More CEP distortion problems

[Alexis Machine]

Hi all. I'm new to the forum. I'm also new to all this mixing & mastering stuff, so bear with me if I say something stupid.

I'm having a similar problem as to what's being described here: https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=81734

It's also guitar tracks, clean guitar. I'm applying effects through CEP; the guitar only has a little reverb running through it, and I'm using the CEP EQ on the track FX, and I've run the track through the FFT filter (Kill the Mic Rumble preset).

I'm getting these crinkly sounds in the upper frequencies and I can't seem to isolate them. When I mix down & run it through T-Racks with the FM preset, it sounds much, much worse (yes, radio is evil), but I want it to sound at least decent on FM.

Max peak in the guitar track is about -1dB.

What could I do in CEP or anything else to soften it up? I've been playing with reverbs & EQs for *hours* trying to fix it. Re-recording the guitar track is not an option.

If you want samples, I can post one. If you want settings, I can post them. If you need more info, I'll answer as best I can.

 

[dobro]

If the the recorded track is seriously distorted, there's little or nothing you can do to 'erase' that distortion. You can't 'fix' a botched track.

Anyway, having said that, where's the distortion? Is it on the first, dry recorded track? Or is it cropping up only when you start mixing?

 

[Alexis Machine]

If the the recorded track is seriously distorted, there's little or nothing you can do to 'erase' that distortion. You can't 'fix' a botched track.

Anyway, having said that, where's the distortion? Is it on the first, dry recorded track? Or is it cropping up only when you start mixing?

It's on the dry track. I was able to minimize it by sloping off the high end EQ, but it's still there. After listening to it several hundred times, it seems to be more of a guitar/amp artifact than distortion; maybe a resonation in the guitar body or something. The wave itself doesn't actually ever clip.

I've also found another track (the last one we did) that *does* have clipping in about five spots. No hope for that one, I suppose.

This sucks.

 

[flat-9]

maybe a resonation in the guitar body or something. The wave itself doesn't actually ever clip.

I've also found another track (the last one we did) that *does* have clipping in about five spots. No hope for that one, I suppose.

This sucks.

If the former is true, (resonation), that's the track that probably has no hope I'd experiment with the track that has the 5 spikes in it ...........EFFECTS / AMPLITUDE / AMPLIFY / -3db /
You might find that 3db is to much, so manually adjust them to -1 or -1.5db. Clipping is one thing, unwanted distortion is another if it's on your raw track. I also like trial & error dynamics processing. You've always got your buddy "undo"!
Good luck & don't buy the farm over it, frustrating sometimes but nothin' comes easy man

peace,
flat-9

 

[chrisharris]

Keep in mind that you can still distort a signal in the chain somewhere even if the "final" printed signal is below 0db.

Call me Captain Obvious, but it sounds like that's what happened. I mean, if it's on the dry track, and the dry track maxed out at -1db, then...well, that's definitely what happened.