Tutorial: How To Clean Up Noisy Audio In Under A Minute

In our latest video tutorial, we go over a quick way you can get rid of noisy background audio using Adobe Premiere Pro.

So there’s nothing like getting a bunch of footage from a client — or from your own shoot — only to find a dull, annoying hum or some irritating background noise. Once the audio is recorded, it can be hard to get that perfect, crisp sound that you dream of working with. Luckily, programs like Adobe Audition, Adobe Premiere Pro, or Fairlight (DaVinci Resolve’s audio editor) are here to save the day — and our projects.

Move to Audition

First, you’ll need to take the audio clip and move it over into Audition. Once you’ve done this, take the Time Selection Tool and find a piece of the clip that has no dialogue. This is because we want to edit out the humming or noisy background audio only.

Now, go to Effects > Noise Reduction/Restoration > Capture Noise Print. This will extract a noise profile, then Audition takes this information and tries to remove it from the rest of the clip. Once you’ve hit “Capture Noise Print,” click anywhere on the timeline. Now go back up to Effects > Noise Reduction/Restoration > Noise Reduction (process). This will open up a new window.

Control Noise Reduction

Now you’ll have two different tools to play with: “Noise Reduction” and “Reduce By.” Noise Reduction will let you play with how much you want to reduce the noise, in terms of percentages. Reduce By is the same but using decibels. So, for this specific example, I set the reduction percentage to 65 and kept the decibel level at 15.

Send It Back to Premiere Pro

So, to send your newly edited soundbite back to Premiere Pro, just hit “Command+S,” and the clip will automatically save and return to your Premiere Pro timeline. Working with Audition in this regard is truly a wonder because of how much time it will save you when trying to move back and forth between programs.

Looking for more video production and post-production tutorials? Check these out.

Cover image by Patchanee Samutarlai.

Tutorial: How To Clean Up Noisy Audio In Under A Minute