Sony Oxford Introduces Restortion Tools Package

Dec 22, 2004

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Following the recent release of their 'Oxford Reverb' plug-in, Sony Oxford extend their range of audio plug-in processors by announcing a new suite of plug-ins aimed at the audio restoration market. The 'Oxford Restoration Tools' are a bundle of three plug- ins designed to give ultimate control in dealing with noisy audio tracks, while retaining all the characteristics and brightness of the original material.

The three plug-ins, DeClick, DeBuzz and DeNoise, encapsulate four fundamental processes in audio restoration. The DeClick plug-in combines click and crackle removal, able to remove large pops and clicks, right through to tiny crackles, all within one plug-in. The DeBuzz plug-in has two modes ('strong' and 'weak') to minimize signal damage and is able to automatically track any slow drift in the fundamental buzz frequency. While the DeNoise plug-in can automatically track noise in auto mode, it can also provide traditional Noise Fingerprint capture. There is also a Mid-Side button for de-noising FM broadcasts and a 'Soft' control for reducing artefacts while working with heavy noise or dialogue.

DeClick Key Features

Fast and easy to use, enabling removal of pops, clicks and crackles in one plug-in.

Individual control section to allow removal of very large Pops as a pre-process in order to make the best use of the Click and Crackle removal section.

Capable of repairing moderate clipping.

Advanced signal modelling preserves timbre of bright brass, vocals and strings.

Automatically tracks buzz frequency for easy set up and use.

Can remove hundreds of buzz harmonics, with effective results on wide-bandwidth buzzes.

Control for strong buzzes, where they exceed the level of the wanted signal.

Weak mode removes buzzes within the wanted signal.

Intelligent algorithms apply their effect according to the level of fundamental and harmonics present, without simply applying a comb filter to the entire audio spectrum.

Easy to create buzz-free natural-sounding audio results.

DeNoise Key Features

"Manual", "Noise Fingerprint Capture" and "Automatic" modes.

Fast adapting Automatic mode allows quick results, even when background noise is continuously changing over time.

Graph to draw in the amount of noise reduction against frequency, creating high quality results by applying noise reduction only where it is really needed.

Mid/Side mode to optimise the denoising of stereo FM broadcasts.

Variable softness control gives extremely clear sounding results, even with high level noise profile or dialogue.

The Oxford Restoration Tools are available for Digidesign ProTools, on both Macintosh and Windows platforms in RTAS and AudioSuite formats.. They can be purchased now at www.sonyplugins.com and dealers worldwide.