Tips & Techniques:Acc Gtr - Getting rid of guitar string squeek...

After you've tracked that guitar track, go into edit mode and set your in/out points at the beginning and ending of each gnarley squeek you want to get rid of.

Copy and paste these points to a new track so that they're still in sync with the original tracks.

Flip the phase on your pasted tracks. This cancels out the original squeeks.

This was new to me so I hope it helps someone.

Peace..........Kel

[peeder]

Yeah this tip isn't so good Kel...

But for some reason I can't edit it. I have tips for getting rid of squeaks...one is simply deleting them as mentioned or automating them out. Another is de-essing.

And then there's stopping them at the source, using Elixir or other coated strings. And then there's various string lubes such as corn starch powder, fast fret, etc. And using old strings that are already smoothed out with skin residue.

Finally there's playing technique and specifically writing technique, where you switch chord positions rather than just sliding around a chord that sounds nice to you!

[Keldog]

Well I thought it sounded cleaner, less abrupt but if the tip sucks maybe Jules can delete it. Or maybe I can.

Jules?

What say you?

[peeder]

Well the weird thing is this is supposed to be a wiki but the articles keep being locked.

A wiki doesn't generally lock articles! You go in and edit them!

[Mike Caffrey]

Why no just pencil in a V shaped fader automation move over it?

That means there's no unnatural sounding cut, and then noise is almost insignificant.

[member]

Ahhhh.. a wiki no - thats my bad and I have changed the title of the forum

This is a tips and tricks directory

One persons tip is... well....... one persons tip

What I am hoping is that instead of tearing apart a tip or trick - people will take the time to post a better,more useful one..

There are plans for a wiki that WILL be open for every GS member to edit but that will be more a terminology or audio recording science database style wiki and not a place for personal tips & tricks / suggestions..

Originally Posted by peeder

Yeah this tip isn't so good Kel...

But for some reason I can't edit it. I have tips for getting rid of squeaks...one is simply deleting them as mentioned or automating them out. Another is de-essing.

And then there's stopping them at the source, using Elixir or other coated strings. And then there's various string lubes such as corn starch powder, fast fret, etc. And using old strings that are already smoothed out with skin residue.

Finally there's playing technique and specifically writing technique, where you switch chord positions rather than just sliding around a chord that sounds nice to you!

Originally Posted by peeder

Well the weird thing is this is supposed to be a wiki but the articles keep being locked.

A wiki doesn't generally lock articles! You go in and edit them!

[Jules]

Originally Posted by jeremycox

How is that any different then just deleting that section?

While fading up the out of phase signal you have the ability to to 'dim' the volume of the squeeks depending on how close you get to fading in equal level - so it needn't be all or nothing..

I have heard people do that will with sibilant vocals to 'tame' the esses and not get rid of them altogether..



Pushing up a truly out of phase signal to an in phase one - sounds like you are pulling DOWN the overall signal

[MickeySmid]

Of this second out of phase channel you can use the volume while listening to the track, taking some out, but not all so you still have some vibe... If you take some low's out of the channel it will cancel out more of the high squeak only... this works nice!

m.

[jmarkham]

I have tried two approaches which have worked with varying degrees of
success.

Firstly, like the inhalations of a vocalist, string noise (as the player moves
from chord to chord) is a natural element of the acoustic performance.

As such, I don't seek to remove them as much as to minimize them and
bring the offensiveness/harshness of the squeaks and squeals to a
tolerable level .. they are there .. but not detracting from the program material.

The two tricks that I have tried are:

Using waves Z-Noise, I took a noise print of the squeal and then used
noise reduction. This method was very hit-and-miss and resulted in some
undesirable artifacts. Also, variations in squeals required re-imprinting of
the noise print for almost every squeal. I would categorize this as time
consuming operation that yielded varying results .. some acceptable and
some not.

The better method (IMHO) is to automate an EQ. If you do a FFT analysis
on the squeal, you will usually find one or two very strong fundamentals of
the sound. By using a multi-band EQ (like the Digi EQ III or the Waves
Q7 - > 10), you can set peak dip filters at those fundamentals and adjust
the Q as to how surgically you can cut. Then arm the gain on the bands that
you wish to duck.

When the squeals happen, automate the band dip to co-incide just after the
transient starts (maybe 3 to 5 ms ) and then draw the gain down. How
far you cut in this frequency depends on the harshness of the squeak.
Most of the annoying tones exist in the "harsh" 3 -> 5k area .. so I usually
start with those .. but may have harmonics or other fundamentals that also
need to be tamed.

This allows the tone of the guitar to remain unaltered during the majority
of the performance and to have the squeals / squeaks tamed to a tolerable
level.

jeff

[dwall]

In Samplitude, I've found the Spectral Cleaning tool to be very useful for this. I bet Retouch or Renovator would be amazing.

Another thing I've done is find a similar spot in the song where the squeak isn't as bad or not there at all, then paste that very brief instance over the problem area. I've also used de-essing and volume automation. Haven't tried the reverse phase bit, but it sounds interesting. Especially if eq'ing the reversed track a bit to shape what frequencies are affected. I might try that for vocal sibilance as well.