Camera motor noise recorded on digital MiniDV tape?

[knumag]

https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B_UCV...xport=download

What is the reason for this? just a cheap camera? Any filters in VD, or something, i can use to clean it up a bit?

Thanks in advance

[Winsordawson]

Can't view doc

[kpmedia]

Do you mean the audio noise?

[Winsordawson]

If you're referring to the buzzing, I usually try a 60 or 50hz reduction, or a notch filter, but I don't know if VD has these. If VD allows noise reduction through sampling like Audacity, you can sample some video with only buzzing and selectively remove it. Dv camera tapes tend to make some recording noise, which can usually be reduced by holding the camera or using an external mic.

[knumag]

Isn't the background sound, almost like the camera is constantly focusing, called motor noise? I can try audacity, but only handled it with Md/Cd captures. Have to demux first i guess.

[lordsmurf]

Okay, so it *is* the audio noise.

The cheap consumer camera microphone is too close to the mechanics in the camera, and thus picks it up. Thankfully, in the digital era, something like this is generally simple to fix. The key is finding a quiet spot on the tape, then exploiting the "silent noise" as the basis for correcting everything else.

I would capture, demux the audio, and bring the audio into Sound Forge. Using Sound Forge, I can quickly locate a "silent" segment by sight (using the visual representation of wave forms), copy that piece into a new "noise print" file, and close. Then use Audacity for the main file, using the noise print. It's really quite easy -- (1) IF you have the tools, and (2) IF you have the experience at editing audio. It's too easy to muffle or garble audio, so need to be careful. You want to actually RESTORE the audio, not simply trade or error for another. And unlike video, with audio 99% removal of error is possible!

Give me a sample clip, probably from the end/beginning or a "fade to black" point on the tape. Also give me a "busy" clip (the one above, from your first post, is actually fine). Then I'll run the filters real quick, and tell you what I did. That'll give you an idea of what to do.

[NJRoadfan]

The transport noise recorded is typical of tape based camcorders. It could be worse though, my D8 camcorder sounds like an angry pack of bees when recording and playing back D8 tapes. If you are shooting new content with your camcorder, buy an external mic and mount it on a shoe. Usually it will be far enough away to not pick up the transport noise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

I would capture, demux the audio, and bring the audio into Sound Forge. Using Sound Forge, I can quickly locate a "silent" segment by sight (using the visual representation of wave forms), copy that piece into a new "noise print" file, and close. Then use Audacity for the main file, using the noise print. It's really quite easy -- (1) IF you have the tools, and (2) IF you have the experience at editing audio. It's too easy to muffle or garble audio, so need to be careful. You want to actually RESTORE the audio, not simply trade or error for another. And unlike video, with audio 99% removal of error is possible!

Tweaking continuous noise filters is likely the most complex of restoration work. The better filters allow you to click and button and hear just the audio the filter is removing (makes fine tuning easier). DCArt has this option, I don't know if Audacity has it.

[lordsmurf]

I almost forgot ... every scene has different audio needs. So if the tape is full of 5 minute recordings, you'll be processing the audio for quite a while. It really depends on how much noise needs to be removed, and the location of the noise print.

Audio can be very tedious.