{"id":16,"date":"2026-01-15T00:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T16:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/?p=16"},"modified":"2026-01-15T00:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T16:46:09","slug":"beginners-can-achieve-pro-level-audio-quality-voice-enhancement-say-goodbye-to-volume-swings-noise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/?p=16","title":{"rendered":"Beginners Can Achieve Pro-Level Audio Quality Voice Enhancement Say Goodbye to Volume Swings &amp; Noise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Beginners Can Achieve Pro-Level Audio Quality Voice Enhancement Say Goodbye to Volume Swings &amp; Noise\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SkzxEqNW9ug?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Download Audacity\uff1ahttps:\/\/www.audacityteam.org\/&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Download my Preset: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-0825442e-1f84-425a-8045-aba0a1b5f877\" href=\"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Audacity_Presets.zip\">Audacity_Presets<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Audacity_Presets.zip\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-0825442e-1f84-425a-8045-aba0a1b5f877\">\u4e0b\u8f09<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The tool of removing ambient noise\uff1a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lalal.ai\/?fp_ref=samuel76\">https:\/\/www.lalal.ai\/?fp_ref=samuel76<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I watched a YouTube video today and noticed the audio was really quiet, especially when watching outdoors\u2014it was almost inaudible. It was this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I tweaked her audio a bit, and it turned out like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I thought, maybe a lot of you have similar needs for audio enhancement but don\u2019t want it to be too complicated. After all, making videos is already time-consuming enough. So, after some experimenting, I came up with a super simple and beginner-friendly solution. You don\u2019t need any audio tech background\u2014just follow my steps, and you\u2019ll definitely improve the sound quality of your content. Plus, all the tools are free software, and I\u2019ll include all the tools and links on this episode\u2019s webpage, with the URL in the description or comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before we start, please hit the little bell and subscribe to my channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s first get a quick overview of what\u2019s going on. When you speak into a microphone, your vocal cords vibrate, causing various parts of your body to resonate, producing a continuous series of sound waves. We\u2019ll just call this \u201cspeech\u201d from now on. Before speech reaches the mic, it can include low-frequency sound waves starting at 80 Hz all the way up to high-frequency waves in the thousands of Hz. The energy of these sound waves varies a lot too\u2014sometimes it\u2019s a soft whisper, just a fraction of a decibel, and other times it\u2019s loud, reaching 60 or 70 decibels. Quick sidenote: Hz and dB are physical units for measuring sound. Hz is the unit for frequency, which, in simple terms, affects the tone of the sound. Words like bright, deep, low, or sharp describe characteristics tied to frequency. dB measures sound pressure level, which you can think of as volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, the speech coming out of your mouth has a huge range of frequencies and volumes, also called dynamic range. Even the best microphones have limits to their sensitivity, especially in dynamic range. A mic\u2019s sensitivity is far lower than the dynamic range your speech can produce. That\u2019s why you see some professional singers constantly adjusting the distance between their mouth and the mic while performing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we record a show, it\u2019s hard to keep adjusting the mic position like a singer. Usually, we fix the mic at a suitable distance from the mouth and lower the mic\u2019s input level to prevent loud speech from overloading the mic or audio equipment\u2019s dynamic limit. If the input exceeds the equipment\u2019s dynamic limit, you get a squeaky, distorted sound\u2014sometimes called clipping, or in layman\u2019s terms, \u201caudio popping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, obviously, to avoid popping during recording, we lower the input overall. But then, when the audio is recorded into a computer or phone, you\u2019ll notice the overall volume is pretty low. Some parts might be loud, but others are super quiet. No matter how much you crank up your computer or phone\u2019s volume, the sound won\u2019t be as rich and clear as a radio host\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me use that show I mentioned earlier as an example to show you how to achieve the final effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here, I\u2019m using a free audio software called Audacity. It\u2019s available for both Windows and Mac, super powerful, and the download and installation are really straightforward, so I\u2019ll skip that part. Once installed, click here to download the preset files I prepared for you. On this episode\u2019s webpage, find \u201cParameter Preset Download\u201d and download the zip file. After downloading, unzip it to get the preset files. Then open Audacity, go to the File menu, select Open, and load your audio file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, we\u2019re going to do six things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>**First thing: Filtering**<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal here is to make the audio material clean and clear. It\u2019s like using a juice filter\u2014after filtering, you remove unwanted pulp and impurities, leaving just pure juice. During recording, signal amplification, and analog-to-digital conversion, the audio signal picks up some impurities, especially when recording in noisy environments. Filtering mainly reduces signals at certain frequencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on my experience, for spoken audio, signals below 100 Hz or above 4,000 Hz are generally irrelevant to speech clarity. Reducing or completely removing these signals won\u2019t affect how clear the speech sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, select the audio segment you want to process. Click the Effect menu, go to EQ and Filters, find Filter Curve EQ, then click the Preset &amp; Settings button and choose Import to load the preset file. From the preset files you downloaded, find \u201cVocal-Filter\u201d and open it. You\u2019ll see I completely filtered out signals below 100 Hz\u2014this is called a low-cut. High frequencies between 4,000 and 8,000 Hz are slightly reduced. This range often includes a lot of environmental noise, sibilance, and mouth noises, but reducing it too much can dull the speech\u2019s brightness, so I only apply a light reduction. Signals above 10,000 Hz get a high-cut, as this range includes some breathy sounds. If your show relies on a lot of breathy, whispery effects, you might want to manually boost this range, but for most speech-based content, a high-cut works fine. Click Preview to hear the processed effect. If you\u2019re happy with it, click Apply to process the audio. Note: once you hit Apply, you can only undo it via the Edit menu\u2019s Undo option. You can also apply the filter multiple times to the same audio for a more thorough effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, the audio no longer has that background hum or popping mic sounds, and mouth noises like sibilance are reduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>**Second thing: Dynamic Compression**<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dynamic refers to the range between the quietest and loudest parts of the audio. Compressing the dynamics means narrowing the gap between the loudest and quietest volumes. The main goal is to make the audio\u2019s loudness more consistent, so it doesn\u2019t feel like it\u2019s jumping from loud to soft or far to near.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do we do this? One way is to select the audio segment you want to adjust, go to the Effect menu, choose Volume and Compression, open Amplify, and enter a negative value to reduce volume or a positive value to increase it, then hit Apply. This method is flexible and lets you control every detail, but if the audio is long with lots of variations, it can be time-consuming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Audacity, we can use the Compressor for this. Select the audio to process, go to the Effect menu, choose Volume and Compression, find Compressor, and open it. Click the Presets &amp; Settings button, then Import, and from the downloaded preset files, find \u201cVocalStartUp,\u201d open it, and click Apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After processing, the audio is noticeably louder, and details are slightly more pronounced. If some parts are still too loud, you can use the first method to adjust them individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When using the Compressor, besides reducing the dynamic range, you\u2019ll also get some enhanced details and a slight change in sound quality. Applying the Compressor multiple times might produce unexpected effects, so listen carefully to the changes before deciding whether to keep the multi-processed result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>**Third thing: Distortion**<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might have heard of electric guitar distortion effects. Here, we\u2019re using a distortion effect on the voice\u2014not to mimic a guitar, but to add harmonic components with a subtle distortion effect, enhancing the audio\u2019s brightness and fullness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Audacity, go to the Effect menu, find Distortion and Modulation, select Distortion, and open it. Click Presets &amp; Settings, then Import. From the downloaded preset files, find \u201cVoice Exciton\u201d and open it. The parameters are: Distortion Type set to Hard Clipping, Clipping Level set between -6 and -10, Drive can be adjusted but defaults to 50, and Make-up Gain should be set to 0 to avoid extra volume boost. Then click Apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Listen to it now. The audio sounds quite different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>**Fifth thing: Loudness Normalization**<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many platforms and industries have their own loudness standards. For YouTube, the recommended loudness is no lower than -14 dB LUFS. I won\u2019t dive into what that means here\u2014just follow the steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Select the audio to process, go to the Effect menu, choose Volume and Compression, find Loudness Normalization, and open it. Click Presets &amp; Settings, then Import. From the downloaded preset files, find \u201cYouTube,\u201d open it, and click Apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>**Sixth thing: Limiting**<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a standard safety process for audio. We\u2019ll use Audacity\u2019s Limiter. Select the audio, go to the Effect menu, choose Volume and Compression, find Limiter, open it, set the Threshold (dB) to -1.0, and click Apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Go to the File menu, choose Export Audio, select Export to Computer, and set the audio file format as recommended here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then click Export.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At this point, you\u2019ve completed all the speech processing. Doesn\u2019t it sound much louder and clearer than before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the overall audio is louder, the background noise might get amplified too. What to do? Thanks to AI advancements, I recommend a super practical online tool for removing ambient noise called LALAL.AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Open this website, click here to switch to Chinese, then click Log In. For first-time users, register with your email or another login method. After registering and logging in, go to Products, select Voice Remover, drag your audio file into the page, wait a moment, and it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How\u2019s that? Doesn\u2019t it feel like something from a big professional media outlet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alright, that\u2019s it for today\u2019s video. All the tools and links are on this episode\u2019s webpage. If you run into any issues while processing your audio, feel free to ask in the comments, and I\u2019ll reply as soon as I can. If you found this helpful, don\u2019t forget to subscribe, like, and save. Thanks for watching!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8212;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This translation maintains the original structure and intent, using conversational English suitable for video narration. Let me know if you need further adjustments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Download Audacity\uff1ahttps:\/\/www.audacityteam.org\/&nbsp; D [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sammywu.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}