How to Remove Background Noise from Audio for Free

Pick the right tool

You hear…	Use
Steady hiss, fan or room noise	Noise Reduction (Voice)
A low 50 or 60 Hz buzz	Repair Studio › De-hum
Clicks and pops	Repair Studio › De-click
Distortion on loud words	Repair Studio › De-clip
Sharp “s” and “sh” sounds	Repair Studio › De-ess
Loud breaths between sentences	Repair Studio › De-breath
Noise only in pauses	Noise Gate

Select the noisy part, or the whole recording.
Open Repair Studio and click Analyze. Problem spots are listed and marked.
Turn on the stages you need and set the strength. For hum, leave the frequency on Auto or choose 50 Hz (Europe, Asia) or 60 Hz (North America).
Switch between Dry and Wet to compare.
Click Apply.

The Podcast chain runs a gate, voice EQ, compression, de-essing, de-breathing and loudness matching in one pass. Switch each stage on or off.

Gentle settings sound more natural. Heavy noise reduction can make voices watery, and badly clipped audio cannot always be restored.

Follow along for freeAudio Recorder Editor Free has every tool in this tutorial. No registration.

Can it remove music or a voice from a song?

No. These tools reduce noise and repair damage. They do not separate vocals from music.

Should I clean the audio before or after editing?

Edit first, then clean up. It is faster to process only what you keep.