Would it be possible to train the software into a bespoke “noise cancellation” mode by turning the mic on for a couple of minutes in a non-studio setting eg home sitting room. May just make sound studios obsolete !
That’s how it works. You expose Noise Removal to “Room Tone” which is the room noise without any performance. Then, without changing anything, you perform the work and use Noise Removal to remove the room in post production.
However, Noise Removal works by generating filters that remove specific musical tones from the show. If Room Tone has tones similar to the performance, the performance becomes damaged. White Noise is another problem. If you have enough hiss in the performance, for example from a poor microphone, the performance becomes unusable because hiss contains all musical tones. Noise removal tries to remove the whole show.
Noise Removal has tools to try and avoid damage to the human voice. If the noise in the room is bad enough, the performance turns into hissy, noisy words over a studio quiet background. You sound like a talking snake.
Noise Removal doesn’t work at all in cases where the noise is moving or changing like a bus starting up outside or a jet going over – or absolutely worst case, somebody leaves a TV on in the next room. All of those are now permanent actors in your show.
Noise Removal is one of those tools that works a lot better in the advertisement than it does in real life.
If you have any urge to do this, try it in a real noisy room before you commit to doing any work for anybody.
There is a hidden cost to Noise Removal as well. You have to do it. The person shooting in a studio, even if it’s a simple home studio gets to the end of the show, saves their work and is on to the next job or goes to lunch. They have a dead simple, easily repeatable job. Someone stuck with the Noise Removal circus is only at the beginning of the Noise Removal, Noise Gate and Effect > Equalization nightmare – sometimes multiple times – with always the possibility they have no show and have to shoot it over.
They may never get lunch.
The video people have a joke of applying a “Reshoot Filter,” meaning the shoot is so bad you just have to go out and shoot it again until you get it right.
Koz