Why I Don't Use DBX Noise Reduction

it's nothing personal, I'm just lazy.

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[mirage]

A way that I’ve combatted hiss without having the muffled sound of the dbx is to boost the high frequencies on the channels while tracking and then turning them down on playback. Cutting the high frequencies on playback can reduce the presence of the hiss.

But I mostly don’t even fight it. Musics gotta exist somewhere. It never lives in complete silence.

[leostechnikkanal]

If im being honest, I think track 2 sounded a tiny bit better than track 1, so for me the sound of dbx sure wins! I never used dbx by myself though, just dolby B and S.

[revokdaryl]

You might be interested to know that the maestro Vangelis used DBX type I noise reduction on ALL of his early recordings! He preferred DBX to Dolby type A because he liked the subtle nuances it gave his recordings.

[johntait]

An eq during final mix seems to take care of any hiss or unwanted frequencies in a recording.

[m.o.n.d.e.g.r.e.e.n]

you can always sneak a bit of RX noise reduction plugin action on the final mixdown if you're going hybrid

[toddcrookham]

On YouTube I would be hard pressed to hear a real difference, but I have used dbx type II noise reduction since 1981. I have used it with both cassette, vinyl and reel to reel tape.
I never experienced the dreaded breathing that people complained about. Though I followed the recording tips I read about in my owners manual that suggested using 3 db less on the vu meters than you normally would for a given tape formulation. So if you normally recorded at +6 on the tape you would record at +3. It's truly amazing when you hear a well recorded dbx recording.

[stackoverflow]

I use dbx on Yamaha K 1000 and C300, for some reason I actually like it better than on my Technics RS B905. On Technics, they give recording calibration knobs to adjust boost the high end but I'm just trying to figure it out. On Yamaha, you can use a calibration knob until you get a flat curve that will be shown on the machine. On Technics you have to do it by the ear. One trick I use on Technics is, send a 100hz, 1000hz, 3000hz, 10000hz, and 15000hz signal into deck and adjust all the levels so I my levels during the playback don't drop especially on high end.

[J.Feliciano-FOREVER-JAM-N]

Way back in the day... late 1970's I used a DBX 155 4 channel with my TEAC 3340/S and it made a super difference. Unlike Dolby, it compresses the WHOLE signal frequency 20- 20k
( if i remember correctly ) and then expands it back to normal levels accept without the perceived tape hiss frequency's. All of us kids messed with it over and over, drums, vocals, guitars and bases. even used a frequency tone generator I built from a HEATHKIT unit !, and we all agreed, it really worked. So, we recorded 3 tracks and then bounced to the forth track without DBX because then we felt we would get the full fidelity that the machine had to offer, and record the overdubs once mixed without DBX. hiss and all. We erased all the blank air in between overdubs effectively erasing the noticeable recorded tape hiss and background headphone noises etc. Also, we never recorded higher than + 2 in order to leave a bit of headroom and ultimately less chance of overloading the tracks. So, @ 15 ips the bass was warm and fat and and the bed tracks were super clear and punchy. I think sometimes we did the over dubs with DBX and sometimes with out. you could select weather you wanted it or not because of the bypass button in the middle. it was always easy to hear if you had used it to record because you could hear the tape "breath" in and out during play back. so, simply press the corresponding button and poof no hiss.

So, EV TAPCO 72 12 channel mixer, TEAC 3340S 4track, DBX 155 noise reduction, a home made spring reverb and a rack mount MXR Chorus/ Doubler, and an Echoplex,
a UERi 1178 limiter / compressor and we were ready to be discovered and ready for Stardom !
it was just a matter of time.

[yumienmichelcorria]

Got a 4 track Fostex 160. It has dolby. A bit muffeling, but thats ok. No dolby is a bit hissy. I think I am not hitting the tape hard enough. Figuring it out. Thanks for your video's. ✌️

[summersky]

Through YouTube and my high end headphones, to be honest, track 2 sounded better. Whatever the DBX did, in this case, it added life to the sound and opens it up. Just how I hear it from here.
As much as I was preconditioned to hate on DBX, I've conceded that when doing multitrack recording on my Yamaha MT4X, the added s/n ratio and the DBX encoding hiding flaws/minor dropouts in the tape itself, it's a lot more forgiving, especially if you're bouncing tracks around. Don't listen to what half-deaf 70 year-old 'audiophiles' say. DBX didn't fail in the consumer space because of Dolby's market share supremacy. Dolby B/C were massive failures. Ask anyone if they ever used it. (I did, but I knew what I was doing and my tapes sounded phenomenal).

The problem was getting the average dipshit to understand what noise reduction encoding/decoding even was. In the lower-end budget studio where all you had for tape was cassette-based, you damn well needed it. I saw a Fostex 4-track with Dolby C on it once. What the hell were they thinking? To use that while editing must be an absolute trainwreck of a shitshow. Dolby C works beautifully once when you play the tape back immediately on the same machine you recorded it on. Then that's it, show's over. It's a muffled mess on everything else and eventually even on the machine that made it too.

So, in essence, I'm not sure what the hell all this 'purity' is about when the end result is a hissy/drop-outy sound. Do what sounds better, not what old white men say. Just my two cents. :)

[Herfinnur]

I don't think I hear any meaningful difference, except that track 2 is maybe clearer?

[davidreidy]

Yeah I don't really mess with the dbx until I do the final mixdown on type1's.I like my music to sound as raw as possible anyways.

[JoshuaPickenpaugh]

I prefer the no dbx sound here; with dbx the hi hat seems to disappear. I think if you are recording to a cassette 4 track, and the listener knows this as part of the "allure" of the album, a bit of tape hiss is fine...maybe even required? Btw I dig your Stingray tone; anything else on it other than plugging directly into the board?

[carterherrman]

I have a Yamaha MT-4X and recently discovered that if I record with DBX and don’t use it when playing back, it sounds AMAZING. probably just compressing the shit out of everything but but I’m telling you it sounds good. Definitely worth any added noise but it’s not too much.

[jlopez]

On cassette recording, Dolby B, C, and S were later used. Like dbx, Dolby Noise Reduction had to be encoded and decoded. Dolby S had over 85 dB Signal to Noise Ratio, which was very close to CD quality at about 90 dB Signal to noise ratio. Most people would engage noise Reduction on playback only and this would create a very muffled tape sound.

[NME_REK]

Hiss is the unity of the mix it fills the gaps and let’s the beats flow in one river

[JasperAsher-lvyg]

DBX is great for my recordings for my tapes and reel to reel but I do not use it anymore because if I play my tapes to another cassette deck in my bedroom upstairs, I will need to bring my DBX processor upstairs too to hear the full dynamic range. Without the DBX processor, you cannot play the tapes anywhere else.

[harrisfrankou]

From memory recording off and bounce down have it on, then I'd give it a mild "Re EQ" at that stage, just a subtle tweak and out into mixing mastering.
Edit I just checked out my Tascam and it is OFF.

[johnkaplun]

My main format is 1/2" 8 track and I don't use DBX.
As a good tech told me, NR is great only when both the deck and the noise reduction are properly calibrated. Most people form bad opinons about it because they're using a deck that hasn't been calibrated in decades and so the dbx just sounds aweful.
This goes back to the compression/expansion principle. All NR assumes that what you put into the deck is what you get out (in terms of frequency response). If your tape deck isn't calibrated to have an even frequency response, NR just makes that worse.

[KeithJCarberry]

when the drums were isolated i thought the DBX sounded really bad but in the mix with the band i thought the difference was basically nominal overall. i could tell i think (i got it right) but i wasnt super confident and it was really a 50:50 shot