Glossary → Audio fundamentals
Audio fundamentals
Noise floor
The noise floor is the constant background level present in a recording when nobody is speaking — room tone, electronics hiss, HVAC rumble — measured in dBFS.
The gap between speech level and noise floor is the signal-to-noise ratio; a floor 40+ dB below speech feels professional. A high floor is the single most common defect in amateur recordings, and quieting the room beats fixing it in software.
Related terms
Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)Signal-to-noise ratio compares desired audio to background noise, in decibels — higher SNR means cleaner recor…
Room toneRoom tone is the 'silence' of a recording space — its constant ambient character — deliberately recorded so ed…
Speech enhancementSpeech enhancement cleans a voice recording — suppressing noise, reducing reverb, restoring clarity — using mo…