We all know how annoying it can be to listen to noisy audio.

Professionals who do speech-to-text transcription on a daily basis sure can relate to this matter.

Your audio quality matters when you are doing the transcription process, especially if what you are trying to transcribe is an important matter, such as a legal case.

If your audio is filled with loud background noises, not only that it will be hard for the AI to automatically transcribe your audio but also for a human to manually transcribe it.

So, how can you reduce background noise?

How To Reduce Audio Background Noise On iPhone

Many of us would utilise our mobile phones to do audio and video recordings.

For iPhone users, here’s how you can reduce your audio background noise:

1. Record your audio from Voice Memos.
2. Click on the three-dot icon on the left side of your recording.
3. Select edit recording.
4. Tap on the magic wand icon. This will reduce your audio background noise.
5. Click done.

Watch how to reduce your audio background noise on iPhone here:

Obviously, the result of the magic wand is not perfect. However, it did reduce a lot of background noise.

To enhance your audio, you can also do these additional steps:

1. Go to settings.
2. Click on Voice Memos.
3. Change the audio quality from compressed to lossless.

We tried to find a similar function for Samsung users but could not find any.

Therefore, we recommend you use other tools to reduce the background noise.

How To Use Adobe Premiere Pro To Reduce Background Noise

To reduce background noise on Adobe Premiere Pro, here’s what you have to do:

1. Open your project in Adobe Premiere Pro.
2. Go to Effects and click on audio effects.
3. Select noise reduction/restoration and apply the noise effect by dragging it to your audio.
4. In effects control, click edit on the custom setup option.
5. A new tab will pop up. Here, you can adjust the amount of noise cancellation that you want to put.

Alternatively, you can follow these directions:

1. Select your audio and go to Audio Track Mixer.
2. Click on Show/Hide Effects and Sends.
3. Click on Effect Selection and choose Noise Reduction/Restoration > DeNoise.
4. Double click on the DeNoise option to bring out the Track FX Editor.

By adding this effect to your audio, it will significantly reduce your background noise. However, your audio quality will also be slightly reduced.

Watch how to reduce your audio background noise on Adobe Premiere pro here:

How To Reduce Background Noise On iMovie

We know that Adobe Premiere Pro can get a bit pricey and not everyone uses the tool that often.

So, what is the alternative?

iMovie.

iMovie is a free video editing software for Mac users. The good thing is, it also allows you to reduce background noise.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Open your project on iMovie.
2. Select your audio clip.
3. On the menu bar, click on the Noise Reduction and Equalizer icon.
4. Check the Reduce Background Noise box and adjust the amount of percentage of the effect.

Watch how to reduce your audio background noise on iMovie here:

How To Have A Better Audio Quality

As we have mentioned earlier, your audio quality matters when you are doing the transcription process.

Whether you are using a tool or manually doing it, transcribing noisy audio is hard to do.

So, here are ways to have better audio quality.

1 - Speak Closer To Your Microphone

If you are having a conversation with someone, you would prefer that person to stand closer to you so you can hear that person better.

The same concept goes with audio recording - the closer you are to the microphone, the clearer you will sound.

Do not be shy and speak too far from the microphone!

2 - Invest In The Right Microphone

You may think that your phone microphone is enough. However, if you do speech-to-text transcription on a day-to-day basis, we really recommend you invest in a good microphone.

A good microphone can help you do your job easier as you won’t be questioning ‘what the heck did I or this person say earlier?’ anymore.

Here’s a list of the best microphones for recording by Tech Smith.

3 - Choose The Right Spot

The quality of your audio recording can also be affected by your location.

Of course, if you are in a noisy room, it is hard to avoid noise.

But, if you are in a location where you can choose where to record, try to avoid areas with these items:

• Fans
• Refrigerators
• Open Windows
• Electronic devices
• Washing machine and dryer

Advice To Professional Transcribers

If you are a professional transcriber and are invited to an event where there is a lot of noise all around you, we really recommend you also take notes.

Of course, we understand that in some instances, you probably can’t take notes. But if you could, we highly recommend you do so.

Writing notes will allow you to ensure a high-quality transcription, especially when there is a lot of background noise.

Sometimes, it is easier to decipher what a person is saying when you listen to it on the spot compared to listening to a recording

Conclusion

In this article, we have shown you how you can reduce background noise on iPhone, Premiere Pro, and iMovie.

Here at VideoTranslator, we want to help you with your audio and video transcription, translation, and dubbing processes.

To transcribe your audio/video with VideoTranslator, follow the below process:

• Log in to your Video Translator account.
• Upload your video/audio using the quicktranscribe button.
• Select the language and dialect of your content and click the accept button to trigger the transcription. The transcription process will run in the background.
• Once the transcription is complete, go through and check the transcription for proper grammar e.g. capitalisation and full stops. Embed the captions into the asset, or download the srt file separately.

To try VideoTranslator for free, click here.

We hope this article helps you!

For more information regarding VideoTranslator, do not hesitate to contact us at hello@videotranslator.ai.

See you next time for more educational blog posts!