[Update May 19, 2017]

A few days ago, Adobe released Audition 10.1.1.11.  Numerous users reported that their problem was fixed.  But not everyone.  Yours truly continued to get the same result from the Noise Reduction effect.

This afternoon I spent a pleasant 30 minutes online with Adobe support (thanks, Charles!).  The solution is actually pretty straightforward. Here’s the short version. Launch Audition, open an audio file, select the region with only noise and pick Effects/Noise Reduction (Restoration)/Noise Reduction (process). Before you do anything else, look at the Presets box in the upper left corner of the dialog box.  If it reads “Custom” open the Advanced panel at the bottom of the screen.  Look carefully at the FFT Size.  If the number is 512, you need to make a quick fix.  Click the dropdown on Presets and pick Default.  Note that FFT now reads 4096.  And Audition noise reduction should work fine.

Here’s the long version.  Launch Audition, open an audio file, select the region with only noise and pick Effects/Noise Reduction (Restoration)/Noise Reduction (process). You’ll see this:

Noise Reduction Dialog Box (click for larger image)

Before you do anything else, look at the Presets box in the upper left corner of the dialog box.  If it reads “Custom” …

… open the Advanced panel at the bottom of the screen.  Look carefully at the FFT Size.  If the number is 512, …

… you need to make a quick fix.  Click the dropdown on Presets and pick Default.

Note that FFT now reads 4096. 

And Audition noise reduction should work fine.

[Original April 21 article begins here.]

I pay a fair amount every year as a subscription to Adobe’s “Creative Cloud” services.  I’m working on several projects that need eps editing (Illustrator), photo editing (Photoshop), and audio editing (Audition, a vastly underrated product). All of this runs on my Macbook Pro. And I have been happy.  Until Thursday, April 20.

My workflow is pretty straightforward.  I write a script and a set of Powerpoint slides.  I then record the audio from the script using Audition.  I fix up the file (see process below).  And everything is fine.  Until today.

I routinely let Adobe download updates to my computer.  And I let them give me the latest, greatest release of Audition, version 10.1.0.174.  That should have given me a clue — if there are more than two .’s in a version number, you should pass.  But it was early, the coffee had not kicked in, … OK, no excuses, I screwed up.

I’m doing voice work, not music.  And I have a process.  First, normalize the amplitude.  Second, use the noise reduction tool.  Third, use “Noise Reduction/Dehummer” to get rid of the 120 and 200 hz notches.  So I went to work.  And everything was fine until …

I tried to capture the noise print.  Big problem.  I saw this:

Say, what?  I tried all the usual remedies: rebooted, … well, you know the drill.  Nothing worked.  (There is a long thread on the Adobe boards.)

So I downgraded to 10.0.2.  You can do this if you’re creative by following the instructions here.  And everything was working fine.  I did some recording and a bit of editing.  Then I closed everything and went to the gym.

When I got back I figured I could simply edit the file.  Until I tried noise reduction and got the same error shown above.  Checking the version, I realized that Adobe had updated Audition to 10.1.0.174 without my permission.

If you’re a media professional, the subscription price for Creative Cloud is a rounding error.  I am not in that position.  I’m just doing some simple video and voice audio work.  But i’m willing to pay the price because, frankly, I get integrated applications, a great learning community, and a major company behind the product.  But right now I figure they owe me about $500.  I won’t hold my breath.