Vocal hiss in recording

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lttoler

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I am currently recording a demo for my band but have ran into a slight problem. We recorded vocals to a few songs and now after mixing, I realize that there is a hiss-sounding noise over the vocal track. Is there anything I can download or use to minimize some of this electrical hiss? I recorded them through a Boss BR-1180 and I am mixing them on Reaper. Thanks!
 
Depends on what kind of "hiss" it is, and what frequency range the hiss is in.

If it's a consistant "hiss" sound then you should be able to remove the majority of it without effecting the vocal sound too much.

You will probably want to find a VST for noise removal. I've never looked, but I don't think Reaper comes with a noise removal plug-in. You might also be able to get rid of some/most of it with an EQ.

Can you post a sample?
 
Is there anything I can download or use to minimize some of this electrical hiss?
Click to expand...

I know there are no set rules in recording, but i personally don't like to use effects, especially plugins, to fix a sound. if i use plug-ins it is to build upon a solid sounding track by blending the original with the effected sound. My advice would be to try and re-record the vocals, and figure out where in the signal chain you are picking up the hiss. It might even be something like a lamp, or small fan running while you are recording (electricity is funny that way), or maybe you are recording tracks to close to your computer. It could be a number of things.
If you start piling plug-ins on a less than par vocal track you might end up with an artificial sounding track.
but again there are no rules, all that maters is that in the end you a really happy with your sound.
-----mike-----
 
Capture the hiss sound and use the noise reduction process.

Is your system grounded or earth? This is the most common problem.
 
Lo-Fi Mike said:
I know there are no set rules in recording, but i personally don't like to use effects, especially plugins, to fix a sound. if i use plug-ins it is to build upon a solid sounding track by blending the original with the effected sound. My advice would be to try and re-record the vocals, and figure out where in the signal chain you are picking up the hiss. It might even be something like a lamp, or small fan running while you are recording (electricity is funny that way), or maybe you are recording tracks to close to your computer. It could be a number of things.
If you start piling plug-ins on a less than par vocal track you might end up with an artificial sounding track.
but again there are no rules, all that maters is that in the end you a really happy with your sound.
-----mike-----
Click to expand...
Yeah well re-recording the vocals (sans the hiss) is obviously the best solution but a noise removal plugin would probably work well providing you have some 'silence' with the hiss in it too.
 
If you are using Reaper, try Reafir in subtractive mode.

Find a bit of the track with just hiss (no vocal) and "automatically build noise profile". Save that and set Reafir into subtractive mode with that profile loaded.

If it is too much, you can increase or decrease the amount of NR by moving the red lines with ctrl-click. (Also, change -90 in the bottom right to -200 to give yourself more room to manouevre).

Good luck. It's non-destructive, so you can play with it and no harm done.
 
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