The noise could have been from a room air-conditioner, a cooling fan, or a ground loop on the audio cables.

Whatever it was, the noise was extremely distracting - and unless I could eliminate that noise, I would have to re-shoot the whole video on which it had been accidentally recorded.

Fortunately, I knew about Audacity. A free software tool with an automatic noise reduction filter built in.

Using Audacity, I was able to completely eliminate the unwanted noise - in less than a minute. And this meant I wouldn't have to re-shoot the video - saving me much time and trouble.

To see how I did it, and to learn more about the free Audacity software, check out the short video at http://www.bmyers.com/public/1290.cfm

Knowing how to clean up unwanted noise from an audio or video can be a lifesaver - especially if you shoot videos or record audio interviews for a living.