Noise gate issues

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odd_spec
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat May 09, 2020 11:04 am

Noise gate issues

Post by odd_spec »

I'm having trouble with the noise gate. I'm trying to use it on a long file (40 mins). It's a voice recording with some low level background noise, and I want to use it to mute the silences. It seems to work great for 90% of the file, but there are a few random moments when it seems to silence sections of voice which are definitely above the threshold. I can't work out why it's doing this. Any suggestions?
DougDbug
Posts: 2172
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:33 pm
Location: Silicon Valley

Re: Noise gate issues

Post by DougDbug »

Have you tried a shorter release time?

Have you tried a lower threshold? You may have to do it in sections using different thresholds in different parts of the recording.

Have you tried "regular" Noise Reduction? (It may work better or it may result in undesirable artifacts.)
odd_spec
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat May 09, 2020 11:04 am

Re: Noise gate issues

Post by odd_spec »

Thank you, I will certainly try these. I think regular noise reduction does leave it a little tinny.

Could someone briefly explain to me what the release time actually does? It would help me to understand!
Tristan
Posts: 497
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:20 pm
Location: Southeast Michigan

Re: Noise gate issues

Post by Tristan »

Release time is a common-enough concept. Why don't you just look it up? You're the one using the gate.
I don't want to read the manual either, but, then, it isn't my problem, is it?
GoldWave Inc.
Site Admin
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Re: Noise gate issues

Post by GoldWave Inc. »

The Noise Gate also has an "Ignore" setting to silence brief sounds that exceed the threshold. Make sure that setting is zero.
bnw
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 1:15 pm

Re: Noise gate issues

Post by bnw »

I'm having the same problem.

1. Version 6.2.
2. Thanks for the other replies here. Tried; didn't resolve.
3. It only happens with extremely low (-30dB or lower) "Threshold" values.
4. Rebooting doesn't change the behavior.
5. It's on a Standard Mono 16bit 44kHz WAV audio file, actually Created by Goldwave (as one of its "bulk conversions" from another format), so the audio file itself shouldn't be corrupt.
6. I've used Goldwave literally for about a decade and never seen this before this one audio file.
7. I saved the filter, and can use the same filter on other files with no problem, but this one file seems to set up some kind of problem scenario for the software.
8. The audio file is 10 min in length.
9. The LOWER i set the silence threshold on the Noise Gate filter, the MORE "LOUD PARTS" it arbitrarily wrongly silences (like 10 or so seconds of randomly-chosen loud parts get silenced).The HIGHER i set the threshold, the LESS "BAD / RANDOM" behavior it exhibits. But, I need the threshold to be -33dB for my purposes. . . .
10. ODDLY ENOUGH: I found a work-around: I zoom in on the parts it wrongly silenced when I apply the filter to the entire 10-min file, like zoom in on just a 60-second segment, that it wrongly silenced a portion of... then I hit "Ctrl-Z" to un-do the "bad noise gate application", and the wrongly-silenced loud parts re-appear. . . Then I re-apply the EXACT SAME -33 dB SAVED NOISE GATE filter on JUST that 60-second segment only. . . and it works perfectly fine, only silencing the quiet parts as it should!

SO, workaround:

Zoom in on 60-second segments, one at a time,
and apply the noise gate "one minute at a time", watching carefully when you hit "apply" to ensure no loud parts get silenced,
until you get all the way through the file. . .

(only 10 iterations in my case, but for a 40-min file, it'd be a bit of a hassle, but. . . at least there's a workaround. . . )

- blacknwhite
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