squeek when my fingers move on the fretboard - and noise gate threshold.

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ritz

New member
Total newbie to home recording here.....

I'm using ntrack and really love it. My current technical obsticals are:

1) when my fingers slide on the guitar strings (i've been playing 15 years so this isn't really a how-to-play-guitar question) I get a very loud sqeek sound that normally (in a room, playing accoustic) is not anoying. But when recording (using built in pickup on my Ovation) it is awefull. I tried some of that citrus spray stuff on the fretboard and it made it 5 times worse.

So should I go to flat wound strings? What should I do... The last song I did was beautiful, but ruined by the sqeeks....

2) I have a BOSS digital effects patch for my guitar. One of the settings is a noise eliminator. I HAVE to use it because otherwise my background noise is noticable... like a hissing or humming sound.... (weak but noticable)... I can set it 0 to 100 in increments of 5. Well even with it set at 5.... if i'm playing very softly, i'm at the threshold and i sort of warble in and out...
If i put it on zero, (fix this problem) then i get lots of background hum and hiss....... what do I do.

I feel like if i could solve these two problems.... my recordings would be very very good.


Not that it matters, but I'm recording mostly straight one-shot instramental accoustic guitar type stuff.... but I'm also experimenting with Roland electronic drums and a bass guitar/ electric guitar as well.. I have alot of fun doing my own "rock" songs, but nothing I would every concider "publishing" at this point...

Thanks all.
Dave
 
Try useing "FingerEase" comes in a can you sray it on your strings..It works pretty well...I think you should be able to find it at just about any music store...Good Luck


Don
 
You can EQ some of the highs out, if that doesn't ruin your sound. Other than that, I would invest in some mics... But that could cost you alot.

And well... As a classical trained guitarplayer that really doesn't like those squeecks, I must say it: try to adapt your playing style a little... Just train on it. (I'm not very classical trained, but still. I did train on that...)
 
I would definately consider trying differnet strings. Flatwound strings will have a different tone, but should significantly reduce the ol' finger squeak.
 
the finger ease stuff is awesome
you also may try a lighter guage string- i play extra lights and they are so tightly wound that the squeeks are minimal
also, it may be the reverberation of the friction through the body of the guitar making your squeeks so loud- so, if you mic'd it instead of using the on board pickup that may have some success
:)
 
One of the main reasons I have acoustic/electric is because I have no suitable recording "studio" I just use my room. I love plugging in my accoustic, putting on headphones and recording.... but I guess your right, if I had a mic that would help... I'll think about that... but it raises all sorts of new technical challenges...

Interesting about the training part.....I'll give it a shot. I'll fiddle
with my songs and see... specifically there is one deadly part in a song that really raised this issue, I'll just have to play it different unless I can find some kind of quiet place (with decient accoustics) to record in...




Roel said:
You can EQ some of the highs out, if that doesn't ruin your sound. Other than that, I would invest in some mics... But that could cost you alot.

And well... As a classical trained guitarplayer that really doesn't like those squeecks, I must say it: try to adapt your playing style a little... Just train on it. (I'm not very classical trained, but still. I did train on that...)
Click to expand...
 
Is your room THAT noisy? The tone you get out of those pickups mostly isn't all that satisfying either... A little background noise might be less annoying than the squeecks, and if it comes with a better tone, you might as well go for it!

As for the squeecks... Some people really like that. They even put it on one of the Roland JV1010 guitar patches!!! I hate that patch. :D

The training part. Are you playing slides or anything? If you're just playing chords or adjusting finger settings with no need to glide over your strings, you should train lifting your fingers straight up etc... Without changing what you actually play!
 
Well I rent a room with a couple other guys. It's a suburban neighborhood... the roar of traffic from a main street just 2 blocks away, airplanes landing and taking off, cars racing down our street. Really its your typical "desireable calm little street" but it still has it's share of noise. What I need to do is actually find some other place (school/work place/church) that I can record in when there is nobody there... preferably in a basement or something. That would be great. I could probably work that out.


I happen to not like the sqeeks :)

I operate mostly in alternate tunings so there really aren't any
"chords" I think the most fingers I put down at the same time
is 3. But yes, I do slide every 5 or 10 seconds between fingerings. Or (in most cases) the slide is the desired sound,
minus the sqeek naturally.... grin.


Roel said:
Is your room THAT noisy? The tone you get out of those pickups mostly isn't all that satisfying either... A little background noise might be less annoying than the squeecks, and if it comes with a better tone, you might as well go for it!
As for the squeecks... Some people really like that. They even put it on one of the Roland JV1010 guitar patches!!! I hate that patch. :D


The training part. Are you playing slides or anything? If you're just playing chords or adjusting finger settings with no need to glide over your strings, you should train lifting your fingers straight up etc... Without changing what you actually play!
Click to expand...
 
So now I need a mic.... I'll look through some other threads and see what I can find... Or maybe someone could suggest one?
My price range would be under $200....


ritz said:
Well I rent a room with a couple other guys. It's a suburban neighborhood... the roar of traffic from a main street just 2 blocks away, airplanes landing and taking off, cars racing down our street. Really its your typical "desireable calm little street" but it still has it's share of noise. What I need to do is actually find some other place (school/work place/church) that I can record in when there is nobody there... preferably in a basement or something. That would be great. I could probably work that out.


I happen to not like the sqeeks :)

I operate mostly in alternate tunings so there really aren't any
"chords" I think the most fingers I put down at the same time
is 3. But yes, I do slide every 5 or 10 seconds between fingerings. Or (in most cases) the slide is the desired sound,
minus the sqeek naturally.... grin.
Click to expand...
 
Finger Ease tends to be very messy and it doesnt last very long.. My suggestion to you would be FastFret... That stuff that comes on the stick that you rub on the fretboard.. It works quite well..

Also you mentioned a built in noise reducer... You could disable that and play through a direct box... That did wonders for me when I was recording with a little bottlecap pickup stuck to the side of my accoustic guitar with that blue sticky stuff.

Demensia
 
Thanks for the tip. I'll give FastFret a try after I try flatwound.

When you say "direct box" do you mean just a vanilla pre-amp
rather than my boss effects patch?


demensia said:
Finger Ease tends to be very messy and it doesnt last very long.. My suggestion to you would be FastFret... That stuff that comes on the stick that you rub on the fretboard.. It works quite well..

Also you mentioned a built in noise reducer... You could disable that and play through a direct box... That did wonders for me when I was recording with a little bottlecap pickup stuck to the side of my accoustic guitar with that blue sticky stuff.

Demensia
Click to expand...
 
A direct box takes out alot of the background noises from a microphone, or acousic pickup... to take the hum out of an electric guitar.... its simply called a "direct box"... you can get one for $20-30...
 
And well... As a classical trained guitarplayer that really doesn't like those squeecks, I must say it: try to adapt your playing style a little... Just train on it
Click to expand...

Here, Here.

I play violin, but I play other strings as a hobby.If the "squeak" is a result of rubbing your fingers on the strings when you shift, I would assume the answer would be what Roel Suggested:cool:

As I said, I am not a pro Guitarist, but the only answers I see would be
A: Move the mic back a bit
B: Dont make the squeak

Once again, I am a violinist, but:

Oh Dear Lord, dont rub anything of any kind on a stringed instrument. Ointments, Spray, etc. will just ruin the strings, the fingerboard, you name it. Anything moist will ruin the strings and make them false.

Sorry, I just re-read, you are using a pickup, so forget my "moving the mic" comment. My Bad.

Perhaps you can post an audio example of the sound of the squeak.
As for the squeecks... Some people really like that. They even put it on one of the Roland JV1010 guitar patches!!! I hate that patch
Click to expand...

I have a JV 1010 too. That is the most absurd patch of all time, why would someone want to put a bad sound in their music.

Changing strings will possibly help, but if you want to really take out the squeak sound, take out the squeak!! Good Luck
 
Acoustic/Electric guitars and direct boxes

So, would it improve the sound to mic my Ovation (Shure SM-57) AND run its pickup through a direct box to my humble little PortaStudio?

I'm getting lots o' hiss right now in my recordings....not sure where it's coming from.


Thanks!
 
If you were to mic the ovation you would want to run the mic through the direct box and forget the pickup... or.. I would anyway :)

The background hissings come from all over the place, nearby cellphones, electrical charges running through wires, in the case of a microphone the god damn next door neighbor's leaf blowing machine.

For software, cooledit's hiss reduction feature works alright but makes the sound ... overprocessed... I had good luck with Steinberg Clean when processing a bunch of tracks for a cd, cleaning them up and normalizing... But those are really the only cleanup features ive toyed with...

Anyone know anything good?

Demensia
 
HOWDY.
So what is normalizing? I've heard that a couple of times now.

I find that my recordings sound pretty darn good in headphones
but when i play them in the car (cd or tape) they get too quiet and too loud... I'm constantly cranking the volume up or down to listen to a song... sounds fine in the headphones.....

I us "ntrack" (yes i registered it) It has an "auto Volume" feature
I guess I could try that....

Anyway (since I think it's on topic) also, what EXACTLY does compression do?

Many thanks.
You guys rule. Answers by the ton here. I love it.


demensia said:
If you were to mic the ovation you would want to run the mic through the direct box and forget the pickup... or.. I would anyway :)

The background hissings come from all over the place, nearby cellphones, electrical charges running through wires, in the case of a microphone the god damn next door neighbor's leaf blowing machine.

For software, cooledit's hiss reduction feature works alright but makes the sound ... overprocessed... I had good luck with Steinberg Clean when processing a bunch of tracks for a cd, cleaning them up and normalizing... But those are really the only cleanup features ive toyed with...

Anyone know anything good?

Demensia
Click to expand...
 
Normalizing changes the volume... so if you were to normalize by %50.... its the same as "cutting the volume in half". So if you were normalizing an entire cd, you would be changing it so that every song plays at the same volume.

Im just a newbie so correct me if Im wrong, but all compression does is take the highest and lowest peaks of a recording, and squeezes them together to fit somewhere in the middle, and make all equal... try it with n-track.. you can visually see what it does.
 
Okay, then I'll experiment with compression to see if I can "lift" the quiet playing and mellow out the loud stuff so I can actually listen to the entire song without changing the volume and get the desired effect... thats phase one, when that works, then I'll see how it sounds in the car (ouch).


demensia said:
Normalizing changes the volume... so if you were to normalize by %50.... its the same as "cutting the volume in half". So if you were normalizing an entire cd, you would be changing it so that every song plays at the same volume.

Im just a newbie so correct me if Im wrong, but all compression does is take the highest and lowest peaks of a recording, and squeezes them together to fit somewhere in the middle, and make all equal... try it with n-track.. you can visually see what it does.
Click to expand...
 
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