@Deborah-Wesley

Hi,

I'm doing pretty much the same thing but I also have 8mm, Super8 with sound film, VHS, and other video files to go along with digitized photos and cassettes. You are undertaking an enormous project so I suggest that you get the entire work flow figured out before going much further. File management and documentation (register/database of projects, digitized and exported files) is one of the very important elements as you will see as we go through this together. I'm still sorting this out and suffering from not having thought through the entire process.

I hope that you have been digitizing to wave files and not mp3.

Before going further, @SP. mentioned the error (101) that SFACL4 throws up at the beginning and when doing certain things. It seems that no everyone has this problem. Do you have this problem?

Next, SFACL4 comes with a lot of additional plugins. Did you install and activate all of these?

Most importantly, you should have both the iZotope Elements 10 and SpectraLayers Elements 10 installed and activated.

There are many cleaning tools out there that you can use. iZotope and SpectraLayers have similar tools, but SpectraLayers has some features that are very interesting, like unmixing vocal (voice) from the background, allowing you to clean/reduce/modify/eliminate background and other noises.

As @SP. showed, you have the Spectral Cleaning native to SFACL4 and it's very good for removing specific noises and glitches. You can do the same in SpectraLayers, but it's more complicated.

There is also Accusonus 6 cleaning tools that are very good. There are a couple more tools than the others propose, including DeBreath and PlosiveRemover. These were made available for free but eventually removed. If you want these, send me a personal message.

Next, you may want some better tools for mastering, in particular compressor and equalizer. I suggest that you download and install the free bundle from Melda.

Once you have everything set up, we can look at what to use, how and when.

Out of curiosity, which video program are you going to use?

John CB

@SP. and @browj2 - Many thanks for your replies. I do indeed get the 101 error. I tried using the 32-bit version instead, but then when running Auto Cleaning and some other functions I received new error messages that I suspect were memory related. So I have reverted to the 64-bit version. Which does seem to work. I replaced my graphic card last summer with a GeoForce RTX 3060, hoping to buy a couple years until the inevitable PC replacement.

@SP.- Thank you for the suggestion of Ultimate Vocal Remover - I will give it a look. As to manual detail editing - I will only revert to doing so if I have a VERY high value tape with MAJOR issues. Considering the wealth of the family archive I have amassed, I have to adhere to the 80-20 rule (or maybe 90-10).

@browj2 It is nice to "meet" someone who is traveling down a similar path. I have three closets and four file cabinets stuffed with the family archive - photos, audio, ephemera, and - you are correct - video. (Bless my supportive husband.) Several years ago, before I retired, I had the old 8mm film digitized by a service - the result is mediocre. I have transferred many of the VHS tapes to DVD. The whole audio project needs a lot of help, and rework, but that is a challenge for another day (or more accurately, another year.)

I certainly echo your sentiments that a documented workflow with an organized file system is essential. Perhaps more important is making sure a solid backup plan is in place. (I was an IT professional for 40 years, hence I have four copies of all my data - my primary NAS, an onsite backup drive, an offsite backup drive, and a cloud backup.) Plus subsets of the data shared with cousins occasionally.

I appreciate any and all tips you can share on this process. I am glad to learn from the hard-knocks of others. I am saving to .wav. Again, I know virtually nothing about audio (yet), but I relate wav / mp3 to the tiff / jpg image standards. I do have some mp3 files that I have gathered from other folks, but the cassettes I have started recording are all to .wav.

101 Error: As I mentioned, I do have the 101 error. Are you running 32-bit or 64-bit? If 32-bit is working for you perhaps I should give it another try, but I seemed to have other issues with the 32-bit.

Plugins: I did not have the plugins until early this morning. I had seen links under Cleaning to the plug-in modules, but then it asked for a license key. It was not until last night as I was reading some of the forum messages here, that I realized I had the license keys - and more download links - in my email. So I got those all installed and registered this morning. These extra plugins are part of what prompted me to post here - I think I could spend the next month, if not more, learning about all the cleaning and mastering options. While that would be fun in its own right, I need to get on with this project so I can get to the end game - using these digital assets to create material that will share and preserve our family history with the next generation. I have a LONG list of ideas, longer than I will ever get done. So I don't want to spend unending time on just figuring out the process. (Although, as we both have said, getting a good process in place is critical.) So I installed / registered - wizardFX MAGIX Extension Pack, iZotope RX 10 Elements, iZotope Ozone 11 Elements, and SpectraLayers Elements 10 - although SpectraLayers may be version 11.

So with all these plugins, where would you suggest I start cleaning? I am sure the answer is "it depends", but where would be your first go to tool for: the following three items that run throughout the tape? I think the first two are part of Cleaning, and the third part of mastering. Is that correct?

• Rumble, hum, and/or hiss from the tape recorder
• Ambient noise (such as car noise while driving to a cemetery or wind)
• Uneven volume as people move about the room, or voices drop off

I will look into Accusonus 6 and Melda if you feel those would be helpful beyond what came with Sound Forge Audio Lab, especially since the price is right.

Video program is a good question. For many years I have used ProShow Gold by Photodex. Photodex ceased support in 2020, but the programs still run on my PC. I doubt though that I will be able to install and activate when I do replace my desktop. A couple years ago I purchase Davinci Resolve when they were practically giving it away. I have played with a bit but have not created a major project with it yet. What do you use?

For photos I live in Lightroom, augmented by Photoshop and Topaz AI.

If you have made it to the end of this (I did not intend to write so much), thank you.

Debbie

@Deborah-Wesley

Hi Debbie,

Good stuff.

To get you going, open a project or record.

The first step is to get a good recording with the volume set so that you don't get clipping - nothing that goes up to 0 dB, with most between -20 to -10 dB.

Take a look at the waveform. If it is large with no spikes going to the top, then your recording volume setting was probably good. If it's small all along, then you recorded too low and may want to increase the record volume in the Windows settings.

Next, I Normalize. This is a contentious issue as many will tell you to do this after cleaning. I do it before cleaning because SFACL4 is a non-destructive editor for the most part and Normalization can be undone or modified and there is a second reason. Look up what Normalize does. Press N. I suggest normalizing to -1 dB. You can see what the program is proposing under Peak change. If you're getting a Peak change of more than +15, then you probably recorded too low.

After normalizing, the waveform will change accordingly. There is a middle handle that is the object volume. It should have moved up be the amount of volume increase. Click on it and hold the mouse button down. You can always adjust the object volume here.

A sudden loud noise, like a cough close by, can mess up normalization. I'll discuss problems like this later.

Now when you play back, the volume will either be louder or the same. And you will probably hear the background noise much louder. I find that it is better to get the noise removed/reduced when it's loud and not find out later that there is still unacceptable noise once the volume has been increased.

Next, Cleaning.

There is an Auto Cleaning tool at the top right of the Cleaning window. Try it to see what it does. Any of the Magix De- whatever tools that it uses will be turned on when you click on Cleaning. You can tweak them.

Alternatively, probably better, and as a comparison, try iZotope RX10 Repair Assistant. First, turn off any other cleaning effects. In the Repair Assistant interface, click on the ? and read how it works. In the help text, make sure to read the correct part as you are using the Repair Assistant not the Repair Assistant Module. Click on the Voice in the interface if not selected by default. Click on Learn. Start playback preferably where there is just background noise for a couple of seconds, then speech. It will listen and then create a suggestion. Stop playback. Look at what it did. There are 5 De's. DeHum is not one of them as that is just part of De-Noise. Play back and listen. Any better?

You can tweak the tools. You don't want to hear any artefacts or chirping. Play with the tools by turning them down, then up. Bypass. Sometimes, some background noise is desirable, so adjust the dials to suit.

As another test, you can play with the tools individually. Start with the obvious - De-noise.

This step should take care of most of your problems.

Next, Spectral editing

If there are any sudden noises, clicks, taps, door closing, a cough, etc., you can click on Spectral in the upper right menu and try removing these noises. Read up on how to do it. It takes practice to get it right.

Next, Volume adjustment - compression combined with volume curve adjustments.

Compression will make weaker speech closer to louder speech. Read up on it. I mentioned using the Melda Compressor because it has the traditional graph, making it easier to understand. More on this later.

Off for a drink by the fire.

John CB

John - Thank you for your guidance. I will work on restoring one of my recordings today using your advice and report back. Once upon a time I was a novice with photo restoration - and while I would never classify myself as an expert, I do feel I have reached "competent." I will report back.

Would love to hear more about your project(s).

I experimented for quite a while on one of my recordings this morning - my cousin interviewing his mother in the early 1990s. First, I normalized - this is not a feature I had worked with yet, so thank you for the tip. The I tried a variety of cleaning methods. For this particular tape I settled on (for at least now) the RX 10 Repair Assistant, and, because I still had a significant low rumble (perhaps form the tape motor), the ERA Noise Remover Pro. I tried some of the Mastering tools but need to read a lot more to get an idea of what I am doing. Time to let the Cleaning learnings soak into my brain and come back to Mastering later today or tomorrow.

Hi Debbie,

We're off to the mountains today, back tomorrow.

Take a look at turning on the volume curve and making adjustments to High peaks on the waveform. This is usually another necessary step.

John CB

I am improving at editing, but still far from where I want to be. At the end of one tape I found my aunt playing her ukelele and signing a song from her childhood. I married it up with a few photos. and posted it to Facebook for my cousins. (The last of the five children passed away in 2005). I was able to remove a lot of the background rumble but still have some hiss. On the other hand - not one member of my family complained.

My next major learning is to even out the audio - for instance, my aunt interviewed a local woman who was 107. My aunt's voice is fairly easy to hear, but the interviewee is rather faint. Is this what compression does?

@Deborah-Wesley

My aunt's voice is fairly easy to hear, but the interviewee is rather faint. Is this what compression does?

Strictly speaking, No, unfortunately. Compression is the means by which the overall dynamic range of an audio file (the difference in level between the "loudest" and "quietest" sounds) is reduced. So, it may achieve what you want to do with your file, depending on how large a difference is present (=how great a dynamic range).

My suggestion would be the following:

• First "normalise" the file, to 0dB if you can. This will make the "loudest" sounds, the "peaks", meet that level, so raising ALL the relative levels in the file by whatever amount is required for the peaks to be at that 0dB level.
• Apply compression to the resulting file, perhaps starting at a threshold of -10dB and a ratio of 2:1.
• Having applied this compression, now normalise the whole file again to 0dB.
• Listen to it and decide whether further normalise/compression is required. if so, repeat the above procedure.
• It is very possible that you will now have a file with a higher than acceptable level of noise/hiss. Use the noise reduction tools you have to carefully reduce these unwanted elements. I say "carefully" because it is very easy to overdo the noise reduction and end up with a file which sounds as if it has been recorded under water!

I would also strongly recommend saving the file to a new name at each stage of this process. Thus, if you find you need to revert to an earlier version it will be immediately accessible to you!

HTH

Jeff
Forum Moderator

@Deborah-Wesley @emmrecs

Hi Debbie and Jeff,

With SFACL, applying compression then normalizing again does nothing. You have to export/import. I try to avoid doing that, so below is a quick video that I did up showing some tricks, at least for the audio file that I made.

The main trick is to normalize, look at what is at the peaks. If they are caused by sudden loud noises and can be cut out, then do so. As per the video, cut on either side or make cuts when there are large volume changed, then normalize the parts separately. This works as SFACL normalizes trimmed objects on their own.

Then compress. Also, you can do combine the method with what I show at the beginning, reduce some of the peaks using the volume curve. However, doing this has no impact on Normalizing, or rather, normalizing ignores compression. But, you can then raise the object level, carefully, avoiding going too high and getting clipping.

As shown in the video, you use makeup gain to get the volume back up to the top without having to normalize again.

In SFACL, there are also a couple of other things that can be done. Take a look at Effects, Loudness adjustment. There is a description of how it's used in the interface.

EDIT:

The other is Auto at the right of the Master volume control. This enables the volume to be automatically optimized. If you click on it and have the Info window open, there is a description of what Auto does - Normalization to even out the volume to preserve maximum loudness and peak control. You have to play the loudest part of the entire timeline, then click on Auto. It adjusts the Master control level so that the highest peak goes to 0 dB. Watch out for this if you use Auto.

Debbie, I presume that you have not yet digitized all of your 200 cassettes. If you are monitoring whilst digitizing, then you may want to put in some markers of anything that is significant that you may want to go back to easily. For example, a different topic, person, event, funny line, glitch, particularly bad noise problem, etc. Use Alt+M during recording to put in markers. These are for notes, not for tracks; track markers (M) are different. You can go through jumping from marker to marker - Ctrl+left/right arrow. You can adjust the location and add in text to the marker for reference. While there, you may want to make cuts or edits.

You can also put in track markers but not during recording. Read up on track markers as they are very useful for exporting parts of the audio to separate files, something that you may want to consider.

You mentioned wind noise. This is particularly difficult. Magix Movie Studio/Video Pro X has a Wind Reduction effect. All it does is create a high pass filter or rather, it reduces the lower frequencies downs to 0. I have not had much success with it, but it has worked. You may want to try one of the online tools if you can find a free one.

Also, you mentioned doing Speech to Text. If you happen to have MicroSoft Office 365, then you can do this directly in Word - Transcribe. You can have multiple speakers and with or without timecode.

More the next time. Take a look at EQ and at how the YouLean Loudness Meter can help you.

Here is a link to a tutorial on the YouLean Loudness Meter .

There is also a similar meter with the free Melda bundle.

John CB

John - This is WONDERFUL information. Thank you so VERY much! It will take me a bit to digest it all, I bet this will be a lot of help to others as well who come across this thread.

I have not tried putting n markers - but it is a good idea. I monitor sometimes as I am recording, but not all the time. I suppose I have 50 of the 200 recorded. Chipping away. My sister sent me a message that she has found more tapes.

I have to admit I had no idea Word now has a Transcript feature. Amazing!!

This will certainly keep me bust for a couple days.

John -

It took me a few days (lots of Nana duty on my schedule), but I finally had time to review your information again this morning, It was SO helpful!!! Thank you. I learned a lot. Now to practice - and with 200 tapes I will have lots of opportunity to "practice". While I am sure I will fall short of perfect, I understand much more than a couple weeks ago, I am finding many treasures embedded in these tapes. Looking forward to more. Again, THNAK YOU!!!!