Remove Camera Noise & Shakiness?

[Bob Peterson]

The audio noise is both simple and hard. It depends on what tools you have at your disposal. First, try to get your video edit done before worrying about audio noise. When you are satisfied with the video, render an audio file using the wav format. Import this, add it to your timeline, and silence all of the other audio sources. If you must rely on Vegas to fix the audio, use something like the equalizer to cut off the frequencies, both low and high, which are not of interest. If you have the denoiser, you can use it to eliminate many objectionable sounds. Finally, use a volume envelope on the track and pull the volume down to zero to eliminate any remaining noises.

If you have something like Izotope Rx, things get much easier. simply open the wav file that was generated, and use the Izotope tools that compare to what I described for Vegas.

For shaky video, I know Vegas incorporated a stabilizer in versions 12 & 13, but I am not sure about 11. If 11 has it, you should be able to stabilize the clips that need that processing. The stabilizer does crop your video while stabilizing it, so I would not use it on clips that do not need it. If version 11 did not have a stabilizer built in, you will need another piece of software to perform this function. I have After Effects which is quite effective at stabilizing video. I think New Blue also has stabilizing software.

[Aleksey Tarasov]

try mercalli stabilization software

[Wayne Waag]

I agree with Bob to do your video editing first. For noise, the tool of choice is Izotope RX, but it’s pretty pricey. If you do have to fix your audio in Vegas, another suggestion is to do a simple copy and paste over some noisy sections. E.g. during the first part of the sample video, simply copy part of the later audio while walking and paste it over the part where there s handling noise. If you have a music track, it would be further masked. I do this all the time.

Regarding stabilization, Mercalli is the way to go. Here’s an example I posted awhile back using Mercalli 4.0 with its CMOS correction, which you would probably need. Again, a pricey piece of software, although well worth it if you do a lot of editing. And finally, you would probably want to correct the lens distortion that results from using the GoPro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euclQi4GxPE

wwaag

[Brendon Abel]

Definitely a good starting point, thanks for the tips guys. As for the image stabilizing, if I have footage going up a staircase or moving around inside a house, can it still be improved? or will it eventually crop the whole image away?

[Wayne Waag]

Try it and see. There’s a free download trial for Mercalli. Don’t believe it expires–I still have a V3.0 on my system. It places a big watermark, so that it’s unusable, but at least you could see how the stabilization works with your footage.

wwaag

[Brendon Abel]

Bob,

Finally got around to finishing the videos and now working on audio. I am having trouble achieving the affect i want with the camera handling. Using Audacity, I have tried the noise reducer and equalizer effects. With the noise reducer, I seem to end up with some high pitch sounds scattered throughout the clips and as far as the equalizer, well thats really above my expertise.. Do you have any further suggestions or know of any helpful tutorial videos? Upon searching, most videos instruct on how to remove a long constant background noise like a hiss or a fan but i have short bursts of aggressive sounds so its hard for me to eliminate them accross a longer clip without distorting the rest of the audio.

Thanks again

[Wayne Waag]

[Brendon Abel]

Looked at your YT video again. It has been awhile. Easiest thing to do is a simple cut and paste of “good footsteps” to the part that is noisy. You can do that inside of Vegas–much easier and quicker than using an external app. Plus you can see how well the “pasted” footsteps match with the video and easily adjust.

wwaag

[Brendon Abel]

Well, my hope was that i could make those noises much quieter and maybe hear voices a little clearer without feeling like the volume is being raised and lowered throughout the 2 hour long movie i have. So id like to manipulate my audio rather that cutting and pasting. However, id like to do this within 2 weeks or so..

Thanks for the continued help

[Wayne Waag]

So id like to manipulate my audio rather that cutting and pasting.

Just to be clear, you only need to cut and paste the audio track while leaving the video track intact. If you still want to “fix” the noise in your audio track, then be prepared to purchase something like Iztotope RX4 or the newer version 5. It’s about $350. Audacity simply doesn’t have the tools you will need. If may help some, but it will still sound pretty bad.

wwaag

[Brendon Abel]

Okay well ill find a way to get izotope. How do i do it then?