Does your microphone pick up any annoying background noise? In addition to being irritating, background noise can cause you to lose concentration and ultimately affect sound quality. While every recording generates some background noise, there are ways to minimize it and improve your experience.
Different things can cause background noise. Although it is inevitable, you can take steps and keep it to a minimum by following simple steps and guidelines.
Types of unwanted sounds
Before trying to minimize unwanted noise, we should first try to understand it better. Several types of background noise can affect sound quality and interrupt recording:
- Impulsive Noise: High-pitched sounds involving pops and clicks are called impulsive noise. These sounds are usually short and high frequency.
- Broadband noise: Continuous sounds involving a wide range of frequencies are called broadband noise. Buzzing and whistling sounds fall into this category.
- Narrowband noise: Continuous sounds involving a narrow range of frequencies are called narrowband noise. These sounds remain constant and are usually caused by improper grounding or cables connected to the microphone.
- Irregular noise: Unwanted sounds such as traffic, rain, thunder, speech, etc. Because these sounds vary in frequency, duration, and volume, they are often difficult to eliminate.
How to avoid unwanted sounds
There are different steps and measures you can take to reduce unwanted sounds. Please note that it is not possible to remove them completely.
on microphones
- Check your surroundings: Devices such as televisions, radios, air conditioners, fans, etc., can produce a significant amount of noise that may interrupt your recording. Turn off electrical appliances in your immediate environment to eliminate the noise they emit. Also, be sure to check the cables. If other cables are placed directly over the audio input, they may interfere with your microphone.
- Speak clearly: Speak clearly and directly into the microphone to create a recording where you can easily correct ambient noise through software.
- Choose the right microphone: If you are looking for a new microphone, make sure you choose the one that best suits your needs. Look for a low self-noise level that cancels microphone noise. Also, keep in mind that different microphones have different sensitivity levels. For example, dynamic microphones typically have low sensitivity, while condensers have higher sensitivity.
- Microphone Windshield: A foam or leather microphone cover cancels out noise from wind or heavy breathing. If you frequently record outdoors, this is a must-have if you want to produce clear, quality recordings.
- Pop Filter: If you want to prevent explosives from appearing, you need a pop filter for your microphone. This lollipop-shaped filter eliminates popping sounds and is excellent for reducing background noise. Some microphones come with the filter built-in, while others require you to purchase it separately.
- Anti-vibration mount: Depending on the type and model, microphones can be very sensitive to different sounds. A shock filter is a great way to prevent bumps and vibrations that arise from handling the microphone. If you keep the microphone on a stand, an anti-vibration mount will efficiently reduce noise and vibrations coming from the microphone and people walking around it.
- Filters: You can use various filters to emphasize sounds of one frequency and reject sounds of another frequency:
- Bandpass: Used to separate a signal within one frequency from signals within other frequencies.
- Band Rejection: Used to eliminate an unwanted frequency without affecting the other frequencies almost at all.
- Low Pass Filter: Used to eliminate high frequencies and allow only low frequencies. Rejects frequencies above its cutoff.
- High Pass Filter: Used to eliminate low frequencies and allow only high frequencies. Rejects frequencies below its cutoff.
- All-pass: used to change the phase of the signal.
- Equalizer: Using equalization, you can play with frequency levels to eliminate unwanted noise. You can reduce the frequency of predominant sounds and increase the frequency of missing ones.
In headphones
- Make sure the headphones are connected correctly. Headphones should be connected to the headphone jack, not the audio jack.
- Change the outlet: some outlets may be louder than others. If the noise persists, try changing the outlet.
- Let your laptop run on battery power; Although you may not notice it, if your laptop is connected to the power cable, it may produce more noise. If you want to reduce sound interference, switch your laptop to battery power.
- Check your surroundings: turn off unnecessary electrical devices. Check the cables to make sure there is no magnetic interference. Also, close the windows, stay away from the vents, close programs that make noise on your laptop, etc. All these tricks will help you reduce the noise coming from your environment.
Noise reduction in Windows
Windows offers built-in options that help eliminate microphone background noise. The options available depend on the hardware and audio drivers you have installed on your Windows. If you want to reduce background noise in Windows, follow the steps below:
- Open the Start menu.
- Start typing “Control Panel” and open it.
- Tap “Hardware and Sound.”
- Tap “Sound.”
- In the “Recording” tab, select the microphone you are using and tap “Properties.”
- Go to the “Levels” tab.
- If you experience a lot of background noise, reduce the “microphone boost.” Try reducing it to +10.0 dB. The microphone will now be more sensitive to your voice, but will also easily pick up background noises.
- Increase “Microphone Array” to 100. This will allow other people to hear you easily.
- Tap “Apply.”
- Test your microphone to see if the sound has improved.
- Depending on your audio hardware, you may have an “Enhance” tab. If you do, open it.
- Enable the “Noise Cancellation” or “Noise Suppression” function.
- Once you’re done, tap “OK.”
Noise reduction on Mac
- Tap the Apple icon.
- Tap “System Preferences.”
- Tap “Sound.”
- Look for the “Ambient Noise Reduction” feature.
- Check the checkbox next to “Use ambient noise reduction.”
- Move the slider until you find the right balance between sound volume and noise.
How to use software to reduce background noise
Nowadays you can find different programs to edit recordings to reduce the level of background noise. Here are some of the most popular programs:
- Audacity – This is a free online tool you can use to reduce background noise. It is excellent for reducing constant sounds, such as the hum of a fan and the noise of electrical appliances or equipment. To make it work, follow the steps below:
- Add a few seconds of silence: this means no voices, keyboards or even breathing. This helps the program control the room and environment.
- Highlight the silent part and tap “Effect.”
- Tap “Noise Reduction.”
- Tap “Get Noise Profile.”
- The software will offer you its default options. You can change them if you want, but they have proven to be good at canceling out the background noise mentioned above. If you try to customize the settings and don’t do it right, you can end up with an even worse recording.
- Once you’re done, tap “OK.”
- Give it a try to see how it sounds.
- Krisp – This is another popular program with a noise cancellation option. It is a software based on artificial intelligence that cancels unwanted acoustic and ambient noise and echo. It’s great for conference calls as it allows you to eliminate background noise on both ends.
- GarageBand: This is a program available only for iOS devices. It is usually built into the package, but can also be downloaded from iTunes. It is a great sound editing software that allows you to customize your recordings and enable noise cancellation.
Apart from these, there are numerous noise reduction programs available on the Internet. If you want to try some of them, type “free noise reduction software” in your browser and start experimenting.
Additional FAQs
How do I make my microphone input sound louder?
windows 10
You can make your microphone louder by following the steps below:
1. Open the Start menu.
2. Start typing “Control Panel” and open it.
3. Tap “Hardware and Sound.”
4. Tap “Sound.”
5. In the “Recording” tab, select the microphone you are using and tap “Properties.”
6. Go to the “Levels” tab.
7. Use the slider to increase “Microphone Boost.”
8. Test your microphone to see if it worked.
Mac
1. Tap the Apple icon.
2. Tap “System Preferences.”
3. Tap “Sound.”
4. In the “Input” tab, select the microphone you are using.
5. Adjust the “Input Volume” slider.
6. Speak in your normal voice to test it.
Background noise is not your choice
Now you have learned how to reduce background noise in a microphone. Unwanted sounds can be annoying, distracting and affect sound quality. Although you may not be able to get rid of them completely, there are several ways to keep them to a minimum and produce high-quality content.
Have you ever experienced problems with background noise? What was your solution? Tell us in the comments section below.
