R&D Stories: How to Choose the Right Signal Processing Technique

The Chief Science Officer at AudioTelligence discusses the merits and challenges of using beamforming and blind source separation techniques to correctly process voice sources from the audio signals picked up by microphones in real-world situations. This article explains how these signal processing techniques can help deal with the noises that make it difficult to pick out and clearly hear voice, and how to obtain clean audio signals picked up by microphones contaminated with interference, noise, and reverberation. This article was originally published in audioXpress, November 2022.

When we mention a company that has revolutionized and has remained as a leading name in the world of audio restoration, dialogue noise suppression and speech enhancement, it becomes obvious that we are talking about CEDAR Audio. The Cambridge, UK-based company was the first to create hardware-based, real-time audio restoration systems, and still does it to this day, even though it is more widely recognized today by its software tools. For situations where only real time makes, sense, CEDAR is now introducing its latest DNS 4 portable dialogue noise suppressor.

Sound Devices announced a collaboration with CEDAR Audio that allows renowned CEDAR noise suppression technology to run directly on Sound Device's 8-Series mixer-recorders. The CEDAR sdnx plugin for 8-Series is available for purchase at the company's online store in versions with 2, 4, and 8 instances of suppression that can be inserted on any combination of channels and buses selected by the user. The plugin functions at sample rates up to and including 96kHz and has near-zero latency.

Merging Technologies will arrive in Amsterdam with a significantly enhanced product range. This has more to do with ensuring that the company’s main products address the new workflow demands of broadcasters than only taking advantage of new components. Pyramix, Ovation, VCube, Horus, Hapi and ANEMAN all have something notable to entice visitors to stand 8.E96 at RAI. Merging is sharing this space with its Swiss neighbours, PSI Audio and Sonosax.

As promised, Merging Technologies has made the transition of all its software products to 64-bit. Pyramix 10 is the first 64-bit only release for its flagship DAW and mastering solution. The changes to Pyramix are sufficiently major to prompt the company to overhaul the software packs offered and to make a number of changes to the pricing structure which will be announced at IBC 2015 (10-15 September).

Cedar Audio and Merging Technologies have agreed on a patent license and now announced the development of a new, 64-bit CEDAR for Pyramix. Cedar Audio’s Retouch introduced the concept of spectral editing in February 2002. Since then, many software companies have licensed the CEDAR's technology and, in 2014, after a dispute with a US company, “the Retouch patent”, was validated.