Newbie question about vinyl noise reduction

Question

Dear folks,
I am entirely new to Audition (trying out the Mac beta), so if this question is entirely answered by other threads, please just point me in the right direction. Thanks!
I am transcribing all my vinyl albums (48KHz, 32 bit) as FLAC files and now I need to clean up the transcriptions. Both DeClicker and Noise Reduction (process) seem to do an excellent job at the default settings for each, but I am not sure of the best way to use them--
First, which order is it best to use them in; DeClicker first or Noise Reduction first?
Second, are the default settings ( threshold :30 and complexity:16 forDeClicker and 100%/40dB for Noise Reduction ) the best ones to be using in general? If not, what qualities, audible or otherwise should I be looking/listening forto help me figure out the best settings to use?
Third, any recommendations for help files or tutorials I should read on this subject?
Thanks for your help!
Ctein

Answer 1

Ctein wrote:
If I understand you correctly, you're recommending two passes with the Noise reduction process-- one with a large FFT followed by one with a smaller FFT sample size, right? The default for the process is a 4K sample window, with windows from 0.5K to 16K available. What values would you recommend for the two passes, and what NR percentages and dB "reduce by's" would you recommend for each pass.
Yes you understand correctly, but it's rather difficult to say how much to use in any given situation, because it depends entirely on the condition of the original recording. The basic rule is 'as little as you can to achieve an acceptable result', whatever FFT size you are using. As for sizes, the 4k is fine for the LF pass (you might want to look at adjusting the blue line to shape it so that it only attacks the bass, as well) and 16k is fine for everything else.
In some ways it's easier to talk about what is a realistic end result to achieve, than actual reduction numbers. Realistically, you should be able to get vinyl noise floors down to around minus 60-65dB, assuming that your signals get close to 0dB peaks. But with some older records, you may well not get this far before things start to sound rather 'fake' because you've over-processed the results. Often it's better to monitor the results on a pair of headphones rather than speakers - you'll hear more low-level detail, and have a better idea of how much processing you can get away with.
Yes, RX2 is pretty damn good - as good as you can get, in fact. But for vinyl, with care you can definitely get good results with Audition, but it takes more effort, especially with the NR. What actually makes RX2 good is that the multiple pass part of the processing is done for you by the software, and that's the major difference - other than that, the basic algorithms are quite similar. But, it costs an arm and a leg, so unless you have a massive amount to do, or somebody's paying you to do this, it's a dubious investment.