I was filming with my mobile phone, and the light was low, and it happened so that I had to shake the phone a little because I was in movement. I return home, thinking that the shots were not so bad, look at the new footage on the bigger screen than my phone would have provided, and – no! I am totally wrong! This footage has some kind of little dots all over it, the whole shot looks sort of pixelated. I understand that the circumstances were not so good for shooting, but how come the video is actually this bad? How to get rid of this annoying dot-like overlay, that hinders me from seeing some details and makes my eyes exhausted? Is there a way to make this better at all?
Yeah, this is something called noise, and something called grain can also be in play. And is there a way to solve the problem? –Yes! Technology is getting so good from day to day that editing programs offer the ways to not be bothered because of this problem.
But noise is a word that not necessarily evoke the image of the visual side, rather, for the broader society, it is connected to the audio. A room, filled with some people hanging out and chatting, air conditioner that creates some sound, an opened window from where the chirping of the birds are coming… Anyway, I am still trying to concentrate, to make my voice recording, and then edit the video. Even in this case, I think everything is going pretty well, and the scenario is so alike: I record the whole text I have to follow, then try to listen to it in the speakers or in the headphones, and – SOS again! These noises I mentioned, are filling up my recording, where only my words should be played. Now, I don’t like to cut the parts of my whole recording one by one, and relentlessly, like a butcher, because I am just trying to create a good listener, or viewer experience, and slicing my piece will only make things work. There should be another way!
And yes, there also is. I can solve this problem using some editing software as well. It might even take me only a while and I will have a great voice recording to include in my content. So, my choice, in this case, would be Adobe After Effects – you will say, wow, why so serious? (because this is a very powerful and sophisticated program!) but the answer is – because we can, and because it gives us many opportunity.
So, as you may have noticed already, in this article we will be touching upon audio and video denoising in Adobe After Effects! Let’s get started and solve those little problems we have in our everyday life and work!
How to denoise a video in Adobe After Effects
So, denoising in image and video production is used as a technique to take footage from grainy to crystal-clear, and this is exactly our target. But when can we say that the video noise reduction went well? This method achieves its goal If it suppresses noise effectively in uniform regions; preserves edges and other characteristics, such as fine details and textures; and provides a visually natural experience.
Primarily, Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application. If you are skilled, you are almost invincible in this software, meaning that you can do almost everything that sparks your imagination. So, if that is the sophistication of the program, why can it not be so that it can help us get rid of the unwanted noise and grain on the scene? There is no answer, because of course, it can.
Even though sometimes this kind of software requires you to download and install and then finally use some external resources, such as plugins, there is a way to do what we are going to, without any help from outside of the program.
First of all, I suppose you have some video you want to edit and make better. Bringing that clip into the program would be the first step of our little adventure. And see the menu where it says Effect? – you need to click on it. Then it gets pretty, meaning very… meaning extremely straightforward – you will find it written – Noise and Grain. Of course, you will need to choose it, and then see the Remove Grain option, to which you are going to stick.
Then, you will need to move your attention to the left side of the screen, where Effects Control will open. By default, you are able to see viewing mode, where Preview can be changed to Final Output, which is exactly what you are going to do.
This will be the video with Preview checked:
And this is the look of the same frame from the video whenever Final Output is turned on:
Yes, it’s true – we have done it already! This is actually this fast and easy in Adobe After Effects – no more noise, no more grain! Anyway, if you want to see the whole process on the video, you can check it here!
How to denoise an audio in Adobe After Effects
When it comes to audio noise, as we have mentioned already, it is possible to master the recording in After Effects in terms of the voice as well, but in reality, After Effects requires another Adobe program called Audition. Let us say that you have a video with audio attached, and you are working in AE, but in order to remove the background noise, you will need to open Audition. Here’s how it’s done:
First, in the sequence, you will need to click twice on the video clip, which will open audio graphics below.
Then, go to Edit in the Navbar, and choose Edit in Adobe Audition.
This program will open and show you more detailed graphic image of the voice recording. Now, you will find the space of time in your recording when you have a somewhat damaged audio and you will select the beginning and the end of it with the mouse. Keep in mind that in case you need to take a look at the video when your audio is played, you can see a little window showing the scene on the left and bottom of your screen.
Once you have the selection and are determined with it, you right click on the selection and find Capture Noise Print. Then, you will click on the selection again and find Select all, which will cover the whole audio. That’s when you go to the Navbar again and find Effects -> Noise Reduction / Restoration -> Noise Reduction (process). This will open the graphics again, where you can reduce the noise – you will see the percentage scale where you can modify the noise.
After changing it a little, you will click on the Apply and be able to visually see how the flow has changed and lowered.
So, when you deselect the selection and play the recording, you will notice that from now on the words are hearable, but some background noise is not there anymore! In order to export, please go to the File and Export, choose your preferred settings and you are ready to go!
Bonus tip: how to remove audio noise in video with Wondershare Filmora
When it comes to audio noise removal, it’s also good to have some alternatives, and you might not even have Adobe After Effects installed on your computer, because there exist a lot of programs easier to use. One of them is Wondershare Filmora, which can play a major role in background noise removal, in a simple way. For this to play out, you will need to pursue the following steps:
To bring your video clip in the program, drag and drop it into the timeline. Right-clicking on the video and hitting Detach Audio will enable you to separate audio and video from each other and work on them individually.
Click twice on the audio track, which will make sure you can see the editing panel and find Remove background noise option there – it can remove the noise right away.
And, that’s it – hard to believe it’s so simple!
So, in this article, you followed us through the steps of how to denoise in Adobe After Effects – first, we touched upon video noise reduction, and then, background noise removal, for which we had to open the audio in Adobe Audition from After Effects. Last but not least, we took a look at how another magnificent software, Wondershare Filmora can help us in doing the same task! Armed with different tools and knowledge, now you can go for it and make your videos and audios more appealing for everyone!