How to Clean Up Distortion on Recorded CDs
On modern computers, home-based recording is becoming increasingly easy. Stock programs like Windows Sound Recorder and Windows Movie Maker allow user-friendly voice capturing. Many users even hook up old turntables to computers to record their favorite classics live and in real time. Such home recordings are easily transferred to CDs using CD burners that come standard with many newer computers. With the propensity and accessibility of personally recorded CDs, cleaning up such recordings is essential, considering many home-based recording enthusiasts do not want to spend a lot of money on expensive sound cards, microphones or heavily insulated cables.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Rip the files from your recorded CD using Windows Media Player or a similar program. To do this with Windows Media Player, insert the CD, open the player and click on the "Rip" tab near the top of the screen. The files will be automatically pulled from the CD and placed in your computer's "Music Folder."
-
2
Download Audacity from Audacity.sourceforge.net. Audacity is a free download that allows you to apply multiple effects to recorded files, including comprehensive noise removal operations.
-
-
3
Install Audacity by clicking on the downloaded EXE file and following the on-screen instructions.
-
4
Open your newly installed Audacity program. To get started fixing your CDs, click "File" then "Open."
-
5
Select the recording that you want to clean up by clicking on the "Music Folder" and opening the ripped file.
-
6
Select a part of the recording that is exclusively or mostly distortion by clicking and dragging over that part. Try to avoid highlighting any of the actual song, just focus on the pure distortion near the beginning or end of the track.
-
7
Click on "Effect" then select "Noise Removal." This will open a new window.
-
8
Click "Get Noise Profile." This will identify the distortion you've selected and store its sound signature in the program's memory.
-
9
Select the entire track by clicking and dragging over it. Click "Effect" and "Noise Removal." This time, click "Remove Noise." The program will then automatically remove distortion and white noise from the entire track, including distortion overlaying the music itself. Be patient, as the process can take over 1 minute for longer songs.
-
10
Press the "Play" button, located near the top left-hand side of the screen, to play the song. If the program removed parts of the actual song along with distortion sounds, click "Edit" and "Undo Noise Removal" to revert the file back to its original state. Try removing the noise again, but this time move the slider to "Less" before clicking "Remove Noise."
-
11
Burn your cleaned up files back onto a CD for pure, crisp recorded sound.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If your ripped files are not compatible with Audacity, convert them to MP3 or WAV formats using software like All Music Converter, available as a free trial from Allmusicconverter.com.
