Expanders are also useful when producing voice overs and ADR. Use an expander when you have subtle background noise from recording on location (such as wind or distant traffic) or background noise from recording in a studio (such as A/C or exterior sounds). Generally speaking, the best noise reduction is always the minimum amount you can get away with. The aim is to reduce the noise until it stops being distracting, without introducing any negative artefacts or distortions to the original sound.
Just like in photography and video, the goal with audio noise treatment is not to eliminate noise. In this tutorial you'll learn how to do just that. Instead, you can use an expander to reduce the volume of the noise without completely removing it, which sounds more natural. The tool that most people reach for is a ‘noise gate’, but these can quickly become destructive. As soon as that noise becomes audible, though, it can really distract your audience.Īlthough it's best to remove noise at the source, there are dedicated production tools that can help you to clean up a noisy recording. Most of the time, a small amount of noise in the background of your video can slip by unnoticed. In reality, however, dealing with environmental noise is a part of virtually every production. We'd all like to have a clean and clear audio in our video recordings.