Removing Hiss

[Brina]

Hey guys,

Curious what's the best route to remove hiss.  As some know I'm practicing...LOL...and using Sergio's tune "sad eyes" as my "experiment".  I believe I've got some hiss in the drum track that I can't seem to get rid of or  minimize.  If I add a gate or limit it or change the eq I loose some of if not all of the essence of the brushes.....

SadEyes with Drums
http://home.studiogerk.com/~brina/data/SadEyesBrinaMix7-30-06.wma

SadEyes without Drums
http://home.studiogerk.com/~brina/data/SadEyesNoDrums.wma

Thought I'd ask you guys for ideas....and to see if I'm loosing my mind as well...or being just too picky.

Its my first attempt at a complete (I'll be it simple) arrangement...so keep that in mind as well.

Thanks guys
Brina

PS.  Rab's actually doing the "Final" on this , just experimenting and learning the software and stuff....in case you're wondering.

[dogbizkits]

Hi, Brina....

When we have our chat on Skype, I'll give you a quick run-down on "hiss" and how to get rid of it. An important consideration is to make sure sure your noise-floor is kept low as possible and that you record louder than that noise floor otherwise the hiss will become too apparent. With most recordings starting their journey through an analog front-end, there are many elements to be considered (depending on what gear you have) and we'll discuss these shortly.

Cheers,

Rab 

[Bobby Watson]

Can you post just the drum track, Brina? I'm not sure that I am hearing a "hiss" so to speak. But, there does seem to be a certain amount of room ambience there... I'd just be curious to hear the drums alone... Cutting out the intro click, so as not to hone in on it, doesn't leave it particularly noticeable to me..

BW@

[Cary]

PS.  Rab's actually doing the "Final" on this , just experimenting and learning the software and stuff....in case you're wondering.

What software?

Samplitude (and others, I'm sure) have some good noise reduction options which work well, as long as you don't over-do it.  If you try to make it perfectly quiet, you'll be removing important musical information as well.

[Cary]

Hi, Brina....

When we have our chat on Skype, I'll give you a quick run-down on "hiss" and how to get rid of it. An important consideration is to make sure sure your noise-floor is kept low as possible and that you record louder than that noise floor otherwise the hiss will become too apparent. With most recordings starting their journey through an analog front-end, there are many elements to be considered (depending on what gear you have) and we'll discuss these shortly.

Cheers,

Rab 

Why not share your methods here?  I'm sure others can use the insights as well. 

[LMK]

If you try to make it perfectly quiet, you'll be removing important musical information as well

.

That's exactly right. If the hiss isn't noticable while all instruments are playing, it's often best to just leave it. And then if the song has a part where the hissfull (whaaat) instrument is playing solo, you might wanna do a little narrow EQing.

But the best way, as mentioned, is to record the instruments loud and clean. I never turn the computer "line in" channel up more than 50 % while recording, since it starts to create hiss at that point. And I turn the guitars/keyboards up as loud as I can without distortion to get the max amount of musical information versus noise.
 

[NickT]

If the hiss isn't louder than the ringing in my ears, I leave it alone.

Otherwise, much like the advice you got, I leave it where the music is louder than the noise floor and will run a noise reduction plug where it gets quiet or as LMK stated, do some very fine notch EQing.

Nick

[dogbizkits]

The best piece of advice I'd give to any collaborating musician / singer would be to get the very best front-end [pre-amp] they can afford to interface with their DAW for recording. Basically, if you have a noisy signal chain, that noise will be amplified again through each link in the chain and ultimately raise your noise floor further. If you start with a noisy input signal (i.e., from the output of a cheap guitar stomp box, for example), the "noise" content of the signal will be faithfully amplified through the next [sometimes weak link] in the chain and add even more noise - which then goes to your DAW. This is a pretty extreme example, but I used it to illustrate the point. Keeping things very simple is the key. A "decent" condensor mike and "decent" preamp [+ recording at the right level] is all that's needed for a vocalist (or anyone needing to use a microphone) to record their source sound. Of course, you don't have to break the bank to get "decent" sound - but it does help to have a front end that's is fit for the purpose without being too "noisy". However, even the best analog pro gear (even with a digital output) is noisy - but the noise floor is generally much lower. It's a matter of budget. If anyone wants to record a specific instrument cleanly, I'm sure the technical guys here would be happy to point them in a few directions or offer advice to help them get the best bang for their hard-earned bucks.

I hope this helps a little 

Rab 

[Brina]

PS.  Rab's actually doing the "Final" on this , just experimenting and learning the software and stuff....in case you're wondering.

What software?

Samplitude (and others, I'm sure) have some good noise reduction options which work well, as long as you don't over-do it.  If you try to make it perfectly quiet, you'll be removing important musical information as well.

Cary,

I'm actually mixing with SONAR 4.....don't have a whole lot in the way of plug in's YET....but working on it...just not sure what to look for to help in this matter...thanks for the info thou.

[BassPlayer]

FWIW I did some hiss reduction on some old tracks by using Goldwave's hiss reduction filter. Worked pretty good.

[Brina]

Bobby,

here's the drums only track......maybe it is just ambience...I dunno...but it sounds like hiss to me.....

[Cary]

Oh...


Brina, that's not hiss.  Thats a part of the technique when using brushes.

Steel brushes, coated snare head, drummer rotates hand while resting the brush on the head.  Makes a nice hissey type of noise - fills in the nice light music.

[Cary]

...but it sounds like hiss to me.....

...and I'm lovin that quote!

[Brina]

 

[Cary]

Awe... I thought I'd see all smiles!