Have you ever shot the perfect scene for your film only to realize later the audio is horrible? There’s too much background noise. There’s too much static. Or maybe you accidentally overloaded your microphone and distorted your audio. If that happened 10 or 15 years ago, you as the independent filmmaker would have been toast. Unless you dropped half of your film budget to pay an audio engineer, you would have had no way to fix it.
A few years ago, Izotope created two programs to address these types of problems. The first is called Music & Speech Cleaner. This is a quick and inexpensive way to removed unwanted sounds from your recordings. The second program is called RX2 (and RX2 Advanced). This allows you to dig even deeper into the realm of audio, using advanced analysis and repair tools to fix all sorts of audio issues. For reasonable prices, you are now able to fix your own audio issues right on your personal computer.
Music and Speech Cleaner’s main window gives you access to zooming and scrubbing. It also lets you see the audio you are working with.
As it is with most things in life, the simpler the program, the less control you have over your desired sound. Keeping that in mind, you will quickly find that Music and Speech Cleaner is an inexpensive and easy way of repairing damaged audio. Simply drop a file into the program’s main window, and go to work. Music and Speech Cleaner gives you access to several tools in one program. You are able to reduce background noise (like air conditioning), reduce hum, reduce pops (from records and such), and enhance vocals and music.
Now, some of the tools mentioned are not specifically designed for filmmakers, but they all may come in handy at some point. For instance, the average filmmaker will probably not be taking out pops from a vinyl recording, but a situation may arise where this tool comes in handy. For example, some wireless microphone systems that use two channels of the same frequency to transfer their signal will click or pop a little bit when the receiver automatically switches back and forth between channels (depending on which one is coming in stronger at that moment). What is really nice about this program is its versatility for the independent filmmaker. Whether you are cleaning up background noise from a YouTube video or from a scene that had an air conditioner running while you were filming, Music and Speech Cleaner will begin to make your audio sound much better in a snap.
Let’s dig into this program and see if this could be another plug-in worth adding to your film arsenal.
Repair you audio simply by turning on the power button and adjusting the repair tool’s slider.
Ease of Use
I give the Music and Speech Cleaner a 9 for ease of use. Like all of Izotope’s standalone programs, this software consists of one window. By dragging a file into the viewing window (or by clicking the ‘open file’ button), you can import your file for immediate editing. Izotope makes it easy to loop any part of the audio clip by adjusting the red bars on the left and right of the viewing window. The zoom and scrub buttons on the right of the window are a bit awkward, but it does the job for $39.
All of your editing tools are accessible directly below the viewing window. You can reduce noise or reduce pops simply by turning on the power button and adjusting the slider of each repair effect. If you aren’t sure what each repair tool can do, click the repair tool in question to read its brief description. It honestly couldn’t get much easier. Exporting your repaired audio file is as easy as clicking the ‘save as’ button in the bottom right-hand corner.
Depth of Options
As I said before, favoring a program’s ease of use usually results in sacrificing the depth of a program’s options. With Music and Speech Cleaner, your options are definitely limited, but this little program will be a go-to program for many of your basic audio cleaning needs.
For a very reasonable price, you get 5 audio restoration tools: reduce noise, reduce hum, reduce pops, enhance voice, and enhance music. Even though you are only given one slider for each tool, you can begin to fix a surprising amount of audio issues with this little program. If you are just getting your feet wet with audio restoration, this program will do you quite well!
Music and Speech Cleaner gives you a quick and easy way to repair and enhance your film audio.
Performance
If you have too much room noise on your latest shoot or YouTube video, MSC will clean those minor problems up in a snap. I have talked with filmmakers who have been amazed at how much MSC was able to clean up their film audio. Let’s dig in, shall we?
The first clip is a recording of Andrew Carnegie from 1914. It has a lot of background noise for several reasons—the main one being that the recording is 100 years old. While you probably won’t be working with 100-year old audio any time soon, this gives you an idea of what these programs can do to a less complex piece of audio. I cleaned this up in under a minute:
The second clip is a recording of a choir. It was recorded in a large auditorium and is riddled with clicks, pops, and an annoying low hum. You might have to listen to this on some bigger speakers to really hear all of the problems with it. Within a couple of minutes (literally), I was able to remove most of the hum, clean up the clicks and pops, and enhance the choir voices with the push of a few buttons. What you hear on this clip is the original audio followed by the restored audio (this clip is also gently mastered with Izotope’s Ozone):
Just from these two clips, I hope you can see the power that you hold in your hands with this program. It truly is amazing.
Value
If you are looking to do a basic clean-up of your audio, Music and Speech Cleaner is definitely worth the investment. Download a trial before you buy the program, but I think most of you will find that MSC will make your audio sound much better without messing up the most important parts of your recordings. I would go as far as to call it a staple in an independent filmmaker’s basic audio tools. When your audio from a take isn’t perfect, MSC will definitely help you out for only $39.
Final Comments Izotope has released a stunning set of programs to fix all different kinds of audio problems. Though Music and Speech Cleaner is by far the cheapest of Izotope’s restoration programs, it does not disappoint. Musicians usually record in studios, but filmmakers run into all sorts of audio problems by filming on site. If you are on a low budget, give Music and Speech Cleaner a shot. The amount of performance that you can get out of MSC for the price is phenomenal. If you are just getting your feet wet with audio restoration, this is a perfect entry-level program. It will make your films sound better without putting strain on your budget. It is well worth considering for your next film!
Ease
of Use
9.0
Depth
of Options
8.0
Performance
9.0
Value
vs. Cost
10.0
Overall Score
9.0
Gabe Gibitz is a worship leader and home-recording guru in Lexington, KY. With no formal degree in music, he has learned most of what he knows about recording by reading lots articles, picking the brains of audio masterminds, and delving into the field himself. He plays a blue guitar and loves spending time with Abbie, his wife. You can download his latest e-book and 3 free songs at www.gabegibitz.com.
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