How To Reduce Noise in an Audio Recording

When recording music or voice in a reasonably quiet room at home, you may find that there are background noises that were included in your recording when you amplify it. This cannot be helped as there are a lot of sources of background noise that you may not hear when you are doing the recording but are picked up by sensitive recording instruments. Professional recording equipment and foam padded microphones are quite expensive but there are still some ways for you to be able to reduce the noise when making an audio recording at home with some careful preparation and elimination of noise-producing appliances.

* Choose a room in your house that is farthest away from the main activity area in your house. Ideally you should choose a room that is at the back of the house which is farthest from the road. Remind your family members that you will be doing a recording so that they will be cautious and minimize the noise that they will make. Position your computer in an area that is away from the door and the windows, as well as the power source. Close the windows and the door and turn of your cell phone, the air conditioner or the heater. Do not even use an electric fan because this produces a lot of noise that can distort your recording.
* Test your microphone to find the most comfortable distance between the microphone and the audio source. If you are singing or making a speech or voice-over for a presentation, you have to sing or speak louder to ensure that you voice will deaden any ambient noise that may be picked up by the microphone. Check the audio to ensure that it does not go beyond the maximum which will create crackles, hiss and pinging sounds.
* If you are using an external mixer, find the right combination by doing test recordings first before making a final one. Sometimes you may have to lower some bands just to get the right mix and eliminate some background noise from getting amplified. If you are using a digital mixer, it is all right for you to record right away and apply the right EQ later when you do your audio editing. If may be impossible to eliminate all the noise unless you are in a soundproof recording studio but playing with the EQ until you have the right mix will make your audio recording sound better.
* Find the right filters and compressors to make your digital audio recording clearer and the background noise reduced. There are plug-ins that you can find to help you to reduce background noise based on a threshold that you set as well as remove breath noise when doing voice-over audio recordings. Check your recording software and read the manual to find suitable plug-ins as well as recommended settings.


When you have finished editing your audio files and have listened to it, you may find that there are still some background noise that can be heard. Do note that it is very difficult to remove all other noise to make your home audio recording crystal clear but using the proper settings on your graphic equalizer will successfully reduce background noises. The trick is in learning to use the software and making several samplers trying out various settings to find the one that will work perfectly with your audio recordings.