode? ie. what kind of problems are best solved with the non-adaptive setting? I process a 3 track podcast every week where the tracks are 1.5-2.5hrs long each. I have found that non-adaptive gives me better results considering that I am applying the de-noise over such a wide swath of audio with loud and quiet moments. Thanks in advance!
Hi Chad, adaptive mode works pretty well in most situations, but I have encountered one or two where it left some artifacts that sounded like it was obviously changing it's configuration mid-audio-clip. It is usually pretty reliable, though. So I don't hesitate to use adaptive mode most of the time and just keep an ear out for any odd transitions it may leave. But for long-form content like what you describe, the manual "Learn" mode is probably safer.
I've recently used my RX denoiser ver 5 in the auto/adaptive mode on an odd piece of audiobook I had recorded almost a decade ago with a terribly noisy combination of mic and preamp (the latter being Line6 UX 1 POD Studio). I keep wondering how I used to tolerate such amounts of noise in the past. Anyway, I cranked RX up to max and still got a wonderfully noiseless voice recording, which I could still retouch a bit. No DAW denoiser could achieve such results.
They each serve a different purpose and work better in different situations. For film production, sometimes you want to remove noise but keep the ambient sound or room tone. Dialogue Isolate can potentially do that, depending on the noise. Voice De-Noise, on the other hand, generally treats ambient sound as noise and removes some of it.
Does surgical vs gentle mostly control the frequency selectivity of the gates' control signals? In other words, does it expand (gentle) or narrow (surgical) the bandwidth over which the input is integrated to obtain the control signal for each individual gate, such that neighboring gates will tend to behave similarly (since a loud sound at a single frequency will impact multiple adjacent bands/gates instead of just the one that contains it). At any rate that's what I would instinctively try if somebody asked me to build one of these. I'm surprised that applying multiple rounds of the algorithm would perform better than a single, stronger round. Back when I did image- and signal-processing we considered that sort of thing as an indicator that the filter was deficient in how it implements the stronger setting and needed to be fixed.
I have an XAir that all my audio feeds in to and I want to use this de-noise for live streams. Not sure how to do that. I presume I need to use a PC and pass the XAir input into USB send, through this VST plugin then out to another XLR output so I can send to my recorder? Any guides on doing this with XAir?
@@curtisjudd think I've figured it out. Xair into PC using USB send and return to basically loop the inputs through PC first. Then use a VST Host I've used Gig Performer and pass Xair USB in to the rack then the VST plugin of Izotope then out to XAir USB return
Hello, I have a question I can't seem to find the answer to. For some reason all the letter "F" sounds through my mic almost sound like the letter "P". Do you know anything about this?