How to Remove Background Noise in Audacity

Last updated: August 31, 2021

We’ve all had it happen. You’re recording a podcast episode and the neighbor’s car alarm goes off, or the ice machine kicks on just as you’re getting to the good stuff.

In some cases, we don’t even realize it’s happening because we’re so into what we’re recording. Then, we go to edit the file and find all that annoying noise in the background.

Fear not, my fellow podcaster! If you’re using Audacity, you may be able to eliminate that pesky background noise with a few simple clicks.

Let’s break it down in just a few simple steps.

Step 1: Import your audio into Audacity, or into your podcast episode template.

Step 2: Select the audio track you want to reduce background noise from.

Pro Tip: Make sure the section of the audio you choose for noise reduction is one where you are not talking. Otherwise, you could eliminate some of the audio you don’t want removed.

Step 3: Choose noise reduction under the “Effect” tab.

Step 4: Click “get noise profile.”

💡 Pro Tip: We recommend leaving the default settings for Noise reduction (db), Sensitivity, and Frequency smoothing (bands) when you’re first getting started in audio editing.

You can adjust and play with these settings as you learn more. For example, for Noise reduction (db), the further left you slide the toggle arrow, the more noise will be reduced. Contrastively, the further right you slide, the louder or more pronounced the background noise will be.

If you go too low, you’ll remove vocals that you probably don’t want to be removed.

Step 5: Select the entire audio track.