Being a "Community Leader" and all, I hesitated to write this because it sounds like a paid advertisement (but heck, nobody's paid me yet...so here goes). I'm just too excited, and have to scream "Hallelujah" about this amazing new program I just discovered. Sorry if this sounds a bit over the top, but this is as close to a miracle tool as I've ever heard (since the days of Steven St. Croix's Time Modulator - who btw, was also into audio restoration).

Recently I needed to repair a few audio tracks but realized I had very few tools to work with despite the large selection of audio programs and plugins I have. So in my quest to find a good audio restoration tool, I ran across one that absolutely amazed me, izotope RX. It's a combination of a number of incredible audio restoration tools. In fact, it seemed too good to be true, but this program is for real. As I watched the video demo (ya gotta watch the video demo), each example seemed more and more amazing. Not only can it repair your standard faire of clicks and pops, but the spectral repair can actually repair.....get this.....missing audio. It seems to interpolate between the two sides of the missing audio and re-sythesises (even portions that have differences in pitch). But wait, there's more.....

What really blew me away was the izotope DeClipper - it can repair distorted audio. I mean, it can repair slammed-to-the-brickwall clipped distorted digital audio and make it actually useable again. This is nothing short of a miracle. It does this by re-synthesising the audio and the results are rather astonishing.

The user interface (UI) of izotope RX is far nicer and more intuitive than some of their earlier programs (which I found difficult to navigate). Aside from the UI looking great and being easy-to-use, by far the coolest aspect of this program is the graphical spectrum editing which allows you to visually see the noise components on a frequency-time spectral graph and surgically edit the sound as easily as you would graphics in Photoshop. What makes this so useful, is not the novelty of visual editing, but that you don't need to gouge an entire section of the audio spectrum as might happen if you were to apply a typical audio filter. Its more of a "stealth" filter that lets you edit only select offending snippets and portions of the audio spectrum at just the critical locations. This makes it much less obtrusive and thus a greatly more effective.

Granted, some of these features been available in other programs dating back years ago to Hohner's Red Roaster (now absorbed into Magix's Samplitude), and more recently Adobe Audition, and few others. However, non of these programs were available for my non-Intel Mac. Also its a big advantage to have the graphical editing function alongside all of the other great audio repair tools all in one package. btw, this is not a plugin but a standalone program.

And...if you hurry right now, you can download a free 10-day working demo. Absolutly risk-free. So what have you got to lose? Well, I tried it and was quickly able to fix an audio glitch and remove the noise components on my test tracks. Although the Save function is disabled in demo, I suppose "theoretically" one could use something such as WireTap or Audio Hijack. Although, I only mention these because I'm so convinced you'll want to purchase the program after hearing the demo.

izotope RX works wonders on the typical noises associated with portable digital audio recorders or podcasting setups. Unless, you're recording in an acoustically treated recording studio, chances are just about anything you record will have some unwanted artifacts. The izotope RX is the perfect tool for extracting those unwanted noises.

And if none of this sounds impressive enough, they also have an advanced version for $1199 which I can't afford haven't even covered as the standard version does all that I could possibly need!

Oh, one more thing....you can test and see how green you are. You can download it from the izotope website for $349 or you can buy the physical (non-green) package for $279 from retailers. I wish they could "restore" the incentive to stay green.

[Disclosure & Repentence] - I have no affiliation with izotope whatsoever and the copy I purchased is being shipped by gas-guzzling planes and trucks from Sweetwater IN. And, I promise no more "over the top" late-night-TV-style miracle threads until I see another miracle - I doubt I'll see something like this for another twenty years anyhoo.

Thanks for the report, Greg. I got a personal demo of RX at NAMM and was amazed as well. I've been playing with it here and am looking forward to sicking it on some of my horrendously noisy telephone interviews. So far, it's better-sounding and more flexible than other noise reduction I've tried, but there are a lot of crannies left to explore. I really like how the spectral view lets you see unwanted noises like coughs.

I'm told a plug-in version is on the way, incidentally.

Hey, just got a note that it's shipping:

The powerful audio restoration modules in RX's standalone application are now available as plug-ins for Audio Units, RTAS/AudioSuite, VST, MAS and DirectX hosts. The RX plug-ins let you reduce noise, remove clipping, suppress clicks and more from right inside your favorite DAW or audio editor. Plus, RX version 1.05 adds faster noise reduction on multi-core machines, new Spectral Repair controls and other important new features.

Hi David,

I don't see how its possible for izotope to incorporate the spectral editing as a real time plugin - the concept just doesn't seem adaptable. However, other aspects could function as plugins in the same way that WaveArts Audio Restoration bundle works. btw, I have both of these - RX for surgical work, and WaveArts for noise reduction on the fly. I really like the combination of the two. I bought WaveArts just before I heard izotope RX was coming out with a realtime plugin so well see how they compare.

I'm certain izotope RX is a killer app for reducing noise for podcasts and interviews. However, spectral editing might be time-consuming compared to the realtime noise reduction. So it depends upon the degree of perfection you want to achieve. The problem is, you can really almost make it perfect although it might take you a long time! So you'll have to exercise a bit of self-control. Its definitely not a tool for anyone with OCD. I'm sure you'll enjoy the power and find a healthy balance - we'll all be listening to your next podcast carefully though.

Also, the power of these rather transparent audio restoration tools really elevates the possibilities with digital recorders and live music recordings. The ability to eliminate artifacts and ambient noise brings the recordings closer to studio quality. It reminds me very much of a Photoshop app I use called Neat Image that seems to double the quality of even my best Canon lenses - I use it on almost every image I create. And I'm sure izotope RX will be a similar staple for my digital recordings.

Interesting you should mention that. I tried RX on one of the music examples in my latest podcast and ended up liking the realtime Arboretum Ray Gun better in that instance because there was no exposed area to take a noise print. I've attached a before-and-after example.

I probably could have got better results on the note extension using RX's Spectral Repair tool, though. I fudged it with reverb instead. This example has four parts: the original recording, the noise-reduced version, a quick fade on the first four notes, and then the same bit with the last note extended via reverb. More detail at the link above.