How to eliminate or minimize wind noise in a video

[krs]

I get many videos from friends to post on the net - the videos are fine, so is the sound, but often the wind noise is very distracting.
I realize they should be using some sort of windscreen on their mike while recording, but they don't or the recording device doesn't even have that option.

So...on a video with a lot of wind noise, how can I eliminate or minimize that after the fact?
Are there any video editing applications that have an option to do that?

 

[Slydude]

I'm far from a genius when it comes to clean ing up audio for things like this but FWIW here is my observations:

1. Noise reduction tends to do best when it can identify the noise/data to be removed based upon some consistent parameter (frequency, intensity, etc).
2. Wind noise will likely be difficult to remove because it's constantly changing in intensity.
3. There are a number of filters that work on audio issues but overuse can alter audio you want to keep.

Here's a kind of brute force method I've used before that might work for you. I've done it using an audio program called Amadeus Pro but other programs have similar functions. Of course, it's best to work on a backup copy of your file.

1. In your video editor, separate the audio track from the video and copy the audio track to the clipboard.
2. Open an audio editor and paste the audio track from the clipboard into a new audio file.
3. Play the file to the point where you find a segment containing just the sound you want to remove and select that segment.
4. From the Effects menu, choose Denoising>SAmple Noise.
5. Select the entire file then choose Effects>Denoising>Suppress Noise
6. Save the file and paste the result back into the audio track of your video editor.

It may take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes depending upon the speed of your Mac and complexity of the sound being edited.

There are probably better ways to do this if one has a better knowledge of audio filters than I have.

PS: Don't actually cut into the length of the audio file until after you have re-joined the audio and video. If you cut something before rejoining the tracks the audio and video will be out of sync.

 

[lclev]

Sly - I could not have said it better.

I have had to deal the wind issue from time to time. Sometimes there is no hope! There are several Youtube videos for various products that are useful. I use Adobe Audition but that is costly. Another that is good it Audacity - which is free.

Lisa

 

[Slydude]

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. If that method meets your approvaL it certainly meets my needs.

I was reluctant to recommend Audacity because the last time I tried to run it the program didn't play nice with Catalina. Apparently, there is a work-around described on their site which helps some users and not others. The last time I used it I really didn't like the interface (the phrase butt ugly comes to mind), but you can't beat the price/capability ratio.

 

[chscag]

Hey Sly:

The last time I used Audacity, I royally screwed up the audio file so bad that it was not useable. You're right, it has the worst interface but its price point is great.

 

[krs]

I have used Audacity 2.1.2 a few times.
Interface takes a bit of getting used to - especially if one doesn't use it very often.
But I find it pretty capable for what I need.

 

[chscag]

But I find it pretty capable for what I need.

Oh, I'm sure Audacity is capable; it's me that's not capable of using it.

 

[krs]

I'm far from a genius when it comes to clean ing up audio for things like this but FWIW here is my observations:

1. Noise reduction tends to do best when it can identify the noise/data to be removed based upon some consistent parameter (frequency, intensity, etc).
2. Wind noise will likely be difficult to remove because it's constantly changing in intensity.
3. There are a number of filters that work on audio issues but overuse can alter audio you want to keep.

Here's a kind of brute force method I've used before that might work for you. I've done it using an audio program called Amadeus Pro but other programs have similar functions. Of course, it's best to work on a backup copy of your file.

1. In your video editor, separate the audio track from the video and copy the audio track to the clipboard.
2. Open an audio editor and paste the audio track from the clipboard into a new audio file.
3. Play the file to the point where you find a segment containing just the sound you want to remove and select that segment.
4. From the Effects menu, choose Denoising>SAmple Noise.
5. Select the entire file then choose Effects>Denoising>Suppress Noise
6. Save the file and paste the result back into the audio track of your video editor.

It may take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes depending upon the speed of your Mac and complexity of the sound being edited.

There are probably better ways to do this if one has a better knowledge of audio filters than I have.

PS: Don't actually cut into the length of the audio file until after you have re-joined the audio and video. If you cut something before rejoining the tracks the audio and video will be out of sync.

Thanks for the step-by-step, much appreciated
Similar to what I found on the net.
Since wind noise seems to be a problem with a lot of amateur videos, I was hoping for some video editor that has a "Remove Wind Noise" button on it, but I guess that is too much to hope for.

 

[Slydude]

You're welcome. I hope it helps.

There's probably some filter/software plug-in out there that handles this kind of noise better than the method I proposed. It might even be possible to handle that better with other tools within the software but I'm not well-versed in either of those topics.

 

[lclev]

krs - Adobe Audition has some really cool plug ins but it doesn't get all the wind noise out. The problem is if the audio you want to keep is the same pitch as the wind sounds any filter will pull it out too. Removing wind is a hit or miss trial and error situation. One thing - NEVER NEVER save over the original audio.

Lisa