Is it possible to use ducking on ReaFIR?

[Reason]

Seems like it should be. I followed Kenny's delay ducking tutorial and just subbed in ReaFIR for ReaDelay but it didn't do what I wanted. Likely user error but I don't know.

I've recorded a 20 year old cassette into Reaper. It has hiss and hum. I was able to build a nice noise profile in ReaFIR, and it took most of it right out. However, there is an intermittent, repetitive white noise throughout most of the songs. I'm not even sure what is causing it, so maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree. Here's a quick example:
https://soundcloud.com/tonnermusic/s...-noise-example

My thinking is that if I can duck the noise reduction during the music, at least to some degree, I can reduce the audibility of the artifacts. Let the music mask the noise while it's playing, but cut it off when not playing.

Thoughts?

[BenK-msx]

you are as wise as i was some years ago..

follow the link(s) on a good way to achieve just that -

https://forum.cockos.com/showpost.ph...16&postcount=5

[Philbo King]

I gave it a listen - it sounded fine to me. Given that it came from a cassette that old, I'd say it sounds very very good. I didn't crank it up a bunch hunting for noise, though.

It's possible you are hearing residual tape hiss. That's pretty broadband stuff; if it were loud compared the to music it's hard to ReaFIR it without affecting the quality of the sound. Fortunately it seems quite low.

I recorded it into Reaper and measured the noise at the very end of the music. It is at -56 dBFS, which is quite respectable for tape, and exceptional for cassette.

One possible option is to use downward expansion on it. This can be done with the General Dynamics plugin. Starting at the default setting, click & drag a line from (vertical, horizontal) -50,-50 stretching down to -60, -104. This will drop any noise at -50 and below down to -104 dB. That should quiet it down, if that's what you want to do.

I think I'd leave it alone, myself.

[martifingers]

I listened too and agree with Philbo. Sometimes I find when listening so acutely for noise I can lose "sight" of the overall musical sound.

[Reason]

I appreciate everyone's responses. I haven't had a chance to try the parameter modulation trick yet but when I have some time I will.

I suspect I'll end up going with what I have, though. If two people here aren't able to hear it, then it may not be worth the effort, especially if the sound quality ends up compromised.

[Jeffsounds]

I agree with Philbo. I listened and didn't hear any huge problem.

[87echo]

Unable to hear any undesirable background noise either. Actually, I was liking the sound.

I wonder if the original recording was done with Dolby noise reduction, and whether your playback equipment has the option of DNR on/off.

As you already know tape media loses integrity over time, especially the high freqs. Brings back memories of cleaning the tape heads with isopropal alcohol and Q-tips- (you may try this if you haven't already, won't hurt anything and could help.)