You recorded clean audio in AUD-101. Now you're going to learn what to do with it after recording. Post-production is where good recordings become professional products. It's where you remove the problems you couldn't avoid during recording, enhance what's already working, and prepare your audio for whatever platform it's going to.
This course is built around Audacity, which is free, open-source, and more powerful than most people realize. You'll master the four effects that fix the vast majority of audio problems, learn advanced editing techniques for seamless content, understand mastering for different platforms, and build batch processing workflows that save you hours.
Audacity has dozens of effects. You need four. These four effects, applied in the right order with the right settings, will fix 90% of the audio problems you encounter. Master these before touching anything else.
Effect 1: Noise Reduction
Noise reduction removes consistent background sounds: fan hum, air conditioning, electrical buzz, street noise. It works by analyzing a sample of "just the noise" and then subtracting that noise profile from your recording.
- Get a noise sample. Every recording session should include 5-10 seconds of silence at the start (the room sound without you talking). Select this section in Audacity.
- Build the noise profile. Go to Effect > Noise Reduction. Click "Get Noise Profile." Audacity analyzes your selection and learns what the noise sounds like.
- Apply to the full recording. Select your entire track (Ctrl+A / Cmd+A). Go to Effect > Noise Reduction again. Adjust settings:
- Noise reduction (dB): Start at 6-12 dB. Higher values remove more noise but can introduce artifacts (a watery, bubbly sound). If your recording sounds like it's underwater, you've gone too far.
- Sensitivity: Controls how aggressively it hunts for noise. Start at 6. Increase if noise remains, decrease if it's eating your voice.
- Frequency smoothing: Smooths the effect across frequencies. 3-6 bands is usually right. Higher values sound more natural but remove less noise.
- Preview before applying. Click Preview. Listen critically. If you hear warbling or hollow artifacts, reduce the dB amount and try again.
The best noise reduction is subtle. If you can tell the effect has been applied, you've done too much. Two light passes are better than one heavy pass.
Effect 2: Compression
Compression reduces the difference between your loudest and quietest moments. It makes your audio sound more consistent, more professional, and more listenable, especially on earbuds and phone speakers.
- Threshold: The volume level where compression kicks in. Set between -15 and -20 dB for voice. Audio above this level gets compressed; audio below it is untouched.
- Ratio: How much compression is applied. 2:1 to 4:1 for voice. This means for every 2-4 dB above the threshold, the output only increases by 1 dB.
- Attack time: How fast compression kicks in after audio exceeds the threshold. 5-10ms for voice. Too slow and the loud peaks sneak through. Too fast and it sounds unnatural.
- Release time: How fast compression lets go after audio drops below threshold. 100-200ms for voice. Too fast creates a pumping effect. Too slow and quiet moments stay squashed.
- Make-up gain: After compressing the loud parts down, you can boost the overall volume back up. This is what gives compressed audio its "louder, fuller" sound.
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