Sometimes all it takes is one small mistake in the setup process to completely sabotage your recording and fill it with excessive amounts of echo and reverb. Enter Audacity, a small free program that helps you edit your audio files and is available on both Windows and Mac.
Although it is impossible to eliminate it completely, you can use Audacity to reduce the echo found in your audio recordings. We’ll show you how you can do this with and without using a plugin.
How do you remove echo in Audacity?
Before continuing, make sure you have downloaded and installed Audacity on your computer. If not, you can always download it. from the official website.
Also, keep in mind that this process is very complex and requires a high knowledge of how sound recording works. Otherwise, you’ll have to settle and experiment with all the features until you’re happy with the result.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how to remove echo in Audacity with and without a plugin.
Reduce echo without a plugin
After downloading and launching Audacity, follow these steps:
- Click Archive at the top of the screen.
- Select Open.
- A window will appear. At the bottom of the window, changeFiles of typetoAll types supported.
- Click the file you want to edit, then click Open.
- Select the segment of the audio file you want to edit. You can do this by clicking on one end of the segment and dragging the mouse until you reach the other. If you want to edit the entire file, press Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Mac.
- Open the Effectmenu at the top of the screen.
- Select noise reduction.
- increasing the noise reduction The slider should greatly improve the audio quality.
- If increasing noise reduction decreases the volume, go to the effects menu and choose Amplify to increase the volume.
- Find the compressor in the Effects menu. The main thing to do is increase the ratio, but you can also increase the noise floor and threshold if necessary.
- Depending on the current sound tone within the file, you may need to use a low pass or a high pass filter. They are located in the bottom half of the Effects menu. A low-pass filter helps if the audio is too high-pitched, while a high-pass filter is helpful if the audio sounds too quiet or too muffled. Stick to changing only the Rolloff.
- Find the Equality effect and change draw curves to Graphic equalizer. You may find the latter easier to use because it gives you control over the sliders and allows you to set their values that way, while the former forces you to draw the equalizer yourself. If you need to correct your bass tones, focus on the sliders on the left. The middle bars affect the mid tones, while the bars on the right should be modified to affect the higher tones.
- Continue clicking Archive menu at the top of the screen and going to Export audio.
- Choose the file type in the Save as type menu. The best known are mp3 (compressed) and wav (lossless). Make sure you don’t accidentally overwrite the old file.
- Gonna Archive and select Save project as to save the project file.
Reduce echo with a plugin
There are many free plugins for Audacity, but for this particular problem, Noise Gate is the one you need as it helps improve sound quality and can help reduce echo.
Here’s how to install it:
- Download the plugin directly from this link.
- Place the downloaded file (.ny file extension) in the Plugins folder. Make sure Audacity is closed while you do this.
- Open Audacity.
- Gonna Effects > Add or Remove Plugins.
- Select Noise Gate and press Allow.
To reduce echo, start with an “Attack/Decay” of 75, a “Gate Threshold” of -30, and a “Level Reduction” of -100. Use these settings as a starting point. If the echo does not change, increase the gate threshold until the echo reduces. If important audio is cut out, reduce it.
The most important thing is that you establish the threshold of the door. After doing that, tweak the level reduction and attack/decay settings until you’re happy with the result.
Final thoughts
It is impossible to completely eliminate echo, but it is not impossible to reduce it. This is a fairly difficult process, but if you are skilled or persistent enough, the results may be satisfactory. Just keep in mind that this requires playing a lot with all kinds of different values and effects because different recording setups require different focusing methods.
Were you able to reduce the echo of your audio file? Which method was most useful to you? Let us know in the comments below.
