Novare Library How-To

There are times – despite our best intentions and equipment that the audio of a training video has static. How do you remove this after the fact using free software.  These instructions are created for videos – but if you stop at step 10 – you have a podcast of your recording!

Step by Step Guide

  1. I like to start by making a copy of the video I am editing to work with. Just Copy, then paste the file. This will ensure no matter what you do – you still have the original content.
  2. Convert to an audio-only file(.wav) using a free online service like audio.online-convert.com
  3. Open file with Audacity (an open source program)
  4. Zoom in you can really see the file (tip: Control+1 zooms)
  5. Select a section with no audio – highlight then listen to confirm no speaking. See screenshot for example.Audacity Screenshot
  6.  Go to Effects, Noise Reduction then click on “Get Noise Profile”Audacity Get Noise Profile Screenshot
  7. Then go to, Edit > Select > All.  Your entire file with become highlighted.
  8. Return to Noise Reduction and press “OK”
  9. Your static is now gone! The sections with static will now be completely flat lines.
  10. To save, File > Export.  Personally, I add “clean-version” to the title as I save so I have both files but you can also override your existing file here if you choose.
  11. Now to put the audio and video together again.
  12. To merge the new audio and the video together, we will be using MS Movie Maker. If it didn’t come with your machine – download it for free here.
  13. Open video and then “Add Music” The file you will add is your cleaned up audio file.
  14. At this point, you have 2 audio tracks – so go to the “Edit” tab and click on “Video Volume” and mute the volume.
  15. Then save movie as an MPEG-4 and your done!

 

These instructions were modified from this great video at Instructables