Audacity- Get Rid of Background Noise
Objective
Students will be able to refine an audio clip by
taking out any background noise that may be a
result of electronic hums or outside ambience; this
is done in order to create more professional videos
or podcasts. A still shot from the sample video made
in this tutorial
Abstract
Using a cross-platform audio editor such as Audacity
demonstrates how it looks and feels to work with digital
waveforms of sound. Getting accustomed to listening to
digital sound when creating content and developing a good
Audacity
ear is essential to becoming a professional.
Guide for Windows computers
Ensure that Audacity is installed on the school computer. If not, the school
technician, system administrator, or the teacher needs to install the program. There is
nothing nefarious about this software as it is open-source, free of any price tag, and free of
any viruses. Download Audacity here.
You do not need to worry about permission if you are using your own computer.
Once you’ve installed Audacity and downloaded “av101 is very epic” which can be
found here (click the download icon in the top right), notice that it is an .mp3, which is
lossy. A lossy file is compressed and some of the quality is taken out, but we are
working with it because it is such a common audio file format.
1. In Audacity, click File.
2. Click Open, and then find the downloaded sound file and open it.
3. Make sure that you see soundwaves similar to the one shown in picture 3 below.
4. Select (by clicking and dragging) a portion of the audio that has ONLY background
noise. A good three to five seconds should do the trick.
5. Go to Effect -> Noise Reduction. Then click Get Noise Profile.
6. Go back to the timeline, press Ctrl + A so that you select everything, and then go
to Effect -> Noise Reduction and click OK.
Locate the
“av101 is very
epic.mp3” file
in the window
that appears. It
may be in your
Downloads
folder.
Never have I ever... cringed more hearing my own
voice.
Notice that the waveforms in the selected area are present— not absolutely thin. This means there
is some sound. Try pressing X to listen to a preview and press X again to pause.
If you have portions highlighted, pressing Spacebar will ONLY play the selected portion. Click
anywhere on the timeline to get rid of your selection, but keep in mind that you need to have
background noise selected in order to continue with the tutorial, or this will not work.
Use the X key in Audacity instead of the Spacebar in order to Pause
instead of Stop.
• Pause keeps the cursor where you left off
• Stop starts over
You can use your mouse as a placeholder if you want to click at a
certain point to listen to something over and over again.
Go back and hit Ctrl + A
Did you SEE THAT??? The line… it’s thin. You
should notice that the sound is thin where the noise
was! This means you have successfully gotten rid of
that pesky electronic hum of my air conditioner.
High five yourself. (Side note: you may be able to still hear it slightly; you can always
increase the Noise reduction in decibels in order to make it even quieter, or gone
completely.)
Did you know?
In the keyboard shortcut
Ctrl + A, the A stands for “All”. It is
also designed so that only the
fingers on your left hand can reach
it, just like Ctrl + Z (undo), Ctrl + X
(cut), and Ctrl + C (copy)!
Very convenient, and very epic.
This is just a test run— the next step is to do the same process but for “fountain
ambient noise.mp3”. You can download it at the Google Drive link here. This file is
going to need more intensive noise reduction by increasing the Noise reduction (dB)
and Sensitivity when prompted. Export this audio when finished.
Now you can send both audio files to your instructor by clicking File, Export, and
Export as MP3. Choose where you want it to save. Then send it through whatever
platform you use for school so your teacher can grade it.
Grading Criteria
Audio clips will be graded on whether or not the noise was reduced. The clips can be appraised
by opening the mp3 in Audacity and looking at the waveforms, or just listening by ear.
