Podcasts have become a popular medium for sharing information and entertainment, and the quality of the recording is essential in making a podcast successful. However, recording a podcast in a noisy environment can be challenging, and even if you record in an isolated space, self-noise from your recording equipment can affect the quality of the recording. In this article, we will explore some effective noise reduction techniques for high-quality podcast recordings.
Reaper's ReaFir is a free tool that you can use to reduce noise in your podcast recording. It is available for download even if you're not a Reaper user. The tool is part of the stock plugin set that comes with Reaper, and it includes EQs and compressors, which are great tools for podcasting. However, most stock plugin sets don't come with noise reduction tools, and that's where ReaFir comes in. To use it, choose the subtraction mode and make the plugin listen to a silent part that only contains the unwanted noise. The plugin will then save a profile of this and use it to reduce the noise in your recording.
Clarity VX is a tool from Waves that is great for reducing noise in podcast recordings. It has an adaptive mode for clearing out noise and dynamically reduces noise when there's more of it. When you use a noise reduction tool heavily, it can remove some top-end and potentially add some artifacts to your audio. This is somewhat true for ReaFir because it lacks an adaptive mode. When you have a lot of different types of noises in your audio, Clarity VX can come in handy. It's also straightforward to use, and you can save money by buying it on sale.
iZotope Voice-Denoise is my absolute favorite tool for reducing noise, and it's the one I reach for first. It has both an adaptive mode and a static mode, making it the perfect combination of the two former tools. While it's a little more expensive, iZotope often runs some generous sales if you keep an eye out. Besides this combination of functions, I find that this plugin doesn't introduce as many artifacts as other noise reduction plugins.
🎛️EQ: Another Effective Tool for Noise Reduction
Before reaching for a noise reduction tool, consider whether you can reduce some noise with EQ. If it's hum or lower type of noise, a low-cut filter is almost always a better choice since you rarely need the sub-100 Hz frequencies in a podcast recording. You can even go higher up to 200 Hz if you have issues with noise. Some white noise and electrical type noise, on the other hand, might be more present in the higher frequencies. A lot of times, you can get away with losing the frequencies above 10k to get rid of annoying sizzly noise. If the noise is present over the whole frequency spectrum, noise reduction tools are probably still your best bet.
📋Conclusion
In conclusion, reducing noise in podcast recordings is essential in achieving high-quality audio. While recording in a quiet environment is ideal, noise reduction techniques can help improve the quality of the recording. Reaper's ReaFir, Clarity VX, and iZotope Voice-Denoise are some of the effective tools that you can use to reduce noise in your podcast recording. Additionally, before reaching for a noise reduction tool, consider whether you can reduce some noise with EQ. With these techniques, you can create a high-quality podcast that will keep your listeners engaged.
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