How to Remove Noise From Audio Using AI, I cannot forget the sinking feeling that I felt in 2016. I was simply completing an interview of a forty-minute-long session with a CEO who had scarcely any time on his hand. The conversation was brilliant, and after I listened to it again using the headphone, my heart dropped. Though I had switched off the air conditioner at the time of the conversation, the recording now sounded like there was a jet engine running in the background.
I did not have many options at the moment. I can either perform some simple EQ to trim off the high frequencies which would put the voice of the guest in the background or I can opt to do spectral subtraction. Spectral subtractionreation, spectral subtraction entailed recording a noisysample and then telling the software to remove the frequencies. The product was the feared, wet digital artefacts.
Background sound was eliminated but the voice was made artificial and frail. However, today everything is different. Not only has AI-based audio restoration empowered audio engineers, podcasters, and video editors to complete their tasks, but it has influenced how they handle their work, as well. I tried basic web-based applications in the last several years as well as sophisticated plug-ins, which load my computer. The lesson I have gained is that although AI may appear magical, it needs proper human attention to provide good results.
The Tools: Between the fix-it-fast and the fix-it-pro.
In order to have the best outcomes, it is necessary to obtain the way the tool functions. The conventional noise reduction was subtraction. it was imprudent; it knew not what the voice of a man was. It had only known that frequency X was bad. Nonetheless, deep neural networks (DNNs) are applied in artificial noise removal. Thousands of hours of clean speech and noise (traffic, wind, hums, clatter), have been used to train such models.
Noisecutting is not in the typical sense of the word in the case of the audio, however, as you play it on such a tool like iZotope RX or Waves Clarity, the AI carries out noise-cutting. It is essentially a voice re-creation. It filters the signal (speech), eliminates noise and recreates a clear version of the vocal. The distinction is large, as it displays the most prominent side effect of AI restoration hallucinations and artefacts. The AI might not be sure so in the event of such uncertainty it would consider a breath as wind and chop it, or a squeaky chair as a syllable and retain it.
The Tools: Between the fix-it-fast and the fix-it-pro.
There is no one tool that fits all scenarios but various types of the audio problem have a tool that is the best. This is my workflow organisation.
1. The Rescue Mission (Browser-Based)?
To a content planner who does not know anything about audio engineering, products such as Adobe Podcast Enhance are a big leap to winning. This has been used by me to store Voicemails sent out by the clients on the iPhone. It only takes a site of uploading the file, changing one of the settings and the AI removes noises and EQs the voice to read like a studio cast.
The Pro Insight: Be careful. Adobe Enhance is also notorious because it is excessively superior. It is more apt to deprive the room of its natural sound and the silence is a barren and catastrophic place to the audience. It is also able to make speakers with varying voices sound strangely similar. Take the strength slider to seldom more than 70 per cent.
2. Waves Clarity Vx / Supertone clear the Real Time Plugin.
Waves Clarity Vx has become a breakthrough to me as a video editor and podcast presenter, regardless of what program I am in, DaVinci Resolve or Premiere or Logic. Unlike other tools, this tool operates on a local basis on your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) rather than in the cloud. I have just edited a documentary shot in a windy beach. Lots of wind noises were being picked up by the lapel microphone.
I used Clarity Vx on the audio track with a huge knob on the middle. With a turn of the knob the wind had stilled and nothing was audible but the most familiar sound of the voice. Pro Insight: Due to such plug-ins, the processor of your computer can be subjected to a heavy load. When you can hear stuttering when playback the kind of work you need to do is render the track or bop the track. This captures the changes such that your computer will not need to do the AI effect on-the-fly.
3. The Surgical Suite (iZotope RX).
Get any professional audio engineer into the conversation and you will be hearing about iZotope RX and specifically the modules; voice de-noise and spectral recovery modules. This instrument is fine–he is more a scalpel than a broad brush. RX is a software that renders your audio in the form of a spectrogram. To say the least, a car horn is represented as a gleaming streak.
Using AI capabilities of the 10 and 11 va mobilizers in RX, you can instruct the software to block out straight line background noise, but not random sounds such as applause or the fan cheering. In the light of the above-described tools, we should examine the methods of cleaning audio. An effective workflow will get the most out and not over-process anything at all.
The following steps are applicable to a vast majority of the projects I undertake. Possession of the tools is half the battle. The knowledge of their use makes your audio sound not overworked. This is how I do the majority of the projects.
Step 1: Diagnose the Noise
Put on nice over- ear headphones. Listen. Does the sound also always exist (air conditioner, hiss, hum) Or wanton (barking of the dogs, clicking of keyboards, siren)?
- Constant noise is easy for AI.
- Impulse noise is more difficult and, in most cases, requires a different setting or manual editing.
The second one is Less is More Approach.
Having the noise-reduction knob at 100 is the largest mistake that an inexperienced user can make. This kills the audio.
I always aim for a wet/dry mix. My aim is to decrease the noise levels by about 80-90% and maintain an equal sound of natural room.
- Necessities: any AI tool (e.g. Clarity Vx or RX Voice De-noise).
- As much as possible, ensure that it is kept high to remove extra noise.
- Back it off slightly. If the knob is at 100, set it to 85.
Step 3: Check for “Gating”
Listen to the ends of words. Does pel deter you of the sound of Ca- by sound of the word cat? The aggressive AI has the tendency to shorten the endings of words as it thinks that the ending consonant is noise. In case it happens, lower sensitivity or threshold of the plugin.
Step 4: Add “Room Tone” Back In
This is a secret pro use. When you complete all of it behind it with AI, it provides the recording with an unnaturally dead effect. The speaker is as though drifting in nothingness. I maintain a clean-room tone.
The sole track over which I will superimpose fully is the room air which is extremely low only when there is speaking. It sews up the edit and conceals any artificially created artefacts by the AI. We will use these principles in a real life example the Coffee Shop Interview.
This situation illustrates the integration between the working process and AI tools mentioned above in practice. A busy Starbucks was recording and sent me a recording last month as a client. It was a nightmare with rattling cups and screaming espresso machine and sound.
The Approach:
- Separation: I had separated the voice and ambience with Goyo (also called Voice Isolation in most apps). It lowered the background talk to a great extent.
- Artefact Control: The distance had resulted in the voice sounding slightly robotic at times when the espresso machine blasts would go off.
- Spectral Repair: iZotope RX had been opened. I had to make it manually with the help of the AI. I recognized the milk steamer screech as the sound of high frequency and painted it with the brush leaving it to the AI to fill in the gaps.
- EQ Polish: AI cleaning is usually used to counterfeit the high end (treble). I was adding a parametric EQ by slightly exaggerating the air frequencies (around 12kHz) so that the vocals could come back to life.
When we stretch the options of what AI can offer the audio, some practical and ethical drains need to be identified. Audio has to be smooth; yet context and integrity is also vital.
It is a time where in the subway we can record audio and this makes us feel that we are in a recording booth. But should we?
There is an element of truth in various audio. Where, in the case of a journalistic piece, you eliminate the noises of a protest or a war zone behind, you eliminate the context. I would never advise the clients to turn off the noise in case it gives a message. Enhance speech, not make it with AI, and use it.
In addition, AI cannot rectify a poor performance. It is able to remove bathroom echo with the performance of the speaker (not to mention so far). The golden rule is not dead: Do it right at the source. Any sound-positioned microphone will never beat 500 AI plug accustomed in fixing the sound of an iPhone.
Conclusion
AI noise cancellation will change the content creators world, although it is not a be-all and end-all plug-and-play solution. It is a potent one and may need a critical ear. It is directed to transparency – you would wish your listener to be listening to what you are saying and not how you are saying it.
One should be informed about the type of noise, how to choose the right tool, and when it is necessary to cease using the knob, and it could help to turn inappropriate sound into the masterpiece.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions).
Q: Is AI capable of removing music on the voice recording in the background?
A: Yes. This is what is called stem separation. Lalal.ai and the Music Rebalance software of iZotope RX are all built to isolate the vocals in the instrumental music, and they do it with accurate precision.
Q: Does the achieved noise reduction with the aid of AI deteriorate the voice quality?
A: Inevitably, yes. Overprocessed voice will lead to a metallic or thin voice. It depends on merely the matter of compromising and balancing in order to have the noise minimised to the extent that one can feel it without losing on the voice quality.
Q: Is it possible to reduce noise at no cost using the aid of AI?
A: Yes. Intel OpenVINO is compatible with Audacity (open-source software that is free), which is great. The fundamental cleaning of audio is also free on Adobe Pedcast Enhance.
Issue: I used noisecanceling, however the sounds seem to be underwater.
A: This can be called spectral artifacting. This is due to the fact that the software has eliminated frequencies that are shared by noise and voice. The way out is to make the noise reduction less aggressive, or to incorporate another AI model that is not as aggressive on the source material.
Q: What is the distinction between Noise Removal and AI Noise Removal?
A: Another device is A Noise Gate that technically is a standard door, but when the sound level is below a certain point (between words) the sound is mute, when the person is speaking it is not. AI Noise Removal is an automatic method of noise removal that is identified and removed during a human conversation.