How to Reduce/Cancel the Background Noise using Audacity

While listening to music or any conversation that has been recorded feels good only when if it is clear and free from background unwanted noise. But sometimes, recording any audio in a soundproof environment is not possible. Therefore, it is better to reduce the background noise from the audio file using an opensource software called Audacity. Let us show you how to cancel the background unwanted noise using Audacity in this article.

How to Reduce/Cancel the Background Noise in Audacity on Windows 11

Step 1: If you do not have Audacity software installed on your Windows 11 system, then go to the below link given and Download & install the software as shown in the given screenshot.

Click Here to Download & Install the Audacity Software

Download Link Audacity New

Step 2: After installing the Audacity software, close the installation windows.



    • Open Audacity by clicking on the shortcut created on Desktop

OR

    • Press Win logo key and Type Audacity and hit Enter on your keyboard.

 

Open Audacity New

Step 3: Now, open the audio file whose background noise needs to be cancelled.

To do that, Go to File and Click on Open as shown below OR instead just directly press Ctrl + O together on your keyboard.

Open Audio File Audacity New

Step 4: Select the audio file from your system that are of supported types(For example:- WAV, MP3, OGG, AU, or AIFF) like in the below screenshot as an example.

Note:- Audacity cannot support .WMA file which is used by Windows Media Player.

Select Audio File Audacity New Min

 

Step 5: After selecting an audio file, Click on Play button as shown below.

Note:- You can observe the unwanted background noise frequency and also Speech or Audio(music) frequency in the screenshot.

Observe Noise And Audio New

Step 6: Click on Effect from the Menu bar.

Then, scroll down and select Noise Reduction as shown in the given image.

Noise Reduction From Menu New Min

Step 7: In the Noise Reduction window, Click on Get Noise Profile under Step 1 section in the window as shown below.

Get Noise Profile New

Then, Select the part of Audio file where background noise frequency is present as shown.

Select The Noise Part New

Step 8: After selecting the part, again go to Effect and click Noise Reduction from list.

Here in the Noise Reduction window, set the following changes under Step 2 section.

  • Noise reduction (dB) = 48 (maximum value)
  • Let the Sensitivity be default value (6 or 7).
  • Frequency smoothing (bands) = 0 (minimum value)

Click on Preview to see if noise is reduced/cancelled or not.

Then at last, Click OK.



Noise Reduction New Min

Step 9: You can notice that the background noise is reduced in the part of have selected from the audio file.

 

Reduced Noise In The Part Selected New

In this way, you can reduce the background noise for the whole part of the audio file.

That’s all folks!

Please leave comments if any doubt. Thank you for reading.