Running water
Little change- Overall
- 1.10 → 2.91
- Background
- 1.14 → 4.11
- Naturalness
- 1.13 → 2.51
EraseNoise is a background noise remover that lowers running water, such as a tap, a sink, or a shower, behind the voice in an audio or video file. In our real sample, the background score went from 1.14 to 4.11 out of 5, but the voice can sound processed. Listen to that trade-off below, then judge it on 30 seconds of your own file, free.
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Play the tap recording and keep your attention on the voice rather than the gaps, because water covers much of the voice range and the cleanup can thin it. Then run 30 seconds of your own file for free.
This is one of the weak cases of the 24 recordings we tested. The water dropped a lot, background from 1.14 to 4.11 and overall quality from 1.10 to 2.91, but naturalness ended at 2.51, so the voice can sound processed. Scores are DNSMOS and NISQA predictions on a 1–5 scale for a real running-water recording from the Microsoft DNS Challenge test set, processed with no hand edits.
Running water is a loud, wide hiss that covers much of the voice range. It drops, but less cleanly than a fan.
Someone talking while washing up. The rush of water drops, and the voice stays, a little thinner.
Hear the recordingWe tested a tap, not a shower. Water farther from the mic than the voice is usually the easier case, so compare the preview.
We have not tested rain or outdoor water. It is broad noise like a tap, so expect the same trade-off and check the free preview.
Not tested here. A steady bubbling or hum is closer to fan noise, which cleaned well in our fan samples.
Remove fan noiseA classic noise filter treats running water as a profile to subtract, and the voice goes with it. Here the voice is the reference.
Even where the voice sounds thinner, the words come through above the water instead of under it.
The Noise reduction control mixes some of the original back in. A little water left under a fuller voice often sounds better.
The recording above is one of our weak cases. You can hear the trade-off before you upload anything.
With water, the voice is the test, not the gaps.
If the voice sounds hollow, turn the Noise reduction control down and compare again.
For the lines that matter, a few seconds without water does more than any cleanup.
Water is a weak case for every method. Choose by how much of the voice you can afford to lose.
| Option | Works best when | Falls short when |
|---|---|---|
| EraseNoise | The words must be clear and a slightly thinner voice is acceptable | The voice must sound fully natural |
| Audacity Noise Reduction | The tap runs at one steady level and there is a gap with only water | The flow changes or there is no water-only gap |
| Cutting in an editor | The tap runs only between sentences | The water runs under the words |
| Re-recording the line | You can turn the tap off for a few seconds | The moment was outdoors or cannot be repeated |
Upload the tap, shower, or river recording unedited, up to 2 GB.
A voice note recorded at the sink is returned as a WAV file.
A video with water in the soundtrack downloads as MP4 with the same picture.
Choose the audio or video file where water runs behind the voice.
Play a sentence spoken over the running tap in both versions; you can do this signed out.
Clean the whole recording only if the water is lower and the voice has not turned hollow.
The tap runs through the explanation. Lower it and keep the picture.
A message recorded while washing up. Clean it before you send it on.
The water was louder than it seemed on the day. Clean the soundtrack of the video.
Use this page for running water. If the voice must sound natural, re-recording the key lines is the safer fix.
| Job | Use |
|---|---|
| A tap, sink, shower, or stream | Use this water page |
| Kitchen clatter and the hood fan | Remove kitchen noise from audio |
| Wind on an outdoor video | Remove wind noise from video |
| A steady hiss from the mic | Remove static from audio |
| Recordings that cleaned better than water | See every example with scores |
Files with running water in them, and the cleaned versions, are erased 24 hours after the upload and are never published as samples. Keep your own copy before then.
Monthly and yearly prices stay visible together. You pay after the preview sounds right and you keep the full file. Pro includes 20 hours a month, not unlimited cleaning.
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Upload and preview$9.99/month
$9.99/month, or $95.88 per year ($7.99 per month)
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1 Hour Pack
$2.99
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5 Hour Pack
$9.99
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| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Free 30-second previews, Unlimited silence removal, Files deleted after 24 hours |
| Pro monthly | $9.99/month | 20 hours of processing per month, Audio and video, Noise and echo removal |
| Pro yearly | $95.88 per year ($7.99 per month) | 20 hours of processing per month, Audio and video, Noise and echo removal |
| 1 Hour Pack | $2.99 | 60 minutes of processing, Audio and video, Minutes never expire |
| 5 Hour Pack | $9.99 | 300 minutes of processing, Audio and video, Minutes never expire |
Upload the recording with the tap running and compare the free 30-second preview with the original. Download the full file only if the water is lower and the voice still sounds like the speaker.
On a real tap recording from the Microsoft DNS Challenge test set, the DNSMOS background score rose from 1.14 to 4.11 out of 5 and overall quality from 1.10 to 2.91. NISQA naturalness ended at 2.51, so the voice can sound processed. That makes running water one of the three weak cases among the 24 recordings we tested.
Running water covers much of the same range as a voice, so lowering it takes some of the voice too. Turn the Noise reduction control down to keep more of the voice.
We have not tested rain. It is broad noise like a running tap, so it likely drops with the same thin-voice trade-off. Check the free 30-second preview before you pay.
Processing time depends on how long the recording with running water is: as a guide, a 5-minute video takes 10 to 60 seconds. The free 30-second preview of the recording with running water uses no paid minutes, so you can judge it first.
A single file can be up to 2 GB. Previews of 30 seconds are free 3 times in 24 hours without an account, or 20 times with one. The full recording is charged in whole minutes, minimum 1.
Remove noise from audio
Wind, fans, traffic, and hum
Remove noise from video
Clean the soundtrack of MP4, MOV, WebM
Remove echo
A repeat you can count after a word
Remove reverb
Shorten a dense room wash
Audio enhancer
Make speech easier to hear
Remove background music
Lower music under someone talking
Instrumental maker
Take the vocal out of a song
Acapella extractor
Keep only the vocals of a song
Remove vocals from a song
The music stays, the singing goes
Karaoke maker
Turn a song into a backing track
Remove silence
Cut pauses, free and in your browser
Extract audio from video
Save the soundtrack as M4A, MP3, or WAV
Normalize audio
Set loudness to -14 or -16 LUFS, free
Increase video volume
Make a quiet video louder, picture untouched
Remove buzz & hum
Lower electrical hum under a voice
Remove static & hiss
Lower hiss and static under a voice
Remove applause & clapping
Lower claps around a speech
Whether you need to clean a podcast, a meeting, or a video you already shot, these guides show the next step.
Upload one file. Keep the result only if the water is lower and the voice still sounds natural.
Upload your recording