So I ended up recording the engine sound in 44100 Hz and it was much easier to get rid of the “zip” sound from this sample! But it introduced new problems. Now it picks up a hissing noise as well as wind and some clicking. After doing some research, I was able to get rid of the hissing noise by applying a low pass filter… but that seemed to make the actual sound of the engine seem further away and not as clear. And the sound of the wind was still there. I played around with the noise reduction effect to remove some of the wind sound but it doesn’t remove it completely. I’ve attached the raw 44100 Hz stereo sample as well as my best attempt at making a loop so far. I just grabbed a section that didn’t have any clicks, used a low pass filter to remove the hissing, and then noise reduction to remove some of the wind noise.
Maybe instead of recording my own car’s engine noise, I can take an engine sample from a video with the wind/hissing/clicks already edited out. I could also try recording at 44100 Hz again but this time while I rev the engine in neutral and that way I wouldn’t have to worry about wind. Although doing that is bad for my engine so I’d like to avoid that again if at all possible.
Man… I never imagined that audio editing would be so complicated and delicate lol.