How to Clean Up Old Sound Recordings Using Adobe Audition

Adobe Audition, formerly known as Cool Edit Pro, is a incredibly user-friendly software that lets you create multi-track recordings, convert sound files to MP3, Wav or whatever other format you need or want and a variety of other audio functions. If you have favorite recordings on vinyl whose sound quality has grown scratchy or hissy or CDs that have perhaps lost their sparkle, you can use the software to clean them up to, if not brand new, cleaner and newer than you might have thought possible. Here’s how to clean up old recordings using Adobe Audition.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• A personal computer
• Whatever CDs, records or tapes whose sound you want to clean up
• Adobe Audition software (also called Cool Edit)

1. Depending on the format you’re trying to improve, LP, CD or cassette, simply record what you wish to clean up into Audition in its natural form. If your piece is on a CD, you can click and drag the track from the CD folder on your computer directly into Audition so that you don’t have to record it in real time. Sorry, that trick wont work with vinyl or cassettes. You’ll just have to play the piece and record it as if you were making a copy on a tape recorder.
2. Once you have the sound file you wish to clean up, determine if you want to clean up just sections or the whole piece. You can choose just certain sections by left clicking and dragging your mouse to highlight whatever section you’d like to work on. If you’re going to clean up the whole sound file, this step is unnecessary.
3. When you’re ready to clean up, open up the "Effects" menu at the top of the screen, scroll down to "Noise Reduction." There you will find a number of options you can use based on the noise you want to clean up on the original sound file. There is a "Pop Eliminator," "Hiss Reduction" and "Noise Reduction." Just choose the one you think most appropriate. You can "Preview" what the cleaned up version will sound like before you commit to doing it. Just click "Preview."
4. Once you have decided that you want to use that particular clean up method just click "OK" and Audition will do the rest. If you decide after the fact that you don’t like the sound, just click on the "Edit" label in the menu and click on "Undo." Again, you can do individual sections or the whole piece. Once you are finished, just "Save" the file as you would any computer file. You’ll be amazed at the improvement when you clean up old recordings using Adobe Audition.

Tips & Warnings

• You can do as many reductions or changes to a section or the whole piece as you like. Perhaps a POP eliminator and then do "Hiss Reduction," for example. It’s all a matter of personal taste and what gives you the sound that you are seeking.