Is there a way to remove background noise from a recording? The recording is an interview done in an automobile with the windows rolled down (not ideal conditions, of course). There is a lot of road noise, making the voices hard to hear and transcribe.
Is it possible to edit this recording to filter out the background noise or otherwise make the voices easier to hear? I’m using Audacity 2.0.5 on a Mac running OS X. I’m new to Audacity and audio work in general.
TIA,
historian
You can remove some noises.
Effect > Noise Removal works in two steps. You run the tool once and drag-select a small portion of the show that has noise and no performance. This gives the tool a “taste” of what you want to remove. Then you run the tool again on the whole show and remove that exact noise.
In other words, noises that move around are a problem. Noise Removal works OK on constant noises like air conditioners and fan noises (that aren’t too loud), but doesn’t work at all on busses starting up outside your window or airplanes going over (or TV sets in the next room) All of those examples are noises that don’t stay constant.
Give it a shot. Your’e not trying to create a studio production. You’re just trying to hear enough to transcribe.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/noise_removal.html
You can also sometimes do good things with Effect > Equalization: Telephone. Apply the telephone filter and it will peel off rumble noises and high pitch interference. Particularly if you have thumping wind noise, this may work wonders.
Koz