A studio is nice, but there is nothing stopping you from getting results in a bedroom, in a shed, or, if a past episode of Mix with the Masters showed me, in a small space under a stage before a concert. What do these spaces have that a studio doesn’t? Less than ideal acoustics, and a higher chance of unwanted noise. But as with most things, there are definitely tools to help with that, and that’s where the C-Suite C-Vox from Universal Audio comes in.
At first glance, C-Vox is a simple to operate plugin; there are two control knobs; one for Attenuation, and one for Ambience, and a switch to toggle between Noise mode, and Room mode. Simply put, the more you dial in each, the more reduction you get. You get a pretty handy visual representation of what noise and ambience is present, and what it thinks is the actual wanted sound. Looks-wise, this is reminiscent of most frequency analysers.
Whether you are using C-Vox for the first time or for the thousandth time, it’s a pretty simple affair to get going.
Under the Hood
At its heart, the C-Vox plugin uses technology and software developed by CEDAR Audio. If you aren’t familiar with CEDAR, they are the inventors and the leading name in real-time audio restoration, dialogue noise suppression, and spectral editing, whether that is for post-production, audio, or forensic audio applications. In real terms, if you are a fan of movies and TV, from the last couple of decades, then you have most definitely heard (or more specifically, not heard) CEDAR noise-reduction.
The C-Vox itself uses a deep-learning algorithm to constantly identify and separate vocals/voices from noise, and in real time updates its profile as audio goes through it, allowing for a more organic sounding dynamic suppression.
In Use
For this review, we used the C-Suite C-Vox plugin on an M1 Mac; the plugin is compatible with both Mac and PC, and does need an Apollo Audio or UAD Accelerator device to run on.
Reading the marketing copy, this plugin is designed to tidy up your recordings when poor acoustics and noise are an issue. So, where better to start than recording some tracks that purposely had noise and some bad-sounding ambience?
C-Vox can be used either in Console as you record, or after the fact as a plugin within your DAW (Via AAX, VST, and AU formats).
In terms of ambience, I played around with picking some less-than-ideal spots within the home, a cupboard under the stairs, a tiled and very reflective bathroom, and a small boxy-sounding cupboard. With each of these C-Vox dealt with most issues with relative ease, and it was just as simple as singing/speaking, adjusting a knob (or both) and you are off to the races. Even when the plugin had to be pushed further, it held up nicely and dealt with the ambience-based issue.
For some noise-based testing, I simulated some real-world examples (albeit maybe a little more exaggerated) and purposely left a fan running, recorded close to a loud computer, left the backdoor open, among a few other tests. I will be honest, I was expecting at least a little struggle from some of the more extreme tests, but again, C-Vox held its own, and got the job done. There were one or two times (where I pushed it beyond a reasonable amount) where it didn’t remove 100% of the noise, but turned something unusable into something very usable.
I wanted to see how crazy this plugin could go, so I set up a microphone that I know needs repairing. It has an issue with extreme hum and hiss. I expected C-Vox (which isn’t designed to make a broken microphone usable) to fail here, but once again it surprised me, and gave me some usable audio, not perfect, but usable. Well above my reasonable expectation.
Throughout all of these tests, latency was virtually non-existent, and my Apollo Twin’s onboard DSP worked like a charm. In terms of SHARC chip usage, each instance of C-Vox used around 33% of a chip’s processing power, which, for something that works this well, sounds fine to me. It still gives you enough wiggle room to use an instance of C-Vox alongside, say, a channel strip and a reverb on any Apollo with 2 or more chips, you may find yourself having to make choices if you are running an Apollo Solo instead, though.
The best kinds of noise reduction are the ones you don’t hear, and with a lot of reduction plugins, you often get a sort of dullness imparted to your track, that can make it feel a little lifeless, or can add some form of artifacting that makes it obvious you have put your audio through noise reduction. C-Vox doesn’t do this, and it excels at removing unwanted sound while letting wanted audio breathe. It has a high-quality, transparent quality that works.
A Final Word
Noise Reduction is something we would love to not have to use, but realistically, noise happens, so why not use some of the best tools to remove it, and that is what C-Vox is, one of the best. Some might not like that it is locked into the UAD platform, but that is the name of the game. If you want a high-quality product that just does its job, then look no further. And to add an extra bonus, it is often included.
In terms of alternatives, you could look at something like the RX 11 Suite from iZotope, which comes in around the same price, but while that is also a solid product, it doesn’t offer the same near-zero latency or such simple controls.
Universal Audio C-Suite C-Vox
£349
https://www.uaudio.com/review/c-vox-noise-reduction/