Freesound Forums

Many voice-recordings could be done much better following these simple tricks.

1. During the recording keep your mouth very near to the microphone. This minimizes echos and hall.

2. Start the recording but don't say anything for about 2 or 3 seconds then start. This will give you the recorded background needed to filter out the backgroundnoises.

3. Now use the Audacity Noise Removal effect like this

3.1. Select the backgroundsound only
3.2. On the Noise Removal choose the Get Noise Profile Button. This will copy your selection for Noise Removal.
3.3. Now select the whole sample, go back to Noise Removal and just press okay.

Now you have a clean voice without any backgroundnoise.

You also can use the compress-effect and after that the normalize-effect to give it a little boost and smoothen the sample.

yes good post for beginners, this is the bare minimum you could do to make a decent vocal recording. also if you dont have a pop filter you could talk away from the microphone just so your breath does not come in direct contact with the microphone. you would probably need to touch it up a bit though.

then comes EQ'ing etc

I was about to experiment with voice recordings and came by your tips. Thanks Balloonhead, I'm definitely going to try those!

Thank you Balloonhead,

I think this is a good habit to do so before posting any sound recorded in a place with background noises. I guess many beginners (including me) do not always mind leaving few seconds of margin.

Thanks !!

I am starting to work on a multimedia project.
I have seen the information from you on the page , Mr.Balloonhead.
Thanks for the advice for Audacity.
It is similar to Goldwave, too.

Thanks again.

Hi! I am a developer of Windows and iPhone applications related to the post topic.

I agree that Audacity is awesome editor and recorder. But if you use it only to remove background noise from voice recordings, you can also consider more intuitive and easy-to-use alternatives.

One of them is Edic Suite. An application for Windows. 100% free and has no ads. Comes with audio editor. To remove noise from your audio file you need to do the following:
Right-click on the file and then select "Open with -> Edic Suite". An application window will appear.
In the window select "Edit -> Remove noise".
Then select "File -> Save".
As you can see it is very easy.
More info: alternativeto.net/software/edic-suite

Another alternative is Speecap. Free app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. It automatically removes background noise from your voice memos while recording.