Use noise reduction on audio

The location audio has hiss and a hum under the interview. Run noise reduction on the interview track so the host’s voice is clear across the 04:20 file, preserve natural sibilance, and do a quick A/B to confirm no digital artifacts. Save the cleaned track as 'Interview NR' and leave the original unchanged.

Before I hand this to color and mix, make the noise-reduced track easy to approve: target steady broadband hiss and low-frequency hum, avoid aggressive settings that squash breaths, and include a two-second before-and-after clip at 00:03:05 where the noise was worst. Call out any moments where noise reduction introduces choppiness or gutted tones.

I ran noise reduction and now on quiet lines the host sounds underwater and thin. The audio lead will reject this. I’m unsure whether I over-applied reduction or used the wrong profile. Is it better to reduce the reduction amount and reprocess, or to apply reduction only to problem ranges with a spectral edit? Which approach preserves natural breaths fastest for the next review?

I keep rescuing projects where someone aggressively applied noise reduction and flattened the performance; it costs hours to restore natural tone. I want one reliable habit to stop this from happening. What single rule or preflight step should I add so noise reduction remains transparent and reversible for every interview?