If you have ever shot a video in low light or recorded sound with a substandard microphone in a challenging environment you will know all about video and audio noise and how difficult it is to get rid of it. Thankfully DaVinci Resolve has some great tools to effectively reduce noise in both audio and video.
Summary
Part 1: How to Reduce Noise in Video in DaVinci Resolve 17
Video noise reduction in DaVinci Resolve is generally applied in the Color page but can also be applied in the Edit page as an effect. To apply video noise reduction as an effect, select it from the Open FX panel in either the Edit or Color pages and drag it onto the selected clip or node as appropriate. On the Color page, video noise reduction can also be applied through the Motion Effects panel.
It doesn’t matter which way you apply video noise reduction in DaVinci Resolve you will be presented with 2 main options: temporal noise reduction and spatial noise reduction. Each of these targets the noise in different parts of the image and can be used in combination or independently.
Temporal Noise Reduction
This method of noise reduction looks at the number of frames which you choose and compares noise across the frames. Temporal noise reduction is best used to reduce noise in areas of the image with no movement. Use the Temporal Threshold settings to affect how much noise reduction is applied.
Spatial Noise Reduction
Spatial noise reduction analyzes the pixels in a defined radius to work out what is noise and then smooth it out frame by frame. Use the Mode and Radius settings to adjust the quality of the analysis and the Spatial threshold settings to determine how much is applied.
It is important to note that video noise reduction is a very resource-intensive process so it is best left to be the last effect you apply. It is often worth using the render in place option in DaVinci Resolve to help with particularly challenging clips. This will help you achieve real-time playback on noise-reduced clips that would otherwise bring your computer to a grinding halt.
Part 2: Reduce Audio Noise in DaVinci Resolve 17
Noisy audio is a common by-product of low-quality microphones, difficult recording environments, or incorrect recording settings. It’s not always possible to save these audio clips but the noise reduction tools that are built into Fairlight in DaVinci Resolve 17 are pretty good. The filter itself has many options and can be a bit complicated, so we will stick to its most handy and simple function – Auto speech mode.
- Go to the Fairlight page.
- In the Mixer, under Effects click and add Noise Reduction or select Restoration > Fairlight Effects > Noise Reduction. This option will add the filter to the entire track or bus, depending on which you chose.
- The effect can also be applied to individual clips by dragging it from the Effects panel onto the selected clip. Select the Auto Speech Mode and the filter will do its magic and reduce the noise in your clip automatically.
- To adjust how much of the noise reduction effect is applied use the Dry/Wet settings under Output.
Noise in video or audio can really affect the quality of your finished video and can be difficult to get rid of. Thankfully DaVinci Resolve’s built-in noise reduction tools for audio and video will help you get rid of the noise. With this handy tutorial bookmarked, now you can easily reduce and fix any static noise issues in your audio and video footage.
