How to remove background noise in DaVinci Resolve

DaVinci Resolve gives you several ways to reduce noise, but which ones you can use depends on your version. The best one-click tool, Voice Isolation, is only in the paid DaVinci Resolve Studio. The free version still has the Fairlight Noise Reduction effect and a full EQ. This guide walks through all three, plus how to fix wind.

Method 1: Voice Isolation (Resolve Studio)

Voice Isolation is an AI feature that separates speech from everything else. It's the quickest and most effective option if you have Studio.

1. On the Edit page, select the clip in the timeline.
2. Open the Inspector (top right) and click the Audio tab.
3. Switch on Voice Isolation and set the Amount. Blackmagic suggests 70 to 80 for natural results that still isolate the voice strongly. At 50 the mix is roughly half original and half isolated, and at 100 voices can sound thin.
4. Play the clip back on headphones and fine-tune.

You can also apply Voice Isolation to a whole track from the Fairlight page mixer, which is handy when every clip on a dialogue track has the same noise.

Method 2: Fairlight Noise Reduction effect

This is the classic noise reducer, and the main option on the free version.

1. Open the Effects Library and go to Audio FX (under Fairlight FX).
2. Drag Noise Reduction onto your audio clip. To process a whole track instead, add it from the Mixer on the Fairlight page.
3. Select the clip and open the effect's controls in the Inspector (Effects tab, Audio section), or click the custom control button to open its window. For dialogue, tick Auto Speech Mode and let it adapt as the clip plays.
4. For steady noise like a fan or hum, you'll often get better results with manual mode: play a section with only noise (no talking), click Learn while it plays, then stop. Resolve builds a noise profile from it.
5. Adjust Threshold (higher removes more noise) and Sensitivity until the noise drops without the voice going watery. Tick Listen to Noise Only to hear what is being removed, and use Dry/Wet to blend some original audio back in if it sounds over-processed.

Method 3: EQ for rumble, hum and wind

Not all noise needs a noise reducer. Low rumble from traffic, air conditioning or wind sits mostly below the voice, so an EQ removes it cleanly:

1. Select the clip and open Inspector > Audio, then enable the EQ (or use the track EQ on the Fairlight page).
2. Set Band 1's filter type to Hi-Pass, switch the band on, and set its frequency to around 80 Hz for a deep male voice, up to 120 Hz for higher voices.
3. For electrical hum at 50 or 60 Hz, the De-Hummer effect in Fairlight FX targets it and its harmonics directly.

Wind needs both: high-pass first to remove the rumble, then Voice Isolation or Noise Reduction for the hiss on top. Heavy gusts that fully cover the voice can't be rescued by any tool. For more on this, see how to reduce wind noise in audio.

No Studio licence? Clean it online instead

If you're on the free version and Noise Reduction isn't getting your dialogue clean enough, you can do the AI cleaning outside Resolve:

1. Render the clip (or just its audio) from the Deliver page, or use the original camera file.
2. Drop it into CleanNoise's video noise remover and listen to a free 30-second preview of the cleaned audio.
3. Download the full file for $0.99 if you're happy with it. If you uploaded the video, the download is the same video with the cleaned audio, so just swap it into your timeline. If you uploaded audio only, line it up with the original clip's waveform and mute the old track.

If the problem is room echo rather than noise, turn on the echo option too, or read how to remove echo from audio.

Tips for better results in Resolve

• Order matters. High-pass and noise reduction come before compression; a compressor raises quiet parts and makes noise louder.
• Use clip-level effects for mixed sources. If only one camera or mic is noisy, apply effects to those clips rather than the whole track.
• Watch the playback load. Noise Reduction and Voice Isolation are heavy on long timelines. If playback stutters, render the processed clips in place (right-click > Render in Place) to free up resources.
• Check on two playback systems. Headphones reveal watery artefacts; laptop speakers reveal whether the voice still sounds full.

Which method should you use?

On Resolve Studio, Voice Isolation plus a high-pass filter handles almost everything, and you never leave your timeline. On the free version, try Fairlight Noise Reduction first. If it can't get the dialogue clean without sounding processed, CleanNoise gives you AI cleaning with a free preview, for less than the cost of a coffee per file.