Noise removal
Remove background noise from your screen recordings.
A fan, an air conditioner, a laptop mic an arm's length away: small noises make a good demo tiring to listen to. The Shotnix editor has three fixes. Enhance voice removes background noise and hum and evens out your level. Separate Voice and Computer sound sliders balance your narration against your apps. Even out loudness makes every export land at a steady volume. All of it runs on your Mac.
How Enhance voice removes background noise
Turn on Enhance voice in the Audio tab. Shotnix runs your voice track through Apple's voice isolation, on your Mac: background noise and hum drop away, and your level evens out so quiet and loud moments sit closer together. A progress bar shows while it works.
The cleaned voice stays in sync with the picture, and your original audio is kept, so you can switch Enhance voice off at any time to compare.
Balance your voice against the computer's sound
When you record both your microphone and your Mac's sound, Shotnix keeps them apart, and the Audio tab gives each its own slider: Voice for your microphone and Computer sound for what was playing on your Mac. Turn down a loud app or video so your narration sits on top. Changes apply instantly, even during playback.
For one noisy moment, such as a notification chime, select just that range and mute it, or give the clip a fade.
Add background music in the Audio tab and it gets its own volume. It dips under your voice automatically, detected on your Mac, so the narration stays on top.
Even out loudness on export
LUFS measures how loud audio sounds to people, not just its peaks. Turn on Even out loudness and the whole mix lands at −16 LUFS on export, without clipping, so one video isn't much quieter or louder than the next.
How to improve audio in a screen recording
- Get the microphone close. Distance is what makes a voice sound thin and roomy, and no filter fully undoes it.
- Record in a soft room. Curtains, a rug, and a closed door cut echo.
- Turn on a Focus so notification sounds don't land in the recording.
- Wear headphones. Shotnix records your Mac's sound directly, so it doesn't need to come out of the speakers and into your mic.
- Make a 10-second test recording and listen back before the real take.
Built-in Mac options
QuickTime Player can trim a recording but has no noise reduction. iMovie has a Reduce background noise slider under Noise Reduction and Equalizer, which applies to the clip's whole soundtrack. The Voice Isolation mic mode in Control Center can clean your voice while you record, in apps that support it, but whatever it removes is gone for good.
How to remove background noise from a screen recording on Mac →
What it can't fix
- Enhance voice works on your voice track. Noise inside the computer sound, such as a hissy video you played, isn't touched.
- On a video from another app with a single sound track, Enhance voice treats the whole track as voice, so music and app sounds can be reduced along with the noise.
- It can't restore what was never captured. A clipped, distorted, or distant voice stays that way.
- Separate Voice and Computer sound sliders appear only when both were recorded; otherwise there is one volume slider.
- Requires an Apple silicon Mac (M1 or later) with macOS 13 or newer.
How to do it in Shotnix
- Record your voice, and your Mac's sound if you need itTurn on the microphone and system audio before you start. Shotnix keeps them as separate tracks.
- Turn on Enhance voiceIt's in the Audio tab. A progress bar shows while your voice is cleaned up on your Mac.
- Balance the levelsSet Voice and Computer sound so your narration sits on top. Mute or fade individual clips on the timeline.
- Turn on Even out loudness and exportThe mix lands at −16 LUFS without clipping. Press ⌘E.
Questions
How do I remove background noise from a screen recording on Mac?
Open the recording in Shotnix, go to the Audio tab, and turn on Enhance voice. It removes background noise and hum from your voice and evens out your level, processed on your Mac. Among Apple's apps, iMovie's Reduce background noise slider is the closest option.
Can I remove noise from a recording I already made?
Yes. Enhance voice works after recording, on the microphone track of a Shotnix recording or the sound of a video from another app. Your original audio is kept, so you can switch it off anytime.
Is my audio uploaded for noise removal?
No. Enhance voice uses Apple's voice isolation and runs entirely on your Mac.
How do I make my voice louder than the computer sound?
If you recorded both, use the separate Voice and Computer sound sliders in the Audio tab. Changes apply instantly, so you can adjust them while the video plays.
What does Even out loudness do?
On export, it sets the whole mix to −16 LUFS, a measure of how loud audio sounds, without clipping. Your videos come out at a consistent level instead of one being much quieter than the next.
How can I improve the audio quality of my screen recordings?
Get the microphone close, record in a quiet room with soft surfaces, and wear headphones so your Mac's sound doesn't leak into the mic. Then use Enhance voice and Even out loudness for the rest.
Try it on your own screen.
Shotnix is free, open source, and local, with no watermark. Download the notarized app, or star the repository to follow along.
11.7 MB · Apple silicon (M1 or later) · macOS 13+ · notarized by Apple · MIT license