Best workflow for cleaning up noisy office interview recordings?

[igotucorp]

I’m relatively new to the technical side of Audacity, but I’ve been using it lately to clean up audio for my business. We often record interviews and consultations in environments that aren’t exactly soundproof—lots of AC hum and occasional chair scraping.

I’ve been using the “Noise Reduction” effect which helps, but I find that if I push it too far, the voices start to sound “underwater” or metallic.

Does anyone have a specific chain of effects they recommend for professional voice clarity? Specifically:

1. Should I use a Compressor before or after Noise Reduction?

2. Is there a way to target background “clacks” (like typing) without muffling the speaker?

I want to make sure our archived files are as clear as possible for our records. Any advice from the pros here would be greatly appreciated!

[Trebor]

@igotucorp

We often record interviews and consultations in environments that aren’t exactly soundproof—

AI tools are worth a look , e.g. Enhance Speech from Adobe | Free AI filter for cleaning up spoken audio (freemium). NB: Unlike Audacity, such tools are capable of mishearing/confabulating. And if they are cloud services, there could be privacy issues.

@igotucorp

Should I use a Compressor before or after Noise Reduction?

Compression will cause variation in the noise floor, so, IMO noise reduction should come before compression.