CLEANING up a mix... noises in between tracks

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Fetusborg

Fetusborg

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hi

i'm trying to clean up a mix. i've got about 15 tracks recorded, but the sound is all produced by normal setup: 2 guitars, bass, drums, 1 vocal.

now, on some of those tracks, which are done all in one take, like the vocals... there are quiet parts,,, and these parts have a hiss, a noise, that i would like to eliminate.

should i open these files up in sound forge, for example, and delete the queit parts, and piece it all back together in my sequencer?

is there an easier way?

i'm sequencing everything on KRISTAL.. a free download :rolleyes:

thanks bros
 
Use a noise gate, but be careful. A noise gate (when used incorrectly) makes a terribly unnatural 'punch-in, punch-out' effect. Set the levels, attack, and release times so that they do not have any audible artifacts and they will silence the noise in the quiet sections.
I have to ask: Is the hiss so bad that you can clearly hear it in the mix? If yes, why? What input are you using, etc...?
 
Fetusborg said:
should i open these files up in sound forge, for example, and delete the queit parts, and piece it all back together in my sequencer?

is there an easier way?
Click to expand...

Yes, in Soundforge you can select, then [MUTE] those parts. By doing this you will not ahve to "piece' it back together, since the time has not been altered.
 
Don't do anything unless you can hear it with the rest of the tracks. It's doubtful that you can hear track noise over guitars and drums. Remember: it doesn't matter what a track sounds like soloed, it only matters what it sounds like in the mix.

I've done vocal tracks where the singer couldn't "get it" with headphones, so I had to put him in front of speakers cranked up to concert volume. Talk about noise on the track... But it worked when put back in the mix.

And if you must cut the noise out, be extreemly carefull to not cut out any reverb trails caused by the room. It will sound very unnatural. I'd avoid gates and mute the tracks manually. Gates will cut off those tiny reverb trails.
 
wow
i didnt know i could mute parts in sound forge.
that'll help alot, thanks.

but also, a lot of the hiss comes AFTER i put some effects on the track. like vocals for example... i've got a telephone effect, chorus and some compression. i'd have t...

wait a minute, :eek:

i was just about to ask a really stupid question. i just thought of the answer right now, never mind.


ok, now,,, ive got a question that'll make you guys think: jazz mang and chibi nappa said that if you can't hear it in the mix with all the instruments, than ok, just let it be.

but, even if i cant hear it... and i remove all the queit parts... wont my final mix come out "clearer", in almost a subconscious level?
 
if it were in pro tools I'd simply use the strip silence plugin. you can gate it or mute automate those quiet parts as well.
 
all depends on taste, these days people gate the hell outta everything, in the old days bleed was'nt necessarily considered bad. hiss is another story.
 
Chibi Nappa said:
Don't do anything unless you can hear it with the rest of the tracks.
Click to expand...

I don't necessarily agree. Sure, at some level, the noise is so low it's not worth doing anything, but just because you can't hear the noise from an individual track in the mix doesn't mean that the cumulative effect of removing noise from all tracks when nothing's playing won't be noticable.
 
reshp1 said:
I don't necessarily agree. Sure, at some level, the noise is so low it's not worth doing anything, but just because you can't hear the noise from an individual track in the mix doesn't mean that the cumulative effect of removing noise from all tracks when nothing's playing won't be noticable.
Click to expand...



thats what i was thinking too.
but i guess there's only ONE way to find out.
 
Well on a thing like this you'd have to be careful. You could go for the noise gate approach, but that's like trying to cut your kids' hair with a weed wacker.

If you have the software for it, you can find plug-ins that work on noise reduction, crackle, pops, hiss...just about any nuisance you can think of.

However, there are pros and cons to that too. If you use it excessively, it will sound too digital and completely unorganic (dead). If the gap is long enough, then you can automate a mute to lower your noise floors.

However, alot of the times you'd tend to go in there with special noise reduction software just cause things like hiss can be factored out without the use of noise gates, strip silence or other choppy methods.
 
LRosario said:
Well on a thing like this you'd have to be careful. You could go for the noise gate approach, but that's like trying to cut your kids' hair with a weed wacker.

If you have the software for it, you can find plug-ins that work on noise reduction, crackle, pops, hiss...just about any nuisance you can think of.

However, there are pros and cons to that too. If you use it excessively, it will sound too digital and completely unorganic (dead). If the gap is long enough, then you can automate a mute to lower your noise floors.

However, alot of the times you'd tend to go in there with special noise reduction software just cause things like hiss can be factored out without the use of noise gates, strip silence or other choppy methods.
Click to expand...

Automation. I just don't trust gates
 
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