[snip]
recorded in audacity and used a noise removal filter to get rid of the static, which did left it sounding very ghosty at parts, but it's the best i know how to do 
The default settings in Audacity's "Noise Removal" can be a bit too agressive.
I forget the exact appearance and labeling of the dialog box, but there's one setting given in dB, "Reduction" or some such. If the default is, say 32 db (I forget, it's been so long), then try 24 dB, or even -16 dB.
There's another control ("Smoothness"?), with a frequency bandwidth in Hz (I
so forget), and bumping that up helps too.
I find (when I'm listening, at any rate) that even though more of the original noise and/or hum comes through, it's a lot easier to get used to it and ignore it than the "bubbly" artifacts of more aggressive noise removal. They are just too alien to dismiss.
It also helps to take the noise sample from a section that has
only continuous steady noise, like fan noise, AC hum, etc. No clicks, pops, breathing, traffic sounds, or rustling of paper.
Intermittent crackly "static" noise is hard to remove, but
white and
pink noise are not so bad.
