What tools work best for static removal on a bad recording

[zrankfappa]

I've used these in effects and it helped some, noise removal,click removal,high pass filter,and low pass filter.


Can I tweek the settings on these effects to get them to work better, and are there other effects and tools I can use to get rid of the static?

[Gale Andrews]

I've used these in effects and it helped some, noise removal,click removal,high pass filter,and low pass filter.

Can I tweek the settings on these effects to get them to work better, and are there other effects and tools I can use to get rid of the static?

People often use the term "static" loosely to mean anything from discrete individual loud clicks to general, rapid low-level ticks (both of these typical of LP records) to white noise (noise that contains a wide range of frequenices, so masks out the wanted audio). Please describe the noise or upload a small MP3 less than 1 MB in size as an example. You can use the "Upload attachment" tab underneath the "Preview" and "Post Message" buttons to do this.

Discrete clicks can be removed with Effect > Click Removal, Effect > Hard Limiter, Effect > Repair (Audacity Beta only, and only works on short selections up to 128 samples long), and Draw Tool. See:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Click_Removal

Steady noise (or sometimes, very fast low level tickinesss) can be attenuated with Effect > Noise Removal. Audacity Beta has generally better Noise Removal than 1.2, in that the artifacts of the removal can be adjusted. See:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Noise_Removal

Because removing noise usually damages a recording (removes more than just the noise), it is better to prevent as much noise as possible entering the recording in the first place. What type of recording is it? If you are recording a gramophone record, clean the record thoroughly first. Consider exporting the Audacity recording as a WAV file and then process it with specialist audio restoration software. This may give a better result than the general purpose Audacity tools. See Audio Restoration.

If it's a recording using a microphone, see:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Reducing_noise
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Impro ... ng_Quality





Gale