Anyone here experienced in dialog editing using X2? I've been tasked with dialog editing (and sound design) for a short film, and there's quite a bit of ambient noise around the dialog and way too many room reflections in the dialog itself. Apparently ADR is not an option.

I know getting room reflections out of dialog is akin to unscrambling an egg, but I have to try. There are all sorts of noise reduction plugins, expanders, and interesting ones like De-Verb from SPL and Unveil from Zynaptiq, but I haven't tried any of them. Just curious what your choice of tools and workflow would be in this scenario. Any advice appreciated.

export the audio out from Sonar. 

use a native audio editor like Sound Forge to work on the audio. when in Sound Forge, just work on the sound, dont change the length and or frame rate. You will need to re-sync in a video editor later on.

one of the best plugs for audio repair is iZotope RX. 

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/rx/

the other could be Fir Subtraction from ReaPlugs. 

http://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/

cant really explain the workflow however, in both you will need to sample a region of noise and then use that as a template for noise reduction.

hope this helps and good luck on the projx...

cheers....

+1 on that.

Its an art form really but at the end of the day I say this to clients "You cant polish a turd"

If its badly recorded then sure, you can clean up with Izotope.... Room reflections are VERY difficult to work around as they are now inherent within the recordings themselves...

Rmix (within Sonar) is quite nifty at removing hiss as well btw.

Good luck!!

Best tip I can give you is blend sound design well with the Dials to "mask" over any unwanted nasties.

You can try (carefully and with automation, if necessary) gating the dead space in between dialog and blend your dialog track(s) with a loop of roomtone (which I hope they recorded and provided to you!).