Dialogue Restoration Listening Test Part 2 - Reverb Reduction

January 8, 2024 Paul Maunder

Following on from our recent Dialogue restoration shootout where we compared the effectiveness of 6 different dialogue noise reduction tools, in this second part we take a look at reverb reduction.

The contenders in this test are:

Hush Pro

Hush Pro is an AAX Audiosuite plug-in for Pro Tools. It provides faders for voice, reverb and noise and works on Apple Silicon Macs to isolate speech from room reflections, ambient noise and transient sounds.

Waves Clarity Vx DeReverb Pro

Waves Clarity Vx DeReverb Pro is designed for the removal of reverb from dialogue and vocals. It provides controls which allow the amount of processing to be adjusted across the frequency range, meaning that the reverb reduction can be tailored according to your requirements.

Acon Digital Deverberate 3

Acon Digital Deverberate 3 uses deep learning for easy reduction of reverb from recorded dialogue. Using a neural network trained on thousands of hours of high-quality voice recordings and a wide variety of acoustical surroundings, the artificial intelligence can automatically separate dialogue from reverb.

iZotope RX DeReverb

iZotope RX DeReverb is a module within iZotope RX and a Pro Tools AAX plug-in which, of course, is designed to reduce the amount of reverberation in recordings. Specifically developed to work with dialogue, it provides controls for the overall amount of reverb reduction along with 4 adjustable sliders for Low, Low-mid, High-mid and high frequency bands which give the user control over where in the frequency spectrum the most attenuation is applied.

Accentize dxRevive Pro

Accentize dxRevive Pro is a speech restoration plug-in which is capable of not only removing noise and reverb but also reintegrating missing frequency components, eliminating codec artifacts, recovering clipped audio and restoring band-limited audio like phone calls. We put it through its paces on various dialogue recordings recently.

Supertone CLEAR

This plug-in started life as GOYO Voice Separator with a beta release back in April 2023. In the final release version, now called Supertone CLEAR Voice Separator, it supports all the usual plug-in formats, including AAX. Supertone CLEAR is a de-noise and de-reverb voice separator audio plugin which provides controls for ambience, voice and noise, allowing the relative levels of each to be adjusted.

The Test

Four different dialogue recordings were used for this test. These all exhibit reverb, and some degree of noise. When evaluating the results of this test, remember that we’re assessing reverb reduction here, rather than noise reduction. Some of the plug-ins in the test will reduce both.

The original, unprocessed recording is followed by the processed versions from each of the plug-ins. The processed examples below have been randomised from one example to the next and labelled A to F. Take a listen to each example and vote on which one you think is best. The results will be revealed soon!