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Update: Rather than delete this entire post, I figured I'd update it with a revelation in case anyone else runs into these kinds of issues. Both issues were pretty much taken care of with adjustments to the cameras themselves. In the UI for my cameras there is a noise filter setting. I'm not sure what that setting is SUPPOSED to do, but in my case it was causing the wattery/tin can noise issue. As soon as I turned off that noise filter, tires and other background noise went from being jet engines to being just a loud noise in the background.

Second though, I turned the mic settings down on the camera and even down to 50% right now I can still hear the squirrels rustling leaves next door. So I may go down even further after I do some testing.

Already though, while background noise is still louder than I'd like, the bulk of my audio issues seem to be taken care of. When cars drive past now I can hear them, but they no longer dominate the audio track. The mics on my cameras are just insanely sensitive it would seem.

Cameras are Amcrest 5MP outdoor turret style IP cameras.
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I've been using Blue Iris for a couple years now and while I've been very pleased with the video, the audio continues to be less than ideal. My first issue was wind so I glued some audio windscreen foam over the mics on my cameras and that made all the difference for the wind noise.

Second is what I'll describe as "wattery" audio or maybe tin can echo audio. If I encountered this in a movie transcode or other recording, I'd look to adjust the audio codec settings. I don't see those kinds of settings in Blue Iris. Is there anywhere to adjust audio settings other than on/off? I did find an audio spectral analysis and spectrogram, which are super cool, but seem to be view only with no functional purpose.

Lastly is what I'd say is a gain or EQ issue. It's like the system is amplifying specific frequencies over others and it usually is amplifying the wrong things. For example, a camera on the front of my house picks up tire noise from cars driving down the street that starts literally 2 blocks away. Long before a car comes into view, I can hear the ROAR of the tires coming and it gets louder to the point of a jet engine by the time the car is actually passing by and drowns out any close audio I might care to hear instead. The street is 40 feet from the house and while standing outside listening with your eyes, the tire noise is barely noticeable. But seriously, in my recordings, tires are jet engines. I can also hear the neighbors talking in their front yard, as long as there are no cars within 3 blocks. So I have an extreme annoyance right with an incredible good.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

I get the same with my Dahua cams, enable the noise filter and for some reason the cams audio becomes a fizzy, banging, popping, rustling mess?