If you ever need to edit or manipulate audio files, there’s a free, open-source software called Audacity worth checking out. It works great for beginners and experts alike.
Audacity lets you divide sound into tracks and has a huge effects library. It’s got all kinds of handy tools. One feature I like is the noise reduction tool. It identifies background noise in a recording and can reduce or eliminate it. So you don’t have to throw out an audio file just because it’s noisy.
I will walk you through how to use the noise reduction tool on the Mac version of Audacity, but it works the same way on all operating systems. You can use these steps to clean up your recordings whether you’re on Mac, Windows, or Linux.
It’s pretty easy to get the hang of. Let me show you how it’s done! Learning this could be useful next time you’ve got an audio file that needs a little TLC.
How to remove noise from recordings using Audacity
1. Open an audio track in Audacity. After, identify and select the noise you want to remove by clicking and holding the left mouse button;
2. Then click on “Effects” and look for “Noise removal”;
3. The first step is to make the software identify the noise pattern. With the part selected, click “Get noise profile.”
4. Do the path “Effects” > “Noise removal” again. With the profile obtained, the software shows the default setting for noise reduction. Click “OK” to confirm;
5. The selected fragment will receive noise reduction. To listen, press the “space” key.
