Noise floor
The noise floor is the constant level of background sound in a recording, such as room hum, air conditioning or electrical hiss, that sits beneath the voice. A low noise floor means cleaner, more professional audio.
For example, before recording a host claps once and listens back to silence, hearing a faint hiss from the laptop fan, which is the noise floor they then reduce by turning off the fan and moving the mic.
Why it matters: a high noise floor makes audio sound amateurish and tiring to listen to, so keeping it low directly protects how credible your show feels.
A clean noise floor sits low enough that you cannot hear hiss or hum under speech - aim to capture it well below the voice rather than fix it later.
- Fixing a high noise floor with aggressive denoise that leaves voices sounding watery.
- Recording near laptop fans, air conditioning, or buzzing lights.
- Boosting quiet recordings in post, which raises the floor with the voice.
What is the noise floor?
The noise floor is the constant level of background sound in a recording, such as room hum, air conditioning or electrical hiss, that sits beneath the voice. A low noise floor means cleaner, more professional audio.
How do you lower the noise floor?
Record in a quiet, treated room, use a dynamic mic close to the mouth, turn off fans and air conditioning, and keep gain set correctly so you are not amplifying background noise.
Can you remove noise in post-production?
Mild noise can be reduced with denoise tools, but heavy reduction introduces artefacts. It is far better to capture a low noise floor at the source.