AIR conditioner noise removal in FCPX

[Richard Herd]

Yeah. Select the audio hit CMD-8 and you’ll get some cool toys. There are more than this in the Effects library.

[John Godwin]

Thanks for the reply. Those are the ones that don’t work well, at least with this level of noise. I didn’t know if the other filters might have one buried in there where you can do a noise sample.

Best,
John

[Richard Herd]

Did you try the gate? It worked pretty well. But it’s tricky to use.

[Bill Davis]

John,

The “noise sample” construct in X is basic and not particularly user definable – but it’s often very functional if the kind of noise you’re combatting lends itself to X’s type of “smart filter” presets. You access them by selecting the track you want to clean up in the Event Browser. (Please do it here – rather than at the clip level in your timeline because you want to fix it “globally” for all subsequent uses of that audio clip – not just for a single use.) When the clip is selected as a whole, open it’s Audio Tab – then under Audio Enhancements, open the Audio Analysis sub-menu – and that will take you to a dedicated Background Noise Removal tab. IF your noise profile is one that FCP-X is built to address, simply sliding the Amount tab is all you’re likely to need. Common mode hum (60cycle noise in the US), High frequency hiss, and other easily “isolatable” issues are usually handled really well with this approach.

AC Handling noise “might” fall in that category – but it’s hard to say.

It’s often got quite a few discrete components. The hiss like “rush” of the air itself might be combined with low frequency duct rumble – and even significant mechanical noise depending on how close the room is to the physical AC unit.

Also, the content you want to keep is an issue. If the problem is low frequency rumble – and the signal you want to keep is a higher pitched female interviewee – then you could get EXCELLENT results from a simple low pass filter approach – and again, the “auto correct” described above that’s built into X might be great.

OTOH, if you’re recording a male voice in the “James Earl Jones” range – then knocking down the AC rumble with a high-pass filter can make the voice sound unacceptably “tinny” since you’re messing with frequencies that might be shared by the voice and the noise.

That’s when you have to look at the dedicated audio filters in X under the Effects Browser.

These are filters lifted directly from the Apple’s excellent Logic program – but require you to know how to set them to try and “hone in” on your specific problem. The filters are “stackable” so that you can use as many as you need to address the issue, but are not trivial to understand and manipulate. Sound is complicated, after all, with many “dimensions.” to a complex audio waveform or mix.

And like the James Earle Jones example above, sounds shaping via frequency only works when you’re trying to separate out something that’s separate-able.

At one level, sound is like paint. When you mix the yellow and the blue to get green, there’s no good way to “unmix” them afterwards to get back to the original primary colors.

Sound can be like that.

Hope this helps.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Nick Toth]

I have always found the free program Audacity does the best job whenever I’ve needed noise reduction. I could never get decent results out of STP. You could try the De-Noiser in FCP X. I was able to completely get rid of hiss when I had to crank some low level audio. Never tried it on AC though.

NT

[John Godwin]

Thanks for the replies. Out shooting for a couple of days. Now I’m working my way through all the filters to see if anything helps. This is some nasty noise.

I had already tried the basic filters under Audio Enhancements. Background Noise Removal did nothing for this loud rumble, and Hum Removal didn’t help, AC hum wasn’t the problem. It’s the Other AC noise. I did find that checking the Loudness control for all the clips boosted volume in a helpful way at no cost otherwise.

I tried Denoiser but couldn’t seem to isolate the particular sound well enough. What finally seems to help after much trial and error is the Remove Low Frequencies filter, tweaked as best I can manage, and then the audio enhancements Background Noise Removal on top of that. At least it sounds somewhat less as if there is a jet preparing for takeoff somewhere inside the interview location.

The Background Noise Removal worked very well on a different clip with a bit of much lighter hvac noise in a different location.

Would be nice if FCPX had a noiseprint capable filter.

Thanks again for the replies.

Best,
John

[Bill Davis]

[John Godwin] “Thanks for the replies. Out shooting for a couple of days. Now I’m working my way through all the filters to see if anything helps. This is some nasty noise.”

Hate to point it out – but weren’t you wearing headphones during the shoot?

Didn’t you know there was a problem?

This is basically for the new folks who come here to learn but over and over and over again I see young guys with cameras operating without monitoring their audio.

They would never even imagine shooting video with their viewfinder or monitor shut off so that they can’t even see the picture they’re shooting – but they’re all too happy to record sound without listening to it.

This post is about the kind of result you get.

To be fair, the OP may well have been in a “back against the wall” situation – with no mic alternative, mic technique alternative, no location change alternative, and no other way to do anything else to make this better – but in my experience that’s really, really rare.

If you hear noise that’s this distracting in a field recording situation, there are 10 things you can usually do to make it better “in the field” – and at best one or two “maybe” things you can do in post to correct it.

You can’t fix what you can’t hear. And if you’re not prepared to listen to your work in the field – you are NOT ready to record sound in the field, IMO.

That’s kinda harsh – but it’s also kinda true.

Don’t let this important lesson go to waste.

NEVER shoot sound without listening to that sound. And learn what to listen for so that when you get back to the edit bay – you don’t get theses kind of nasty surprises.

FWIW.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[John Godwin]

Thanks for the guidence, but after shooting for over 30 years (with a day off once in a while for good behavior) I’m pretty clear on how to do it. I’m also pretty clear on what to do once I’ve made my objections to the location clear to the producer and been overruled, which is do the best I can under the circumstances with the tools and the situation at hand and get the job done, even while knowing it’s a bit of a cluster. And I have a fine pair of well-used headsets, thanks.

The producer also expects me to magically clean up his mess in post. And through diligence and trial and error I did finally get the background noise to a marginally acceptable level. If he wants it any better it’ll need to go to an audio post house and maybe they can work better magic.

Not to give unsolicited advice, but perhaps you shouldn’t be quite so judgmental without full command of the facts, as stated in your signature tag, which I admire greatly.

Best,
John

[Steve Connor]

John, we’ve all been there, glad you got some sort of result. The noise filter in FCPX is very good like the one in STP is, but there’s only so far you can go when the noise is that bad!

Steve Connor
“FCPX Professional”
Adrenalin Television

[Bill Davis]

[John Godwin] “Not to give unsolicited advice, but perhaps you shouldn’t be quite so judgmental without full command of the facts, as stated in your signature tag, which I admire greatly.

Best,
John”

OK, Sorry.

But I simply didn’t recognize your name – so I responded as if you might be someone new to things, inadvertently. I was wrong. I apologize. I tried to be clear in my post that my advice was largely for the less experienced readers who come here week after week trying to learn the craft.

There tends to be more of them – particularly in the audio discussions – then long time vets.

I freely admit that all of us find ourselves in circumstances where the best we can do is the best we can do.

Hope shoots (and clients) like the ones you described are fewer and fewer and farther and farther between for both of us.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor