removing electrical artefact background sounds behind speech

Question

Maybe this is an elementary type of noise, but I find a strange intermittent rattle in a video I am processing

• As I don't know any good denomination for it, I would describe it as some kind of electrical resonance or vibration.
• Furthermore, the lights in the video (wall-lamps) actually shake a bit whenever that noise is emitted.
• that noise is already present in the source video, in fact, it is tied to the location that the video was filmed at

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Sample

• I have uploaded a short clip to show you what I mean - it's a Flash (flv) video here
• i.e. the noise is present at the very start, then stops at 2 seconds, then starts again after a bit etc

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What is it and how can I minimize that noise?

Preferably with Adobe Audition, but other tools are potentials as well?

Answer 1

Try a parametric EQ, or a band-reject filter (essentially the same thing).

1. Setup your audio so that you can loop the section with the problem sound.
2. In your EQ or filter, adjust the controls so that your band is narrow and deep. That is, a small range of frequency is impacted, but that band is almost entirely attenuated.
3. slowly sweep the filter from low frequency to high (or vice-versa). Notice when the annoying sound goes away.
4. Go back to the spots where the sound was most removed. Now play around with the band width and cut depth to find the ideal settings.
5. If you are using a parametric EQ, then repeat the process for additional bands until you've cleaned up all of the unwanted sound. If you are using a band-reject filter, then add more instances of the filter and repeat the process until the unwanted sound is all gone.