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Mothers of the world may wish that SoundSoap 2 were a program to remove profanity from sound files, because every mom knows that soap is the natural enemy of naughty language. However, we think SoundSoap 2 is even better, because it actually rids audio files of clicks, crackles, hiss, hum, rumble and other unwanted noise in a few easy steps.
If you record LPs or cassettes into your Mac, you'll want to clean them with SoundSoap 2 before burning them to CD. The app is also invaluable to your home movies, many of which probably include noise from an air conditioner or computer, tape hiss or noise from the camcorder itself. If using iMovie, extract the audio file first and then open it in SoundSoap 2.
The program opens almost any digital audio file, including MP3, AAC and AIFF. Begin by playing the audio, then adjusting the Click & Crackle slider until those pests are removed. Next, try to find two seconds or more in the audio that is silent except for the noise you want to remove. Position the playhead at this portion, click the Learn Noise button, and play. SoundSoap 2 then removes a great deal of the noise for you. Click the Noise Only button to listen to only the audio that's being removed, and if you hear any of the desired audio, adjust the Noise Tuner knob until you don't. There are also buttons to remove hum (single frequency noise) and rumble (low frequency noise). As a final step, you can adjust the Enhance slider, which will help restore some of the original tonality that may have been lost. SoundSoap 2 saves its resulting audio as a new AIFF, WAV or SoundDesigner II file.
We found SoundSoap 2's results to be magnificent most of the time. The technology trickles down to the consumer level from Bias, Inc.'s SoundSoap Pro, which is used in top-dollar mastering studios, and it shows. What's more is that once reading through the somewhat verbose electronic documentation, the process becomes second nature very quickly.
-MARKKUS ROVITO
SoundSoap 2: 
Bias, Inc. | www.bias-inc.com | 800-775-2427 | $99
Pros: Stupendous results, doesn’t overwrite original file, easy to operate after gestation period.
Cons: Limited export formats, documentation somewhat lengthy.
Requires: G4 400MHz or faster, 128MB RAM, OS 10.2 or higher QuickTime 6.5 (included)
macHOME recommends: 256MB RAM or more, 700MHz or faster
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