CD De-Noising and Mastering Software for PT NT

[Mike Stosich]

I am new to PT and decided to move into 2000 by buying a WINDOWS based version of PT24 MIX. The problem I find is that there is no way to burn CD's with ProTools. There is also no decent phono/tape noise reduction plug in available from Digidesign.

I have heard of the complaints against Masterlist, and that program sounds as antiquated and backwords as DOS. I would hope that I could find a utility or program that allows me to see the envelope or waveform of the music to facilitate exact track ID placement. I would hope that I could use PT NT WAV files directly. I would hope that it would work with current burners.

I have heard about the PT INR and it appears useless for serious restoration of vintage recordings. I am used the the excellent declicking available from both CEDAR and TripleDAT OSIRIS. I am also used to the similar dehissing available from these two programs.

Unfortunately, TripleDAT would be ideal for both denoising and CD mastering, but it doesnt run on NT.

So anybody got any suggestions?

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Mike Stosich

[Euphony Sound]

Mike,

Check out Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge with CD Architect plug in for burning Audio CDs. I've been using this since my involvement as a beta tester, and it has served me well. It's rock solid. It is has an easy to use but powerful graphic interface with full P&Q subcode editing and they've so far provided freqent updates to support all the popular CD burners.

[Mike Stosich]

Dear Euphony,

That's good to know. Does Sonic have good phono noise reduction too? Also, how does one use a file from ProTools. I mean ProTools makes two separate WAV files.

You cannot make a ProTools interleaved WAV file longer than two hours (I have some programs that are 3.5 hours). I cannot believe this problem with ProTools but that seems to be the limit. Yes you can record long files, but left an right are separate. To make an interleaved stereo WAV file, you must "Bounce to Disc." This will not work for files greater than 2 hours. Therefor, can Sonic handle the 2 files from ProTools and make or export an interleaved file?

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Mike Stosich

[Euphony Sound]

Mike,

I may not understand fully what you're tying to do with sessions that are 3.5 hours long. But since you can only burn up 74-80 minutes per CD, won't these sessions eventually need to be broken up for mastering anyway?

I do have Wave's Noise reduction DirectX plug-in and have used it with varying degrees of success, but I don't do any sound 'restoration'. Maybe there are others out there who can offer advice on this. Sound Forge will run with many other DirectX plug-ins. Is Cedar available in DirectX?

Sound Forge will allow two PT mono files to be interleaved on opening them for subsequent mastering or burning to CD (as long as they are 16-bit not 24). If you need to return the interleaved file back to PT, then you will need to separate the two channels back to mono files prior to adding them back into ProTools. Or you can allow PT to 'import' the interleaved file and it will automatically split the two channels as two separate tracks.

Again, I've never had to deal with files as large as yours, so I'm not sure what other limitations you might run into. Obviously, system response and disk IO might be a major concern.

By the way, Sound Forge and CD Architect are available as demos downloadable from their web page at www.soundforge.com. I believe Wave's DirectX (Native) products are available the same way.

Richard Talbot

[Mike Stosich]

Rich,

With DVD audio coming soon and MP3 already here 3.5 hours is not too large. For instance, I and others showed 12 hour CDs at the Las Vegas CES last week. 12 hour LP CDs in the MP3 format are hardly distinguishable from the very best MET, Dolby B cassettes available. Actually, they are sonically far supperior.

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Mike Stosich

[Melodymaker]

Have you guys heard of Steinberg's Wavelab ?

If not you should try it out !

Regards,

Rune Johansen
Melodymaker Studio
Norway

[Avid]

Information on the new WaveLab 3.0 for Windows can be found at http://www.steinberg.net/products/wavelab3.html

I have heard lots of recommendations for Sound Forge and CD Architect, but this new program from Steinberg is also worth checking out.

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Bruce Paine
eMarketing



[This message has been edited by Digidesign (edited January 17, 2000).]