{"id":798,"date":"2021-09-10T20:54:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T20:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nel-media.com\/en\/?p=798"},"modified":"2023-11-04T21:16:10","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T21:16:10","slug":"audacity-how-to-remove-noise-from-audio-recordings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nel-media.com\/en\/audacity-how-to-remove-noise-from-audio-recordings","title":{"rendered":"Audacity: How to remove noise from audio recordings?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you have ever recorded audio clips, you have likely encountered the problem of unwanted noise in your material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, some tools can help you solve this problem, and one of the most popular and free programs for editing audio clips is Audacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it’s noise in your podcast, interview, or music recording, it can be extremely annoying and can diminish the quality of your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, if you are involved in translation or transcription (converting audio recordings into text), you may have experienced situations where the audio recording has a lot of noise or the speakers in the recording are not clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Audacity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Audacity is a free and open-source program for editing audio recordings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Audacity<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The program has been around for about 20 years and brings something new with each new version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It offers a wide range of features that allow you to record, edit, and process sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Audacity’s most powerful features is noise removal from audio recordings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this guide, we will show you several examples of how to do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can download the program here. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What Audio Formats Does Audacity Support?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Audacity supports a wide range of audio formats. Here is a list of some of the supported formats:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. WAV\u2013 Waveform Audio File Format <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. AIFF \u2013 Audio Interchange File Format <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. MP3 \u2013 MPEG Audio Layer III <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. FLAC \u2013 Free Lossless Audio Codec <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. OGG \u2013 Ogg Vorbis Audio <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. WMA \u2013 Windows Media Audio <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. AAC \u2013 Advanced Audio Coding <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. AC3 \u2013 Audio Codec 3 <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. M4A \u2013 MPEG-4 Audio Layer <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. AMR \u2013 Adaptive Multi-Rate Audio Codec <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. AU \u2013 Audio File <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  12. MP2 \u2013 MPEG-1 Audio Layer II <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  13. M4R \u2013 MPEG-4 Ringtone Audio <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  14. MPA \u2013 MPEG Audio Stream <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  15. SND \u2013 Sound File <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  16. AIFF-C \u2013 Audio Interchange File Format Compressed<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    As you can see, there is an extremely large number of different audio formats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How to Remove Noise from an Audio Recording?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Loading an audio recording<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Before we begin removing noise, we need to load the audio recording into Audacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Click on “File<\/strong>” in the menu and select “Import<\/strong>“. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then find the file with your audio recording and click “Open<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Audacity<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    In that recording, select a part of the audio that contains only the noise and select it with the left mouse button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It would then look like the image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \"Audacity<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Selecting the desired part of the audio recording in Audacity you select only the part with noise, which will serve as a reference for noise removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Typically, you look for the part of the recording with the most noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We chose the beginning of the recording before playback started (you can see this graphically by the signal’s amplitude).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Applying the Noise Reduction Filter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    After that, go to Effect > Noise Reduction<\/strong> and a window like the one in the image will appear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \"Audacity<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Here, set the Noise Reduction parameter to around 6-9 dB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you set this parameter to zero, it will indeed remove all noise, but it will also affect the quality of the audio recording, so we do not recommend that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can leave the other parameters at their default values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    By clicking on “Get Noise Profile<\/strong>,” you’ve inserted a sample that the program will use to remove noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now, from the main menu, select “Select > All<\/strong>” to select the entire recording and apply the “Effect > Repeat Noise Reduction<\/strong>” filter again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now the change will be visible and audible throughout the entire audio recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Audacity<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    You can revert all settings to the beginning and repeat them until you are satisfied with the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    How to Enhance a Part of an Audio Recording?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    If, for example, in an audio recording, one of the speakers is hard to hear, you can correct this with another filter called Compressor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Of course, you could also increase the volume of the recording with the Amplify filter, but this would amplify the already loud sounds, potentially causing distortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, once again, select the entire audio recording and go to “Effect > Compressor<\/strong>” to open a new window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Audacity<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Here, there is no need for adjustments, and the results will be good with the default parameters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you are not satisfied with the results, you can try the “Compress based on Peaks<\/strong>” option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When using this option based on peak values, upward compression is applied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It makes the sound louder by amplifying louder sounds above the threshold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The part of the audio recording that is below the threshold is amplified much less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Saving the Edited Audio Recording<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    To save the recording, use “File > Export<\/strong>” and choose the format you want to save it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Audacity<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Audacity saving the audio recording If you don’t specify a format, the program will save the recording in the same format it was loaded in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can also save everything as a project using “File > Save Project<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In this case, the program will save all the settings you used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n