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-   -   How to fix VHS tape audio dropouts? (https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-capture/1763-how-fix-vhs.html)

ramrod 11-14-2009 06:39 AM

How to fix VHS tape audio dropouts?
 
Hey guys,
Basically im transferring many VHS tapes to DVD through my DVR.
They are all music tapes (concerts, or music videos), so all throughout there is alot of audio.

However in a couple of tapes (older ones) there are the occasional infrequent audio glitches. In one tape, the audio gets muffled to a way lower sound for around 3seconds. goes back to normal, then muffles down again for another second. The rest of the tape is fine.

And for another tape there is about a half split second ion one where the audio drops-out completely then comes back and is fine for the rest of the tape (tape is only about 6min long).

And lastly, on a couple other tapes there are instances when there are infrequent clicking sounds. The audio seems fine, then it makes a sudden click then is fine again.

Is there any way im able to fix this? will SVHS players fix this problem?

thanks for any assistance :)

admin 11-14-2009 03:30 PM

A VCR won't make any difference on this. It's a flaw of the recorded track. You'll have to fix it in audio software editors: SoundForge, Audacity, Goldwave, DiamondCut.

Audacity is free. Does some things, but not all.
Goldwave is under $50. Does some things, not all.
SoundForge is about $50 for the basic version, or $300 for the pro version. Does most things.
DiamondCut is $200 for the basic version, $1500 for the forensics version. Does some things, not all.

I do most work in SoundForge. The program is on version 9 and 10, but hasn't changed much since version 6.

You'll have to manually fix each issue. Temporary muffling if fixed by adjusting the audio at each muffle.

Drop-outs is just missing audio, nothing to fix.

Clicks can be repair with the de-click/de-pop tools in Audacity, Goldwave, or DiamondCut. These were made for LP vinyl record transfers, but work for similar issues on any source.

ramrod 11-14-2009 05:08 PM

ahhh ok, damn, so i guess my VHS > DVR setup wont fix it. Would i be able to burn it to DVD, transfer it onto computer with DVD decrypter etc, then fix the audio on the vob files and reauthor the DVD again?
Because the audio track is simply a song, which i have an MP3 of, could i overwrite the previous audio for that segment with that mp3?

If i do take this route, will i lose much quality however?

admin 11-14-2009 05:11 PM

That's the way to go.

Quality loss won't really happen. I mean, technically, yes, but you'd probably have to be a canine to hear the distinctions. Us mere mortals won't know any different.

ramrod 11-15-2009 02:44 AM

Ahhh Ok.

Sso i have soundforge 10 PRO. I tried to open the demuxed audio file AC3, but its not supported, however it did accept opening the vob and editing the audio that way.

So i tried to add the mp3 of the song over the original audio, however getting the timing perfect is impossible. the video one is 48khz as opposed to 44khz mp3. (which invariably makes it shorter in length). and its impossible to get the timing right, so it will look out of synch. Also, the MP3 means it will sound different to the rest of the audio (it sounds better), so you can tell its been edited. In saying that, the audio is mono because my VCR only has 1 plug for audio, resulting in mono audio. So my new one will have SVHS and stereo.

Luckily its only in a couple of tapes. And isn't majorly annoying. What im thinking of doing is just adjusting the audio levels on those particular sections to make it less noticeable. it still sounds muffled, but its normalised with the rest of the songs. so its less noticeable. I think its all i can really do, i might fiddle around with some of the effects and processes and see if i can enhance the glitched areas manually.

Once i have fixed the audio and remux it together again, i can just reburn the video files how i had ripped them, its the same format etc. Ill just burn as a normal VIDEO DVD (video_ts) etc. I believe that will work? Its the same timing etc.

Do you think i should enhance all of my VHS audio in soundforge? are there any general noise removers or audio enhancers which would benefit every video's audio?

What do you do in soundforge? what processes do you use?

thankyou~ :)

ramrod 11-15-2009 03:07 AM

just to add quickly. im wondering if its actually worth doing all this sound editing, because honestly there's not alot of problems, only those few bits on a couple of tapes, but i think i can handle them. If they were easily fixable i'd do it, but i think it will take alot of time and effort to fix just a few seconds of audio issues. So im thinking i'll just live with them otherwise ill be spending my whole life fixing them lol. I'm thinking ill just stick with the normal audio captured and the high video quality output that the SR-V10U will give me. Video is more important than audio anyways.

admin 11-15-2009 10:23 PM

CD audio is "cooked" these days, over-processed to louder-than-normal loudness curves, with fairly flat dynamic ranges.

An MP3 tends to be further cooked, depending on how it was made -- by who and/or by what software or hardware.

A VHS audio recording is cooked in its own way too, usually flatter sound, more muffled, wider dynamics.

The MP3 needs to be converted to 48kHz PCM/WAV audio. SoundForge does this. Open MP3, save as WAV, close MP3, open WAV.

A 44.1kHz audio is not shorter than 48kHz in terms of time unless you try to incorrectly squeeze them onto the same project timeline.

The quality issue is easily done in SoundForge by experimenting with some graphic or paragraphic EQ settings, as well as applying lower normalization. You can easily "crapify" CD/MP3 audio closer to that of home-recorded VHS. I've done it for some projects.

I've already mentioned the audio editors available that I'd suggest: SoundForge, Audacity, Goldwave, DiamondCut.
  • Audacity is free. Does some things, but not all.
  • Goldwave is under $50. Does some things, not all.
  • Sound Forge is about $50 for the basic version, or $300 for the pro version. Does most things.
  • DiamondCut is $200 for the basic version, $1500 for the forensics version. Does some things, not all.
You'll need to demux the video first, extract the AC3, convert it to WAV, and then import that into Sound Forge. AC3 codec (even via DirectShow) is not support by Sound Forge. Goldwave imports AC3 via DirectShow, meaning you need a system AC3 code -- the AC3Filter freeware is suggested. Audacity might support AC3 via DirectShow too, don't think I've tried.

Sometimes leaving it alone and just dealing with imperfections is the right answer. It really depends on the project.
  • If for pay, charge extra. If client doesn't want to pay extra, don't do it -- it's their choice what level of service they want.
  • If done for company project, and you're stuck with the project, you have my sympathy. Some bosses are idiots.
  • If this is a personal project, what is the value? Watch once and never again? Or something that will be viewed over and over?
Hope all that helps. :)


ramrod 11-17-2009 01:24 AM

Wow, that was definitely and in-depth desciption :O. thanks lol. I think it made me realise whether its worth all this effort or not, especially considering its only minor issues, and i have alot of tapes. So im thinking ill just let teh audio be as it is. And focus on video quality, and the svhs player + tbc will correct that. Pointless being too picky over something i probably in reality wont watch all that often.

I fiddled around with Sound Forge, but it wasnt really necessary. The audio wasnt that bad.

thanks for all that :D!


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