That background noise in your recording? It's not just annoying—it's actively pushing your listeners away. Whether you've just finished a recording that sounds like it was captured inside a blender, or you're determined to avoid that fate on your next project, you've landed in the right place. Let's fix this.

Here's the thing most audio guides won't tell you upfront: if you use Descript, background noise becomes much less of a crisis. Our Studio Sound feature takes recordings that sound like they were captured in a wind tunnel and transforms them into something that could pass for professional. It's not magic—it's just really good AI.

But even with Studio Sound's audio rescue abilities, knowing how to reduce background noise when recording will save you hours of frustration later. Your future editing self will thank you for the cleaner audio—and your listeners will never know how close they came to hearing your neighbor's lawnmower symphony.

AI-Powered Noise Reduction: How It Works

AI noise reduction tools, like Descript's Studio Sound, use machine learning algorithms to analyze audio and identify noise patterns. These algorithms learn from vast datasets, allowing them to distinguish between desired audio and background noise. This technology is particularly effective in noisy environments because it can adapt to different noise types and levels, ensuring consistent audio quality. For example, AI tools can differentiate between constant background hums and transient noise like traffic or chatter, removing each effectively without degrading the audio quality. This adaptability makes AI a powerful tool for reducing background noise in various recording settings.

Use Cases for Noise Reduction in Different Environments

Reducing noise effectively requires tailoring approaches to specific environments. In podcasting, noise management is crucial due to multiple speakers, making dynamic microphones and tools like Descript's Studio Sound ideal. Interviews often occur in diverse settings; directional microphones help focus on voices, while AI noise reduction tools refine audio post-recording. In online meetings, real-time tools like Krisp ensure clarity and professionalism by removing distractions.

How to reduce background noise while recording

The best way to remove background noise is to minimize it during the recording process. While noise reduction software can help in post-production, starting with a clean, noise-free recording yields the best results. Here are nine effective ways to use your audio hardware and recording techniques to reduce background noise:

Position your microphone properly

Audio professionals describe a recording with the speaker positioned close to the mic as having a 'high speech-to-noise ratio,' which enhances clarity and reduces unwanted background sounds.

To achieve a high speech-to-noise ratio for your recordings, position the microphone about a palm's length from each speaker's mouth. If the mic is too far away, you'll need to increase sensitivity, which can amplify background noise. Conversely, a less sensitive mic positioned close to the speaker reduces unwanted ambient sounds.

Of course, a mic that's up close will pick up some extra sounds from your mouth, too. Which is why you should…

Use pop filters to reduce breath sounds

A pop filter is a thin fabric membrane that helps eliminate plosive sounds caused by consonants like 'p' and 'b,' which can create bursts of air when speaking close to the mic. Attach a pop filter to your mic stand so it sits between your mouth and the microphone to reduce these unwanted noises.

Secure your microphone with a quality stand

You might not have to look far to find the source of those annoying rumbles and creaks—they might be coming from your rusty old mic stand.

Use well-maintained mic stands and swap out your old ones if they start making noise. You can also use a shock mount mic clip (particularly for condenser microphones), which lets your mic hover just off the stand, eliminating certain creaky sounds that might happen without a clip.

Choose dynamic microphones for noisy settings

Both dynamic and condenser microphones have their advantages, but dynamic mics are generally less sensitive, making them better suited for noisy environments. Using a dynamic mic positioned close to your mouth enhances the speech-to-noise ratio, effectively reducing background noise in your recordings.

Connect to clean power sources

Electrical circuits can cause narrowband noise that creates a hum in your audio recordings. This notably occurs in buildings with old, outdated electrical wiring; these buildings often have poor grounding, overloaded circuits, or strange wiring paths that create ground loop antennas.

A hum can also happen when your audio gear shares a power socket with high-powered lights (particularly lights with dimmer switches). You can get around this by using a power conditioner, an electrical box that removes the alternating current ground loops that cause narrowband noise.

Find the quietest room for recording

Reducing background noise doesn't always require advanced technology. Sometimes, the simplest approach is the most effective—record in the quietest environment possible.

For many people, this might be a clothes closet, since the hanging clothing naturally absorbs sound. If you're recording in a normal room—which may be more comfortable for podcasts with multiple hosts—you can achieve ambient noise reduction by closing doors and windows (extra points if they have curtains you can close). Carpeted rooms also absorb more noise than rooms with hard floors.

Inspect your audio connections

In many cases, the culprit behind unwanted headphone noise is a bad plug connection. Check all headphone jacks and make sure that the plugs are pushed in all the way. Then, do the same with your mic inputs.

Monitor and adjust input gain levels

Your audio signal may pass through multiple gain stages, i.e. places where extra power is added to the signal to make it louder. When you add too much gain to a signal, particularly near the top of your signal path, you can distort it. If your audio tracks sound noisy and distorted, turn down the volume (particularly on your preamp if you're using one).

Enable noise cancellation before recording

Descript's Studio Sound feature enhances recordings by removing background noise and improving audio quality in a single click. It automates what would otherwise require multiple steps in a traditional digital audio workstation (DAW), making noise reduction effortless.

Once Descript does its work, your final product will be a mix of the original recording and the cleaned-up AI version.

You can turn Studio Sound on when setting up your recording. Select the Additional settings icon, then enable the Studio Sound setting, as seen below.

How to reduce background noise after recording

Reducing noise on Mac devices

If you're using macOS, navigate to the Sound section in System Settings to adjust input levels for your audio devices. While older Macs included an 'ambient noise reduction' setting, newer models no longer have this feature. Instead, consider using noise reduction software like Descript's Studio Sound for effective background noise removal.

Reducing noise on Windows computers

The Windows operating system has built-in tools to help you whittle away background noise. Find them in the Hardware and Sound section of your computer's control panel.

Windows provides built-in features to help reduce background noise. Navigate to the Hardware and Sound section in the Control Panel, select your recording device under the Recording tab, and adjust input levels. Some devices also offer a 'noise suppression' option under the Enhancements tab for additional noise reduction.

Reduce background noise with Descript

If you're a podcaster who needs to turn raw recordings into high-quality audio tracks, Descript has the solution for both Mac and Windows. Its powerful Studio Sound feature (which we mentioned above) uses AI and machine learning to enhance voices while reducing and removing background noise, room echo, and other sounds you don't want.

After recording your audio in Descript, you can remove unwanted background noise in minutes. Select your script from your Timeline or Canvas. You'll know it's selected when you see Script at the top left sidebar.

Then, turn on Studio Sound from the Audio effects section in the sidebar.

Upon enabling Studio Sound, a message appears to tell you that the file is being applied. This may take several minutes, depending on its size.

Best noise reduction software tools

If you're recording directly to your computer, you can use software specifically designed to remove background noise while you record.

Krisp and DeNoise are two AI-powered tools designed to remove background noise in real time. These programs feature acoustic echo cancellation and voice isolation, ensuring clear audio for video calls, podcasting, and professional recordings.

Using DAW tools to remove background noise

All the leading digital audio workstations (DAWs) have noise reduction tools to cut unwanted sounds from your mix. Look for this feature in programs like Audacity, Adobe Audition, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, and GarageBand. These tools work by isolating the audio frequencies of the unwanted noise, then filtering out these frequencies using a band-reject filter.

Apply manual audio filters for noise reduction

You don't need a preset microphone background noise filter. Applying high-pass filters and low-pass filters to certain audio tracks can reduce many of the ambient sounds that turn up as background noise. A high-pass filter allows high frequencies to pass through, but filters out frequencies below a certain threshold (which you set in your DAW software).

Use a high-pass filter (also known as a low-cut filter) to cut low rumbling sounds. On the other hand, a low-pass filter (also called a high-cut filter) lets low frequencies through while filtering out frequencies above a given threshold. These can be useful for removing high, ambient hums.

🧠 Learn: How to fix bad audio quality in a video

4 common types of background noise to reduce

Understanding how to reduce background noise effectively requires recognizing the four main types of noise that can impact your recordings. By addressing these noise sources, you can enhance overall audio quality.

• Broadband noise. Broadband noise occurs over a wide range of frequencies. When these frequencies produce noise all at once, it creates the familiar hissing and buzzing sound commonly known as background noise.

• Narrowband noise. Compared to broadband noise, narrowband noise occurs over a much smaller range of frequencies. Electrical circuits can cause narrowband noise that creates a hum in your audio recordings. You can often trace narrowband noise to a poorly grounded mic cable or an instrument's pickups.

• Impulse noise. Audio engineers group the clicks and pops you hear on certain audio recordings into a broad category called impulse noise. These include plosives from consonant sounds like “p” and the loud crackle that happens when you plug in an audio cable.

• Irregular noise. True to its name, irregular noise occurs on an irregular basis. Examples include rain, wind, thunder, traffic, and ambient conversations—sounds that come and go depending on the recording environment.

Top tools to reduce background noise effectively

Look, sometimes your audio file is going to have background noise, especially if you're recording at home. Maybe you left the air conditioner running or the window open, so you're hearing wind noise.

Fortunately, tools like Descript simplify noise reduction, allowing you to remove background noise effortlessly. With features like Studio Sound, achieving clean, high-quality audio for podcasts and recordings takes just seconds.

Descript is more than just a background noise removal tool, however. It's a complete audio and video editing suite that lets you:

• Add background music and professional voiceovers to your audio files

• Transcribe as you talk, so you can clean up podcast audio in real-time

• Automatically remove filler words like “um” and “like”

• Upload custom sound effects to customize your project.

• Record remotely in 4K (perfect for having guests on your show)

Thousands of popular podcasts like Planet Money and Freakonomics Radio use Descript to produce their shows. Want to join them? See how Descript can improve your podcast workflow.

FAQs

How does AI noise reduction work?

AI noise reduction works by using machine learning algorithms to analyze audio and distinguish between desired sounds and background noise. These algorithms are trained on large datasets, enabling them to adapt to different types of noise and environments, ensuring high-quality audio output. For more details, check out this explanation of AI noise reduction.

What are the best tools for reducing background noise?

Some of the best tools for reducing background noise include Descript's Studio Sound for post-production, Krisp for real-time noise cancellation during calls, and Audacity for basic noise reduction. Each tool offers unique features suited for different needs. For a detailed comparison, see this guide on noise reduction tools.