Thank you very much for the excellent coverage of Acoustica. For Extract:Dialogue, we would in general recommend starting with a sensitivity of 0% and only adjust if you want to remove more noise by increasing the sensitivity (at the cost of additional artifacts) or less noise by setting the sensitivity to negative values. Limiting the maximum attenuation to -6 dB will also give very subtle noise reduction, but in some cases that might of course be just enough. :)
I'm trying the free trial with very poor dialogue files. I found that even 0% was too much for these very old audios recorded on lousy cassette recorders from the early '70s to the early '90s. Will try -6 dB. Thanks for the advice.
Ooo I'd love a Extract: Dialogue vs. Waves Clarity VX shootout since they both can be used as real-time denoisers. One thing to note about the RX Dialogue Isolate; the Sensitivity control is perhaps a bit counterintuitive as it "determines how much of the input signal will be identified as *dialogue* by the separation algorithm". Lower values = more aggressive NR. The Extract: Dialogue Sensitivity slider is determining the sensitivity of the *unwanted* signal. So High Values = more aggressive NR.
After having watched some other Acoustica videos, I'm once again extremely grateful for your in depth videos, Curtis. Others have just used the default settings and ignored how much of the voice is removed and how ugly the dialog becomes after noise reduction. Keeping a natural sounding voice is imo more important than removing -all- of the noise. Keep up the great work!
Curtis, thank you so much for this demonstration of Acoustica. I'm a voice actor, and I've yet to use Acoustica. Instead, I first used RX7, then RX8, and now RX9, although not the full-blown version. The first thing I do whenever recording a voice-over or narrative in my voice booth is to drop a thirty-second ambient noise track, recorded in my booth, ahead of where I'll begin recording my voice. I also copy a one-second segment of the ambient noise. Then, after I've recorded my voice audio, I join the voice track with the ambient noise track and begin editing. The one-second ambient noise track can be dropped into my narrative anywhere a longer pause is needed or to replace breaths or mouth noise. Once I have an edited track with which I'm pleased, I normalize the track so that peaks are hitting 0 dB, and import the track into RX9. My first step in noise reduction is to select the thirty-second ambient noise section of the track and allow the program's Spectral De-noise function to "learn" only the ambient noise. Once RX9 has learned the ambient noise section of the track, I select the entire track and render it. Next, I use De-click and Mouth De-click on the entire file before exporting it back into Reaper, which is the tracking and editing program I use for voice audio. I then go through the track making any adjustments before again importing the track back into RX9 to repeat the whole process. The track I import back into Reaper can then be trimmed and processed with EQ and compression if needed before rendering the file as an MP3 or WAV. The benefit of gradually cleaning a voice file is that the process can be made non-destructive and allows me to clean the audio without affecting voice quality.
I've been using Extract Dialogue for the last couple of weeks and I love it, especially because it can be used as a real time plugin in Pro Tools and I can automate it on the fly. I use RX Advanced for most of my cleaning up, but Extract Dialogue is my final noise reduction step and I've been getting great results with this combination. DeVerberate 3 is also great. Totally worth it.
Thanks for this. This was before 1.2 update for Extract:Dialogue, which brought some major improvents. Seems like RX10 has been released since then with improve Isolate Dialog feature as well. I downloaded both trials and found the RX10 sounds a tiny bit better because it preserves more of the low end in my voice when removing the noise.
Removing a constant fan noise is done much better in RX Advanced with Spectral De-Noise or Voice De-Noise. So this does not seem to me like an apples to apples comparison. I am working with RX Advanced since version 6. Started working with Waves Clarity Vx Pro when it came out. Sometimes the combination of RX and Clarity Vx Pro works wonders. Thanks for making me aware of an extra option / alternative.
Thanks a lot! :-) I've been using Acon Digital products for 3 years for client work, (Commercials & Corporate films) and I'm very happy. But I would love to see more advanced tutorials from a pro sound guy as yourself 👍
Thanks so much for this walkthrough. I just downloaded Acon's Free Trial of Acoustica 7.4 and, so far, so good. Your explanation of Waveform Assymetry and DC Offset was so helpful/understandable. I'm still fairly new to the world of voiceover and find a lot of these concepts so confusing. (Oh, and I just signed up for your "Dialogue Sound Post Processing with Adobe Audition - Part 1"!)
Thanks for doing this. I couldn’t justify spending the money on Izotope but would like the clean up tools you’re showing. £170 for the premium version of this seems much more manageable!
Just this feature is worth the price. I don't have RX 9 Advanced so I just use Voice Denoise which does well for me at least. On my latest work, I got the Clarity Vx plugin (regular, not pro) and for what it does, it does it well. Most on audio I had already done a fair amount of editing on, but I also had unedited audio and it really isolated my voice well. It was a situation where I was interviewing people and I inserted a question I asked a couple times to provide context. I was literally sitting behind the camera and used the camera's audio. So my mouth was maybe 8 - 14" away. Not perfect, but good enough in the context I was doing. I think it added to the "documentary" feel to be able to simply dial in how much isolation I wanted. I look forward to more about this software.
Great video! If no one pointed this out, your thumbnail actually seems to be using the logo/branding for Acoustica, the company that makes the Mixcraft DAW, and not the product made by Acon Digital :-) I used to use Mixcraft, so I went to their website to find what you're talking about, and realized why I couldn't find it 😂
I love this program. I also have RX, but so far am not able to use it well; Acoustica freehand tool just gets rids of unwanted sounds much faster and easier (for a novice lame audio editor like me)
Please, we need more videos about Acoustica Premium. Apart from the tools it has, I would also like to see what the spectrum editor is like, if it has the basics or brings advanced things. Other software that comes to mind are SpectraLayer, RX, Soundforge, Audition and Pyramix. I would like to know where Acoustica fits in, if it is more restoration oriented or if it has multitrack recording, for example. What other options are there?
That can be an issue, but I bought this not because RX left me wanting, but because many members of the community are looking for more affordable options.
What is the cause of an irregular waveform shape in regards to men's voices? What is the science behind how that works? The phase rotation part blew my mind!
I'm surprised you didn't have a sample in which your voice and your sibilance was tested against the ambience of a fan or AC system. Am I right in thinking that it's the program's ability to pick out transients in the audio?
Not only is RX 10 1,200 bucks, Ozone 10 for music mastering is 500. One can do both with Acoustica Premium for 200 bucks... and I got it on sale last month for 150!
Terms like "dialogue isolate" get my heart racing. I recently cleaned 200+ files captured mostly on cheap cassette recorders in the '70s and '80s. I'll install the Acoustica trial and see what it can do with the "peak-horrible" files. Would love to hear your thoughts on Izotope Ozone 9 Elements. I was surprised by how much better it could make some of the files sound.
I tried the free 30-day trial of Acoustica and found it helped with the worst of the audio files. I found the dialogue separation was a bit strong at its default, but a combination of dynamics processing, noise analysis, etc., made a difference, where I was stumped in Audition, RX7, and the iZotope Elements Suite. Might be worth a purchase.
Thanks for this information. I have Izotope RX but it's always good to see new software popping up, keeps everyone on their toes. Have you tried Waves Clarity VX Pro? If so I would like to know your thoughts. Also might be good to review. Full retail it's $799 ( Less than Izotope RX) but I haven't seen it at full price since they introduced it several months ago. It's going for $250 currently I believe.
Very interesting stuff Like you say the changes were subtle But probably only noticeable to the most critical ear like yours or mine or certain other people. For the average listener I don't think they really give a darn. But for people like you or me who make content you want it as best as possible. Keith Kuhn
Hi! thanks for showing us around with alternative of izotope!! As I was watching you fixing audio, I had a question in my mind. What are some examples that can not be fixed in post? you know people say "meh, let's fix in post" I can think of something clipped and has no headroom, fan noise with irregular speed? Anyways it would mean a lot if you cover this topic in future video!! Thank you !!!
Anything that is extreme is often not truly fixable in post. Noise that overlaps substantially with dialogue is really tough, especially if it is discontinuous.
I'm sorry, but my comment is off topic. Will there be a review of DJI Mic compared with RODE Wireless Go? Do not know which one is better for the cheap wireless mic which are lightweight and easy to use during interview when on travel, etc.
Hi may I please ask a question Curtis, I have bought Waves CLARITY VX Software Plugin, as in the videos for noise reduction it looked amazing, is there any chance you can review and advice is the more expensive pro version , worth investing or actually the same results can be achieved without spending any money on plug-in's Thanks ,, regards Chris UK ,,
I would say you could definitely edit and mix in DaVinci. If you want to do more advanced stuff like shown here, then you can use the plugins like here in DaVinci. But this assumes you actually know how to use them. You may have to take some courses and watch tutorials etc. it’s a skill like any other. Automated tools only go so far because, you have to actually know if it’s improving the sound or not. It could be making it worst, and it’s not always obvious.
Acoustica is for cleanup, not for mixing. So yes, you'd use something like Resolve/Fairlight for the full mix. Acoustica also includes plugins for many of these modules which you can use in Fairlight.
Hi Curtis, Thanks for the video, how about doing a review of Waves VX Pro. It is just like ACON real time and it seems that in some cases it is better than the dialogue isolate
Regarding the phase rotation, it looked like the amplitude of the entire waveform was lowered, yes? So, while you have to compress the peaks less, don't you just need more overall amplitude boost to hit your target (RMS, LUFS, etc)? Seems like you'd actually just be bringing your noise floor up even higher than without using the phase rotation treatment....
That’s worth a practical test, Ed. In my experience I generally end up boosting about the same amount without having to use as much compression to get the headroom I need, thus resulting in a more transparent sound.
Phase rotation won't affect RMS or LUFS measurements, so unless your target is based on peak measurements, you won't need any additional amplitude boost after phase rotation.
@@AconDigital Ah, yes...I was mis-thinking through the problem. Thanks, Acon! Curtis, great video; really looking forward to more on Acoustica. Just picked up Premium version, myself.
Is this available only as a standalone application or as a VST plugin (or rather, VST plugins for each individual tool)? Either way, looks like a great tool - I've been casually interested in it for a while, but I've generally able to tackle most types of clean-up with some combination of RX and Accusonus ERA (RIP btw).
You are right, of course, should have included that. What I have found is that it does NOT substantially degrade the audio. You can download and try with the trial version.
Thanks for the vid! What would the advantage be for these “dialog isolate” algorithms over, say, de-noising like “spectral denoise” (which I use quite a bit) or “dialog denoise”, both or which are available in the less expensive versions of RX? Thanks again for all you do :)
I think so, maybe, if the primary issue is a bit of noise in the room. If the primary issue is reverberation, then Avon Digital’s De-verberate would probably be more helpful.
Acoustica has a really bad artifact at "...EVERYday computer user" at 9:07 - to be honest I'm not convinced with the result. Appreciate your videos nevertheless.
I, for one, would very much like to see more about Acoustica.
👍
Thank you very much for the excellent coverage of Acoustica. For Extract:Dialogue, we would in general recommend starting with a sensitivity of 0% and only adjust if you want to remove more noise by increasing the sensitivity (at the cost of additional artifacts) or less noise by setting the sensitivity to negative values. Limiting the maximum attenuation to -6 dB will also give very subtle noise reduction, but in some cases that might of course be just enough. :)
Thanks for the recommendation!
I'm trying the free trial with very poor dialogue files. I found that even 0% was too much for these very old audios recorded on lousy cassette recorders from the early '70s to the early '90s. Will try -6 dB. Thanks for the advice.
As a big fan of both Acon products and Curtis' reviews, I never happened to see this video and only today "the algorithm" showed me this. Great find.
I don't know what we did wrong that this one essentially got buried. 🤷♂️
Ooo I'd love a Extract: Dialogue vs. Waves Clarity VX shootout since they both can be used as real-time denoisers.
One thing to note about the RX Dialogue Isolate; the Sensitivity control is perhaps a bit counterintuitive as it "determines how much of the input signal will be identified as *dialogue* by the separation algorithm". Lower values = more aggressive NR.
The Extract: Dialogue Sensitivity slider is determining the sensitivity of the *unwanted* signal. So High Values = more aggressive NR.
Thanks Chris.
After having watched some other Acoustica videos, I'm once again extremely grateful for your in depth videos, Curtis. Others have just used the default settings and ignored how much of the voice is removed and how ugly the dialog becomes after noise reduction. Keeping a natural sounding voice is imo more important than removing -all- of the noise. Keep up the great work!
👍
I would very much like to see you do a course on Acon Acoustica, like the one you did for Fairlight...
Thanks for your excellent videos!
Thanks for the suggestion.
I second this!
Curtis, thank you so much for this demonstration of Acoustica.
I'm a voice actor, and I've yet to use Acoustica. Instead, I first used RX7, then RX8, and now RX9, although not the full-blown version.
The first thing I do whenever recording a voice-over or narrative in my voice booth is to drop a thirty-second ambient noise track, recorded in my booth, ahead of where I'll begin recording my voice. I also copy a one-second segment of the ambient noise.
Then, after I've recorded my voice audio, I join the voice track with the ambient noise track and begin editing. The one-second ambient noise track can be dropped into my narrative anywhere a longer pause is needed or to replace breaths or mouth noise. Once I have an edited track with which I'm pleased, I normalize the track so that peaks are hitting 0 dB, and import the track into RX9.
My first step in noise reduction is to select the thirty-second ambient noise section of the track and allow the program's Spectral De-noise function to "learn" only the ambient noise. Once RX9 has learned the ambient noise section of the track, I select the entire track and render it.
Next, I use De-click and Mouth De-click on the entire file before exporting it back into Reaper, which is the tracking and editing program I use for voice audio. I then go through the track making any adjustments before again importing the track back into RX9 to repeat the whole process.
The track I import back into Reaper can then be trimmed and processed with EQ and compression if needed before rendering the file as an MP3 or WAV.
The benefit of gradually cleaning a voice file is that the process can be made non-destructive and allows me to clean the audio without affecting voice quality.
Thanks for the suggestions!
I've been using Extract Dialogue for the last couple of weeks and I love it, especially because it can be used as a real time plugin in Pro Tools and I can automate it on the fly. I use RX Advanced for most of my cleaning up, but Extract Dialogue is my final noise reduction step and I've been getting great results with this combination. DeVerberate 3 is also great. Totally worth it.
👍
It's a shame DeVerb3 isn't included in Acoustica, isn't it! I was impressed with the demo though, so I think I'll give it a purchase.
Thanks for this. This was before 1.2 update for Extract:Dialogue, which brought some major improvents. Seems like RX10 has been released since then with improve Isolate Dialog feature as well. I downloaded both trials and found the RX10 sounds a tiny bit better because it preserves more of the low end in my voice when removing the noise.
👍
Removing a constant fan noise is done much better in RX Advanced with Spectral De-Noise or Voice De-Noise.
So this does not seem to me like an apples to apples comparison.
I am working with RX Advanced since version 6. Started working with Waves Clarity Vx Pro when it came out.
Sometimes the combination of RX and Clarity Vx Pro works wonders.
Thanks for making me aware of an extra option / alternative.
Better? Would love to hear your side by side comparison. 🙏
@@curtisjudd Will send 4 small 32bit float files with a description to ...@LearningLightAndSound... in a moment.
Thanks a lot! :-) I've been using Acon Digital products for 3 years for client work, (Commercials & Corporate films) and I'm very happy. But I would love to see more advanced tutorials from a pro sound guy as yourself 👍
👍
Thanks so much for this walkthrough. I just downloaded Acon's Free Trial of Acoustica 7.4 and, so far, so good. Your explanation of Waveform Assymetry and DC Offset was so helpful/understandable. I'm still fairly new to the world of voiceover and find a lot of these concepts so confusing. (Oh, and I just signed up for your "Dialogue Sound Post Processing with Adobe Audition - Part 1"!)
Glad this was helpful and happy mixing!
Please more Acoustica content, I've been looking at getting it for awhile. Thanks
👍
Thanks for doing this. I couldn’t justify spending the money on Izotope but would like the clean up tools you’re showing. £170 for the premium version of this seems much more manageable!
It would be really nice to see your workflow from FCPX. How do you round trip the audio from there? Thanks
👍
Just this feature is worth the price. I don't have RX 9 Advanced so I just use Voice Denoise which does well for me at least. On my latest work, I got the Clarity Vx plugin (regular, not pro) and for what it does, it does it well. Most on audio I had already done a fair amount of editing on, but I also had unedited audio and it really isolated my voice well. It was a situation where I was interviewing people and I inserted a question I asked a couple times to provide context. I was literally sitting behind the camera and used the camera's audio. So my mouth was maybe 8 - 14" away. Not perfect, but good enough in the context I was doing. I think it added to the "documentary" feel to be able to simply dial in how much isolation I wanted. I look forward to more about this software.
👍
Great video! If no one pointed this out, your thumbnail actually seems to be using the logo/branding for Acoustica, the company that makes the Mixcraft DAW, and not the product made by Acon Digital :-)
I used to use Mixcraft, so I went to their website to find what you're talking about, and realized why I couldn't find it 😂
Ha! I hadn't noticed that. Looks like my graphic designer took some liberties and used the wrong branding. We'll get that fixed. 🙏
I would love to see how to better target the background squeaks like piano chair, piano pedal thuds, turning sheet music book pages, etc.
Me too.
I love this program. I also have RX, but so far am not able to use it well; Acoustica freehand tool just gets rids of unwanted sounds much faster and easier (for a novice lame audio editor like me)
LOL! Glad it works well for you. 👍
Please, we need more videos about Acoustica Premium. Apart from the tools it has, I would also like to see what the spectrum editor is like, if it has the basics or brings advanced things.
Other software that comes to mind are SpectraLayer, RX, Soundforge, Audition and Pyramix. I would like to know where Acoustica fits in, if it is more restoration oriented or if it has multitrack recording, for example. What other options are there?
It is an audio editor, not a multitrack DAW. But yes on more videos.
Great stuff is always Curtis.
You have so many tools and toys do you ever have trouble figuring out which one should I use today ?
LOL
KEITH KUHN
That can be an issue, but I bought this not because RX left me wanting, but because many members of the community are looking for more affordable options.
What is the cause of an irregular waveform shape in regards to men's voices? What is the science behind how that works?
The phase rotation part blew my mind!
I'm surprised you didn't have a sample in which your voice and your sibilance was tested against the ambience of a fan or AC system. Am I right in thinking that it's the program's ability to pick out transients in the audio?
I don't know the scientific explanation, unfortunately. But it is quite consistent in my voice and others that I've recorded.
Not only is RX 10 1,200 bucks, Ozone 10 for music mastering is 500. One can do both with Acoustica Premium for 200 bucks... and I got it on sale last month for 150!
Nice deal.
Terms like "dialogue isolate" get my heart racing. I recently cleaned 200+ files captured mostly on cheap cassette recorders in the '70s and '80s. I'll install the Acoustica trial and see what it can do with the "peak-horrible" files. Would love to hear your thoughts on Izotope Ozone 9 Elements. I was surprised by how much better it could make some of the files sound.
That sounds like a big job!
I tried the free 30-day trial of Acoustica and found it helped with the worst of the audio files. I found the dialogue separation was a bit strong at its default, but a combination of dynamics processing, noise analysis, etc., made a difference, where I was stumped in Audition, RX7, and the iZotope Elements Suite. Might be worth a purchase.
Thanks for this information. I have Izotope RX but it's always good to see new software popping up, keeps everyone on their toes. Have you tried Waves Clarity VX Pro? If so I would like to know your thoughts. Also might be good to review. Full retail it's $799 ( Less than Izotope RX) but I haven't seen it at full price since they introduced it several months ago. It's going for $250 currently I believe.
Yes, it is great as well. We did a lightweight demo (not a full review) on the live show: ruclips.net/video/_aEsV7BPAKk/видео.html
Very interesting stuff
Like you say the changes were subtle
But probably only noticeable to the most critical ear like yours or mine or certain other people.
For the average listener I don't think they really give a darn.
But for people like you or me who make content you want it as best as possible.
Keith Kuhn
👍 Quite noticeable in good headphones. Not so much on mobile phone speakers.
@@curtisjudd
Whenever I listen to your videos I always
use my cheapy headphones..
Like I said I'm a listener. Like you..
KK
For me, I would find a class that goes over the tools that you need and how to use them. Then why now, and when would be a great video.
👍
Hi! thanks for showing us around with alternative of izotope!!
As I was watching you fixing audio, I had a question in my mind. What are some examples that can not be fixed in post? you know people say "meh, let's fix in post"
I can think of something clipped and has no headroom, fan noise with irregular speed?
Anyways it would mean a lot if you cover this topic in future video!!
Thank you !!!
Anything that is extreme is often not truly fixable in post. Noise that overlaps substantially with dialogue is really tough, especially if it is discontinuous.
I'm sorry, but my comment is off topic. Will there be a review of DJI Mic compared with RODE Wireless Go? Do not know which one is better for the cheap wireless mic which are lightweight and easy to use during interview when on travel, etc.
Hopefully, yes
Hi may I please ask a question Curtis, I have bought Waves CLARITY VX Software Plugin, as in the videos for noise reduction it looked amazing, is there any chance you can review and advice is the more expensive pro version , worth investing or actually the same results can be achieved without spending any money on plug-in's Thanks ,, regards Chris UK ,,
We have an initial look at Clarity Vx and Vx Pro over here: ruclips.net/video/_aEsV7BPAKk/видео.html
What does the sensitivity adjustment do ?
Tells the plugin to consider more things as noise.
Can i use just Davinci Resolve alone for the audio and dialogue mixing for my film? Instead of these programs? Or do i need them for the best results?
I would say you could definitely edit and mix in DaVinci. If you want to do more advanced stuff like shown here, then you can use the plugins like here in DaVinci. But this assumes you actually know how to use them. You may have to take some courses and watch tutorials etc. it’s a skill like any other. Automated tools only go so far because, you have to actually know if it’s improving the sound or not. It could be making it worst, and it’s not always obvious.
Acoustica is for cleanup, not for mixing. So yes, you'd use something like Resolve/Fairlight for the full mix. Acoustica also includes plugins for many of these modules which you can use in Fairlight.
Hi Curtis, Thanks for the video, how about doing a review of Waves VX Pro. It is just like ACON real time and it seems that in some cases it is better than the dialogue isolate
Sure: ruclips.net/video/_aEsV7BPAKk/видео.html
Regarding the phase rotation, it looked like the amplitude of the entire waveform was lowered, yes? So, while you have to compress the peaks less, don't you just need more overall amplitude boost to hit your target (RMS, LUFS, etc)? Seems like you'd actually just be bringing your noise floor up even higher than without using the phase rotation treatment....
That’s worth a practical test, Ed. In my experience I generally end up boosting about the same amount without having to use as much compression to get the headroom I need, thus resulting in a more transparent sound.
Phase rotation won't affect RMS or LUFS measurements, so unless your target is based on peak measurements, you won't need any additional amplitude boost after phase rotation.
@@AconDigital Ah, yes...I was mis-thinking through the problem. Thanks, Acon! Curtis, great video; really looking forward to more on Acoustica. Just picked up Premium version, myself.
Curtis does Davincii Fairlight do this with the software?
Not at this level, no. You could add the Acoustica plugins to Fairlight, however.
Sir, I want Cedar DNS 4 four Channel Dialogues Noise second hand in good running condition
Me too
Hey Curtis. Great info. What DAW/program would you recommend for voiceover only? Thanks mate.
I use Audition. But Hindenburg may also be a good choice.
Is it a plugin or an application?
Both
@@curtisjudd Thanks.
Is this available only as a standalone application or as a VST plugin (or rather, VST plugins for each individual tool)? Either way, looks like a great tool - I've been casually interested in it for a while, but I've generally able to tackle most types of clean-up with some combination of RX and Accusonus ERA (RIP btw).
It does include VST, AU, and AAX plugins as well. Details on the product page linked in the description.
I'm surprised we didn't hear a "before and after" the "Rotate Phase". Does this function in any way degrade the audio?
You are right, of course, should have included that. What I have found is that it does NOT substantially degrade the audio. You can download and try with the trial version.
Thanks for the vid! What would the advantage be for these “dialog isolate” algorithms over, say, de-noising like “spectral denoise” (which I use quite a bit) or “dialog denoise”, both or which are available in the less expensive versions of RX? Thanks again for all you do :)
They use a different approach and allow you to decide how much ambience to retain which can be really important in film/video mixing.
@@curtisjudd Ah, makes sense. Thanks Curtis!
Would Acoustica be a good tool to remove a small bit of roominess that creeps into my videos?
I think so, maybe, if the primary issue is a bit of noise in the room. If the primary issue is reverberation, then Avon Digital’s De-verberate would probably be more helpful.
Acoustica has a really bad artifact at "...EVERYday computer user" at 9:07 - to be honest I'm not convinced with the result. Appreciate your videos nevertheless.
My take is that having the option for both is the best situation. Not necessary, but nice to have options.
@@curtisjudd I can't hear an artefact here - can you ? "...EVERYday computer user" at @