Clean up sound on old video

[stefan]

One of our relations has given us a dvd of video of our children shot 20 years ago.

The sound and picture quality is quite good except there is a fairly constant buzz in the sound.

Is it possible to isolate this noise and reduce it? How would I go about this?

[Steve Grisetti]

Sort of. But it's a tough trick.

IF you open a Premiere Elements project (be sure to select the Hard Drive or DVD camcorder project setting) and bring the DVD files into it, you can apply (under Effects/Audio Effects) the Notch Filter to it. The Notch Filter eliminates sound from only a certain frequency. In other words, you tune it so that it eliminates only the frequency with the buzz on it.

This can always be a little iffy. Sometimes it can leave your audio sounding a bit unnatural (since it eliminates the good sound with the bad). But sometimes it works perfectly!

You can also, of course, output the audio from the project and work on it in a dedicated audio program, like the free download Audacity. It's got some more sophisticated filters in it -- but the process is pretty much the same.

Good luck, Stefan! As I've said, it's a tough trick to pull off!

[Dave McElderry]

In addition to what Steve said, a "buzz" in audio terms becomes even more difficult. A buzz is made up of many different frequencies as opposed, for example, to a "hum" whose main component is confined for the most part to one frequency. Efforts to filter out a buzz would likely give disappointing results. As Steve said, a tough trick to pull off.

[Chuck Engels]

The Notch Filter in Premiere Elements will get rid of a specific Frequency.
Audacity is sometimes better in removing noises from audio. You can export the audio from Premiere Elements and import into Audacity for cleanup. There is a short tutorial here;

http://videoinasnap.chuckengels.com/sou ... _11-05.htm


Another Adobe tool that is excellent at cleaning up audio is SoundBooth

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Another Adobe tool that is excellent at cleaning up audio is SoundBooth

You can download a trial of Soundbooth here:-

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/inde ... soundbooth

but the limitations on input and output formats might make the trial a bit difficult.

[stefan]

Many thanks for the advice.

I have had a quick try with Audacity and it did a wonderful job removing the buzz. I am fairly confident that it will do the job based on my experiment with a short sound clip.

[Steve Grisetti]

Great news, Stefan!

[Dave McElderry]

Glad to hear of your success Stefan. How about posting a before and after clip, along with instructions on the process you used? It could be very helpful to others with this issue.