Audacity filter background noise (works in other programs aswell)

Shandor

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Dear fellow YouTubers,

Whilst I was scrolling through this forum I noticed an older post about this and some comments that it wasn't working properly for everyone, so I decided to share my way in fixing my voice.

1) Open audacity (or editing software of choice
2) record your audio

3) With the recorded audio selected add the equalizer effect to the waveform
In Audacity: - Effect > Equalizer
4.1) In the equalizer Increase the dB between 100-200Hz works best for me. And lower the other frequencies until you get something that sounds just right

The science behind this number:
The voice of an adult female is from 165 to 255 Hz and the voice of an adult male from 85 to 180 Hz.
You might have to play with these setting a bit, to find what works best for you.

4.2 Another option is to keep the dB between 100-200Hz and lower the other ones if you are not a fan of increasing the dB as it might in some cases not sound well. I use both these techniques depending on the audio.

Good luck!!
Feel free to ask any questions!
 
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XXLRay

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This is especially useful when you record voiceovers, commentary or interviews. It basically works for everything where you don't need anything of the ambient sound.
 

Shandor

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This is especially useful when you record voiceovers, commentary or interviews. It basically works for everything where you don't need anything of the ambient sound.
I personally use it while recording shortfilms or something like that aswell. But when I do so I make sure to have an extra mic recording background or I create a minute long with just the ambient sounds on it. This way I have control over both :)
 

XXLRay

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Recording room sound so that you have a sample for noise removal like you mention is good practice as well.
 
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Deltoy

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Nice guide, personally I take a bit more steps:

(The first thing I would normalize here)
1. Noise Removal (get noise profile)
2. Noise Removal
3. Compressor (Threshold -15dB to -20db)
4. Equalize (Treble and Bass Boost)
5. Hard Limiter (-2dB to -5dB)
6. Normalize