BIAS SoundSoap - 2.1 User Manual

SoundSoap

Version 2.1

Software User’s Guide

TM

DCN: 1.2

SoundSoap User’s Guide2

INSTALL LICENSE AGREEMENT

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“LICENSEE”), and Berkley Integrated Audio Software, Inc. (“BIAS, Inc.”). BY
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consideration of payment of the multi-user single site license fee, which
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you, LICENSEE, a nonexclusive license to use and display this copy of the
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number of licenses purchased (e.g. a 5 User Lab Pack allows up to 5 BIAS
SOFTWARE licenses at a single SITE to be simultaneously installed,
authorized, and used on up to 5 COMPUTERS at said SITE), provided
that (a) each COMPUTER is owned by (or leased to) and under exclusive
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licenses purchased as part of the multi-user single site license, and (c)
any COMPUTER(S) with BIAS Software installed shall not be sold, rented,
leased, loaned or otherwise be removed from the LICENSEE’s
possession without first removing and deauthorizing the Software,
except as provided in Paragraph 6 (below) pertaining to “TRANSFER
RESTRICTIONS.” BIAS reserves all rights not expressly granted to
LICENSEE.

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SOFTWARE either online (via the included BIAS Authorization Manager
software) or by phone [phone] [phone]). Once the
SOFTWARE is registered and AUTHORIZED, it may not be returned.

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SOFTWARE from one computer to another provided that the
SOFTWARE is used on only one computer at a time if you have
purchased a single user license or, if you have purchased a multi-user
single site license, on up to the number of computers for which you have
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“commercial computer software documentation”, and pursuant to FAR

12.212 or DFARS 227.7202, and their successors, as applicable, use,
reproduction and disclosure of the Software and Documentation are
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8. TERMINATION. This License is effective until terminated. This License
will terminate automatically without notice from BIAS if you fail to
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destroy the DOCUMENTATION and all copies of the SOFTWARE,
including modified copies, if any.

9. UPDATE POLICY. BIAS may create, from time to time, updated versions
of the SOFTWARE. At its option, BIAS will make such updates available
to LICENSEE and transferees who have paid the update fee and returned
the registration card to BIAS.

10. BIAS PRODUCT SUPPORT.

Unlimited Complimentary Self Help Options

If you have questions about installing or using your BIAS products, please
check the manual or user guide first, and you will find answers to most
of your questions there. If you need further assistance, please check the

License Agreement/Credits

3

support section of the BIAS web site, which contains answers to
frequently asked questions, troubleshooting tips, and more:

http://www.bias-inc.com/support/faq/

Limited Complimentary Technical Assistance

Ninety days of complimentary technical support assistance for up to
three incidents is available with the initial purchase of Type 1 BIAS
products (Peak Pro, Peak Pro XT, Master Perfection Suite, SoundSoap
Pro, Deck). Ninety days of complimentary technical support assistance
for a single incident is available with the initial purchase of Type 2 BIAS
products (Peak LE, Deck LE, SoundSoap 2). The support period begins
when the product is initially registered and authorized. Type 3 products
(OEM versions) are excluded.

An additional thirty days of complimentary technical support assistance
for a single incident, beginning on the expiration of the initial ninety days
of complimentary support described above, is available with the
purchase of paid upgrades to Type 1 and Type 2 BIAS products.

To receive e-mail or telephone technical support, you will need a valid
serial number and must be registered for a current BIAS product. Please
keep your original product serial number (located on your original
owner’s certificate) in a safe place as it will be required for support.

Customers who prefer support by email, please contact:

[e-mail]

Customers who prefer support by telephone, (connect and toll charges
apply), please have your computer running and close by the phone and
call us at:

[phone]
(9AM-5PM Monday-Friday PST – excluding BIAS holidays)

Fee-based Technical Support Options

Fee-based Support is available for those customers whose support period
has expired or for Type 3 (OEM version) customers. Please call:

[phone]
(9AM-5PM Monday-Friday PST – excluding BIAS holidays)

For customers living outside of North America, please contact your local
BIAS distributor, or contact BIAS directly. A list of BIAS distributors may
be found at:

http://www.bias-inc.com/distributors.html

BIAS Support Policy and Hours

BIAS, Inc. support policy and hours are subject to change without notice.

Sales and Non-Technical Customer Service

For product information, sales, and other non-technical customer
service, please email or call:

[e-mail]
US: 1-800-775-BIAS (2427)
International: [phone]
(9AM-5PM Monday-Friday PST – excluding BIAS holidays)

No technical support is available at the numbers or email address above.

11. MISCELLANEOUS. This Agreement is governed by the law of the State of
California, without regard to conflicts of law principles.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY AND LIMITED WARRANTY

THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION (INCLUDING INSTRUCTIONS FOR
USE) ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. FURTHER,
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ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR
CORRECTION.
BIAS warrants to the original LICENSEE that the media upon which the
SOFTWARE is recorded and the BIAS Key (USB dongle), if applicable, are free
from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service for a
period of ninety (90) days from the date of delivery as evidenced by a copy of
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do not allow limitations on duration of an implied warranty, so the above
limitation may not apply to you.
BIAS’ entire liability and your exclusive remedy as to the media shall be, at BIAS’
option, either (a) return of the purchase price or (b) replacement of the media
that does not meet BIAS’ Limited Warranty and which is returned to BIAS with a
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of the original warranty period or thirty (30) days, whichever is longer.
THE ABOVE ARE THE ONLY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR
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MADE BY BIAS CONCERNING THE BIAS PRODUCT. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN
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AGENTS, OR EMPLOYEES SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR IN ANY WAY
INCREASE THE SCOPE OF THIS WARRANTY, AND YOU MAY NOT RELY ON ANY
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LEGAL RIGHTS. YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO
STATE.
NEITHER BIAS NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE
CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS PRODUCT SHALL BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS
INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, AND THE LIKE). BECAUSE
SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION
MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

This Disclaimer of Warranty and Limited Warranty is governed by the laws of the
State of California, without regard to conflicts of law principles.

Should you have any questions concerning this Agreement, or wish to contact
BIAS for any reason, please contact in writing:

BIAS Customer Sales and Service
140 Keller Street
Petaluma, CA 94952
USA

Copyright 1996–2006 BIAS, Inc.

SoundSoap User’s Guide4

Credits:

SoundSoap 2.1 software: David Tremblay, Guillermo Garcia, David Ralley,
Andrew Kimpton, Wayne Jackson, Steve Berkley, Eric Eizenman, Rick Sustek, Eric
Johnson, Ben Ventura, Dan Spirlock.

Audio Units™, Mac OS X™, Logic™, GarageBand™, Final Cut Pro™,
SoundTrack™, iPod™, iMovie™ and Macintosh™, are registered trademarks of
Apple Computer, Inc.

VST™, WaveLab™, Cubase™, and Nuendo™ are registered trademarks of
Steinberg Media Technologies, AG.

Pro Tools™, RTAS™ & AudioSuite™ are registered trademarks of Digidesign, Inc.

Digital Performer™ is a registered trademark of MOTU, Inc.

Premiere Pro™ and Audition™ are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc.

Sound Forge™ and Vegas Video™ are registered trademarks of Sony, Inc.

Windows XP™ is a registered trademark of Microsoft, Inc.

Sonar™ is a registered trademark of Cakewalk, Inc.

User’s Guide:

Zac Wheatcroft

Special Thanks to:

Christine Berkley, Ben Hester, Jason Davies, Paul Knowles, Gabe Khofri, Lisa
Stefan, Victor Cebreros, Cory Stück, Brian Smiley, Andrew Stone, Brent Hurtig,
Seamus Walsh, and the hard working beta team.

License Agreement/Credits

5

SoundSoap User’s Guide6

BIAS Product Support:

Unlimited Complimentary Self Help
Options

If you have questions about installing or using your BIAS
products, please check the manual or user guide first,
you will find answers to most of your questions there. If
you need further assistance, please check:

http://www.bias-inc.com/support.html

for frequently asked questions, an extensive database of
related articles, troubleshooting tips, and more.

Limited Complimentary Technical
Assistance

Ninety days of technical support assistance for up to
three incidents is available with the initial purchase of
Type 1 BIAS products (Peak Pro, Peak Pro XT, Master
Perfection Suite, Deck, SoundSoap Pro). Ninety days of
technical support assistance for a single incident is
available with the initial purchase of Type 2 BIAS
products (Peak LE, Deck LE, SoundSoap). Type 3
products (OEM versions) are excluded. Thirty days of
technical support assistance for a single incident is
available with the purchase of paid upgrades to Type 1
and Type 2 BIAS products. The support period begins
when the product authorization code (PAC) is initially
issued following the product registration. To receive e­mail or telephone technical support, you will need a valid
serial number and must be registered for a current BIAS
product. Please keep your original product serial number
and PAC in a safe place as it will be required for support.
For customers preferring e-mail assistance, please use
the email form available on our web site at:

http://www.bias-inc.com/support.html

Or, email:

[e-mail]

For customers preferring telephone assistance, (connect
and toll charges apply), please have your computer
running and close by the phone and call us at:

[phone]

9AM-5PM Monday-Friday PST – excluding BIAS holidays

Fee-based Technical Support Options

Fee-based Support is available for those customers
whose support period has expired or for Type 3 (OEM
version) customers. Please call:

[phone]

9AM-5PM Monday-Friday PST – excluding BIAS holidays

For customers living outside of North America, please
contact your local BIAS distributor, or contact BIAS
directly. A list of BIAS distributors may be found at:

http://www.bias-inc.com/distributors.html

Product Support Options

7

BIAS Support Policy and Hours

BIAS, Inc. support policy and hours are subject to change
without notice.

Sales and Non-Technical Customer Service

For product information, sales, and other non-technical
customer service, please email or call:
[e-mail]

US: 1-800-775-BIAS (2427)
International: [phone]

9AM-5PM Monday-Friday PST – excluding BIAS holidays

No technical support is available at the numbers or email
address above.

SoundSoap User’s Guide8

Contents

Chapter 1 - Introducing SoundSoap

Welcome!......................................................................................................................................................................................................13

Who is SoundSoap designed for?.............................................................................................................................................................13

What’s New in Version 2.1?..........................................................................................................................................................................14

Minimum System Requirements................................................................................................................................................................ 14

About Your User’s Guide............................................................................................................................................................................ 14

Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................................................................15

Chapter 2: Installation, Registration, and Authorization

Installing SoundSoap...................................................................................................................................................................................19

Registration and Authorization..................................................................................................................................................................21

Deauthorizing a Computer.........................................................................................................................................................................24

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................................................24

Chapter 3 - SoundSoap User Interface & Controls

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................................................27

A Brief Explanation of Noise Types..............................................................................................................................................................27

SoundSoap Controls Explained..................................................................................................................................................................28

Overview of SoundSoap Graphical User Interface.....................................................................................................................................29

Additional Controls in Stand-Alone Edition...............................................................................................................................................34

Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................................................................35

Chapter 4 - Using SoundSoap

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................................................39

Tips for Noise Reduction.............................................................................................................................................................................39

How to Use SoundSoap...............................................................................................................................................................................44

Using SoundSoap as a Plug-In................................................................................................................................................................44

Using SoundSoap as a Stand-Alone Application....................................................................................................................................46

SoundSoap Tutorial Video...........................................................................................................................................................................49

Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................................................................49

Table of Contents

9

SoundSoap User’s Guide10

SoundSoap User’s Guide12

Chapter 1: Introducing SoundSoap

Welcome!

Thank you for purchasing BIAS SoundSoap! SoundSoap
is a professional-quality noise reduction solution that’s
very easy to use. By adjusting just a few controls, anyone
can remove unwanted hiss, room noise, rumble,
electrical hum, clicks & crackles, and other background
noise from almost any digital media file – including
digital video (DV) soundtracks, PowerPoint and other
presentation software soundtracks, Flash and other web­tool soundtracks, digital audio workstation tracks,
cassette or other analog tape recordings, or vinyl
recordings that have been transferred to a computer, and
other sources. SoundSoap was designed by listening to
the suggestions of audio and video editors who all had
one thing in common – noisy media, and the desire to
clean it up quickly and easily.

SoundSoap Features:

• Broadband noise reduction/removal

• 50 & 60 Hz hum reduction/removal

• Rumble reduction/removal

• “Learn” function – allows automatic noise
reduction/removal

• “Preserve Voice” function – specialized pre-filtering
for voice-based media files

• Click & Crackle reduction/removal

• Enhance Slider – allows tone enhancement when
working with degraded media sources, such as old
audio or video cassettes or vinyl records

• A real-time plug-in which may be used with any
Mac OS X-compatible Audio Units, RTAS, or VST
host application, or any Windows XP-compatible
VST, or RTAS host program

• A stand-alone edition – for users who do not own
a compatible host program

• Drag & drop file support (stand-alone edition)

• Windows Media Support (stand-alone edition)

Who is SoundSoap designed for?

SoundSoap is designed for a wide variety of users,
ranging from home movie makers to audio engineers
and video editors. SoundSoap’s advanced noise
reduction algorithm and simple user interface shatter the
myth that noise reduction software must be complicated,
with dozens of parameters to adjust, in order to achieve
high quality noise reduction.

With just a few knobs, buttons, and sliders, you can learn
how to use SoundSoap in just a few minutes – and you’ll
quickly see why SoundSoap is perfect for anyone with
noisy digital media!

Chapter 1

13

1

What’s New in Version 2.1?

SoundSoap 2.1 offers a number of new features and
enhancements, including:

• Universal application supports both Intel and
PowerPC-based Macs

• Updated authorization system allows easier and
more flexible management of SoundSoap licenses

Minimum System Requirements

To use SoundSoap on a Macintosh – you will need:

• G4, G5, or Intel-based Macintosh (≥500 MHz
processor recommended)

• Macintosh OS 10.3.9 (Intel-based Mac require 10.4)

• QuickTime 6.5 (stand-alone mode)

To use SoundSoap on a Windows PC – you will need:

• Intel Pentium 3/4, or Athlon with SSE Instructions
(≥600 MHz processor recommended)

• Windows XP Home or Professional

• Windows Media 9 & QuickTime 6.5 (stand-alone
mode)

Both:

• Plug-in mode requires compatible Audio Units,
RTAS, or VST host program

• 128 MB RAM minimum

• 20 MB available disk space

For most up-to-date info, please visit:

http://www.bias-inc.com/soundsoap/

About Your User’s Guide

SoundSoap is designed to be simple and intuitive. Your
User’s Guide is designed to help you set up and use
SoundSoap for noise reduction/removal as quickly as
possible.

This User’s Guide assumes that you are familiar with
standard Macintosh and/or Windows operating
techniques, including:

• Setting up, starting, and using your computer

• Choosing commands from menus

• Double-clicking, selecting, shift-selecting, and
dragging with the mouse

• Opening, copying, saving, and deleting files

• Opening, closing, scrolling, moving, re-sizing, and
selecting windows

If you don’t know how to perform these tasks, please
refer to the documentation that was included with your
computer, and spend a little time learning about your
operating system before going any further. This will
make using SoundSoap much easier and more enjoyable.

The chapters in your SoundSoap User’s Guide are
arranged in the order in which you would typically
perform tasks to remove unwanted noise from your
media.

• Chapter 1 introduces you to SoundSoap and
explains some of the requirements for using it

• Chapter 2 explains how to install, register, and
authorize SoundSoap

• Chapter 3 explains the various features in
SoundSoap and how they are used to
reduce/remove noise

• Chapter 4 demonstrates how to use SoundSoap as
a plug-in, and as a stand-alone program. A tutorial
video is also included

SoundSoap User’s Guide14

Look for important tips and notes whenever you
see this exclamation mark!

Conclusion

Now that you know a little about SoundSoap, proceed to
the next chapter to learn how to install your software and
get started using it.

Chapter 1

15

1