Part of my ongoing ‘Directing your own online classes’ series. All articles can be found on this page.

Introduction

I recently discovered krisp.ai. (read the disclaimer at the bottom before you click) The tool , once enabled, works like a background noise cancellation tool on top of your existing microphone. It will filter most background noise (traffic, kids, spouses, etc) and is easy to use: it simply creates a new microphone in windows or ios that you then can select in your recording software (Skype, Teams, Obs, whatever.) It’s not completely free, but it’s cheap,the pro-plan comes at $3,33 a month. In fact, currently you get 2 weeks for free and it stays free if you use it less than 120 minutes per week. And if you’re a student or teacher, you can also apply for a pro-account for free for the next six months (more info)

The cool thing is that it actually works 🙂 This sounds a bit like those sales-tv commercials, so allow me to demonstrate. In the following clip I’m talking in my Yeti Microphone in cardioid setting (meaning that it mainly picks up sounds coming from my direction) and turn krisp on and off while I ask the kids to keep talking from their bedrooms (one floor above me, with an open staircase between us). As you can hear, I effectively remove my kids while recording, and all in real time.

Disclaimer: I’m not affiliated to krisp.ai. However, once I registered I got a “referall” link that I use here on top of my post. When people that also register through this referal link I get two months for free.

Cover image by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash