Background Noise

[g_shocker182]

I have video of a church event that has extreme background noise in it. I would like to clean it up and I've heard that there are some programs that'll do this but I can't find them. Can anyone recommend any?

Here's a clip of the audio in mp3 format (the video is mpg)

Right click and select "save target as"

[housepig]

most audio editors can clean up noise to varying degree - CoolEdit is really good - SoundForge and Wavelab are other good ones.

there's one called Audacity, it's cross-platform & freeware, check http://audacity.sourceforge.net - it will accept VST plugins, so even if the program doesn't have a noise-reduction feature (I can't remember if it does or not) you should be able to find some free or shareware or demoware noise reduction VST plugins on the net.

[Rickster]

Yes, Sonic Foundry's Soundforge is what I use to do this. It sounds like you were taping at the back of the church, and you were getting more of the background noise like the air conditioner, etc., than the pastor's sermon. To keep this from happening again, you'll need to get a wireless lavalier mic system that he can wear while he talks...that way, you'll just get him and not the background noise. You might also want to do a test with the pastor or someone there in the church. Have someone stand at the front of the church where the pastor normally speaks. Start your camera. Before the person at the front of the church speaks, lean over to your camera and say "Three...Two...One". This will set the automatic audio level that most video cameras have, so that the background noise will be in the background and the audio level youset by your voice will be dominant.

[housepig]

Don't know if I'd suggest a lavalier mic, wireless or otherwise - if you put them on improperly, you'll be swapping the background noise of the air conditioning for the foreground noise of the pastors shirt rubbing the mic.

doe the pastor stand at a podium, or does he wander around? Is he mic'd at all already? can that line be tapped? Tapping whatever existing p.a. he's using would be the best bet.

If he's speaking at a podium with a mic, I would put another mic, wireless or otherwise, on the podium along with his p.a. mic, and run that to the video recorder.

[secretagent]

www.syntrillium.com has an excellent noise reduction tutorial for cool edit pro which the basics can be used in any program.
the idea is this you make a sample of the noise you do not want first and then apply this sample as a template to your audio file and remove unwanted sounds.

[housepig]

and of all the software that I've used for that purpose, Cool Edit was the easiest to use and gave me the best results.