How to remove background noise in videos

How to remove background noise in videos

A clean audio track is very important for quality results in your video projects. Whether you're recording a video tutorial or shooting a clip for your blog, background noises might occur for various reasons. For instance, you could be recording a DIY clip in your back yard and the noises made by your neighbor's kids or dog could interfere with your project. In this type of situations, some video editing might be necessary. Happily, there are a couple of handy video editors that provide you with convenient and effective solutions for background noise removal. Some of the most popular apps that feature noise removal options include Audacity, Premiere Pro, and Vegas Pro.

In this guide, I will show you how to remove background noise in videos with the help provided by the aforementioned Windows applications.

Optional: Audacity can also be used to remove background noise from an audio recording. In a previous article, we showed you how to record and save sound from the microphone into .wav with Audacity. However, the guide doesn't show you how to remove background noise from audio recordings. Here's what you need to do: simply select the segment you wish to edit, head to Effects, choose "Noise Reduction", and configure the settings according to your needs.

Remove background noise in Audacity

Audacity is more than just a noise removal software. This application is capable of recording quality sound content through a microphone or mixer, works with various audio formats, features numerous editing tools and audio effects, provides you with high-quality output files, etc. For an open source Windows program, Audacity has more than enough to offer.

Besides handling audio files very well, this app is also packed with various video editing options. Audacity's noise removal tool is very efficient and simple to configure. Here's what you need to do:

Step 1

Launch the app on your PC. Head to File -> Import -> Raw Data. Select the video you wish to edit.

Step 2

Mark the segment that requires noise removal or reduction. Audacity's noise reduction settings can be found by accessing the Effects menu and selecting the "Noise Reduction" option.

Noise Reduction Settings In Audacity

Step 3

Configure the setting according to your needs. You can click the "Preview" button if you want to check if the results match your needs. Export the resulting file.

Reduce background noise in Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro is the popular successor of the Adobe Premiere tool. This software was developed for professional video editing and provides you with a wide range of advantages, such as support for 3D editing, high-resolution movie editing at up to 10,240 × 8,192 resolution, 5.1 surround sound mixing, etc. Unlike many of its competitors, Premiere Pro works with dozens of video and audio formats, offers multiple sequence support, provides you with color correction utilities, and so much more. So, if you're looking for a professional video editing tool, then Premiere Pro is the application for you.

Premiere Pro features the ability to remove high pitch noises. The app gives you access to an adaptive noise reduction effect that's highly efficient. Here I will show you how to reduce background noise in Premiere Pro CC 2017:

Step 1

Launch the app on your PC and import the video.

Step 2

Mark the segment you wish to edit. To use denoiser in Premiere Pro CC, go to the Effects panel from the bottom-left side of the interface. There are various audio effects for removing or reducing the background noises from your videos. You can choose effects like DeHummer or DeNoiser.

Step 3

Go to Effect Controls (upper side of the interface) and configure the settings according to your needs. Save and export the video.

Effect Controls In Premiere Pro

Get rid of background noise in Vegas Pro

Vegas Pro, formerly known as Sony Vegas, is a professional solution for video production and editing. Even though it might seem a bit pricey, it's definitely worth the cost considering the amount of advantages it has to offer. The app provides you with a powerful hardware acceleration technology, an effective tool for DVD and Blu-ray authoring, smooth timeline editing, flexible video file management, and access to a wide variety of visual effects.

Besides giving you access to dozens of video editing options, the program is also packed with multiple audio effects and sound enhancement tools. However, when it comes to using its audio noise reduction options, the results aren't as high-quality as you'd expect. And there's no noise reduction free plugin that can be downloaded from the Internet and used in Vegas Pro to remove music or background noises. A cheap and effective alternative would be to use Audacity (which is open source) to edit your Vegas Pro videos. Here I will show you how to remove background noises in Vegas Pro with the help of Audacity:

Step 1

Install Audacity and Vegas Pro on your computer. Launch Vegas Pro on your PC and import the video you wish to edit.

Step 2

Go to app's Options menu -> Preferences -> Audio. Import the Audacity executable file (under the "Preferred Audio Editor"). Click the "Apply" and "OK" buttons.

Vegas Pro Preferences

Step 3

Mark the video segment you wish to edit. Right-click it and select the "Open Copy in Audio Editor" option. The audio content will be imported into Audacity, and you can start removing background noises as it was previously shown.

Conclusion

If you ask me, out of these 3 applications, Audacity is clearly the best solution for removing background noises in videos. The quality is preserved, and you don't have to pay a dime to use it on your Windows PC.

Alternative downloads

• Audacity free windows Collaborate on projects, create versioned backups, and easily share and publish your work. Download
• Sound Forge $399.95 windows Acclaimed for its power, stability, and exceptional workflow... Download
• Vegas $599.95 windows Vegas Pro 13 is a contemporary NLE video editing program. Download