Izotope RX Denoiser in Dialogue Editing

[soundboy]

Depends on how you use it. It just helped a lot of dialog on a feature I'm doing. I removed keys jingling during one characters dx, and a horn honk in another, and a plane by in another. Awesome tool. Oh, I used it for lip smacks in a doc I did recently! Awesome. For BG noise, I tend to use Cedar or my Cat 43.

[Tom Fleischman]

Experiment away, but:

1 - Don't take the life out of the dialogue.

2 - Have a copy of the edited, unprocessed track available at the mix.

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by Tom Fleischman

Experiment away, but:

1 - Don't take the life out of the dialogue.

2 - Have a copy of the edited, unprocessed track available at the mix.

Exactly.
Hell, I find myself getting so focused on the noise sometimes, I go too far. And find myself backing way off at the end of the day in those cases.

[soundboy]

Originally Posted by Henchman

Exactly.
Hell, I find myself getting so focused on the noise sometimes, I go too far. And find myself backing way off at the end of the day in those cases.

+1

[MixMasterM]

RX2 is a really useful tool for getting rid of extraneous noises on the production track, but a lack of subtlety can really hurt the dialogue. I think it's important that dialogue editors focus primarily on a smooth and well layed out dialogue edit that can be mixed efficiently. (Jack Purcell's book on dialogue editing is a must read! It lays out all anyone needs to deliver a good edit..everything else IMO is bonus) If there is a need to remove unwanted noises that can't be taken out the old fashioned way of cutting and filling, then a pass of RX2 can certainly help, if time permits in the schedule. But as Tom and Mark said...too much can suck the life out of the track...so always make sure there is an unprocessed copy in the session. As far as cam noise, tones and broadband noise, in most cases, I would leave those tasks to other tools...EQ, notch filters, Cedar, C4....& in most cases, best left for the mixer to deal with. They will (hopefully) apply subtle touches, so that just enough is utilized to make the tracks work within all the other elements. In editorial, it's easy to go too far...and once music and ambiences are in, it's most likely that some of the issues are not as bad as they seemed when listening to the bare track.

[its_in_da_mix]

Originally Posted by Henchman

Exactly.
Hell, I find myself getting so focused on the noise sometimes, I go too far. And find myself backing way off at the end of the day in those cases.

+1

This!
Always listen to the dialog when applying RX (or any other NR for that matter), not to the noise/silence. It's really easy to do too much. :-/

The standard attenuation setting is -12dB, I never use that (after seriously overdoing it the first couple of times ). I'll EQ first, then apply RX in small doses (-3 to -5 dB max!), and I'll keep a couple of "inbetweenies" on inactive tracks (just as I do the original), just in case I go OTT in spite of being careful.

You'll never turn a noisy, messy recording into perfect sound anyway - it's just a way of helping you get rid of the worst....

RX spectral repair is brilliant for those horn honks indeed.

Or for that chicken in the bushes during that romantic scene......

[insomaniac]

Originally Posted by its_in_da_mix

RX spectral repair is brilliant for those horn honks indeed.

Or for that chicken in the bushes during that romantic scene......

Or for removing a trumpet solo from an interview. True story.

[its_in_da_mix]

Originally Posted by insomaniac

Or for removing a trumpet solo from an interview. True story.

Unfortunately, so was the chicken!!!

[ErikG]

Its been said already but Izotope is great!
But it does take a lot of time to get great results without getting audible artefacts. It's not a set and forget tool.
As with any noise reduction tool it's easy to overdo it in the editing room...

[JWalkerPostAudio]

Spectral Repair also does an amazing job at completely removing crickets without effecting dialogue.