From the first note blown during the 2010 World Cup, the drone of the vuvuzela has annoyed sports fans tuning in to matches via television or radio.
The vuvuzela has been a fixture of South African football since at least the 1990s, emitting a single, buzzing B? note that has energized some teams and driven others to distraction.
The noise has lead to numerous Web-based campaigns and several official complaints to FIFA calling for the instrument to be banned.
Digital signal processing company Waves is offering a solution it claims “dramatically reduces the problematic sound of the omnipresent vuvuzela trumpet favored by South African soccer fans.”
Waves devised a real-time processing chain using two plug-ins — the WNS Waves Noise Suppressor and the Q10 paragraphic equalizer. The company says the combination of plug-ins both reduces vuvuzela noise and increases the intelligibility of play-by-play and color commentary.
The processing chain for vuvuzela noise reduction is available as load-and-use sessions for Pro Tools, Waves MultiRack and Cubase.
