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Participant
December 27, 2014
Question

How to reduce/get rid of background sounds like traffic noise

  • December 27, 2014
  • 3 replies
  • 28999 views

Hi there,

I conducted an outdoors interview and noticed in edit that the traffic noise is quite loud. For some reason the audio is very quiet as it is, due to the peak amplitude being set at -12 for some reason? (Not sure how to change) Please could someone give me advice, I'm majorly stressing out at the moment.

Cheers,

Jake

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3 replies

Legend
December 28, 2014

Traffic/street noise is extremely difficult to reduce and impossible to remove as it has components in every part of the spectrum, all of which are constantly changing. A 'noise print' reduction method won't work, neither will a graphic EQ. As cc_merchant says you're basically stuck with using it as-is or reshooting. You might be able to cut out the very low frequency rumbles with a high-pass filter if your vox is clear of that range (female speaker or child), but anything you do that would reduce the noise appreciably would turn your interviewee into a Dalek.

For interviews, sound engineers usually work to a -12dB peak as it gives enough headroom for any unexpected loud noises (coughs, clapping, etc.) while maintaining a good S/N ratio in the recording device preamps. Provided the ambient is low enough (unfortunately not in your case!) you can normalize and compress a -12dB track to broadcast levels using the volume and compressor effects in Premiere without needing to do any noise reduction.

Hirsty7Author
Participant
December 28, 2014

Cheers for the detailed info Dave. Would you suggest trying to compress it in premiere? What sort of settings should i use?

Appreciate the advice.

Community Expert
December 28, 2014

Compression will just make the background noise worse, a little expansion might help.

Charles VW
Inspiring
December 28, 2014

You might want to post a sample of the audio over on the Audition forums: Audition CS5.5, CS6 & CC.  Many of the users there can help you.

cc_merchant
Inspiring
December 27, 2014

Reshoot.