Enhance Voice — Reduce Background Noise and Add Clarity
What Enhance Voice Does
Enhance Voice runs your microphone audio through an offline processing chain before it's used in preview or export. The original recording is never overwritten — a sibling _enhanced.m4a file is generated next to it. Toggling the feature off restores the raw mic instantly.
The chain does four things:
- High-pass filter at 100 Hz — removes low-frequency rumble like fan noise, AC hum, and breath thumps that build up on a close mic.
- Presence boost at 3 kHz — adds clarity to consonants and intelligibility without sounding harsh.
- Low-pass filter at 14 kHz — cuts high-frequency hiss above the speech range.
- Noise gate — silences true silence between words (background room tone, computer fan, fluorescent buzz) using a Schmitt-trigger gate with smooth open/close ramps so consonants aren't chopped.
How to Turn It On
- Open your project in the editor.
- Open the Subtitles settings panel.
- Find the Enhance Voice row near the transcription section.
- Flip the toggle on. A spinner indicates the background render — it usually takes a few seconds.
- Once the render completes, both the preview and any exports use the enhanced track automatically.
Adjusting Sensitivity
When Enhance Voice is on, a Sensitivity slider appears below the toggle. It controls how aggressively the noise gate closes between words. The EQ chain is unaffected — only the gate changes.
- 0% — Gentle. Only silences true near-silence. Good for clean studio mics or when you want to preserve every breath and room ambience.
- 25% — Light. Kills hum and quiet hiss but keeps even whispered tails.
- 50% — Balanced (default). Suits most home setups.
- 75% — Aggressive. Cuts more background; some quiet word-tails may trim slightly.
- 100% — Maximum. Closes during anything quieter than a clear speaking voice. Use for very noisy rooms with HVAC, fans, or open windows.
Dragging the slider regenerates the enhanced file with the new strength after a short pause. The preview hot-swaps to the new render as soon as it's ready — no need to reopen the project.
When to Use Each Setting
| Recording condition | Suggested sensitivity |
|---|---|
| Studio mic, treated room | 0–25% |
| USB mic, quiet home office | 50% (default) |
| Built-in MacBook mic | 50–70% |
| Laptop fan running, AC on | 70–85% |
| Coffee shop / busy room | 85–100% |
Common Complaints and Fixes
- "It cuts off the end of my words." Drag the sensitivity slider down. At 25–35% you get hum and rumble removal but the gate barely engages on speech.
- "It doesn't cut enough background hiss." Drag it up. At 70–85% you'll hear an obviously quieter background between phrases.
- "The voice sounds too bright." That's the presence boost. We can't disable it independently right now — turn Enhance Voice off if you prefer the unprocessed sound.
What's Untouched
- The original microphone file stays on disk untouched. You can always go back.
- System audio is not processed — only the dedicated microphone track.
- The export uses whichever version (raw or enhanced) the toggle indicates at export time.
- Transcription continues to use whichever version is active, so cleaner mic audio can improve transcription accuracy.