Whenever it comes to the term denoise, we usually get kind of “lost in translation” – does it mean to remove or reduce just the background noise in terms of audio, or does it intend noise effect on the actual scene which we see visually? Anyway, using video editors, denoising is possible in both ways. And why should we denoise at all? – to find out, we will touch upon both issues, and learn how to do those two things in Final Cut Pro.
How to remove background noise in Final Cut Pro?
It doesn’t really matter if you are preparing a video for youtube, a podcast, or any other content with audio in it – for your listeners to be engaged, you need a clear audio, but sometimes that is not the case. You might even find unnecessary background noise after recording the video or audio, and it can be really annoying – that kind of recording gives your audio tracks an unprofessional touch, which can lead to disengaged listeners, the viewers who just don’t want to listen to it anymore. But it’s always possible to turn the tables – and for it, using video editors might really give us a hand. So, Final Cut Pro, which is developed only for Macs (so, you will not be able to use this software on the PC), can solve this problem for you.
So, if you are using Final Cut Pro 10.6, it’s possible to achieve your goal without using any plug-ins. In such a case, there are special effects to use. First of all, let us say that you have an audio file which you want to be corrected because it has some echo, hum, background noise; so you import that one into the programme, namely, timeline.
You will need to first use Equalatization, which is under the Audio Enhancements.
You will need to check the square that opens the equalizer and shows graphics for it. The high frequencies are on the right, and the low ones you will find on the left. Lower the highs and raise the points a little on the left side.
Next step would be to level out the lows and highs of the voice using a Compressor. You will find this effect in Installed Effects, which you need to drag and drop on the audio, and it will raise the whispers and lower the shouts in the audio.
Some background noise will still be there, so you then can find Channel EQ effect you will find in the effects. You need to drag it on the clip, then click on the equalize button in the inspector, and this time, reduce the lower levels on the left, while you also lower the highs on the right.
Lastly, you will need to use the Noise Gate effect. This will cut out all of the sounds between words, so when someone in the audio is not speaking, there will be no background noise at all.
In case this kind of cutting noise out doesn’t sound natural, you can look into Noise Gate Parameters and concentrate on two of them – reduction and release. If you drag the latter right, the noise will raise, and reduction will also raise noise a little, in order to reduce the clipping.
How to denoise a video in Final Cut Pro?
But what is noise in terms of videos? It means that the video is not clear, but instead, the clip has grains on it, which is not so pleasant to see (unless you use noise/grain effect with some purpose!). the noise usually appear when the shot was taken in an environment with not enough white, or, in other cases, when the video was taken with small-sensory equipment, for example, smartphone or action camera.
And Final Cut Pro is one of the video editors where you can remove or reduce the noise and make your footage look clearer than it would have been originally, and it will guarantee that people who are interested and watch your clip will have a better experience. So, let’s learn step by step how to denoise the video in our beloved Final Cut Pro, which added this feature only starting from Final Cut Pro 10.4.4 – it means that before, the task was only done by using some expensive plug-ins, but starting from this version of the program, the software has video noise reduction effect itself.
So, choose the video which has some noise and grain and you wish to edit. Bring it in the program, and click on it in the timeline, in order to select it. The video should appear in the viewer, and you will be able to see the noise right away or whenever you zoom in a little. Then, you will need to find the Effects – you can just use the shortcut and click on Command and 5, or find the panel in the top-right corner of the timeline. Whenever Effects appear, you will need to select the Basic category, and then double-click the icon to apply the noise reduction filter, and close the window. It might take a while to analyze the clip for noise.
In the inspector, you will find the controls for noise reduction, which only include the Amount and Sharpness.
You might as well boost the amount to high, then you can take a look at the image to evaluate the result. One way to do the last step is to uncheck the box next to the Noise Reduction as well, which will disable the filter until you check the box again.
You can also change the Sharpness to Medium, which will compensate for the soft look the effect produces.
And, there is also a noise reduction effect dedicated to 360 viewers, which is called 360 Noise Reduction. As you can see, the effect removes a lot of noise and makes the grainy video look clearer and more enjoyable, besides, if you move around the sphere in the viewer, the effect seems quite seamless!
Bonus tip: how to remove audio noise in video with Filmora
In case you don’t own Mac or just want to operate in another computer program, then Wondershare Filmora would make a great alternative – it’s one of the software that can help you get rid of the background noise. How to do it there? Follow this guideline:
First off, of course, you need to drag and drop the video into the timeline. Then, in order to edit the audio of the video separately, you’ll need to right-click on the video and find Detach Audio.
Double-clicking on the audio track in the sequence will show the editing panel, where you can find – Remove background noise, which, as it is obvious, will remove the noise directly.
So, in this article, we learned how to denoise in Final Cut Pro – both in terms of audio background noise, and noise and grain on the video, and we learned how to get rid of audio noise in Wondershare Filmora in the easiest and fastest way!