Todd-AO Absentia DX

Legendary Hollywood post-production studio Todd-AO® has released Absentia DX™, a standalone software processor that automatically removes unwanted noises from dialog or vocal tracks without changing the sound of the voice recording.

Absentia DX uses their ABDX algorithm to remove hum and harmonics, wireless mic noise, ticks and pops, and broadband noise from any sound file. Absentia DX processing requires no special expertise as there are no controls to adjust or technical parameters to set--it is automatic. Just drop single files or folders of files on the GUI or icon in your dock. Once processed, the new "fixed" files are directly interchangeable with the original files with all metadata retained.

I launched Absentia DX and chose which tool or tools I wanted to use. There are: Hum Remover--either Strong or Smooth; Broadband Reducer for removing noise when ever the dialog/voice is absent; and the Tick remover for pops and clicks, it also works ONLY in the gaps between dialog audio.

To ensure no possible damage to dialog quality, Todd-AO engineers prefer to NOT try and remove broadband noise or ticks while dialog is present. The re-recording mixer and director would make a decision that the dialog is of unacceptable quality and should be replaced.

I dropped a 35-second vocal track clip (44.1-kHz/24-bit mono track) from Pro Tools on the Absentia DX icon in the dock--I had to do something about a nasty and constant 60Hz hum. For hum removal, you can select between Strong or Smooth and I went with Strong. It took just under real time to process the clip off-line on my 2008 Mac Pro--obviously with a faster computer this will not take this long but you can do this processing in the background and get on with other work too. The result was amazing! The vocal sounded the same just sans hum.

I found Absentia DX to work flawlessly without having to tweak parameters or make changes per each audio clip. I could drop all the raw vocal or dialog tracks onto its icon and let it work on it throughout the day as I worked on the mix.

ABDX cleans the obvious, eliminates repetitive labor, and frees up time for creative challenges. It works on PCs and well as MAC OSX 10.8 and above and sells for $49.

Check this video: Here.