Fixing audio crackling from VHS captures?

[Bobban]

Hi!

Got some wonderful help here before so I thought I'd post about a new problem I've encountered, this time concerning audio.

I am converting PAL VHS tapes to digital files, using a JVC HR-S8500 (with TBC) hooked up with an S-video cable and RCA audio direct from the outputs (no SCART converter), capturing them to AVI files which I then process.

I have gotten an audio artefact that I think is identified as a "crackling" - could be wrong though. Seems to mostly affect dialogue for some reason. See the attached sound clips for examples (clip 2 has sound that is fine until the voice is heard).

At first I thought the input audio levels were too high, resulting in a peaking or "going through the roof". But even when adjusting the settings in the capture software to really quiet levels the problem still occurs...

The VCR is set to HIFI L/R with Spatializer Off. I want to keep the HIFI sound as the "normal" audio mode sounds pretty bad. Turning on Spatializer seems to worsen the artefacts slightly.

I've tried using different software (Goldwave, ClickRepair, Audacity, WaveMax) to restore it, with different pop/clip/crackle filters and using a frequenzy analyzer to attempt to find the noise, but to no avail.

So my questions are:

1. Can this be prevented in the capture process?

2. If not, can it be fixed with processing?

Thanks in advance!

[kpmedia]

You have static in the HiFi audio track, and it's due to tracking. It may look fine, but it's not perfect, and therefore does not sound fine. This is a simple fix with one of our "fix fuzzy VHS" Sound Forge Audio Restoration filters -- one of the minimal ones. These filters can other side effects, so it's best run on problem sections of the video. Many of these are newer than the current download on the site.

We'll get an update loaded in the next few days.

[lordsmurf]

Here's the unofficial update for you. (I still need to clean it up some before the official release.)

Enjoy. Have fun.

[Bobban]

Thank you. I have downloaded the Presets manager and dragged the presets (except for the top 2 and bottom, Normalize and Volume as well as Sound Forge 9.0, since I have Sound Forge Audio Studio 10.0 and these just cause it to crash).

However when I've dragged them down, they register as "Not installed", except for the SonyExpressFX Audio Restoration. Indeed, in Audio Studio the only presets that I can choose from the FXFavorites - Sony menu are these ones... The others (Flange/Wah-wah, Graphic EQ, Paragraphic EQ and Audio Restoration) have evidently not installed.

Any suggestions?

The Presets manager


And an example from the menu in Audio studio:

[lordsmurf]

I think Sound Forge Pro is required for some filters.