How to reduce background noise using garageband?

Nancy Reid1 wrote:
Thanks! I eventually found the EQ in garageband and played around with it, and I got rid of much of the noise in my video so I'm happy with how it turned out. 🙂

oz-macnut wrote:
Ryan

I'd suggest looping a piece of silence in your sound in Garageband (using the c key to turn cycling on) and listening to just the background noise. Then open a 31-band EQ as an effect on the track and start pulling down frequencies. If it is mainly hissing and rumble, you might be able to eliminate much of it using EQ.

Another solution is to open the Visual EQ and check the analyze box, and then loop/cycle play back your track so it loops just the silence with noise. This will allow you to see in the Visual EQ window what frequencies make up your background noise. Then I'd suggest using a 31-band EQ and gently start pulling down the frequencies that are dominant in your noise. Go carefully and listen as you do it, you might be affecting they sound that you want.

To avoid making the audio you want sound thin and hollow, think about these aspects:
For male voices, most of the wanted sound is between 125 Hz and 8 KHz
For female voices: between 300 Hz and 12 KHz
So basically drag the faders on the EQ on the frequencies outside this range. I'd suggest a 45 to 60 degree slope down on the EQ, so it's not a harsh transition.

It does depend on your source audio. Is it music? Speech? I use the above as a guide You have to experiment and listen as you go. It helps to turn the EQ on and off during playback to hear the before and after your adjustments too...