How to get a cleaner/less noisy sound?

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The Magic Hoof

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I have a very simple and quick question.

It is beyond me -- how guitarists get such a clean/perfect sound out of their recordings (just when PLAYING as well). When I play, it seems that there is so much string noise and little 'bumps' in the recordings. Like... you can hear it in the recording if you just so happen to 'tap' the guitar body. String noise is a big problem for me. It's handling the guitar in general that makes noise -- it's very sensitive.

I've seen guitarists record video tracks of themselves and they're doing all of this shredding/tapping stuff, and not a SINGLE string is ringing out when they're doing this, nor any noise from when they readjust the position of the guitar or their hands on the guitar.

I'm almost sure of it that this has to do with their setup and not their playing itself. You can only go so far with making sure you're clean and don't cause any excess noise from the guitar. Maybe some kind of compression/limiting/noise suppressing/etc is going on here?



It seems that I can set my guitar down (with it still on) and fart from 15 feet away and I can hear it in the guitar.
 
I know exactly what you mean. One thing I'll do is put tape on the 5th and 6th string if I'm not using them for that part of the recording. I'll also use just the first channel of my ISP Decimator for guitar pickup noise....but will not use channel 2, because that noise can be cleaned up later and I don't want to hurt the signal anymore.
 
I'm running directly into my amp and not using anything in between. It's always been the biggest wonder to me -- how I see guitarists do so much maneuvering with so little string noise, etc. It has GOT to be something in their setup, at least settings. Maybe it's that they're not using a lot of gain, or using something to clean it up. I'm not sure.
 
I battle this too. I like the sound of higain but yea it can be noisy. I do know one thing that works for me though is turn the treble down a little too and mids up a little more but its not the best either. Good luck!
 
Just some things that have worked for me:

1. For solos/tapping passages, tie a handkerchief around the 1st fret just tight enough to stop the strings from rattling (John Petrucci did this while recording the solo for "Forsaken").

2. Either roll off your volume knob when you pause or stop playing (like Yngwie Malmsteen), or try a volume pedal.

3. For string noise try either Fast Fret, or the Ernie Ball Fretboard conditioner/string wipes. You will get a lot less noise.

4. Use a noise gate on your recorder track and/or edit out the bumps and noises (I do this all the time).

Keep in mind that if you see someone onstage jumping around and playing, every other instrument is so loud in comparison that basically you probably won't even hear it.

For live DVDs/CDs, etc they no doubt edit out anything undesireable before mastering it.
 
You never hear that stuff when mixed with the other instruments, but, yes, it is in your technique, not some magic box. Most pros use far less gain than you'd think.
 
The Magic Hoof said:
I have a very simple and quick question.
It seems that I can set my guitar down (with it still on) and fart from 15 feet away and I can hear it in the guitar.

Do you like your tone ?
Are your pickup's mikey?
or you might be over doing it .
Me thinks too many effect's ?
Easy to do . or just put it down to musical texture .
 
turn the gain down.

improve your muting technique.

judicious use of noise gate.

that's pretty much it.
 
This is something I've been trying to work on too. For me I have found out that it has a lot to do with my muting technique. Not palm muting specifically but just muting when I'm not playing or turning the volume down like someone else said, or just making sure when I'm soloing that I'm being as clean as possible by not letting my fingers slide against or bump other strings.

the only thing I haven't master is doing my sweeping arpeggios cleanly but I always try to go too fast before I have it clean and I know I shouldn't.

I have seen some people put hair scrunchies or something similar around the first fret. I have tried and didn't notice anything that different.
 
As said previously, you dont need as much gain as most people think you need.

But it really just boils down to good technique pure and simple.
 
fjk1138 said:
2. Either roll off your volume knob when you pause or stop playing (like Yngwie Malmsteen), or try a volume pedal.
I thought it was this video where he does just that, but after listening again, it sounds like a noise gate. in particular listen to it at 25 sec. seems like he has a ton of gain, but the noise it gets chopped...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLa6iW7dRf4
 
kiff said:
fjk1138 said:
2. Either roll off your volume knob when you pause or stop playing (like Yngwie Malmsteen), or try a volume pedal.
I thought it was this video where he does just that, but after listening again, it sounds like a noise gate. in particular listen to it at 25 sec. seems like he has a ton of gain, but the noise it gets chopped...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLa6iW7dRf4

You're right, it appears he has a noise gate on that. But he has demonstrated many times that his overall technique is to roll the Vol knob off as soon as he stops playing. He specifically pointed that out in his instructional video from the early 90s.
 
fjk1138 said:
4. Use a noise gate on your recorder track and/or edit out the bumps and noises

The more I listen closely to guitar tracks, the more convinced I am that they are doing some kind of noise gate trickery when they track the guitars.

Listen to ZZ Top "Heard It On The X"......there is, in my never ever so humble opinion, no way in frozen hell any guitar player I've ever seen could play that opening guitar riff that clean and that perfectly cut without using some heavy noise gate tricks. A good gate can react to that kind of riff, and it would, imo, give that kind of result.

Of course, it helps if a guy can play that riff as well as Billy can in the first place...... :mrgreen:
 
The Magic Hoof said:
I'm running directly into my amp and not using anything in between. It's always been the biggest wonder to me -- how I see guitarists do so much maneuvering with so little string noise, etc. It has GOT to be something in their setup, at least settings. Maybe it's that they're not using a lot of gain, or using something to clean it up. I'm not sure.
Try putting a thicker hair tie on your nut (of your guitar) and when your playing lead slide it up. Works a treat.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tidj9dxVWjc
This works pretty good for the studio. Like someone else said, but deserves to be repeated, pros use less gain than you think. And Pro Tools is awsome. :D
To record really clean high-gain sounds, roll the gain way back then layer the guitar a couple times. Pretty cool, huh?
 
That's exactly what I've done in the studio before. I sat down pulled off my sock [other guitarist asked me what the hell i was doing] I told him watch...er....listen... tied my sock around third fret or so and continued. IMMEDIATELY cleaned up the lead i was playing. or trying to play ;)
 
Hey!

The position of the Mic affects also. Try not to put it in front of the cone. You can also try to get the mic a little far from the speaker. Some guys record at low volume, thats why you can hear really pristine records.

If you work with pro tools, there is a function that is called "strip Silence" in the Edit menu. If you set it correctly, it will delete all the spaces within the track with a little audio, this works like a compressor/gate effect.

In live situations, almost all the times there is a gate effect in the FOH. It is commonly used in toms, snare, and guitars to prevent other instruments to leak trough the mics.
 
Less gain is the key. Its also way easier to overdub with less gain. I always dial it up to what I think is right, and then turn it one back :lol:
Technique is a very important factor as well though, along with a really good setup to help eliminate any unwanted noise in the first place.

Why am I repeating whats already said?
 
well for me i just can't cut a lead without a certain amount of sustain so i do run the gain pretty high but i think alot of it is in the technique of the player....i've never really had this problem myself as i only play on recordings licks that i know i can execute cleanly...however i do use a noise gate EVERTIME i record.
 
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